Figure Skating

[Mellowyellow]

Oooh bugger that really sucks. I had no idea you guys were blocked that badly. 

I'll admit I was a bit confused when I kept reading about how hard it was for you guys to watch stuff cuz I always thought "Just hop on YouTube it's always there."

Now I get it! They are so mean!!!!

[carrier76]

I listened to the Ice Talk podcast today, and apparently, the ISU is allowing free streaming of World Team Trophy in every country—except Japan, Russia, and the US. Because apparently we have viewing options? 

[redpencil]

Here's a video of the full ladies short (Russian commentary):

And men's short, same thing:

[SeanC]

On 4/8/2019 at 2:37 AM, Darknight said:

USAFSA is using her. She is going to save ladies figure skating. They do this all the time. Hype young skaters up then drag them when they don't do well and meet expectations. Rinse and repeat. She already has an agent. They've been hyping her up since she was 12. They even sent her to junior worlds to see the Russians and copy them. Clearly they have an agenda. 

Their agenda is to help Alysa succeed, which they want her to, obviously.  Going to watch top skaters live is good experience.

Quote

Again, I don't believe in the earlier the better. I  can't  support this thinking at all. I think it's being used as an excuse and a reason to support quad jumping by kids. Eteri used this logic too. The earlier the better. We all know how that works in her group.  

It’s not an excuse.  Most coaches aim for longevity for their students (Eteri’s assembly line approach is anomalous in that regard).  If they thought this was counterproductive they wouldn’t be doing it.  For men’s skaters, especially, you can’t rocket to the top of the senior podium by 16.

Quote

They already said they're working on quads now and her 3a and triples are ok. She landed three of them at nationals. No need to work on her triples or 3a.

Can you cite where they say they aren’t working on her triple jumps and they think nothing more needs to be done?  That they’re working on the big new jumps doesn’t mean they aren’t aiming to keep perfecting existing ones.  And her existing jumps are pretty good.  She can underrotate on occasion; it happens.

Shoma made an impressive attempt at a 3A-4T combination, though he faceplanted on the second part of it.

Nam attempted a quad toe (doubled it), so it seems like he must be planning to bring that back next season.

Glad that Keegan ended the year on a strong note.

Nathan pushed his luck by including two 3As in his free and botched the second one, bringing his season-long Axel streak to an end.  But whatever, he still placed first.

[Mellowyellow]

Vincent did so well! Now I have another variation of that routine to watch! I am partial to the "arms aloft" thing he does. Very pretty.

Although I must admit when I saw his arms go up for the Lutz I was like "Tuck those arms in kid you don't need to do a quad lutz with your arms up, you might fall!!!"

[le bordel chaud]

On 3/24/2019 at 8:38 PM, stet said:

Aymoz is only 5’3”, but he skates big. Also, he was the 2016 French baton-twirling champion - and it’s so cool that he adapted many of those moves to the ice. 

Gay or just French? 😁

Edited April 13, 2019 by Victim Noises

[Jeddah]

I’m surprised Nathan competed at World Team Trophy instead of just focusing on school after Worlds. Maybe he’s just that competitive that he really wanted to be there. I’ve always thought of WTT as a fun event, and not one the top skaters feel the need to go to. Maybe the team event in the Olympics is changing the way WTT is viewed now.

I haven’t watched any of it, but it sounds like a lot of the skaters really delivered!

[Mellowyellow]

Apparently the prize money for WTT is quite lucrative. I've heard people say it's a bit of a reward to be sent. You can make money and it's a fairly relaxing comp. 

Poor Nathan is really ill from what I've read. Like throwing up after practice levels of ill.

[Jeddah]

7 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

Apparently the prize money for WTT is quite lucrative. I've heard people say it's a bit of a reward to be sent. You can make money and it's a fairly relaxing comp. 

That explains it then!

[annzeepark914]

On 3/23/2019 at 6:15 PM, annzeepark914 said:

@ChicksDigScars:  Amen!  I was just sitting here trying to think of the music that Madison and Kiefer Hubble skated to in one of their FD's that was so good (and, of course, not romantic).  Cannot think of it...something like Noise of Summer or Noise of something like.  Lowkey, jazzy, very modern. Back when we used to have a jazz station, I loved hearing it.  I'll work on this.

Hah!  It took me long enough but I found the music: Moments in Love-Quiet Storm Version by Art of Noise. It's instrumental in the beginning but around 2:40-ish, voices (but no lyrics) begin. A lot of commenters (on YouTube) say it's very "mood setting" but when H/H were skating, you just didn't think of romance (or at least I didn't as I was enjoying their skating). Maybe Madison is now, with Zach as her ice dancing partner, making up for lost time😐

[HartofDixie]

Tech rules for ice dance for the 19-20 season.

https://isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-communications/20804-isu-communication-2239/file

[honeywest]

On 4/14/2019 at 10:47 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Hah!  It took me long enough but I found the music: Moments in Love-Quiet Storm Version by Art of Noise. It's instrumental in the beginning but around 2:40-ish, voices (but no lyrics) begin. A lot of commenters (on YouTube) say it's very "mood setting" but when H/H were skating, you just didn't think of romance (or at least I didn't as I was enjoying their skating). Maybe Madison is now, with Zach as her ice dancing partner, making up for lost time😐

Keiffer Hubbell always looked as if he wanted to say, “Mom! Make Madison stop hugging me!”

[Good Queen Jane]

9 hours ago, HartofDixie said:

Tech rules for ice dance for the 19-20 season.

https://isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-communications/20804-isu-communication-2239/file

As if figuring out the rules for ice dancing wasn't already hard enough! So now the music must be from a musical and the dance must tell a story. And the Senior Pattern Dance is the Finnstep, which, as I recall, is really difficult, especially for the skaters who prefer to glide rather than do rhythmic steps. This could get interesting.

[qtpye]

On 3/28/2019 at 4:05 PM, cpcathy said:

I think the new scoring system is ruining the sport. All the skaters look the same. The old scoring system was easy to parody and make fun of, but it worked for figure skating. I don't love this sport as much. It's just a bummer.

On 3/28/2019 at 6:26 PM, annzeepark914 said:

The only discipline I enjoy watching is ice dance. The other disciplines, IMO, are boring (except for Jason who isn't spending his time setting up one quad after another). It is a sport and skaters must be challenged. But for me, quad-a-thons (in men's) just aren't interesting. Change edge spirals are not easy to do but no one does them today, along with those spectacular Ina Bauers. And why do pairs skaters have to do two sets of triple jumps? They're not singles  skaters. I can't be the only skate fan grousing these days.

I have been an American skating fan since the days of Yamaguchi. People have made fun of me for watching this sport and being more excited for Nationals or Worlds than the Super Bowl.

I have tried to watch the 2019 Worlds and ended up falling asleep with the remote in my hands. I do not know why but it is like the magic is gone. I do not care that there is not a strong American female. The Japanese ladies are great and I love the two Russian ladies who escaped from their overlord and slave master. However, I could not even make it to the Men’s competition and I like Chen and Hanyu and Brown.

Brown is the type of skater that draws Americans into this sport. He has an X factor. Otherwise, I have no idea how this sport will flourish again in the United States when even someone like me finds  it so boring.

Edited April 16, 2019 by qtpye

[ChicksDigScars]

7 hours ago, honeywest said:

Keiffer Hubbell always looked as if he wanted to say, “Mom! Make Madison stop hugging me!”

LOL. That is something that the Shibs seemed to avoid. In fact, it always seemed like Alex was proudly "presenting" his sister to the audience. 

Judging from the World Team results, the judges once again put Sinitsina and Katsapalov in 2nd in both the rhythm and free dance, ahead of the Entitlement Twins.  Just kinda smells like Russian Federation interference. Or sending a message to H/D? Or Gadbois, that they will NOT be dominating every podium? It's just curious to see S/K's sudden leap back into the dance judge's favor the past month. 

[cpcathy]

Do any of you enjoy dance the way it is now? I mean, as opposed to the "old school" Torvill and Dean, etc, stuff? The changes in dance over the years have been downright comical. I was watching Youtube videos beginning in 1981, and wow, what a difference! After T&D, no more "dying on the ice," then the rules changed where they had to have music that was danceable (1994 Olympic debacle, IMO), then somehow we get to sit spins and mandatory twizzles. The artistry is gone for me. I was just wondering what everyone else thought.

[SeanC]

3 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

As if figuring out the rules for ice dancing wasn't already hard enough! So now the music must be from a musical and the dance must tell a story. And the Senior Pattern Dance is the Finnstep, which, as I recall, is really difficult, especially for the skaters who prefer to glide rather than do rhythmic steps. This could get interesting.

When they originally announced the Broadway theme they weren’t going to have a fixed pattern this time, but the coaching committee really pushed back on this, so now it’s musical with the first half of the Finnstep pattern (which obviously means that at least part of the music has to have a quickstep rhythm).

1 hour ago, cpcathy said:

Do any of you enjoy dance the way it is now?

I much prefer it now.  6.0 ice dance had some interesting aspects, but it was a hundred times worse than ice dance currently as far as politics goes (let alone the other disciplines).

[annzeepark914]

2 hours ago, cpcathy said:

Do any of you enjoy dance the way it is now? I mean, as opposed to the "old school" Torvill and Dean, etc, stuff? The changes in dance over the years have been downright comical. I was watching Youtube videos beginning in 1981, and wow, what a difference! After T&D, no more "dying on the ice," then the rules changed where they had to have music that was danceable (1994 Olympic debacle, IMO), then somehow we get to sit spins and mandatory twizzles. The artistry is gone for me. I was just wondering what everyone else thought.

I am soooo glad that dying on the ice was forbidden. T&D started all the drama-on-blades. I love today's ice dancing with the twizzles and the lifts. 

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, qtpye said:

I have been an American skating fan since the days of Yamaguchi. People have made fun of me for watching this sport and being more excited for Nationals or Worlds than the Super Bowl.

I have tried to watch the 2019 Worlds and ended up falling asleep with the remote in my hands. I do not know why but it is like the magic is gone. I do not care that their is not a strong American female. The Japanese ladies are great and I love the two Russian ladies who escaped from their overlord and slave master. However, I could not even make it to the Men’s competition and I like Chen and Hanyu and Brown.

Brown is the type of skater that draws Americans into this sport. He has an X factor. Otherwise, I have no idea how this sport will flourish again in the United States when even someone like me finds  it so boring.

You sound like me.  I can't remember when the boredom arrived, probably because it was a gradual thing. But I found myself only enjoying ice dance where it's not so obvious that skaters are skating for points (Jason excepted).  When I'd miss a broadcast of the other 3 disciplines, I was shocked to realize I didn't care. The athletic side is taking over the artistic side of figure skating. Although I feel the sport can never be complacent and skaters need to be challenged, it's just the jump-a-thon aspect that, IMO, has almost stripped this sport of appeal.  There's no balance between the two sides of figure skating any more.  I don't watch skating shows nor exhibitions since I prefer the competition.  

[displayname]

4 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

It's just curious to see S/K's sudden leap back into the dance judge's favor the past month. 

Tides for 2022, I expect.

[Crs97]

You sound like me.  I can't remember when the boredom arrived, probably because it was a gradual thing. But I found myself only enjoying ice dance where it's not so obvious that skaters are skating for points (Jason excepted).

Me, too.  I have followed ice skating for years, even a little before Scott Hamilton. When my sister and I spent the week at Nationals for Tara and Michelle, a woman told us that we had now ruined ourselves for watching competitions on television, and she was right.  When Elvis Stoyko became all the rage, that made it worse.  You could see the writing on the wall that jumps, even failed jumps, were becoming more important than any sort artistry - competitors could win just skating from jump to jump without anything interesting in between.  As the trend continued, my interest waned till it’s almost nonexistent now.

[annzeepark914]

8 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

LOL. That is something that the Shibs seemed to avoid. In fact, it always seemed like Alex was proudly "presenting" his sister to the audience. 

Judging from the World Team results, the judges once again put Sinitsina and Katsapalov in 2nd in both the rhythm and free dance, ahead of the Entitlement Twins.  Just kinda smells like Russian Federation interference. Or sending a message to H/D? Or Gadbois, that they will NOT be dominating every podium? It's just curious to see S/K's sudden leap back into the dance judge's favor the past month. 

~~snicker~~The Entitlement Twins. Love it!  Re: the Shib Sibs, IMO, they showed how siblings could be platonic partners w/o any ick factor. I miss them. I wonder if a message *is* being sent to Gadbois and/or H/D.  Oh, the intrigue of ice dance.

[honeywest]

9 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

LOL. That is something that the Shibs seemed to avoid. In fact, it always seemed like Alex was proudly "presenting" his sister to the audience. 

That was one of my favorite aspects of their performances.

[AuntieDiane6]

Quote

When Elvis Stoyko became all the rage, that made it worse.  You could see the writing on the wall that jumps, even failed jumps, were becoming more important than any sort artistry - competitors could win just skating from jump to jump without anything interesting in between.  As the trend continued, my interest waned till it’s almost nonexistent now.

I liked Elvis' artistry.  It wasn't the Kurt Browning creative artistry or even the John Curry classical artistry, but his routines had a point of view.  And how about Todd Eldredge, the most boring skater I've ever seen? Or as I called him, a Windmill on Blades.  Arms stiff over his head, horizontal hands... boring!!  And if you think the old days were better:  Jan Hoffman and all those skaters who excelled in the figures.  

Uzuru Hanyu and the rest of Brian Orser's stable do interesting routines.  I'm not crazy about Jason's Simon and Garfunkel routine (they could've picked much more dynamic songs) but they are creative.  I loved Nathan's "Nemesis" routine (pre-Olympics).  

I think the artistry is better than ever.  Maybe you just need to turn the sound off those annoying commentators!

[Jeddah]

10 hours ago, cpcathy said:

Do any of you enjoy dance the way it is now?

I do! I said something similar about pairs a few posts back, but I don’t understand the complaints about lack of artistry. I think Scott’s a jerk, but Virtue/Moir will be talked about for a long time. All three teams that medaled at the Olympics had programs completely different from each other, and they all had artistry. 

I like the scoring system. Pre-ISJ,  North American teams didn’t stand a chance. This scoring system made it possible for non-Russians to win.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Jeddah

[SeanC]

13 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

It's just curious to see S/K's sudden leap back into the dance judge's favor the past month. 

They've been on the rise all season.  There's certainly a politics component to it, as there always is, but undeniably they've also stopped getting in their own way (other than at Europeans) and are actually performing to their potential.  They were also one of the teams that benefited from the TR pattern, since they consistently got at least level 3s on it.

CBC is bringing Battle of the Blades back to TV this fall.  Meagan Duhamel said a week or so ago that she and Eric Radford weren't going to be on the "Rock the Rink" tour this fall due to other commitments, and I'm guessing that's what the commitment is.

Edited April 17, 2019 by SeanC

[ML89]

I like some ice dance these days - when teams are doing something besides pretty, flowy "in love" programs- Fear & Gibson's disco, Manta & Johnson's Sweet Dreams. I'm with Terry G on the "still think T&D are the best" train.

I love Jason even if his music choices sometimes confound me (that S&G program) because he has some charisma - I liked Tobel, Galindo and Stojko more than I ever liked Kulik, Yags and the rest.

11 hours ago, AuntieDiane6 said:

And how about Todd Eldredge, the most boring skater I've ever seen?

Thank you! Nice enough guy but wow was he a snooze to watch. 

[ChicksDigScars]

On 4/16/2019 at 1:39 PM, annzeepark914 said:

I am soooo glad that dying on the ice was forbidden. T&D started all the drama-on-blades. I love today's ice dancing with the twizzles and the lifts. 

Wait, refresh my memory...didn't "Romeo and Juliet" die on the ice this year? 

[annzeepark914]

3 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

Wait, refresh my memory...didn't "Romeo and Juliet" die on the ice this year? 

Wellll, yeahhhh.  But I'm talkin' back in the day when almost every ice dancing team was dying on the ice. It was like a splat fest w/o the unfortunate falls...they were draped all over the ice and themselves at the end of their programs.  

[honeywest]

I remember Marina Klimova stretched out on the ice with candles at her head--that must have been R & J. But didn't Klimova and Ponomarenko also do a Dracula routine? She was born to wear Chanel Vamp nail polish. (I do like their son and Christina Carreira, and I'd love to see McNamara and Carpenter have a breakout season.)

[Crs97]

I remember Katarina Witt always seemed like she finished her routines with a dramatic death.  Then one year more girls finished flat on the ice than standing; I was happy when the rule was imposed.

[ML89]

Ah, time to post this oldie from CBS's coverage of the 1994 Olympics - heavily sarcastic:

Dying on the Ice

Edited April 17, 2019 by ML89

[annzeepark914]

5 hours ago, honeywest said:

I remember Marina Klimova stretched out on the ice with candles at her head--that must have been R & J. But didn't Klimova and Ponomarenko also do a Dracula routine? She was born to wear Chanel Vamp nail polish. (I do like their son and Christina Carreira, and I'd love to see McNamara and Carpenter have a breakout season.)

I think these were programs that they did for Champions On Ice, where they could really add the drama. I went to two COI's in the 90's and saw K/P perform several stunning programs. But their FD at the '92 O's did start with them lying on the ice. They are my all-time favorite ice dancers. Whenever I hear Masquerade Ball I think of them flying across the ice--they were so fast.

[Jaded]

I think Klimova and Ponomarenko are the ones I remember from when I was young. I always remembered a program in the early 90's where the female had red hair and was dressed in black with what I think was a cloak or large piece of fabric she covered herself with. I've watched their Dracula program thinking it might be the one I described but I'm pretty sure it isn't unless the one I saw was an exhibition or COI performance on TV where the lights were turned down. 

[annzeepark914]

9 hours ago, Jaded said:

I think Klimova and Ponomarenko are the ones I remember from when I was young. I always remembered a program in the early 90's where the female had red hair and was dressed in black with what I think was a cloak or large piece of fabric she covered herself with. I've watched their Dracula program thinking it might be the one I described but I'm pretty sure it isn't unless the one I saw was an exhibition or COI performance on TV where the lights were turned down. 

Yes!  I saw that program at one of the COI's I attended.  She was lying on the ice, covered by the drape at the end (& maybe the beginning?) of the program.  During the program, he'd wrap, then unwrap her in that drape as they skated.  And she had long red hair that would fly out behind her. Ice dancing is tricky enough, with the blades so close together and to be able to skate with that very long drape?  Just amazing and wonderful.

[Crs97]

20 hours ago, ML89 said:

Ah, time to post this oldie from CBS's coverage of the 1994 Olympics - heavily sarcastic:

Dying on the Ice

My favorite may be the routine in which he died four times!  That is hilarious!

[ChicksDigScars]

4 hours ago, Crs97 said:

My favorite may be the routine in which he died four times!  That is hilarious!

OMG. Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin. They were too much. I may like his son's skating currently, but I wasn't a huge fan of B&B. 

I guess they were recreating the Russian Revolution, where Rasputin supposedly died four times? LMAO. 

[annzeepark914]

B&B. Didn't they introduce the squat to ice dancing?

[ML89]

Manta & Johnson are retiring to join Cirque de Soleil:

Tweet. Johnson

Tweet Manta

Edited April 19, 2019 by ML89

[Jaded]

11 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Yes!  I saw that program at one of the COI's I attended.  She was lying on the ice, covered by the drape at the end (& maybe the beginning?) of the program.  During the program, he'd wrap, then unwrap her in that drape as they skated.  And she had long red hair that would fly out behind her. Ice dancing is tricky enough, with the blades so close together and to be able to skate with that very long drape?  Just amazing and wonderful.

I found it on YT. I was wrong about the costume color and the lighting not being as dark. I may have seen this performance on TV during another skating event where the lighting was darker...*shrugs*

One thing I love about YouTube is that sometimes there are clips of things I think I remember there to affirm I'm not losing my mind... 😄
 

Spoiler

[HartofDixie]

Anna & Luca doing the Finnstep.

[ML89]

Didn’t Rakama & Koko invent the Finnstep, hence the name?

[Snow Apple]

On 4/18/2019 at 5:38 PM, ChicksDigScars said:

OMG. Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin. They were too much. I may like his son's skating currently, but I wasn't a huge fan of B&B. 

I guess they were recreating the Russian Revolution, where Rasputin supposedly died four times? LMAO. 

Oh lord. I forgot all about them. That video brought it all back how much I disliked their routines. 

[stet]

51 minutes ago, ML89 said:

Didn’t Rakama & Koko invent the Finnstep, hence the name?

Yes! It was based on their amazing OD from the 1994-95 season (where they won Euros and finished second at Worlds).

Edited April 20, 2019 by stet

[ML89]

1 hour ago, stet said:

Yes! It was based on their amazing OD from the 1994-95 season (where they won Euros and finished second at Worlds).

Thank you!

i loved watching them and this is a wow.

[peachmangosteen]

Has anyone been to Stars on Ice? My sister has suddenly become a huge skating fan so she bought tickets for us. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how long the show typically is?

Edited April 20, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[HartofDixie]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Has anyone been to Stars on Ice? My sister has suddenly become a huge skating fan so she bought tickets for us. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how long the show typically is?

I have. Its around two hours as it’s two parts and an intermission. From what I’ve seen on the skaters IG the opening number is a 90’s theme.

[peachmangosteen]

Thanks for the info, @HartofDixie. I'm glad it's not too long lol. And excited for a 90's themed opening!

Edited April 20, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[MaryMitch]

I can't tell if this has been mentioned (because this software's search engine sucks), but  - if you have Netflix, they have a series called "Losers" which has an episode on Surya Bonaly. It has several recent interview segments with her.

[ChicksDigScars]

Re; Dying on Ice. Wasn't there a dance routine recently, where the lady "released" a crimson colored scarf at the end, to make it look like blood pouring from her body as she "died?" Am I mixing ice dance with actual dance?