Figure Skating

[Omeletsmom]

How do we feel about Clair de Lune?

[Growsonwalls]

Too bad she bombed the short, because I like this NotRussian's aesthetics and style.

[AuntieDiane6]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/go-figure-what-s-wrong-with-us-women-s-skating/ar-BBJtiSq?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

Pretty much what this group has been saying all along.

[vixenbynight]

I will never ever want Claire De Lune to be put out of rotation. I love it.

https://g.co/kgs/KcWm8n

[Cindyluwho]

I wish this Not Russian was in the running over the other 2. I find her very pleasant to watch. Calming...not frantic. And I love her dress.

[Bama]

Yeah - she's my favorite of the NotRussians.

She's more mature and not just a jumping bean.

[SimoneS]

I like Sotskova. She is so elegant and her skate was strong.

[iMonrey]

Ugh! What is it with all the Russians jumping with their arms over their heads? Enough already! It's so ungainly when they do it for every jump and pretty soon it's going to become the standard for everyone if they hope to compete with Russians.

[Chaser]

I really hate the tano.

Looks like Alfalfa is jumping around out there. 

[LilWharveyGal]

1 minute ago, Omeletsmom said:

How do we feel about Clair de Lune?

It always makes me think of the end of Ocean's Eleven.  Probably not the critique you're looking for.  :)

[CarbonCopy]

The Russian girl's costume is beautiful. 

[GeminiDancer]

I love Clair de Lune. It can stay in rotation.

[ChicksDigScars]

9 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

@ChicksDigScars: You have made my day!!!  Somebody ought to send this to Johnny.

Well, I put it on Twitter and hash tagged #Olympics and #FigureSkating, so maybe.....

[Omeletsmom]

She doesn't look like a stick figure. Med and Zag look too fragile to me.

[stealinghome]

That was pretty. However...

I get that the arm over the head while you jump is significantly harder, but it is also significantly more aesthetically displeasing.

Edited February 23, 2018 by stealinghome

[Moxie Cat]

I like that version of Clair de lune because it wasn't deathly slow - it moved a little. Then it's OK.

[Dots And Stripes]

9 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It wouldn't surprise me if they switched back to NBCSN after the Americans are done.

Liam said the rest of the skating would be on NBC. NBC has also been promoting the Russians pretty hard.

[ChicksDigScars]

3 minutes ago, Bama said:

Yeah - she's my favorite of the NotRussians.

She's more mature and not just a jumping bean.

She's not coached by Eteri. 

[Bama]

Aussie lady on the app said this NotRussian is "real not pretend".

Perfect assessment.

GO KAREN!!!

[Cindyluwho]

3 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

That was pretty. However...

I get that the arm over the head while you jump is significantly harder, but it is also significantly more aesthetically displeasing.

Kurt Browning agrees with you. 

[Omeletsmom]

Awwwwww.

[anniebird]

She looked drunk for a moment there.

[MaKaM]

6 minutes ago, AuntieDiane6 said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/go-figure-what-s-wrong-with-us-women-s-skating/ar-BBJtiSq?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

Pretty much what this group has been saying all along.

Did that article seriously call Nagasu Chen? And Peggy Fleming is 19 now? Guess editing is a thing of the past. 

[Bama]

I love that she still does spirals.

[SimoneS]

Ugh, Chen was dreadful. 

[BitterApple]

It just ain't our year.

[CherryMalotte]

If you skate to Clair De Lune the requirement is you must skate softly, beautifully, delicately...and wear some blue with just a hint of sparkle, or a dark shade of purple, draped with a longer skirt.  A quiet performance is just more dramatic and lovely than any jump fest.  

I may not watch til the end tonight, Johnny and his salivating over his NotRussians has worn thin.
   

[methadonna]

11 minutes ago, sab85 said:

The Swiss skater: IF you have to skate to Phantom why are you in the middle of a spin during the most dramatic part of it? Do the choreographers listen to the music?

No.

I forget whether it was during the event or Olympic Ice, but, while raving about Pap and Ciz, Tanith said—with great and sincere admiration—in partial explanation for the “inexplicable magic” that is their performance (inexplicable is the accurate part to me; I get that it may be technically proficient but I find nothing about it that pulls me in), something like,

“They said that it really was the music that did it for this program. That they just let the music speak and determine where they should put the different program elements.”

And, I’m no skater, but my mouth just about dropped open at the idea that this was, like, some sort of revelation, because I would think that’s ... the bare minimum of how it works?! I know in ice dance, they have very specific elements they have to incorporate, but... doesn’t the music determine WHERE you place them (unless you’re not!Russian and care more about bonus points than artistry, in which case: why are we bothering skating to music? It’s like how MAG gave up the pretense on floor but WAG hasn’t and it’s still pretty much background noise for most programs), and then you choreograph the rest of the program around that?

If I didn’t misunderstand Tanith’s statement and utter amazement and admiration at this revelation (and it’s certainly possible—shit, I hope to hell—I did), then that’s a major reason so many programs seem so empty/unartistic today.

(And, I’d say it was less about the code of points than a serious breakdown in understanding music and choreography, but I guess if you incentivize backloading, you de-incentivize choreographing a program that makes use of the music). 

But that fails to explain to me why this would be so revelatory to Tanith, who had really impressed me when talking about coaching staff making her study various paintings to improve her artistry and interpretation and applying that to how some specific skaters could improve their performances (she was far more specific than this, which is why I find it questionable that she would have just been handed a piece of music, choreography, and had no concept of how one informed the other, or should have).

But, back to your question, apparently, unless you’re Pap and Ciz, no, and I think they’re choreographing more to Where Does The Bonus Period Fit rather than where does the music fit.

[Conotocarious]

47 minutes ago, Omeletsmom said:

My dislike of Med stems primarily from her use of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I thought that was in very poor taste.  Any program that the announcers basically have to read a trigger warning before should not be skated.

God, yes. First of all, no one should ever be doing sit spins and bielmanns to the sounds of 9/11 sirens. Ever. Second, that’s not your tragedy to skate to, kid. Frankly, it’s shouldn’t be skated to by anyone but definitely not by you.

[Chaser]

I wince everytime I see Bradie's Cinderella costume. She looks older but the costume looks so young.

If she wanted Cinderella, I would have done Ever After. 

Poor Karen Chen.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Chaser

[Jeddah]

I really like Karen Chen. I know she’s disappointed she couldn’t put it together here. I hope she doesn’t get too discouraged because she really is a lovely skater.

[QuinnInND]

I must be the one who likes the arms over the head during the jumps. 

[Omeletsmom]

1 minute ago, Conotocarious said:

God, yes. First of all, no one should ever be doing sit spins and bielmanns to the sounds of 9/11 sirens. Ever. Second, that’s not your tragedy to skate to, kid. Frankly, it’s shouldn’t be skated to by anyone but definitely not by you.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[GeminiDancer]

I don't think I could roll my eyes harder at this chick. Boring like wonderbread.

[SimoneS]

Does Bradie eat? I am not exaggerating the poor woman looks near emaciated.

[Mellowyellow]

I badly want Bradie's headband! Love her dress too!

[irisheyes]

At least it’s not Carmen. ?

[Moxie Cat]

Just now, GeminiDancer said:

 

I don't think I could roll my eyes harder at this chick. Boring like wonderbread.

 

Yes, I want to like Bradie so much, but she's dull even in gala performances.

[Omeletsmom]

3 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I wince everytime I see Bradie's Cinderella costume. She looks older but the costume looks so young.

If she wanted Cinderella, I would have done Ever After. 

Poor Karen Chen.

It just seems very juniorish.

[Bama]

She's 20???  She looks SO much younger to me.

And her illusion netting does not match her skin tone.  My pet peeve.

DAMN - we suck.

[MaKaM]

1 minute ago, QuinnInND said:

I must be the one who likes the arms over the head during the jumps. 

I don't mind if it is an elegant position, but Maria's are so flat and odd looking. 

[Growsonwalls]

Wow Bradie Tennell sort of conking out on her first Olympics.

[kittykat]

Sigh poor Karen Chen.  And I actually liked Sotskova.

Oi I guess it's all on Mirai now.

Edited February 23, 2018 by kittykat

[QuinnInND]

1 minute ago, SimoneS said:

Does Bradie eat? I am not exaggerating the poor woman looks near emaciated. 

She's probably just naturally thin, and then with all the work of skating, it just makes it worse. 

[backgroundnoise]

4 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I badly want Bradie's headband! Love her dress too!

All I see is ugly illusion fabric and way too dark tights. 

Bradie looks like a cross between Princesses Margaret and Anne to me.

Edited February 23, 2018 by backgroundnoise

[Jeddah]

I hated Polina Edmunds’ Tinkerbell program because it was too juvenile, and she was only 16. Twenty is way too old to be skating to Cinderella.

It turns out all of the talk about Bradie’s consistency was premature.

[GeminiDancer]

I think I'm going to call her Wonder Bread Bradie.

[Bama]

Okay - I do covet that headband.

I look like an idiot in a headband but it's very pretty and shiny.

[QuinnInND]

We really suck big time. Terrible. 

[MostlyC]

Go Mirai!!!!