S26: Adam Rippon: Salchowing to the Mirrorball

[OnceSane]

Quote

One of the most dramatic figure skaters on the planet, Adam won the hearts of America earlier this year. In addition to his recent team bronze medal in PyeongChang, Adam has garnered nine medals on the international circuit over the last four years, including the 2016 U.S. men's championship title.

[Runningwild]

Adam has not won me over. His skating is good enough and sometimes he’s funny. I didn’t care for the athletes dissing the USA, the President, and/or the Vice President. I wish they would all keep their politics to themselves. 

[mtlchick]

I congratulate him for winning on a shortened season, live Facebook voting without a proper finale show and delivering one of the worst free styles ever. 

[Diane1111]

I told myself if Adam wins, I won't watch the show again. And I'm going to hold myself to that. You can't have somebody that's already accomplished at that level to come in and win it over people who have been improving. The show is not what they sold it as in the first place. Adam just finished winning a gold medal, so he is already at that level. So no, I don't think he was deserving of that mirror ball at all. I don't know why he thinks he's deserving of that ball either

[lavenderblue]

Adam won a bronze medal in a team event at the Olympics, where he didn't even finish first in the men's team segment, and only won a national title in 2016. That's the only gold medal at any real event that he's picked up since 2010. I don't think he was a huge ringer as it is -- I think, even aside from the truly experienced dancers like Jordan or Alfonso, there are even other male skaters with more natural musicality, and certainly some more adept at partnered dance -- but his celebrity also has very little to do with what he's accomplished in the sport, which is better than the vast majority will do, but has never been at world champ level in his senior career.

(It is interesting to consider the impact of Olympic hype in rewriting the stories of some of these skaters, and that Nathan Chen, who actually did just become world champion and ultimately finished higher than Adam in Pyeongchang, is probably a non-entity for casual viewers. I don't think he'd have been a great fit competing on here, for the record, though I loved his skating programs this year.)

Edited May 22, 2018 by lavenderblue

[luvthepros]

On 5/21/2018 at 11:02 PM, Diane1111 said:

I told myself if Adam wins, I won't watch the show again. And I'm going to hold myself to that. You can't have somebody that's already accomplished at that level to come in and win it over people who have been improving. The show is not what they sold it as in the first place. Adam just finished winning a gold medal, so he is already at that level. So no, I don't think he was deserving of that mirror ball at all. I don't know why he thinks he's deserving of that ball either

I respectfully disagree. BTW, this subject about figure skaters has been discussed ad nauseum . Figure skaters glide on blades on the ice. From what every one of the figure skaters and ice dancers have insisted, dancing on the floor and gliding on blades is a completely different animal. In fact, muscle memory works against them as far as learning to dance on a floor. 

Having said that......figure skaters and ice dancers do have a edge ( no pun intended) on the competition with arm styling, work ethic as with any athlete and ability to learn choreography. 

Each celebrity comes to the table with some sort of advantage, not just figure skaters and ice dancers. Celebs have an advantage with huge fan bases and name recognition, being paired with very popular pros, not to mention having prior dance training even though not ballroom training. Please don’t single out the figure skaters and ice dancers.

Edited May 23, 2018 by luvthepros

[boyznkatz]

I agree, besides Adam has never danced with a partner. Meryl and Charlie were definitely ringers, though. They are ice dancers and have done dances like foxtrots and waltzes in competition. 

Regular figure skaters do have an advantage over others, but they aren't guaranteed to win either.

[Mu Shu]

Skaters have a huge advantage.  They learn choreography and timing,  a lot of which mimics dance.   Most elite skaters in the US study ballet and other dance forms, so they’re not unfamiliar at all.  My ex skated, and used to attend ballet classes with me to improve his line.

The mechanics are different, but they definitely have the edge, no pun intended, over someone who played baseball.  

Same for gymnasts.  Though Laurie Hernandez should win everything, being the cutest girl on the planet.

[boyznkatz]

Adam definitely looks like he had some ballet training. No one has posture like that without it. It's too bad he didn't go into pairs skating.

[Mu Shu]

Adam has pretty everything. 

[neem]

22 hours ago, boyznkatz said:

Adam definitely looks like he had some ballet training. No one has posture like that without it. It's too bad he didn't go into pairs skating.

Pairs skating? Adam's too short. There are very few male pairs skaters below 5'9", and Adam's 5'7".

Anyway, when it comes to ballet training, Adam's mom Kelly has told that Adam has no formal dance training whatsoever. But Kelly herself is a former dancer, so it's not that surprising that Adam has inherited some natural dance talent. Also, Adam's first long time skating coach was Russian (Elena Sergeeva) and Russian skaters/coaches typically do have some ballet training and tend to yell at their skaters about proper posture and arm movements.

But looking at how Adam uses his hands and fingers in his past programs, it's pretty obvious he's not trained.  My ballet teachers would've NEVER let me get away with loosely curled fingers just hanging there, which seemed to be Adam's default hand mode when he was doing back crossovers to a jump or something. Just... NO.

That's actually one DWTS thing Adam has told he's already applying to his skating, to have "alive hands", after Jenna kept critiquing his "dead fish hands".

[boyznkatz]

26 minutes ago, neem said:

Pairs skating? Adam's too short. There are very few male pairs skaters below 5'9", and Adam's 5'7".

Anyway, when it comes to ballet training, Adam's mom Kelly has told that Adam has no formal dance training whatsoever. But Kelly herself is a former dancer, so it's not that surprising that Adam has inherited some natural dance talent. Also, Adam's first long time skating coach was Russian (Elena Sergeeva) and Russian skaters/coaches typically do have some ballet training and tend to yell at their skaters about proper posture and arm movements.

But looking at how Adam uses his hands and fingers in his past programs, it's pretty obvious he's not trained.  My ballet teachers would've NEVER let me get away with loosely curled fingers just hanging there, which seemed to be Adam's default hand mode when he was doing back crossovers to a jump or something. Just... NO.

That's actually one DWTS thing Adam has told he's already applying to his skating, to have "alive hands", after Jenna kept critiquing his "dead fish hands".

Thanks for the info. I never notice his hands, really. I just notice his gorgeous lines and posture.

I took ballet when I was a kid, but quit because it was sooo difficult!

[realdancemom]

42 minutes ago, neem said:

Pairs skating? Adam's too short. There are very few male pairs skaters below 5'9", and Adam's 5'7".

Anyway, when it comes to ballet training, Adam's mom Kelly has told that Adam has no formal dance training whatsoever. But Kelly herself is a former dancer, so it's not that surprising that Adam has inherited some natural dance talent. Also, Adam's first long time skating coach was Russian (Elena Sergeeva) and Russian skaters/coaches typically do have some ballet training and tend to yell at their skaters about proper posture and arm movements.

But looking at how Adam uses his hands and fingers in his past programs, it's pretty obvious he's not trained.  My ballet teachers would've NEVER let me get away with loosely curled fingers just hanging there, which seemed to be Adam's default hand mode when he was doing back crossovers to a jump or something. Just... NO.

That's actually one DWTS thing Adam has told he's already applying to his skating, to have "alive hands", after Jenna kept critiquing his "dead fish hands".

I was thinking that DWTS will help Adam look better when he competes again.  If Tonya was younger and still competing, the same thing applies.  She was always known for her jumps and did not have the artistry like Kristi or Nancy.  She surprised me on the first night.  Sorry to bring Tonya up on Adam's thread.  It does show that skaters do have an advantage when it comes to learning choreography but might not necessarily have dance training.  I do think that ice dancers like Meryl and Charlie do take dance classes which can include ballroom.