Lyyli

1 hour ago, kaeryth said:

Otonal was used by Maria Butyrskaya in her LP in the 98-99 season. She won the Gold Medal (first Russian to win the World Ladies title) in the World Championship that year in Helsinki. Not sure if Johnny's Otonal was inspired by Butyrskaya's but he has said on several occasions that he looked up to her as an inspiration so not too far fetched to think so.

I remember her performance but was wondering is there another piece or some other connections that I have not heard about. 

3 hours ago, LadyLou said:

Still marvelling at the weird coincidences in everything Yuzu... Yuzu getting RC and the brand new Helsinki GP to skate to pieces that are somehow related to both those locations... 

 

I ´d like to know which pieces you mean that are somehow connected to Finland or Helsinki and in what way? Is he using something else too, not only music of Edvin Marton and Raul di Blasio? I have so far seen only their pieces mentioned as Yuzu´s choices.

Imo ID is a sport as well as other FS disciplines because ISU has developed  a sport discipline form of it. I see it as a sport. Instead of jumps, lifts etc ID just has it´s own demanding elements, rules and requirements different from the other FS disciplines. The difficulties in judging concern all disciplines in FS more or less.

This discussion brought to my mind a recent interview of Mikhail Kolyada whit a title: “Ideally, we all should strive to be like the ice dancers”. He thinks single skaters have a lot to learn from ice dancers. https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/figure-skating-news/interviews/11861-mikhail-kolyada?templateParam=15 . Single skaters are not automatically good ice dancers when they change to ID. I also remembered Tracy talking about this question in TSL interview a couple of years ago. She said it was finally Thorvill and Dean that made ID accepted as a sport.  (In YT beginning around 12:35-)

I have not heard that the ballet community has ever tried to develop ballet to be a sport discipline in the same way as ID community though there are some ballet competitions. I guess they could take it further towards sport, organize Worlds, Europeans etc but is there any will to do it, I don´t know. In Ballroom dancing there are Worlds, Europeans etc but I am not aware have they ever applied for the Olympics. They could for sure. Synchronized Skating has applied a couple of times but has not been accepted. They had high hopes for Peking but were turned down again. The IOC said that one reason for the denial is that there are not yet enough Syncro teams all over the world. 

And finally: Kolyada´s words about ID: "Figure skating is such a smooth sport, everything should look like a knife cutting through butter. You need to strive for being like the dancers. They are flying over the ice. Ideally we all should strive to be like they are. I watch the ice dancers, how they are doing all this, so softly how they stretch their legs and arms and it is all beautiful."
 

Extremely sad for Denis 

Daisuke like any other once retired skater has the full right to try to make a comeback even to the highest international level. No matter his age or how he might change the men´s field in Japan. He will start from the beginning, competes first at regional competitions and tries to qualify for Japan Nats.

For me it is far too early and unfair to talk about him getting scores by reputation at this point. I´ll see when he has competed and his scores are out.

I think this is a brave decision from him. He knows it is not easy to reach the top and still he wants to get back competing at least for a year for personal reasons.

What comes to this Anti-discussion, it is really confusing. Each skater has their own Antis, also Dai and Shoma.  

In the press release Finnish Fed said also that during the years they have repeatedly expressed their will to host a GP event if some other Fed refused for some reason. I´ve heard about this before. I believe they would have accepted to host the event even without Yuzu but on the other hand they might have invited him if they were given a chance to do so within one week. And not only for the ticket sale, but because of him and his history in Finland. This will be his fourth competition here.       

Finnish Fed said in their press release that ISU asked about their will to host the GP event only a week ago, after Korea refused. So I guess Helsinki got pretty much the skaters that were originally assigned to CoC. Boyang and Sui/Han are coming to Helsinki too. What come to Yuzu I wonder will he and his team try to search for a training base in Finland or Russia for the short time between the two competitions. Otherwise he would have to travel very much. The venue is unfortunately a lot smaller than at the Worlds2017. In Helsinki Ice Hall there are about 8200 seats. Hartwall Arena was not available for those days. As Helsinki is my hometown I am of course very happy about this decision!!!   

 UP6 was at least about restricting presidents of FSAs from working as judges, technical controllers etc so this means there will be no change on that.

The music for Shoma´s EX by Shae-Lynn is wild trance-music! No wonder he was out of breath after RT.

New genre for him once again. Imo Mihoko has always made wise music choices for him. Shoma has had the chance to do many types of music in his career. He got lots of criticism because of last season´s music but considering his whole career for me they are understandable.  

David Wilson working with Shoma, Yuna and Javi. What a group!

7 hours ago, sweetwater said:

 

As far as I know, Jeff choreographed Mirai's "Miss Saigon"(2017-2018), Rika Kihira's "La Strada"(2017-2018), Takahito Mura's "O"(2015-2016), Sergei Voronov's "Once upon a time in America"(2015-2016) too.

Jeff choreographed also the two latest free programs for Kaetlyn, Black Swan and La Boheme.

https://skatecanada.ca/2018/04/olympic-medallist-dylan-moscovitch-retiring-from-competitive-skating/

On 21.3.2018 at 11:12 AM, Altie said:

And it's telling than none of the former french champions became a coach in France once they had retired from competitive skating - except Brian Joubert, who'se trying to open his own skating school, but it's not easy. A little voice in my head tells me that Bruno could be the best person to change things, since he's totally independant from the french fed foundings, and knows very well of all the issues. A girl can dream

 

Altie, I remembered that Florant Amodio has also started coaching in France. I heard about it when a Finnish skater Sofia Sula started to work with him. I´ve seen him at some competitions too. Olivier Schoenfelder also coaches in France but Fabian Bourzat works with Igor Shpilband in US. Those names came to my mind now.

I also read about Bruno´s struggles and his financial problems recently but already seeing his heartbreaking reaction after the final results came out in PC I realized that his journey to Olympic Gold has been extremely hard. Happy that he will be surely be better from now on. Don´t know how much is the reward for the Olys and Worlds champions and medalists in Germany but usually they are notable amounts of money and he will get them for sure. 

I heard recently also about some costs of FS for parents. Two synchronized skating coaches were here on TV lately. Both of them have daughters who skate in teams. The other one told that she pays for her own daughter´s skating in top level about 1000 euros a month. The other one said that she pays for her three little girls altogether about 800 a month. 

I noticed Shoma stumbled after 3A on his way to his last spins in the end of the program. In StSq I didn´t see he had any problem.

Best of luck Yuzu!!! Enjoy, keep your focus, work with the music!!!!

Still mesmerized about Aljona´s and Bruno´s free. Because of that jewel super program they took the victory. Congrats also for the choreographers! Former ice dancers like Christopher Dean and John Kerr make incredible programs for pairs. Kerr did them also for Meagan/Eric and Vanessa/Morgan.

Whatever the reasons are for his short practice I find it very cool and very admirable that without any explanations he did there what he wanted to do at that moment. Especially in front of all the film groups and journalists that have been waiting to see him and find out about his condition and ability to jump. No need to prove anything I would say. If he needs privacy better take it then,  no need to be available if that does not suit for your preparations of the competition. And the new tissue box, amazing!  

I am not in SK so this post is not about a meeting - unfortunately! So OT sorry. I hope it is ok to post this message here for a lady from Taiwan whom I noticed there in the audience at TE pairs short program. I believe she is a member of PH.

At Helsinki Worlds we sat side by side in Yuzu¨s first OP and you gave me a banner of H&L. We met also after Yuzu´s victory and you told that after the Worlds you were heading to Lapland with a friend for five days to see the Northern lights. I wonder were you lucky to see them during your visit there. It was really nice to spot you in the audience. I just want to say hello and wish you and all satellites there great Olympics!  Unforgettable experience for sure to be there and see Yuzu on the Olys ice! 
 

Is there any thread where I could try to post a message to a lady whom I met at Helsinki Worlds twice and also noticed her yesterday in the audience of TE pairs at Olys. We talked a lot when we sat side by side at Yuzu´s first OP.  She was a Yuzu fan so I believe she could be a member of this site.

Many thanks all of you who work here and keep up this site!!!

I still prefer the Shibs from the three couples. For me the difference was crystal clear especially in SD also technically in accuracy of footwork and other movements. The Shibs skate as one in all aspects. Not only their footwork but also their posture, extension and expression are alike and more refined. Imo in that area they stand out from the other couples. Also both Maia and Alex express and shine but most important is that they do it seamlessly together. Many people say they lack passion, but I don´t see it that way. Instead I think in their case being a sister/brother couple is an advantage because physically they match perfectly together and they also know each others minds thoroughly. In ID the style means a lot too and I prefer them because I like their style too. I think Coldplay works well with their contemporary, fresh and cool style. The Shibs are like bright sunlight to me.
 

Jun Hwan has gone back to last season´s FS? He´s skating there to Il Postino, not the Planets.