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1 minute ago, sublimeskating said:

 

blame lori!

she made him do it!

she told him to dye his hair for the program so he did...

and he didn't want to dye blonde or red because it didn't suit him so he went for grey instead

(han said this in interview)

oh, really ... hmmm ... she's not one of my fav persons rn after what she did with poor Boyang's LP and now I like her even less :Poohgaveup:

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14 minutes ago, sublimeskating said:

 

IF SKATING GODS WOULD LISTEN I PRAY AND PRAY AND PRAY THAT BOYANG GETS A NEW CHOREOGRAPHER NEXT SEASON!!!

 

what she did with boyang's LP is a fucking travesty!!!  like WTF!!!

 

other choreographers make programs for skaters that mask their shortcomings and emphasize their strong points, but NOOOO, not this one!

 

yeah i get that boyang has weaker skating skills, transitions, etc. than other top skaters but did she REALLY need to make a program that puts ALL of his shortcomings in magnified, amplified focus???

 

the music cut is a crime against my ears, the choreo has NO CONNECTION to the music, and NOT EVEN LONG TIME STAR WARS FANS can understand WTF that LP is trying to express!  how the F are the judges supposed to give decent scores if nobody understands WTF the skater is trying to express!

 

she also arranges a complicated (especially for boyang) choreographic sequence RIGHT BEFORE a series of difficult jumps!  no wonder he's not landing them well - because he's tired already from the long choreo sequence!  (his choreo sequence is 30+ seconds which is quite long compared to other skaters' LPs - this is fine but why place it right before the series of hard jumps???)

 

compare the structure/layout of boyang's LP to nathan's LP and you'll know what i'm getting at...

 

we can never underestimate the importance of good programs.  even the best skaters need good programs to show their talents.  for example, i really like adam rippon's LP this season - the music is beautiful and there's a beautiful choreo to go with it, and the movements are so expressive i could tell he was expressing "bird" without even looking at the title!

 

and you know what pisses me off the most?  it's the fact that she CAN actually choreograph GOOD (even great!) programs!  she just chooses to give boyang a crap one!  she gets paid HUGE $$$ by the chinese fed but she fucks over one of their most promising young skater in return!

 

 

5 minutes ago, sublimeskating said:

 

i'm sorry if i keep ranting about this but it REALLY PISSES ME OFF with what she did to boyang's LP

 

it's one thing if boyang loses because of skill or performance, but it's another if he's fucked over from the start with a shitty program (and the LP which counts for the most points at that!)

 

i believe in fairness and integrity and it really, really pisses me off when some people get preferential treatment (from judges, isu, etc.) or some people get disadvantaged right from the start!

What I find even more shittier is the fact she did that in such an important moment like the Oly season when the skaters must have strong, good programs ... and I don't know why nobody from Boyang's team didn't said nothing abt it ... I mean is really obvious that the poor boy don't feel comfortable with the program, has no connection with the music  ... and all you said above is so true ...

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1 minute ago, sublimeskating said:

 

and as for what you said about boyang being uncomfortable with the program, you're very right because it's so obvious from his body language and actual performance.  watch how he skates spiderman and crouching tiger and then watch the way he skates that LP and it's so obvious.  also in interviews, his body language and tone of voice and facial expression when asked about his programs this season tells me so much about how he feels about the programs.

Tbh, I don't believe Boyang has poor ss ... okay, he's not like Pchiddy, Yuzu or Javi but he's getting there and he's not worse than Nathan IMO... La Strada was a good program for him, he connected with the music, the judges and the audience and you could see the improvement in his expression and ss, it was really visible but now :Poohgaveup: ... this is really a shame bc he  had a chance to oly podium with his technical baggage ... but SW does nothing for him ... and the CFed really sucks for not helping him more ...:snbleh:I hope he will do something soon and change that disaster of a LP ... Going back to La Strada is the best solution now, IMO, there's no time for something else ...

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Before we go too far into this panic and anger mode, let me just say some things very very loudly. As a chinese person, who actually skates here. 

 

a. In China, figure skating is a minority sport. Hate to say it, but speed skating will probably get more viewership than figure skating. Yup...you heard me right-speed skating, short track and our rivalry (yay nationalism) with South Korea will get more attention than Sui/Han. 

b. Most of the public have no idea what figure skating is, probably don't even know who Sui/Han is, and I'd be surprised if they know who Shen/Zhao are. I'm serious about this. Until Shen/Zhao won the olympics, people pretty much had no idea who they were. That China has even good pair skaters is a surprise to people. Seriously. 

c. Hockey is more popular than figure skating among the youngsters here. Unfortunately, China relies more on commercial rinks, who have to make a profit, and guess what, selling Hockey classes earns more money than figure skating. Let's put it this way, I skate on a commercial rink, 5/7 days from 7:30-10 pm, my rink is reserved for the commercial rink's hockey club team practices. And I wonder how I even manage to practice 6 hours a week. Oh, did I mention they also reserved the rink on saturday and sunday mornings? And on public sessions, about a third of the rink is closed off for hockey kids' private lessons? 

d. As a whole, I don't think China actually holds any expectations on any mens or ladies single skater to do well. If anyone managed to finish in the top 6 they'd be considered a national hero. In fact, I was surprised that Boyang even got media attention! So I don't think anyone will blame Boyang, mainly because people didn't have expectations for him to medal anyways.  I hate to say this, but I think the expectations on Li Zijun have been gone for a while, very few skaters at my rink know that much about her other than that one controversy, and the following has definitely shifted to Li Xiangning. 

 

By the way, you guys here probably know more chinese figure skaters than I do. =) My knowledge has been pairs teams, Boyang, Han Yan, and that's about it. 

 

Sports as a whole is quite nationalism/ politics driven in China, to a degree. It's getting better, but unless the agenda somehow fits with a national goal, there's less money devoted to it. Pairs gets money courtesy of Shen/Zhao's olympics gold, but figure skating won't get the huge budget until we head towards Beijing 2022, when the gov't decides hmm, maybe we want to excel in figure skating. Zhao has his (political) work cut out for him. 

 

As for Lori-well she's the teacher. You know, we're not exactly taught in China to go against our teachers. Even Boyang, even if he had doubts at any point, would not go against it. Our culture has been, and always will be one where we are told to "reflect on your own deficiencies first." That's just welcome to Asia. And again, the C-fed probably is focused more on building up for Beijing 2022 now, so anything, even if we think is painful, if they view it as good for Chinese skating in the long run, they'll go with it now. Again, there are no expectations for a Chinese male, never mind a ladies to medal PERIOD. So to the chinese skaters, anytime so long as its before Beijing 2022, is a good time to work on anything you need to improve on going into 2022. And for Boyang, if it means SS, stamina, even if it ruins some of the program for him this season, it will be viewed as a building block, not a "problem of the choreographer." And in the long view, maybe it's not a problem of the choreographer, but something he'd have to work on anyways. 

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I'd also like to remind people not to be too harsh on Lori. True, that Star Wars program isn't a good program, but she did the best anyone could with the Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon music, which is a hard piece to choreograph to. 

 

Also, just look at the sheer number, that Lori choreographed in a short time for the Chinese team: 

3 programs for Sui/Han (including their EX, which is a masterpiece too)

2 for Yu/Zhang

2 for Peng/Jin

2 for Boyang

2 for Han Yan

2 for Zijun

 

that's 13 programs!!! and I'd argue, that out of these 13 programs, 5 are very very cleverly choreographed (all 3 of Sui/Han, Peng/Jin's FS, Boyang's SP). Han Yan's both programs suit him a LOT and it's not easy, because although his SS are good, he actually needs a lot of set up time for his jumps and skates a lot on both feet without many Transitions. 

Zijun also go 2 wonderful programs, the SP is fantastic and I don't know about the FS because we've not seen her skate it fully yet. 

 

So I'd give Lori the benefit of the doubt and say it's just statistics, that if you choreograph 13 programs in such a short time, at least one will turn out bad. I don't think she had any ill intentions with Boyang (I mean, who wouldn't like him anyways?)

 

Just think of Carolina's Sheherezade. Lori clearly loves Carolina, not only as a skater but also as a person. Still, after the season Caro head a lot of success with her Bolero FS, Lori choreographed an awful Sheherezade program that Carolina had to ditch during the season because it was so bad. Sometimes even very good choreographers choreograph bad programs...

 

here's a link to Caro's Scheherezade btw: 

yes, it's a lot worse than Boyang's Star Wars 

 

 

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to the above post:

There are skaters who can transcend that. Also, Boyang does have to do a bit extra to get his pcs points, chinese skaters are just not viewed as artistic, and some people in China even hold that view. So I am not shocked that he is not going for TES, but trying for an insane choreography. 

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12 hours ago, sublimeskating said:

 

his SP is actually quite good - not as fun and crowd pleasing as spiderman but has more room for artistic expression

he just needs to perform it better (as you said) - the coc version is better than the one at finlandia but every time he misses the jumps/landings, it throws off his timing for the second half with all the fast beats.  i still see him struggle to keep up with the music in the second half at coc after missing that 4T (but apparently he had an ankle injury so he did well in the circumstances)

 

LOL i'll probably be complaining about boyang's FS till like next year at olympics but i'm actually hoping that somehow boyang will pull a miracle and actually put on a decent performance with that...

It's great to hear btw, that people care for his programs. =) Actually you're probably the biggest Boyang fan I know outside and inside of China. :smile: And it's great to see that some do appreciate the Chinese mens skaters, since they are not so well known (and somewhat underappreciated) inside of China. 

 

I think Boyang will get better-he probably views the current programs as a challenge for his growth, even if it means he has to overcompensate a lot. And frankly, it has been a bit of a discussion inside China itself on whether or not we should allow our skaters to train long term overseas. Yes Li Zijun did, but she might not be the most stellar case you want to use. I think even using a foreign choreographer (Lori) is a major improvement compared to the past. Figure skating is also growing in China, though we are no where close to how it is in Japan, North America, maybe not even South Korea, but it is growing. Like the tour shows on the road- that would be unheard of 4-5 years ago. That there are young skaters who are doing okay, via training on commercial rinks instead of one of the large training centers up North, is also a major positive step. Also, since the commercial rinks are opening in southern China now, they're tapping into the much richer and populous side of China too, which normally have no ice training centers. 

 

Chinese fed doesn't have as huge a budget, or clout as some of the other figure skating feds. Therefore it has to pick and choose its battles wisely. This cycle they're probably focusing on pairs, since Sui/Han is so dominant (but we still need to pull muscles to help them to a degree). I think after Boyang grows a bit further this year, there's a lot at stake for him too, and the fed will likely pull resources for him. =) They're probably trying to avoid a direct competition/comparison with Yuzuru too. 

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