tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post5162363426770946232..comments2024-03-15T09:03:33.742-07:00Comments on Jessica Dube Loves Scott Moir: Getting StartedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-17853538486995554972013-03-31T14:41:53.606-07:002013-03-31T14:41:53.606-07:009:54pm - you took the words right off my keyboard ...9:54pm - you took the words right off my keyboard - DW aren't doing the elements as fast and clean as VM are so why are they rewarded as if they're faster and cleaner? As for carrying the polka feeling throughout Giselle, God in heaven, what is 'polka' about that choreo mess leading into the twizzles, what the hell is polka about the twizzles themselves in any way whatsoever, and what is remotely polka feeling about that final lift? Furthermore, it's easier to do "clean and fast" elements if juniors can also do them, which is the case with DW's lifts, it's easy to do something that builds off a leap or a pull versus a blade, and if a 18th Worlds place finisher can do the hop into a two-set twizzle pass maybe the ISU should rethink the level of difficulty, especially when the 18th finishing team using that entrance uses a lot of other non-skating tricks to finesse the undeveloped skating skills of the female half of the team.<br /><br />There are, indeed, a million and one sloppy, unfinished components to what DW do - balance checks, two-foots and steadying themselves - some built into the choreoraphy and some not. When I see Charlie and Meryl with both feet flat on the ice in between stroking, just to push themselves along, when Meryl is constantly doing running steps and at other times she'll transition from one move to another with walking steps - how is this not reflected in the protocols? There is no way their pcs should be even in the ballpark of VM'S. VM are skating exactly as CoP demands ice dance be skated, and the judges are simply ignoring it. I believe the ISU is definitely complicit in favoring the US because of the pattern dances this past season and next - check out the amount of skipping in place in the Finn step - and how the polka "hold" is side by side -this isn't an accident.<br /><br />Even with the huge helping hand given the American team by the ISU both programs contained very little skating and a whole lot that ignored the style of the dance. And where they did have the style of the dance, the style of the dance should be SKATED, not hopped and skipped.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-19719412513252730062013-03-31T12:29:22.052-07:002013-03-31T12:29:22.052-07:00Above should read 'can't' be sure thei...Above should read 'can't' be sure their stuff isn't getting around.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-85750867340587742992013-03-31T12:28:10.049-07:002013-03-31T12:28:10.049-07:00I understand and don't want to preach at you b...I understand and don't want to preach at you but it's so easy to CHECK something like that. That's something I find frustrating, that's all.<br /><br />The owners of facebook don't want anything to be private. They want every single thing to be public and then of course, as everything on the web works, they want to monetize all of it in obvious ways and less obvious ways. Of course there is pushback from facebook users who don't want default settings to be public, so the main thing facebook does for those people is to make them aware of what they need to do if they really want to restrict access to facebook.<br /><br />The ground zero of facebook is everything on it is public domain. Unless someone has a facebook that only they can see, everything on their facebook has a chance of getting seen by strangers because anybody who has access to their facebook is perfectly entitled to repost it or publish it or send it to anyone else. So if they want privacy people absolutely have to trust every single person on their friends list not to show anything to anyone not also on the friends list. This is well known. I think even people with only a few dozen friends and family on their friends list can be sure their stuff isn't getting around.<br /><br />And then consider being a public figure - a celebrity even among your friends and family and you choose to have fans among your facebook friends. You know exactly what they'll do with the "private" photos you display - they'll share them "privately" with other fans via email or private image hosting, thus having it both ways. Protecting, they think, their friend status with the celeb, but also enjoying the status among other fans as the person with access to photos. The celeb knows exactly what they're doing when they keep fans as friends on facebook.<br /><br />I believe the sham has used the blog. As long as the blog is out there, may as well make sure certain photos get to the blog and then fake react like - OMG, look how our privacy is violated - no wonder we need to sham. It's happened very obviously at least twice.<br /><br />The sticking point, though, is there's no copyright issue, and even if they didn't want the photos published here they couldn't do anything about it.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-30197600081729175282013-03-31T12:16:35.891-07:002013-03-31T12:16:35.891-07:00It could be the quality of the on-line gif creator...It could be the quality of the on-line gif creator I'm using.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-16244033531483091292013-03-31T01:46:36.774-07:002013-03-31T01:46:36.774-07:00Wow. I am always very curious whenever ballet and ...Wow. I am always very curious whenever ballet and skating more fully intersect. I remember reading that Nina Ananiashvili used to skate singles when she was younger, but gave it up because she already had a lot on her plate with ballet and school.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-74479969796413588862013-03-30T22:10:00.699-07:002013-03-30T22:10:00.699-07:00"Also, "they're the only ice dancers..."Also, "they're the only ice dancers I've seen who actually randomly walk." Sorry, that award goes to the fake marching section of Funny Face. Which Marina and D/W lampooned in Ice, Sweat, and Tears. "<br /><br />How do you know they weren't lampooning Audrey? She's so lame.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-79290427246626027022013-03-30T21:54:44.822-07:002013-03-30T21:54:44.822-07:00"DW are getting high marks in the FD because ..."DW are getting high marks in the FD because doing clean elements with good speed is the most important thing."<br /><br />Here's what's so frustrating: D/W aren't doing the actual elements as fast or as clean as V/M are. It's especially evident if you have fancam versions of performances that were shot from a fixed perspective. D/W have their flurry of activity that makes them look faster and busier out there, but when they hit an element--footwork, lifts, the damned recycled twizzles--they lose speed in the element. As soon as the element is done, they're off in another flurry of activity. V/M maintain their speed in their elements. It's evident in all of the elements, but IMO, especially so in footwork sequences. V/M execute so much more cleanly as well. Pay close attention to D/W's elements--they have a tendency to be sloppy. It's a million and one tiny errors in execution that should be adding up but never seem to because the judges just ignore them all.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-56995589405463451642013-03-30T21:46:22.447-07:002013-03-30T21:46:22.447-07:00@3:56--I was using ballerina more in the colloquia...@3:56--I was using ballerina more in the colloquial, looser sense of the word.<br /><br />It was mentioned many, many moons ago in an interview or during a competition that Usova had trained with the Bolshoi. Sasha Zhulin started off as a singles skater, but after a bad knee injury, wasn't able to do the jumps anymore. Either he quit skating or switched to ice dance. I think they may have tried him with several partners, but nothing really clicked. Usova was training with the Bolshoi at the time, but had done figure skating when she was younger. Fortunately, someone had the absolutely brilliant idea for them to try out together. What a lucky, fortunate day for ice dancing and ice dance fans. I think Usova was 15 and Zhulin 16 at the time, although it may have been 16/17.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-54600300630248114452013-03-30T17:52:54.602-07:002013-03-30T17:52:54.602-07:00^Not meant as criticism - it's so awesome what...^Not meant as criticism - it's so awesome what you're doing here OC. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-86941486927813893962013-03-30T17:52:01.414-07:002013-03-30T17:52:01.414-07:00Since the choppy issue was brought up though, why ...Since the choppy issue was brought up though, why are they so much blurrier than the gifs you see on tumblr? Is it a blogspot issue? or the quality of the source video? Obviously not a huge issue when the video is available for anyone who wants to see, but I'm thinking DW ubers don't have the patience to really watch what is happening in these. That is if they have eyes at all, which is questionable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-24284750027944124682013-03-30T16:42:52.617-07:002013-03-30T16:42:52.617-07:00Another great piece from Jacquelyn Thayer, yay!
ht...Another great piece from Jacquelyn Thayer, yay!<br />http://stepsequences.blogspot.ca/2013/03/modern-and-contemporary-dance-2012-13.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-53960715928804219642013-03-30T15:56:21.942-07:002013-03-30T15:56:21.942-07:00Anon at 8:48 AM, I'm curious about what you po...Anon at 8:48 AM, I'm curious about what you posted re: Usova. It's normal for the Soviet/Russian skaters to have ballet as part of training, but this is the first I've heard that she was Bolshoi-trained. Wow. <br /><br />Also, this is more of a semantics issue, but did you mean that Maya was a student at the Bolshoi (instead of 'ballerina')? Because I think the term implies (in general) someone who's made it professionally as a ballet dancer. And I think that some ballet purists only use the term for exceptional dancers, like Fonteyn, Makarova etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-16770939022071183922013-03-30T15:44:26.072-07:002013-03-30T15:44:26.072-07:00I should have worded my initial post better, as I ...I should have worded my initial post better, as I certainly didn't intend it as fact. I was aiming to speak of it as possibilities. Obviously, I failed spectacularly...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-54267058441471782432013-03-30T15:35:16.285-07:002013-03-30T15:35:16.285-07:00OC, I'm the anon at 3:21 AM. I didn't mean...OC, I'm the anon at 3:21 AM. I didn't mean the comment as an attack on you. I was honestly just thinking out loud. I will have to bow to your superior Facebook knowledge, because I'm not familiar with Facebook at all. No need to swear at me, okay? (This is what bothers me sometimes about online posts--you lose the nuance of voice and tone.) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-14943979883781180582013-03-30T14:49:18.586-07:002013-03-30T14:49:18.586-07:00i wouldn't be surprised if they are. im not sa...i wouldn't be surprised if they are. im not saying its true im just saying its possible :PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-68603525489849695092013-03-30T14:33:52.474-07:002013-03-30T14:33:52.474-07:00It's more subtle than that. Politicking is goi...It's more subtle than that. Politicking is going on in every moment of practice, every judges meeting, every article written (USFS owns icenetwork), the choice of skaters to use in ISU training videos, the rhythms selected for compulsory patterns. Dropping CDs was a huge benefit to American ice dancers and hurt European dancers (and VM, probably as collateral, not intentionally). Including hip hop as an option for juniors in 2013? Using So You Think You Can Dance as an example of the hip hop they want to see? Whom would that be intended to benefit, if not American ice dancers? When the ISU talked about wanting uplifting programs whose storylines didn't need to be explained to the audience (whether that became a rule or not), that was clearly a move against the Russian style.<br /><br />The focus right now is: DW get better PCS in the SD because they carried the polka feeling throughout the dance (nevermind I don't remember anyone getting dinged for not carrying a rhumba feeling throughout last year). DW are getting high marks in the FD because doing clean elements with good speed is the most important thing. When the Russians were winning, having good lines and extension was the most important thing and it didn't matter if they spent half the program posing. <br /><br />The skating establishment could just as easily flip the script and decide the most important components were choreography and performance/execution. That creative new elements that interpreted the music were the most important, but only if you have great lines and posture. Put VM in all the instructional videos, and focus the judges' meetings on how innovative they are.<br /><br />Why is it the way it is? Probably because US has no medal contenders anywhere else, realistically. I understand DW fans believe Wagner is still preferred over DW, and they'd drop DW in a hot second if she won Worlds. That's probably so. But with no pairs or singles skaters on the World podium for several years now, and Lysacek not likely to come back, DW are IT as far as gold medal contenders, so USFS will focus on ice dance, while Canada will spread its support around.<br /><br />Dance used to be a joke in the US. Girls only signed up if they couldn't jump, and guys were so not interested that they all had to buy partners from Europe. As Asia took over singles and pairs, and Russia was on an overall decline, USA's considerable resources took greater interest in dance, first on the junior circuit, now at the highest level. That means everything from good skaters wanting to do ice dance, to increased funding, to increasing their voice within ice dance discussions in the ISU.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-66344068732144564802013-03-30T12:51:55.135-07:002013-03-30T12:51:55.135-07:00I think that's a lot of it both outside skatin...I think that's a lot of it both outside skating and inside. Over the years there have been skaters who've been pissed off by the success of other skaters for whom things appeared to come easily, even when the skaters are in different disciplines.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-46107873573641300652013-03-30T12:18:08.594-07:002013-03-30T12:18:08.594-07:00"Furthermore, if I can't see it, but some..."Furthermore, if I can't see it, but someone ELSE can see it, and that someone shows me, I can publish it."<br /><br />This is exactly what the sham has depended on from the beginning. Yeah, they all had open facebooks for a while, but a "closed" facebook (or any other social media) is still public domain. They sure as hell know that and they want all their stuff shared around, which it always has been and way before this blog existed. If they were really and truly concerned with privacy issues regarding their "romances" they wouldn't be posing and posting anything anywhere ever. <br /><br />I just love their little performances they put on for the public. Is it private or real? Hell no.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-77701191733087851732013-03-30T11:54:15.981-07:002013-03-30T11:54:15.981-07:00Scott is wonderful at blade level and as far as hi...Scott is wonderful at blade level and as far as his ability to vary momentum and tempo inside the phrasing of a segment of choreoraphy, he can do almost anything with any part of his body - a big move or a small gesture, and in the character of the style of the dance. He is the polar opposite of Charlie White, who struggles with control. A lot of DW choreoraphy works around that issue of Charlie's.<br /><br />I do though, think that Tessa's technique might be underestimated. There's a tumblr of her doing a single axel in a show and even that is spot on. Perfect placement of the shoulders and torso, perfect movement of the arms, straight off a clean forward outside edge, complete rotation and down on a clean back outside edge. Scott is so unusually dynamic for a guy - he has great flexibility himself and handles his body fluidly while maintaining a beautiful run of blade - that people might believe he's better than Tessa. I think they're perfectly matched as skaters too.oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-51982236752353740652013-03-30T11:45:42.080-07:002013-03-30T11:45:42.080-07:00Wow - good to know the stuff that just pops into y...Wow - good to know the stuff that just pops into your brain is fact to you without even bothering to google. Something to bear in mind with any further comments you make.<br /><br />Facebook is public domain. Jesus Christ. How out of it do you have to be not to know that? If I can see it, I can publish it. Furthermore, if I can't see it, but someone ELSE can see it, and that someone shows me, I can publish it.<br /><br />What else don't you know if something that basic not only escaped your attention, but you didn't even bother to check it after you thought of it?oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-39071577049062683452013-03-30T11:42:01.335-07:002013-03-30T11:42:01.335-07:00The most obvious difference is in the skating betw...The most obvious difference is in the skating between the two teams, which is the point. The gifs don't distort where the blade is, what the feet are doing, the mechanics of a transition, the technique of the skaters.<br /><br /><br /><br />oycanadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14056686007756844095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-58863206455922516532013-03-30T10:58:11.187-07:002013-03-30T10:58:11.187-07:00Who is holding down V/M and why? Is the USFS payin...Who is holding down V/M and why? Is the USFS paying the ISU for high D/W scores?Sarahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-1321401441282901072013-03-30T10:10:25.137-07:002013-03-30T10:10:25.137-07:00Good points anon at 8:48 am. I agree that Tessa is...Good points anon at 8:48 am. I agree that Tessa is the most talented dancer out of the four. In terms of skating, I don't doubt that Tessa is the one out of the 4 that can hold positions the longest because of her uncanny balance abilities but I also think that Scott is underestimated. Post 2010 - all of the FDs have focused on Tessa and I think Scott has done a wonderful job in showing off his partner. Another trait that I admire from Scott is the ability to be coached and to improve. My two cents...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-41015466028056805372013-03-30T09:03:54.338-07:002013-03-30T09:03:54.338-07:00The V/M gifs are choppy as well. You can still see...The V/M gifs are choppy as well. You can still see the difference.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2583966972735299482.post-19883616141839123622013-03-30T09:02:08.062-07:002013-03-30T09:02:08.062-07:009:54 Why can't we critique Meryl and Charlie&#...9:54 Why can't we critique Meryl and Charlie's ugly personalities as well?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com