In just a few hours competitors will take to the ice in the 3rd event of the senior Grand Prix, Cup of China in Beijing. I need to sleep tonight, so I won't be up at 2:45 a.m. Eastern to watch on IceNetwork. I will be slowly and begrudgingly rolling out of bed to a 5:50 a.m. practice to work on outside rockers.
I'm starting to remember what to do so I don't come out of the turn on a flat for an ungodly number of feet before I can control being on the appropriate back outside edge. I've been trying to pull my free hip back immediately after the rocker to go into a back pivot. Thinking of a back pivot position seems to get my hip in the appropriate position but I'm still getting this scratchy flat, particularly when I'm actually working on power skating in the move. I was told by a dance coach to think not of pulling my free hip back, but to think that my skating leg and skating hip keeps pushing forward. After trying that, something seemed to click and I could remember my movement in the Rocker Foxtrot, a compulsory dance with a move similar to the junior MITF rocker pattern.
While I'll be seeing if I can recreate that action again and improve my outside rockers, skaters far better than I will be putting their short programs out there for judges and the rest of the skating world in Beijing.
My favorite skating blog has a good preview of the competitors at Cup of China: http://loopaxles.blogspot.com/2010/11/beijing-bound.html
If you find yourself with insomnia, check out Aaron's predictions about the event and tune into IceNetwork or Univerals Sports. See if you can spot rocker turns in footwork sequences and if it looks like the free hip is back or the skating hip is forward....
Showing posts with label Cup of China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cup of China. Show all posts
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Romping through the Far East and Midwest
A couple of weekends ago, I got up early and let the dog out. Then I plopped in front of my laptop to watch bits of the men's and pairs' competition at Cup of China. Crazy time differences, I was seeing their evening performances in my slippers over the live feed.
Cup of China was a "comeback" comp for Shen & Zhao and comeback they did. I enjoyed the free program, it was easy to watch. The side-by-side jumps were probably a bit too far apart, but overall an excellent skate.
Cup of China was the debut of some of North America's Olympic medal contenders. Belbin & Agosto won the ice dance event, Evan Lysacek medaled in the men's event, and Mirai Nagasu & Rachel Flatt had nice outings in the front of the judges and their international competition. Joannie Rochette of Canada had a disappointing short but bounced back with her superior freeskate to Saint-Saens "Sampson & Delilah."
I must say I was a tad disappointed in the Americans. Evan Lysacek skated well, he was downgraded on a jump in each program, but the programs looked good. While the music was new, his programs have come to have a predictable pattern. I was slightly distracted from that pattern watching the short. He's skating to "Firebird" and has a black outfit, with long black feathers at the end of the sleeves. It kept giving me an image of Edward Scissorhands... all in black with these big, dangling, useless hands... except with feathers. Lose the feathers Evan!
I caught the ladies short and was thrilled that Mirai Nagasu had a good skate. She managed first which was a big improvement over everything last season. I expected more from Rachel Flatt with her "Sing, Sing, Sing" short. The YouTube clip of her performance at a summer competition gave me hope that she added some pizzazz to her consistency. However, the program just didn't seem to fill the big arena their in Beijing. She somehow appeared to be skating on ice twice as big as her competitors.
Belbin & Agosto chose a Moldovian theme for their original folk dance. Then they skated to a version of Ava Maria. The Ava Maria program is beautiful and features interesting lifts, however, I thought it was an odd choice for them. Since changing coaches prior to last season, I feel they have become more confident in their technical skill which especially has helped them in the compulsory portion of the competition. However, I their programs seem like they are coming straight out the Soviet School of Ice Dancing. I don't feel they are really offering anything new to the sport. Of course, skating passionately to Ava Maria is rite of passage in skating and Soviet/Russian ice dancers have demonstrated a winning formula of angst-ridden performances. I just Belbin & Agosto could be legendary with their talent by creating something entirely new. They're playing it conservative to win, while I think if they went outside of the box, not only would they win, they would blow everyone away.
I really think Meryl Davis and Charlie White are skating outside of the box this year with their Bollywood-inspired original dance. Watching Belbin & Agosto and then Davis & White in back to back competitions proves really brings that home to me. Davis and White have excellent technique and speed and I think their originality in their programs demonstrates those skills.
Davis and White completely left their competitors in the dust at the NHK Trophy. I was in Chicago over the weekend. I got to enjoy the weather for a weekend holiday shopping spree but the hotel didn't have free wifi so I missed my morning ritual of watching the live feed from Asia.
So glad to catch up on the NHK Trophy mid-week after work. Brian Joubert is back! He looked Yagudin-like out there. There was such command of the ice and energy in his performances. I haven't really seen that from him for awhile.
Johnny Weir actually put together two solid skates in the same competition. He earned a silver souvenir for that accomplishment. Jeremy Abbott debuted his programs for the season. Love the short, "Day in a Life" awesomeness. Jeremy, note to self, ice shavings are very apparent on black outfits so don't fall on every jump in the long! Daisuke Takahashi was back after injury last season. Wow, I missed him, he's programs fill the arena. Hope those jumps make a complete recovery after injury too.
Enjoyed the Kerrs free dance to Krwling too.
I've been getting the hang of choctaws and my rockers are back to what I could do well 10 years ago. I think I may pass my junior MITF by February!
Cup of China was a "comeback" comp for Shen & Zhao and comeback they did. I enjoyed the free program, it was easy to watch. The side-by-side jumps were probably a bit too far apart, but overall an excellent skate.
Cup of China was the debut of some of North America's Olympic medal contenders. Belbin & Agosto won the ice dance event, Evan Lysacek medaled in the men's event, and Mirai Nagasu & Rachel Flatt had nice outings in the front of the judges and their international competition. Joannie Rochette of Canada had a disappointing short but bounced back with her superior freeskate to Saint-Saens "Sampson & Delilah."
I must say I was a tad disappointed in the Americans. Evan Lysacek skated well, he was downgraded on a jump in each program, but the programs looked good. While the music was new, his programs have come to have a predictable pattern. I was slightly distracted from that pattern watching the short. He's skating to "Firebird" and has a black outfit, with long black feathers at the end of the sleeves. It kept giving me an image of Edward Scissorhands... all in black with these big, dangling, useless hands... except with feathers. Lose the feathers Evan!
I caught the ladies short and was thrilled that Mirai Nagasu had a good skate. She managed first which was a big improvement over everything last season. I expected more from Rachel Flatt with her "Sing, Sing, Sing" short. The YouTube clip of her performance at a summer competition gave me hope that she added some pizzazz to her consistency. However, the program just didn't seem to fill the big arena their in Beijing. She somehow appeared to be skating on ice twice as big as her competitors.
Belbin & Agosto chose a Moldovian theme for their original folk dance. Then they skated to a version of Ava Maria. The Ava Maria program is beautiful and features interesting lifts, however, I thought it was an odd choice for them. Since changing coaches prior to last season, I feel they have become more confident in their technical skill which especially has helped them in the compulsory portion of the competition. However, I their programs seem like they are coming straight out the Soviet School of Ice Dancing. I don't feel they are really offering anything new to the sport. Of course, skating passionately to Ava Maria is rite of passage in skating and Soviet/Russian ice dancers have demonstrated a winning formula of angst-ridden performances. I just Belbin & Agosto could be legendary with their talent by creating something entirely new. They're playing it conservative to win, while I think if they went outside of the box, not only would they win, they would blow everyone away.
I really think Meryl Davis and Charlie White are skating outside of the box this year with their Bollywood-inspired original dance. Watching Belbin & Agosto and then Davis & White in back to back competitions proves really brings that home to me. Davis and White have excellent technique and speed and I think their originality in their programs demonstrates those skills.
Davis and White completely left their competitors in the dust at the NHK Trophy. I was in Chicago over the weekend. I got to enjoy the weather for a weekend holiday shopping spree but the hotel didn't have free wifi so I missed my morning ritual of watching the live feed from Asia.
So glad to catch up on the NHK Trophy mid-week after work. Brian Joubert is back! He looked Yagudin-like out there. There was such command of the ice and energy in his performances. I haven't really seen that from him for awhile.
Johnny Weir actually put together two solid skates in the same competition. He earned a silver souvenir for that accomplishment. Jeremy Abbott debuted his programs for the season. Love the short, "Day in a Life" awesomeness. Jeremy, note to self, ice shavings are very apparent on black outfits so don't fall on every jump in the long! Daisuke Takahashi was back after injury last season. Wow, I missed him, he's programs fill the arena. Hope those jumps make a complete recovery after injury too.
Enjoyed the Kerrs free dance to Krwling too.
I've been getting the hang of choctaws and my rockers are back to what I could do well 10 years ago. I think I may pass my junior MITF by February!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
From Russia to China
In just a few hours the Cup of China will begin in Beijing. I think the Compulsory Dance begins at 2:45 a.m. here, so it probably starts mid-afternoon there.
The Cup of China will mark the Grand Prix debut of Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto, Evan Lysacek and Joannie Rochette. They all medaled at worlds and expectations are high for them this season. High enough that Vancouver medals are expected.
This stop in the GP Series will also showcase the comeback kids in pairs: Shen & Zhao. I'm looking forward to seeing their skates. The started out as stronger technical skaters but their artistry grew over the years. They've spent the past two years touring with Stars on Ice, that only helps in growing their skills along with consistency.
Will their performances in front of their a home audience be anything like Evengy Plushenko's in Moscow this past weekend? Talk about a comeback. Since winning the Olympic gold in Torino, he's divorced, toured all over eastern Europe, gained 20 pounds, got involved in Russian politics, got married again, lost 20 pounds. He came out and landed quad combinations as naturally as walking. I never was a big fan of his before, but I respect that he truly put in the effort to comeback and be competitive for another Olympic win. He seemed to not be rushing through his footwork and covering the sloppiness with wild arm movements. He seemed to really be taking his time to make sure he was completed all the various turns to maximize the level. I hope that continues.
The Cup of China will mark the Grand Prix debut of Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto, Evan Lysacek and Joannie Rochette. They all medaled at worlds and expectations are high for them this season. High enough that Vancouver medals are expected.
This stop in the GP Series will also showcase the comeback kids in pairs: Shen & Zhao. I'm looking forward to seeing their skates. The started out as stronger technical skaters but their artistry grew over the years. They've spent the past two years touring with Stars on Ice, that only helps in growing their skills along with consistency.
Will their performances in front of their a home audience be anything like Evengy Plushenko's in Moscow this past weekend? Talk about a comeback. Since winning the Olympic gold in Torino, he's divorced, toured all over eastern Europe, gained 20 pounds, got involved in Russian politics, got married again, lost 20 pounds. He came out and landed quad combinations as naturally as walking. I never was a big fan of his before, but I respect that he truly put in the effort to comeback and be competitive for another Olympic win. He seemed to not be rushing through his footwork and covering the sloppiness with wild arm movements. He seemed to really be taking his time to make sure he was completed all the various turns to maximize the level. I hope that continues.
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