Jackie Wong's interview with Ashley: Making of Part 2: Returning to Ashley Wagner's La La Land Free Skate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIC5ezOlbh8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIC5ezOlbh8
Wagner Goes Back to LaLa Land
- Thread starter AshWagsFan
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A dress based on the green or blue one would be beautiful on Ashley!
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The truth is that no matter what choices Ashley makes and whether she announces them or not, some people "just have groans." Her every action is over-analyzed and generally decried by a vocal few. It's partly because she's open about things, and answers questions honestly rather than with canned PC answers.
That quality is exactly what many people say they admire about Ashley.
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That is not what she said. What she said is practically the opposite. She made no disparaging comments about the music. She only talked about her own, personal response to it, and that she'd begun to have doubts whether she could sustain her passion for it.
“I love the music. I still do,” she said. “I just think that it was very much like an inspirational kind of a setup. I loved that. I loved the choreography. I can’t speak highly enough of the music. But I just know myself, and I know that after a couple of months of just one emotion, I get bored.” http://www.wcsh6.com/sports/olympic...-program-early-with-ankle-infection/494990557
These lies get started about Ashley all the time. People make up things inside their own heads, and then state them as if they were Ashley's thoughts. Others take up the thread and yada yada yada. These sorts of lies do a lot of damage to her reputation.
well if she gets bored with it that implies she is not excited anymore with lalala. sorry but I don't see the lie in my comment.
maybe she should focus more on the skating than on all the media stuff and there would be no more misunderstings. just a suggestion
I'll give Ashley the benefit of the doubt. She may not be my favourite skater, but let's consider this.
Midway through last season she lost her national title. Then her long-term boyfriend dumps her right before worlds. She goes to worlds and was OK, but unspectacular, and posts her lowest finish in the event in years, after being the runner-up to Med only a year before. Then this season we find out she has a stalker who was IN HER HOUSE, and who knows how many times that person has been there before. This is now a legal matter, and she's lost sleep and is concerned for her own health and safety. Who can compete when they can't get a good night's sleep? She needs to figure out her life after figure skating ends in a few months' time, because it's not as if she were Sonja Henie who had major contracts that kept her in furs and luxury homes for the rest of her life. She's also not a major national superstar like Yuna or Mao, who will remain megastars in their own countries long after retirement. The structure of US sport and its celebrity infrastructure no longer supports a figure skater as a personality. After she won silver in 2016 she briefly caught the public attention but it quickly faded. She has to know what she's doing next. It is a LOT to consider and to deal with in the span of this year alone.
She may have gone back to Moulin Rouge! because it's done well as a vehicle for her and could have been a source of comfort. But it didn't deliver since she was no longer motivated. She no longer has Gracie as a competitor, who was a major source of motivation for her. It's a time of soul-searching, but she knows she has to deliver respectably for at least the US team medal.
So choosing LLL to jump-start the year is a good step for her. She needs something new to concentrate on. It's a difficult year enough already with the Olympics. Again, I'm not her biggest fan, but I hope she can concentrate and at least have the satisfaction of performing well, medal or not (well, individual, not team event), and end her career on a positive note, on her own terms.
Midway through last season she lost her national title. Then her long-term boyfriend dumps her right before worlds. She goes to worlds and was OK, but unspectacular, and posts her lowest finish in the event in years, after being the runner-up to Med only a year before. Then this season we find out she has a stalker who was IN HER HOUSE, and who knows how many times that person has been there before. This is now a legal matter, and she's lost sleep and is concerned for her own health and safety. Who can compete when they can't get a good night's sleep? She needs to figure out her life after figure skating ends in a few months' time, because it's not as if she were Sonja Henie who had major contracts that kept her in furs and luxury homes for the rest of her life. She's also not a major national superstar like Yuna or Mao, who will remain megastars in their own countries long after retirement. The structure of US sport and its celebrity infrastructure no longer supports a figure skater as a personality. After she won silver in 2016 she briefly caught the public attention but it quickly faded. She has to know what she's doing next. It is a LOT to consider and to deal with in the span of this year alone.
She may have gone back to Moulin Rouge! because it's done well as a vehicle for her and could have been a source of comfort. But it didn't deliver since she was no longer motivated. She no longer has Gracie as a competitor, who was a major source of motivation for her. It's a time of soul-searching, but she knows she has to deliver respectably for at least the US team medal.
So choosing LLL to jump-start the year is a good step for her. She needs something new to concentrate on. It's a difficult year enough already with the Olympics. Again, I'm not her biggest fan, but I hope she can concentrate and at least have the satisfaction of performing well, medal or not (well, individual, not team event), and end her career on a positive note, on her own terms.
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She needs to focus on one thing at a time. Why worry about her life post skating right now??? Her main focus this second should Nationals next month- working on her jumps and doing run throughs of both programs over and over again.
And who said she should retire after this season? There's nobody really coming up behind her and she's still the top US lady. I would recommend she do something like Carolina Kostner- continue skating until you don't want to and do it for the love of it, stop worrying about results and let the love of the sport shine through.
Ashley could easily skate another 4 years if she really wanted to. She's learned so much as far as competing and peaking. It would be a shame not use it. Look at someone like Venus and Serena Williams. They're 38 and 39 I believe and still at the top of the game with careful planning throughout the year and emphasis at peaking for specific events. You control your life, Ashley. Don't feel the need to conform to what most people think or are expecting you to do.
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These are the snippets of La La Land we've had so far:
https://youtu.be/9u5Q1Xok1y4?t=712
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcU8hqmA12Y/?taken-by=ashwagner2010
And this is part one of the video sheetz posted above
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u5Q1Xok1y4
https://youtu.be/9u5Q1Xok1y4?t=712
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcU8hqmA12Y/?taken-by=ashwagner2010
And this is part one of the video sheetz posted above
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u5Q1Xok1y4
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I am for whatever works for Ashley, if she is comfortable and feels she can improve on it why not.
It what works best for her
It what works best for her
I'm excited to see her perform this live in San Jose and am glad she is trying something different from MR 3.0. I'm glad she figured out that she can't recapture magic that happened almost 2 years ago and she needs to show something different.
Best of luck to Ashley at Nationals and I'll be rooting for her to do well!
Best of luck to Ashley at Nationals and I'll be rooting for her to do well!
Honestly she had struck lightning twice, first at 2015 Nationals by winning her 3rd U.S. title with the program and then getting the WSM at 2016 Worlds. It was a big ask to try to get a third moment from the same program.
Honestly, her mistake was doubting herself that it was an "Olympic program." I'm not sure what was going through her head when she asked Raf about the program, but honestly she should have stuck with her gut instinct she had back in the spring.
Honestly, her mistake was doubting herself that it was an "Olympic program." I'm not sure what was going through her head when she asked Raf about the program, but honestly she should have stuck with her gut instinct she had back in the spring.
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I agree that she could go for longevity, so I'll refine my point further: she's been through three Olympic cycles (including the run-up to Vancouver), so she may at least consider the next four years of her life, if she chooses to stay. I agree that she's learned to compete, and that's what I like and respect most about her. Sorry, I didn't mean to inadvertently think or imply that she should retire. She could do it now, or after 2022, or midway after the 2020 worlds, who knows? Or return in a couple of years a la Carolina (but not for a skating bar, mind you!).
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Please see above the bolded parts of your comments. You flat-out stated that Ashley said that "lala is just not exciting enough." Saying "I get bored" is quite different from saying "lala is just not exciting enough."
Ashley didn't put any of the fault on the music, the choreography, or the program. In fact she spoke highly of all three. She used "I language" to say how she felt; she didn't blame anyone or anything, including herself. She said she knew herself well enough to make this change.
I'm not a fan of her changing back and forth either, but she takes action and takes responsibility for that action. I admire that, and I respect the fact that sometimes we have to take an action to figure out that we need to backtrack, and that the first path was the right one. (It's called learning from a mistake.) Or, things have changed, and the first path needs to be reasserted.
I apologize for using the word "lie"... but I wasn't referring to your post alone. But at the very least, it is a misrepresentation to characterize Ashley the way you did. I'll put her actual quote here again; perhaps the 2nd time you read it you'll see the difference. Whether you do or not, peace.
“I love the music. I still do,” she said. “I just think that it was very much like an inspirational kind of a setup. I loved that. I loved the choreography. I can’t speak highly enough of the music. But I just know myself, and I know that after a couple of months of just one emotion, I get bored.” http://www.wcsh6.com/sports/olympics...tion/494990557
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I agree, but I'm glad she had the guts to learn from her experience and reassert her original path.
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Totally agree. 
And, indirectly, Ashley was helpful in matching Nathan up with Shae-Lynne to create Nemesis, one of this season's best. Nathan said that he saw how Shae-Lynne brought out Ashley's personality in her skates, and "I wanted that for myself." (Ashley and Nathan are training mates, in case anyone reading this didn't know.)
I fully expect La La Land to be another Shae-Ashley masterpiece!
I so much agree! I’m really excited for the potential LLL has for Ashley mostly because Shae-Lynn choreographed it!
In interview with Raf, he said that Ashely found it very difficult to motivate herself at her age and he actually told her they were finished this summer if she weren't prepared to work and work to win. I really can't see her continuing after this year and I don't blame her----it is an unrelenting grind.
In the end, it will not be the program she uses at Nationals , but how she skates that program technically . I don't think her technical side bodes well at the moment, but, then, as always, how her competition does will play a role in the outcome. Personally, I think this is Bradie's golden moment to seize and I suspect she will.
Ashley and Raf would be wise to hire some judges to come in and score her program before Nationals.
In the end, it will not be the program she uses at Nationals , but how she skates that program technically . I don't think her technical side bodes well at the moment, but, then, as always, how her competition does will play a role in the outcome. Personally, I think this is Bradie's golden moment to seize and I suspect she will.
Ashley and Raf would be wise to hire some judges to come in and score her program before Nationals.
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