And she's taller than Kostner.
2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating
- Thread starter Spirals for Miles
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
Shcherbakova sets out with a hammer, attempting to nail every single beat. It's not necessary and disrupts the choreography and expression of the music.
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2018
The dress is borrowed until her dress is ready. This one was used by Alina once last season and I read somewhere that it originally belonged to Diana. So it must be just a temporary dress. Of course, IF that's her new SP, which I think was an assumption, not a fact.
Cold take. This take was chilling in my refrigerator.
(Side note: I do think Sasha has improved a lot more in movement quality and musicality this season than most give her credit for.)
I thought Sasha did very well with her new exhibition. She's really improved on finishing her movements but must say I really enjoy and prefer her powerful programs as they're different and make her stand out from the masses of generic lyrical skating (I'm sorry, princessy is really not my cup of tea).
Also, the more I've watched the girls skating and dancing, the more I feel that it's Sasha who has the strongest sense of rhythm of the 3A. She may not feel the music as strongly as Anna but she always hits her accents and that saves her programs even when she's not focussed on performing. She's like the antithesis to Alena who I feel has great musicality but has no natural sense of rhythm so if she's concentrating on other things or on edge, the performance can be affected quite a lot.
Also, the more I've watched the girls skating and dancing, the more I feel that it's Sasha who has the strongest sense of rhythm of the 3A. She may not feel the music as strongly as Anna but she always hits her accents and that saves her programs even when she's not focussed on performing. She's like the antithesis to Alena who I feel has great musicality but has no natural sense of rhythm so if she's concentrating on other things or on edge, the performance can be affected quite a lot.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
Nailing movements on the beat is part of executing choreography well.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
You missed my point. You don't need to nail every beat. Some should be screwed... Variation is important...
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
Gotta love Peter Shaffer! Mozart has a great monologue in the play.
When all the notes are treated the same, it doesn't leave as big of an impression artistically.
Which few (beats) do you have in mind, your majesty...
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
This analogy doesn't work because Mozart's music has variation and dynamics.
This analogy says that it is a dialogue of a professional with an ig-sorry, nonprofessional. Let anybody decide for himself who is who in the matter of Anna's music accents.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
Ad hominem attacks do little to prove a point. And you do realize you were the one who came after me for having an opinion different from your own, right? Not the other way around. So when you say "Let anybody decide for himself who is who in the matter of Anna's music accents," my natural inclination is to roll my eyes.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
Of course musicality isn‘t the same as elegance and grace! I don‘t think anybody said that, though. Or at least I haven’t seen a post lumping the two together.
It‘s just that I‘ve personally never seen any kind of musicality from Sasha. Not from the off-ice dancing, not in her programs, not in the group gala performances. In the group performance today she was wildly off sync as far as I‘ve seen. In the dance numbers she seems to have studied the choreography very thoroughly and carefully so she executes it well. But nothing more than that, nothing that would show she has any deeper understanding of the music itself. I think it might depend on what we define as musicality. For me it‘s this - a deeper, thorough understanding not only of obvious musical cues and accents but the melody, general feel and small details and then the ability to express that with one’s body. For me, Sasha doesn‘t have this. She doesn‘t necessarily need to, though. Interpretation of the music is only one aspect of PCS. If PCS were awarded accordingly to what really is being put out on the ice (which they aren‘t but that‘s, as a whole, a separate issue) she would get low marks in this part of the PCS but could do better at skating skills or performance.
Because she does have the potential to be good at both! Like I said, I think her basic skating skills, the edge work, are better than Anna’s. It’s just that this season, her programs either highlight her weaknesses (like the SP) or have too many quads, which then makes her focus (understandably!) less on the skating itself. With 3 quads though (and even with the falls!) there seemed to be a difference to her general skating quality as she had more time to focus on something other than jumps. And I do think she’s more than just jumps! So, that‘s why I think the basics are all there, it‘s just about finding the right vehicle for her as a skater and a person.
As for the programs themselves: As already mentioned, if she has time to focus on the performance, she is a good entertainer, because she has a special quality about her and the sort of charm that draws people in. Imo, that‘s why programs such as Kill Bill, Big Spender and Unstoppable work for her. People loved her Unstoppable and they didn‘t care one bit that she lacked some kind of deep sensitivity to the music. Because she enjoyed skating, she had energy and enthusiasm and is generally just a powerful and energetic skater. Give her something modern and fun and let her enjoy it. Then her PCS will go up too. Probably not on the same level as Aliona‘s because, tbh, she just isn‘t there but so that her technical advantage will help her win gold again. Anyway, just my two cents.
As for the scoring and technical stuff: Sasha with a 3A and 3-4 quads is very dangerous to Anna and I‘d say would beat Aliona pretty handily on TES and probably overall. The question is just whether she could land that kind of layout cleanly. I don‘t think it‘s the PCS, though, that cost Sasha her victories lately. It‘s that she hasn‘t been performing cleanly whereas Aliona and Anna mostly have.
Chandelier choreography with Anna and Alina. Yes, Alina stands out in that video for her expressions but Sasha is just as musical in her body in that combo. On the ice, Kill Bill, Unstoppable, and her Big Spender programs were quiet musical. You can see variations in her body, movements, and posture in response to the music. That is sensitivity to the music. Sensitivity to the music does not actually mean skating to more sensitive pieces. In classical and to a lesser extent lyrical pieces, but is very much about responding to the smaller nuances and subtle notes. But in Sasha's programs, it is very much about the feel and themes of the programs. Big movements in the crescendos and strong sharp changes. It's not a subtle because the music is not as subtle and complex. It's not the same kind (or same level) as Anna's classical programs, but it's a completely different genre of music and choreography. If you can't see it, you probably just don't like her style. Of course musicality is lacking in the multi quad programs; even Nathan Chen who always had good musicality even in his first seasons had this problem; too much time spent setting up quads. In this area, I guess Anna's quads are more effective as she has transitions and they blend into choreography. But Sasha also has other areas where she is better than Anna. She's not as musical as Anna, but that doesn't mean she's not musical at all.
Emperor is definitely not the professional in that scene in comparison to Mozart, yes, he speaks like the direct opposite, that's what that whole scene is about. "Some should be screwed" is precisely the analogy to his comments about "cut a few (notes)". I say with Mozart "This is absurd", but you can definitely make your case by pointing out which beats should be ommited according to you, because I'm still not implying that you are not a professional when it comes to choreography and it's performance in accordance to music. Maybe you have rich experience with choreographing figure skating programs.
Though, let's be honest, this is not the first, not second, not even the third time you are pointing out your opinion on Anna's alleged imperfections, which only a few people share. So, I have my doubts. Yet disagreement with an opinion is not going "after you". You didn't post last three or four comments with the idea everybody will agree on that...
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
Don't even know what to say to this... You literally just decided you're Mozart and I'm the Emperor in this analogy, as if that proves you are "right" and I'm "wrong" for an opinion. Opinions aren't right nor wrong.
I didn't make the choreography of Anna's programs, nor I am performing them, just like I didn't compose Mozart's works incl. The Abduction from the Seraglio. But the one who did (Mozart) was a professional facing the objection that there are "more notes than ear can hear". Even if I'm not a Mozart, I dare to say that such idea is "absurd". I also didn't create Anna's programs, nor performed them, and yet I dare to say that saying "Some (beats) should be screwed" is on the same level of absurdity, that's why that analogy with the scene fits so well.
Opinions can be easily wrong, BTW. Opinion that "The Moon is made of cheese" is simply a wrong opinion.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
The bold is simply not an opinion, though. I think you need to consult a dictionary.
I thought I saw the dark haired lady coach with her. Her part actually had to be rehearsed with the group number with the butterflies, (or angels?) so perhaps she was cast as a part of that group.-she did a wonderful job though-the double axel was beautiful. I really hadn't realized how tiny she is, she looked taller during the Novice competition. We shall see though at the Novice nationals next month-who she shows up with coach wise.
So I guess we are done about Anna nailing too many beats. OK, it was starting to be boring (opinion).
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Practise group shedule for junior worlds is out: http://www.isuresults.com/schedules/WJC2020_MusicRotationAll.pdf
I wonder if there will be any video from it.
