I'd like for Mao Asada and Jeffrey Buttle to team up. They can do either dance or pairs. Heck, do both!
they are the perfect dream team
I'd like for Mao Asada and Jeffrey Buttle to team up. They can do either dance or pairs. Heck, do both!
Wow, good for her! She was a lovely single skater but never good enough.
Has Kira performed with a male partner, considering also galas and other off contest exhibitions?Kira Korpi for ice dance =P
And now she will be a lovely dance skater but never good enough. I think it is too late to change. Others at her age are competing internationally and she is still beginner to dance. I don't think one can catch up 10 years of ice dance training the other Russian dancers of her age have. At the time she was wasting her time learning jumps, the dancers were spending the same amount of time learning turns and edges properly (not the 'free skaters way', but really deep ones). She will soon age out of juniors and she is nowhere near the level of a senior ice dancer.Russian senior Ice dancers usually have some wins on junior Grand Prix and often junior worlds title, she won't even have that. I think it will end up the same way as when Biriukova switched to pairs.
As much as I love Proklova as a single skater, I think she would be an amazing pairs skater. She is not tall, is flexible. Also knowing that current young Russian pairs do not have girls who jump well (Fedorova, Vigalova)...
And now she will be a lovely dance skater but never good enough. I think it is too late to change. Others at her age are competing internationally and she is still beginner to dance. I don't think one can catch up 10 years of ice dance training the other Russian dancers of her age have. At the time she was wasting her time learning jumps, the dancers were spending the same amount of time learning turns and edges properly (not the 'free skaters way', but really deep ones). She will soon age out of juniors and she is nowhere near the level of a senior ice dancer.Russian senior Ice dancers usually have some wins on junior Grand Prix and often junior worlds title, she won't even have that. I think it will end up the same way as when Biriukova switched to pairs.
yes, why not? She has the skating skill for it. But who would skate with her?
Maria just really loves to skate. So she's giving it a try, to leave no stone unturned. This way, even if it doesn't work out in the end, she won't have any regrets that she didn't at least try every option to prolong her career.And now she will be a lovely dance skater but never good enough. I think it is too late to change. Others at her age are competing internationally and she is still beginner to dance. I don't think one can catch up 10 years of ice dance training the other Russian dancers of her age have. At the time she was wasting her time learning jumps, the dancers were spending the same amount of time learning turns and edges properly (not the 'free skaters way', but really deep ones). She will soon age out of juniors and she is nowhere near the level of a senior ice dancer.Russian senior Ice dancers usually have some wins on junior Grand Prix and often junior worlds title, she won't even have that. I think it will end up the same way as when Biriukova switched to pairs.
Maria just really loves to skate. So she's giving it a try, to leave no stone unturned. This way, even if it doesn't work out in the end, she won't have any regrets that she didn't at least try every option to prolong her career.
I am going to throw out a weird one. Mirai Nagasu. I wonder if mentally do better in pairs with a dominant partner. She seems to do well letting others take the lead. I think having a partner that she can let make a lot of the decisions and takes more of a go with the flow attitude might work well for her. I think she might be happier having someone like that to face skating with. She could still do what she loves, but just have someone to share the stress with.
Sorry, Stitch, but gotta disagree with some of your comments here re Mirai.
The overall notion of her switching to pairs is not unthinkable to me.
But I strongly believe that she would stand for nothing but an equal partnership. She strikes me as quite feisty, and IMO, she would refuse to have a "dominant" partner who would make most of the decisions.
The one part of your post with which I agree is that someone with whom to share the stress could be a benefit of pairs for her.
As for: "She seems to do well letting others take the lead" --
What would be the basis for your opinion??
That said, I would note that taking the lead could mean different things.
One of Virtue/Moir's coaches (might have been Shpilband) once said that Scott takes the lead on the ice, whereas Tessa takes the lead off the ice.
Joubert or Plushenko.
I think a person can be feisty and still be able to let other people deal with everyday minutia - some feisty people really don't care about minutia. I could see Mirai not really caring if the 2A or the 3Z comes first in the program, still being feisty, but letting someone else decide stuff like that. Sometimes when you really don't care between two options being forced to pick can really suck. I could see that in Mirai, if she is happy with two options, she may not really want to pick between the two, so letting a partner make the final decision between the two could work well and take away stress. If neither option elicit a feisty response, sometimes it is easier to let someone else make the call. That is not to say I think she is a push over, I am sure she says no plenty and still would with a partner. But for stuff she does not really care about as much, I could see her liking having a partner that likes making those decisions. By dominant I somewhat mean just someone who likes making decisions. I guess by take control maybe I just mean, dealing with stuff that Mirai is not really keen on dealing with. Maybe by dominate I really just mean someone willing to act as skating partner and personal assistant - i.e. does more work. I could see Meagan Duhamel as an example being dominant in this type of way but still, but still a part of an equal partnership in many ways. Meagan seems the type that would do her partners laundry if it made things easier and not give it a second thought beyond that it works and they are happy.
As for others taking the lead. Well she does seem to be improving under Tom Z and seems happy with her new position. Tom is kinda intense. She has commented on him having a binder with her life planned out through 2018. She said she does not want to see the binder, but she is still sticking with the coach that uses it. She strikes me as happy to go along for the journey, but does not really want to be a part of planning out the itinerary years in advance. I think if she could find a partner that was similar to Tom Z it could be a good match.
I don't say any of this as an insult to her, frankly I can see the appeal. Some people can take comfort in structure and Mirai may be one of them.