NBC showed Men & Ladies Long program on Sunday afternoon.
We already knew the result of this competition so we could focus the performance as entertainment.
And overall the result for men was
1. Tahahiko Kozuka 251.44
2. Yuzuru Hanyu 243.74
3. Tatsuki Machida 229.95
4. Konstantin Menshov 212.53
5. Jeremy Abbott 211.35
6. Michal Brezina 209.67
7. Armin Mahbanoozadeh 203.65
8. Tomas Verner 197.36
9. Douglas Razzano 187.73
10. Alexander Majorov 182.42
For men, We both enjoyed Tatsuki Machida’s Long program which was choreographed by Stephane Lambiel.
It’s really The “ Lambiel “ choreography !!
So much fun, and very creative , interesting choreography !
Machida was doing really great ! We already watched this more than 6 times !
Skate AMERICA TATSUKI MACHIDA FS 2012
I’m not so crazy for the music “ Firebird “ , and have never impressed with any performances with this music in the past, but with Lambiel’s choreography, it’s really impact and memorable.
Ray was saying he could picture Lambiel doing it.
I found Machida has a lot of artistic potential . This is a very difficult program to handle all these steps with the choreography, and he was with the music all the way.
This is my first time to see his performance. His movements are not polished yet some parts, but he is trying to care for movements of hands, fingers, and he has good form of movements.
His hand movements are detailed, actually he may have more sensitivity than Lambiel. His spins are beautiful to watch because how he was using his hands and arms.
I know no one can move naturally dynamically with music quite like Lambiel, because he is a natural artist who can truly feel with music, without calculation.
Probably only Daisuke Takahashi would be able to do it.
But I’m very impressed with Machida’s skating. Also His triple axel was wonderful.
I think there are skaters who want to be an artist or are trying to be artist, or care alot for art, however I don’t think there are any real artists in this particular competition.
But I like skaters who care for artistic movements and improving.
I also loved Daisuke’s last season’s Long program which was choreographed by Lambiel.
Hoping they will work together again.
Machida may be my second favorite Japanese skater after Daisuke.
Takahiko Kozuka -
Nice elegant costume which is fit with the music “ Introduction et Rondo Cappriccioso, op.28 “ by Saint Saens.
First thing I noticed was he started caring for his hands and arm movements in an attempt to make beautiful art.
He has good posture, and great skating skills, he’s a smooth beautiful skater.
Ray was saying he has no connection to music, only in the beginning the movements matched with the music, but soon after that, the music became his background music.
I know he is not an artist, more of an architectural type of skating, very dry and cold. But I see his skating with that way, and this is his style.
Still his best performance for me is his "Take Five" he did in GPF in 2008 - 2009.
This music Rondo is almost impossible to remove Johnny’s awesome beautiful performance of it in TEB 2004. Emotion and beauty , connection to music has strong impact and unforgettable to me, though it was nice to see Kozuka’s artistic improvement.
Yuzuru Hanyu -
I was wondering and excited to know how he broke the world record in Short program until I got to see the performance.
My impression of his performance (SP) is “ the COP “ winner performance. “
Power, speed, energy !” with clean program.
That’s it.
His jumps are wonderful and very powerful, but I feel his movements were slightly better until last season., now, it’s almost like nonsense movements , there was no art here, but only power and speed.
Choreography was not memorable. This kind of program may be good for Jeffrey Buttle who knows how to move, a natural artist and a dancer, but it’s not great to watch when a skater is not knowing basic of dance and movements.
Choreography was not story telling, no impact poses of movements but just rhythm. I prefer more story-telling choreography.
I was also wondering about his mind-set after receiving such a huge score in his SP, and how he can handle the pressure, especially skating in the last in his FS.
I suppose it's so difficult to skate both clean programs. In his case, breathing problem or stamina may be also influencing his performance, it's hard to focus to connect to music when you have health problem. He is a fighter and has a very strong ambitious to be the top.
I look forward to his future improvement.
Jeremy Abbott -
I only watched his Long program. I was impressed with his last season’s short program “ Take Five “ in US Nationals.
I feel he is more fit with that kind of style and theme of program which has ups and downs, rather than a lyrical style, because he is a good dancer and has a sense of humor.
I always feel his faster programs fit him better.
For lyrical style, I’m sorry to say but I have never been impressed with his movements, because of his incorrect form, line, not a yin-yang balance of movements.
His movements looks to me is all jelly type movements, there are no yang part, which is required to make good artistry for every art. His movements lack a certain firmness to them.
His poses don’t look artistic to me. I know he is trying but it’s missing the point.
All these jelly movements which I feel unbalanced makes me bored and nothing memorable which I don’t see as grace, and turning moves with one arm up which need more yang power to get balance.
I thought his Masquerade Waltz he did in US Nationals in 2008 was interesting, even though it was unpolished. It had more contrasts within the program, slow parts and faster parts, attacking part and jelly part and the choreography was interesting.
I don’t always agree with Dick Button but I do with the following.
He wasn’t talking about Jeremy, but the topic was form and movements, and he once described it this way, he used as an example Sasha Cohen, and if I remember it correctly, his quote went as follows,
“ Her form and movement is beautiful, and part of that is because she has like a steel beam down her back “.
This made even her softest movements have an underlying strength to them.
This is what I feel is missing from Jeremy’s movements.
If possible , he may want to see great ballet dancers Daniil Simkin, ( for men ), or Alina Cojocaru ( for ladies ) ‘s movements and learn how they are using their whole body.
The above two ballet dancers are my favorite ballet dancers and whenever I see their performances, all the other dancers look boring even though they are all professional dancers.
If the dancer or skater is doing only jelly type movements, this is unbalanced. Every water flowing movements has strength and heart.
I thought Jeremy will improve his movements and will notice about that and get it someday, but he hasn’t been improving in that way, doing same movements every season.
I suppose no one was telling him about it. And getting high PCS also is making him to think he is already perfection for his movements. (?)
Taking a ballet class may be good idea to learn movements if he wants to make good art for lyrical style. But he needs a coach who gets this and fixes it. It will be much better and his movements will look much better if he fixes them .
Just my thought.
Skate America Ladies Results
1. Ashley Wagner 188.37
2. Christina Gao 174.25
3. Adelina Sotnikova 168.96
4. Valentina Marchei 158.79
5. Haruka Imai 157.72
6. Mae Berenice Meite 155.95
7. Alena Leonova 153.49
8. Viktoria Helgesson 144.85
9. Rachael Flatt 136.09
10. Sara Hecken 134.09
For ladies, Skate America 2012 Ashley WAGNER FS
We both enjoyed Ashley Wagner’s free program performances.
I’m very impressed with her artistry in this performance.
I love that kind of detailed movements which are really well-balanced.
Her movements are getting more and more polished, really great !
Very interesting choreography which fit with the music.
It was so beautiful.
Only for her jumps, I think Christina Gao’s jumps are more impressive.
Gao’s jumps reminds me of Yu Na Kim’s jumps, very powerful.
They also showed Adelina Sotnikova ’s long program but the music really bothered me , like a big noise and was unable to focus watching her performance.
Hoping she will change that music.
For this event,
Ashley Wagner and Tatsuki Machida’s long programs are my favorites.
And Yuzuru’s powerful jumps for his SP.
Grand prix competition event still come up every weekend and I look forward to see it !