Skip to main content

My review - 2015 US Nationals Figure skating competitions


It was so exciting and thrilling to watch US Nationals Figure skating competitions this year !

I really liked how NBC covered all the US nationals events.

It was also great to see Terry Gannon, Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski  back together again for the commentary !

Because they are so fun and makes me feel great so I really love watching these three together's appearance.

Also, it was enjoyable to watch the scenes with many skaters's impressive Kiss & Cry moments during the events.

I thank you to NBC !


About the events,

My favorite events were men's and ice dancing this year.


Men


Men's competition, winner was unpredictable seeing the results of Grand Prix Series.

No one was qualified for GPF this season, so I thought Jason Brown, Jeremy Abbott, Max Aaron, Richard Dornbush, Adam Rippon, Joshua Farris,  anyone of them could win.


Result


1    Jason Brown      SP: 93.36   FP:181.62    Total: 274.98
   
2    Adam Rippon     SP:84.71    FP:187.77    Total: 272.48
   
3    Joshua Farris     SP:90.40    FP:177.58    Total: 267.98   

4    Max Aaron         SP:85.78    FP:173.41    Total: 259.19
   
5    Jeremy Abbott    SP:89.93    FP:168.36    Total: 258.29   

6    Ross Miner         SP:82.25    FP:167.03    Total: 249.28
   
7    Douglas Razzano SP:74.01    FP: 159.41 Total: 233.42
   
8    Nathan Chen      SP:76.20    FP: 154.79    Total: 230.99
   
9    Grant Hochstein  SP:75.70    FP: 154.58    Total: 230.28
   
10   Richard Dornbush   SP:79.24    FP:142.84    Total: 222.08   

11   Alexander Johnson SP:68.46    FP:149.81    Total: 218.27
   
12   Sean Rabbitt        SP:71.39    FP:139.85   Total: 211.24
   
13   Jordan Moeller     SP:67.81    FP:138.19     Total:206.00
   
14   Timothy Dolensky SP:68.41    FP:124.97     Total:193.38
   
15   Patrick Rupp       SP:56.29    FP:122.13     Total:178.42   



Jason Brown

             Jason Brown - US Nationals 2015  Free Skate  


Congratulations on winning your first Nationals title !!!

It was so great to see his magical skating performance again - both programs !

I'm a big fan of him, was rooting him, so I could not watch his live and was away from our TV while he was skating because of nerves.
and when he finished the performances, I came back and saw the result and watched later.

He was strong mentally, in the situation where there were many expectation from audience and pressure from it.

We love both of his performances, especially his free program.
I got chiles watching it.

No matter what others say, I love his skating which has full of personality.  

My feelings react honestly, it's not about theory.

I really think he has his original type of skating which doesn't look to be copying anyone.

He skates with variety kinds of music, but his original movements are always there.

This may be one of the reasons I always enjoy watching his skating.

I feel Jason has the most personality on ice nowadays in all the men's skaters.

In the USA men's skaters, until Jason Brown appeared , I thought Johnny Weir was the only skater who had full of personality on ice.

He was not just a graceful elegant skater, but was very original.

For other countries, Emanuel Sandhu, Jeffrey Buttle from Canada, Daisuke Takahashi from Japan, Stephane Lambiel from Switzerland, Evgeny Plushenko , Alexi Yagudin from Russia, and Brian Joubert from France. 

We think they all have their own brand of skating style, like The Johnny Weir skating, The Emanuel Sandhu skating, and so on.

They all know the basics of movement and the basics of form.

Nowadays, there are many skaters who skate with graceful soft arm movements, but personality ? 

I don't see skaters who have " The brand " style ,  except Jason Brown and also Tatsuki Machida was getting his own style , but sadly he has just retired. 

about Jason's free skate,

Personally my husband and I still prefer his performance at Nebelhorn Trophy , because his expression looked more naturally connected to music there even though all the jumps were better in Nationals . 

I think one of the parts of being an artist means one who has an original way, so in terms of skating, it would be a skater who has an original way and has personality besides connection to music with their mind and body and heart.

His body movements are really well-balanced and beautiful and has a big impact.

There was no quad jump but it was almost clean, only one of the triple axel jumps were under rotated. 
I think he was well-deserved for gold medal.

About his costumes,

I think both of his costumes are matched with the theme of the music and programs.  

It would be strange if he was wearing a business man type of costume with this imaginative free program.

He was becoming the character of the story. 

It's a theatre and a show, not only a competition !

I thank you to Jason for giving us a lot of joy and excitement through the performance. 

About scores,   I feel that each country's scores can change based on how every other country is scoring their own top skaters .

All the countries want their top skaters to win worlds, so if other countries score highly, then every other country also scores highly as well, to try and be competitive with them.



Adam Rippon

            Adam Rippon - US Nationals Free Skate 2015  


It was really fantastic to watch him on fire and fierce both of his performances , SP and FS !

I especially love his free program performance.

One of the reasons is the music.  

Liszt's Piano Concerto No1 is one of my favorite music.
I'm so glad he skated so great with full of passion with the music.

He looked like a completely different animal compared to 2014's Nationals.

Except for the 4Lz, he landed all the other jumps perfectly.

He has been working so hard but could not show his best in the competition many times, but he never gave up.

I was just very inspired by his strength and high energy especially besides his performances.

Congratulations on your magical performances and got the highest scores in the Free skate !!!



Joshua Farris    

             2015 US Nationals - Joshua Farris SP 

  


I was so impressed with his improvement of his body movements through this competition.

When I first watched his skating, about 2 years ago, I felt his movements were like Patrick Chan and never interested in his performance except for his triple axel jump.

But now his body movements are well-balanced and make good artistic movements.  He put emotion in every detail of it.

I think Jason was lucky because if Joshua didn't make the error which he did two double toe-loop, gold medal was Joshua's. 

His quad toe-loop was full rotation even though he had minor landing error, and his quality of triple axel jump. 
I like one of his spins which looks unique.

I think he is very talented , pick up things so fast.

Only thing lacking is his orginal way of skating . One of his spins is great but, I think he needs more personality on ice.

My husband said he is great, but didn't feel he wants to watch his performances over and over. 

I feel grace is not enough, since there are many skaters who skate with graceful soft movements.  It's just my thought.

Next season's Nationals will be very interesting. 
But I'm very inspired by his talent. 

I feel Jason and Joshua, both are artists in different ways.   

Congratulations on winning your first senior Nationals medal !!!


Max Aaron


                    Max Aaron - US Nationals Free Skate 2015  


Men's competition for this event was really awesome and

I also enjoyed with Max Aaron's free program performance Gladiator.

Unlike his short program, I thought the music Gladiator fit with him, and his movements were more with the music compare to his short program.
Great thing about his skating is his quad jumps and his speed.

I'm glad to see his quad salcow jumps are back and landed perfectly.

His musicality for his short program was off, his mind and body had no connection to music,  I think that kind of music needs dancing skill.

But for his free program, he was doing good with the music gladiator and it was inspiring.  

He put all his energy and did everything  he could until the end, and after the music finished, he laid down on the ice from exhaustion.
I would give higher PCS for the performance. 

He was great!


For other skaters,

I wanted to watch Alexander Johnson's performances, but his performance was not shown on NBC, and I still can not find the video of his performance...



Ladies

For ladies event, it was predictable for top 2 placements for me. Because Ashley Wagner got bronze medal in GPF and Gracie Gold was qualified in GPF even though she had to withdraw from it.

and seeing both of their faces and their expression in the Nationals before the competition started, Ashley Wagner looked quite confident and strong, so I felt she will win.     

Gracie Gold looked nervous and didn't look she was on. 
It must be hard to control their mindset to defend champion. 
Besides, she is the most popular US ladies skater right now, and pressure and expectation must have been high.

So I was interested in who will get the third place which was unpredictable.  The result was unexpected. 

Result

1    Ashley Wagner -  Total score : 221.02
       SP : 72.04     FS: 148.98    
   
2    Gracie Gold - Total score : 205.54
      SP: 67.02    FS:138.52   
   
3    Karen Chen - Total score :199.79
      SP: 64.66    FS:135.13       

4    Polina Edmunds - Total score :192.62
      SP: 66.04     FS:126.58       

5    Samantha Cesario - Total score :182.82
      SP: 59.21     FS: 123.61      

6    Mariah Bell - Total score : 180.25
      SP: 57.35     FS: 122.90       

7    Tyler Pierce - Total score : 174.90
      SP: 60.28     FS: 114.62      

8    Courtney Hicks - Total score : 174.33
      SP: 65.01     FS: 109.32   
   
9    Hannah Miller -  Total score : 168.87
      SP: 59.81     FS:109.06       

10   Mirai Nagasu - Total score : 166.63
      SP: 65.28     FS:101.35       


Congratulations to all the medalists !


I thought Ashley Wagner skated her best ever performances.

I'm not sure her 3Lz +3T combo was full rotated, but she skated clean both programs, so really well deserved win.

Although, my favorite of her programs are still her Camile Saint Saen's Samson & delilah, because the choreography was much more impact and I love that music.

For this season's music, it's less impact for me except the ending part.   
The choreography was not so memorable and doesn't have specially unique movements. 

 I don't think she is a natural artist, seeing her movements are not always naturally artistic and I don't see her original style of skating.

But Great thing of Ashley is her strong fighting spirit.
She killed it using her mind.

The mind is the source of everything to win a competition.

She has been working hard for a long time, experiencing many down  times as well. 
 
Good luck in the Worlds !


Gracie Gold didn't look she was " ON" before she skated.
Defending Champion must be hard, but I thought she did good job without getting melt down.

She is just gorgeous to watch and I often love her costumes taste.  It's a shame, her skating doesn't have personality. 

There is no text book or someone who can teach how to show your personality on ice.  She just has to find "Gracie Gold skating " by herself. 

and third place was taken by Karen Chen.

She is new to me, and another talented young skater from USA. 
She attempted 3Lz+3T combination jumps even though second jump was counted as UR.
I thought she is a very speedy skater, she still skate like junior but I felt her skating has something impact.  

Also she is still 15 years old, and how she will handle her growing time while body changes.


and my favorite ladies performances are

Polina Edmunds


                   Polina Edmunds US Nationals SP 2015  


I just love watching Polina's beautiful movements.
I think she has the most personality on ice in the current USA ladies skaters.

Her skating is not just graceful, ballet style movements, but has her own style of movements.

Her SP tango's performance looked like a tango ballet.

I feel if she put more aggressive passion , it will be more close to real tango dance, but my husband and I really enjoyed her combination of tango and balletic movements.

For her free program, Peter pan,

I feel this Nationals's performance was the best.  The peter pan music was less impact, especially ending part may better to have dramatic, upbeat sounds so that it gets more impress to audience and judges. 
Just my thought.

My husband said her skating so graceful, even her falls ( which are not often ) are graceful.

I'm glad to hear that she was qualified to go to Worlds and 4CC  !


Samantha Cesario

             Samantha Cesario - US Nationals Free Skate 2015  


She is the only skater who has been attempting Triple loop+triple loop combo jumps (?) even though second jump was counted as UR she skated clean with no fall or step out.

I think she also has her own style of skating, and has personality on ice.
This is why it's always fun to watch her skating.

I feel she is so talented to express her character of the music.

I think Polina and Samantha are the most artistic ladies skaters in the USA. 

I feel all she needs may be Winner's mind set to succeed. 
Hope she will find it  . 

I'm glad to hear that she was qualified for 4CC !




Ice dancing


Result

1     Madison Chock /Evan Bates  - Total : 185.06   

2     Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani-  Total : 181.31   

3     Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue - Total : 164.74   

4     Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker - Total : 162.45   

5     Stasia Cannuscio / Colin McManus - Total : 156.48   



My husband and my favorite performance was Stasia & Colin's  Free dance Danse Macabre !!!

  Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus US Nationals Free dance  


They were awesome and had the biggest impact for us.
It had power, drama and beauty and art.  
We watched it several times.

We also enjoyed with Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue's  and  Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker's free dance performances.

Congratulations to Chock and Bates on their first Nationals Gold ! ( just this was not my favorite performance ).



Music

I was glad that there were several my favorite music which were not used much in skaters programs before this season.

They are
Piano concerto #1 in E minor, op.11 by Frederic Chopin,

Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt  ,

Piano Concerto #1 by Franz Liszt !


When the music is great, it gets uplifting feeling. 

Especially, it was so wonderful to see Adam Rippon skated awesome with Piano concerto #1 by Franz Liszt.


Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt  is always my all time favorite music and was always hoping someone will skate with this music on ice. 
I'm glad someone finally used the music , although the orchestra they used was not so good one.

Chopin's nocturne # 2 is often used by many skaters, but I've never seen his Piano concerto #1 was used in the past.

It's a very very romantic beautiful elegant music so it doesn't fit for junior skaters. ( IMO )

Who is fit with the music ?   

I would love to watch Johnny Weir skate to it someday with his refined elegant beautiful skating in ice shows.

I also love the short program music for Courtney Hicks . It's new to me , not a fan of her skating, but her combination jumps in her SP was quite impressive. That was the highest jumps I've ever seen in all the ladies skaters.


Ashley Wagner's free program's ending part of music " Show must go on  " was great, too. 

Jason Brown's free program music is also one of my favorites this season. and he skated fantastic with the imaginative choreography.

Hopefully, more skaters will use many kind of music which were not used often in the past.

Overall,  my husband and I really enjoyed this season's Nationals competitions.

Thank you again to NBC !



Popular posts from this blog

Who was The Mysterious Masked Messenger who visited Mozart ?

Perhaps the most mysterious legend about Mozart is that of the " Masked Messenger ". This mysterious masked messenger is also known historically as the "Man in Gray" , "The Mysterious Messenger" , "The Gray Messenger". The story of the masked messenger was featured prominently in the movie “ Amadeus ".           Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart How much of this story is true ? When Mozart died in the early morning hours of December 5, 1791, he left his final masterpiece, the Requiem , unfinished. A few months later, a completed score of the Requiem was delivered to its anonymous commissioner. How was the Requiem completed and how would Mozart have completed it had he lived? These mysteries have tantalized musicians for over two centuries. Mozart received the commission to compose the Requiem from the “ Mysterious Messenger" in the summer of 1791.  The Messenger paid half the commission in advance,

Health tips from an extra-terrestrial named Bashar - from a planet called Essassani

photo credit: skyseeker Mt. Fuji via photopin (license)    Today,  I would like to write about health tips from an extra-terrestrial being named Bashar who is from the Essassani Planet .     He is channeled by Darryl Anka. Planet earth used to have beautiful clear air, but since a long time ago the air has been polluted everywhere.    and the cause of most illnesses comes from the poison in the environment we are in, with the polluted air. Nowadays, it's hard to find places where there is beautiful clean air. and in this unfavorable environment, he is suggesting how to live healthy.   Health tips 1.  Clear Oxygen  According to Bashar,  the air after storms and typhoons have gone away, is the most clean ( purified ) and is good for our bodies. However when there is an overdose of artificial oxygen by using tools such as oxygen tanks , this can cause a lack of water, and will weaken cells.   So clean natural water needs to be used in a balanced amo

Sweet Food which does not get fat - Warabi mochi

I recently love eating this sweet food that Japanese call " Warabi mochi " which is made of 0 calories food psyllium in my coffee break time.   It's sweet food but I use Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener instead of sugar when I make it. Lakanto Monk Fruit sweetener is 0 calorie s and 0 glycemic and very similar taste as normal sugar. It is said it's derived from monk fruit, which looks like a small green gourd native to regions of China and Thailand.  It's not artificial so it is not bad for health so I feel comfortable eating it. Warabi mochi is a food which is normally made of Kinako ( soybean flour) & sugar & warabi powder and it's one of my favorite foods. However it's high calorie foods so if I eat a lot, it's easy to gain weight.   Because Warabi mochi flour is Starch and has sugar in it and is high calorie.  So I was not eating it. and then recently I found the recipe of diet Warabi Mochi which is made of Psyllium

Beauty skin care, Ninon de L'Enclos ‘s Secret of her young skin

Besides extra virgin olive oil, I’ve been doing a mixture of another great natural formula since two weeks ago. This information came from Ray who happened to find about Ninon de L’Enclos ’s amazing story concerning her youthful skin. According to the article, Ninon de L’ Enclos is known as a famous French beauty from the late 1600s. She kept her youthful skin until 85 years old when she passed away. Even in to her 80’s she was attracting many young men who fell hopelessly in love with her. She never published her secret of her youthful skin until the end , only telling her special friends about her secret formula. There is no photo of her, but seeing her painting in other websites, she looks in her 30’s when she was 85. According to the article, her face was as smooth and free of winkles in her 80’S as it had been at 20. She hated wrinkles and successfully kept her skin youthful , using her special secret formula. This information blew me away, and immediately

Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin’s friendship Part 1

Frederyk Chopin   I’m a long time fan of Chopin’s music since when I was a teenager. Started loving his music from hearing his Polonaise , then Noctunes , Etudes … Frederyk Chopin I was using one of Chopin’s Nocturnes as my background music for my answering machine when I was in my 20s. In Japan, many of his music is famous and used in many TV dramas, commercials, movies, and mostly wealthy bourgeois family scenes. My image of many of Chopin ’s music that I’ve listened to is of a cozy, bourgeois world. From almost all his music I’ve ever heard, I often pictured an elegant, wealthy family’s world or a story about a family who are living in a luxury antique style house. Many of Mozart ’s music reminds me of a social life in an older generation, a story about bourgeois world in a gorgeous luxury palace. For Liszt ’s music, his music is very variety, ranging from an image of a sweet passionate love story for couples, all the way to nightmare horror story type of mu

Franz Liszt’s dangerous love

  Franz Liszt was quite tall in his generation, standing 6 feet 2 inches tall , long blonde hair , piercing sharp eyes, pianist' long narrow and delicate hands and fingers. His body build was very slender. People who knew him described his personality as full of charm, charisma, and very knowledgeable.  And he loved brainy women. He was the consummate artist. It seems that Liszt loved dangerous love , which thrilled him and gave him excitement rather than a stable, peaceful , safe love. Franz Liszt While reading about his biography, I was wondering why he fell in love with two princesses who were already married. Marie D’Agoult He seems to have had a lot of love affairs in his life, someone found out that he had at least 26 serious relationships in his life ( besides countless other affairs ) but the only ladies he thought about marriage was with these two princesses , Marie D’Agoult and Carolyne Sayn Wittgenstein ? Charlotte Von Hagn L

My favorite ways of Law of Attraction Part 3 - Successful Wishing - Pierre Franckh

Pierre Franckh’s books “ Successful Wishing “ are another of my favorite books.     There are series, 1 to 6 , and are not published in English , but I did find them in a Japanese book store,  translated by a Japanese translator.   Pierre Franckh is a German actor ( Movies & TV) from 1959 – 2003, and is also a movie director and a writer.  Since 1996, he published many books and became a best selling author.  Franckh wrote based on his personal experiences from when he was a child . I love the way how he writes , it’s very easy to read and direct to the point, very clear how to do it with step by step instruction. Also importance of finding what you truly want.    Many people are actually not realizing what they really want and then when they get what they wanted,  still not feeling satisfied. Pierre said that before making your wishes and order to universe, it’s important to clear up what you really want and ask to yourself, why you w

Organic foods and healthy living “ You are what you eat ? “

We‘ve been enjoying organic foods since a month ago.   Because we care for our health and also organic foods taste more delicious than normal vegetables.   Recently, I really feel the famous quote  “ You are what you eat . “   is true.   Although healthy life comes from balance between mind, body, skin care, good night sleep and activities besides food life .   Health is a treasure.   Also I realized that “ good blood circulation ” is one of the most important key to keep healthy and look young skin.   After being amazed to see Styx’s ageless Tommy Shaw on TV, I started searching about “ secret of youth “.  He looks so much younger than his age.  Also, there was an interview with Styx on CNN in the morning about a week ago and they talked about what they think are the keys to longevity and a healthy life. http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/04/23/exp-kyra-phillips-age-against-the-machine.cnn  

”The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” - Albert Einstein 

Originally we were all creative because all children are creative. While growing up, many children lose their creativity by seeing, reading, hearing what many grown ups do and teach. According to a book called " Goal " by Brian Tracy, "Fully 95% of children tested between the ages of three and five are rated as highly creative. Of the same children tested again as teenagers, only about 5% rated  as highly creative. What happened to them in the interim ?   As they went through school, they were taught that if you want to get along, you follow the crowd. They learned not to question or challenge the teacher or to suggest unusual ideas. In their attempts to be liked and accepted by their peers, they allowed their creativity to die down, like a fire without fuel.  " "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once they grows up."  -  Pablo Picasso But if we don't use creativity, we lose it. It means that the more we use cre

Charm of Kenichi Hagiwara - Shoken

From Japanese Movie " Ame no Amsterdam (Rain in Amsterdam)" I've been into the late 1960s to 1970s generation since several years ago. I don't know why but I'm very interested in older generation's people, trends, lifestyle, scenery, habit, TV drama, music, films, etc..   and not so interested in new things much.  There are many new discoveries through checking out old stuff while reading and watching it, which I didn't know before. and about several months ago, I happened to find a youtube video of  a famous Japanese actor called Kenichi Hagiwara who was my favorite actor in 1970s when I was a kid. His nickname is Shoken and he is also a singer of Rock/blues music.                      Shoken( 18 years old) singing ”Legend of Emerald” Shoken was one of the super stars in Japan mainly from the late 60s generation to early 80s. When he was 15 years old,   he joined an amateur music group band called The Tempters as a vocalist.   A