Thoughts on the top ladies after the season & looking forward to what's next US TOP THREE POLINA: Polina had a wake up call season, in my opinion. (Not if you ask her, though) Body changes threw off her jumps causing her to have a bad Grand Prix season and a fourth place at Nationals. She capitalized on others’ mistakes to take Four Continents, but was held down by the judges (rightfully so, if you ask me) at Worlds. She seems to have found better control in her jumps, but this is causing her to stalk jumps and have very slow entrances to jumps. Technically, I think she can rebound but her junior packaging needs step it up a couple notches, STAT. A pink fairy dance long program is not going to cut it. I know Polina is only 16, but in figure skating, 16 is not that young. And Karen Chen (only 15) and Elena Radionova (also 16) have double the musical expression and emotional depth on the ice that I get from Polina. I need to see a more mature music selection, better costuming and hopefully some improvement on her limb-y body lines. Her body style reminds me of Carolina Kostner, who found a way to look graceful on the ice- so there's hope for Polina. And I know I'm being too picky- but can we ditch the braided hairstyle? And the hair flowers? Please and thank you. GRACIE: I'm gonna pause and say a huge "Hallelujah, Amen!" that I will never be forced to see her two programs from this season again. I've had enough of her short after two seasons and my ears need a break from her screechy POTO long program. I'll be honest- Gracie has grown on me a bit over the season, personality-wise, but I struggle with her as a performer. I can really see big things for her, but she's trying way too hard to be figure skating Barbie and it is not helping her. I want to mess up that perfect bun, put her in a sexy dress and give her some FIERCE music. Enough of this bland, classical-but-pretty crap; it doesn't seem to motivate Gracie well. She "paints by the numbers" when she skates and I feel like Frank and Lori Nicol are smothering the life out of this girl. (Sorry, Frank). I need to see some more fire, and less plastic-looking performances, Gracie. And maybe a sports psychologist is in order? She needs to get a handle on her headcase competitive fears- fast. The judges always hold her up and are practically BEGGING to hand her medals, no matter how plastic her skating is. She has a huge opportunity- can she take it? ASHLEY: What a rise from the ashes-The trajectory of Ashley’s season was great to watch. Considering everyone was bashing her for continuing her career, a season that included three medals in the Grand Prix, a National title and a top five Worlds finish certainly showed the haters that she’s still competitive. I thought her music and packaging this season worked well for her and I would love to see more of the same next year. That said, it’s still a long three years before South Korea and the little girls with big jumps will NOT.STOP.COMING. Ashley made technical progress this year and she needs to continue to get more difficult technical content to stay competitive. And perhaps some choreography that has more content to it as well. I liked her free skate, but the choreo was lacking in transitions and step sequences. I recently watched her Samson/Deliah free from the 2014 season and that’s the type of choreography that I’d like to see from her next season. She also needs to get a handle on her #shortprogramprobs so she’s not coming from behind all the time. The last installment (Part 4: Don't Forget About...) will be posted Thursday!
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About the Blog:Reviews, predictions and opinions in the magical, sparkly and dramatic field of figure skating. Archives
November 2017
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