May 28

First of all, here is one of my favorite Sasha programs from the 03-04 season.  I have posted about it before, but she performed it so nicely many times that I am posting about it again.  It seems almost every year, a top skater tries to capture the essence of Swan Lake, but not to many have been memorable and successful.   The few that have include, of course, Oksana, Sasha, and in a modern way, Dai.  With the Black Swan being such a hit, interest in the Swan Lake ballet has increased tremendously, and it is inevitable that at least a few skaters will try to tackle this program next season.

Good luck.

This post is not over yet!  Sorry to anyone that reads, but I have not been as active with my posts lately because I am really busy right now.  It's also the offseason, so there aren't competitions to give predictions/reports about, so there is, in general, less to write about.  Hopefully, more skaters will announce their music selections for next season soon, and when enough skaters do I will post on that.

Finally, I was watching some old Yukina Ota, Sasha, Arakawa, etc. programs, and I had a thought.  With the spirals essentially gone from ladies skating, something has to be done.  Not to mention the lack of decent layback spins from half the field, now the only thing distinguishing that ladies from the men are the jumps.  Something needs to be done.  In the SP, the requirement is "sideways or layback spin".  This should be changed to layback spin.  The shoulders must be parallel to the ice, and a layback position must be achieved for this element to count.  Second, the spiral sequence needs to be changed again.  The spiral should still be in the SP with the rules in effect this season - two 3 second spirals, or one 6 second spiral, for 2 points.  In the LP, it should be changed to a moves in the field sequence which includes the spiral requirements listed above, but must also include other classic moves that seem to be disappearing unless for 1 second before a jump as a "difficult entrance".  This includes spread eagles, ina bauers, split jumps, stag jumps, hydroblades, etc.  The moves in the field sequence would be worth 3 points, and MUST COVER THE ENTIRE ICE SURFACE.  No offense, but I'm tired of seeing the only moves in the field of a program held for a split second with, most of the time, no relation to the music, immediately preceding an element to boost GOE.

Ok, rant over!