Skating With Celebrites: Episode 4
It's Not Fluff And Cheese And It's Not For Wimps
Recap By Gayl Killough
February 7, 2006
Hello! I am filling in for Allie Axel this week. I am sad to say that I
am no match for her expertise, but I will try my best. Very
surprisingly, I have pretty well agreed with her on everything, even her
dislike for Dave Coulier and her fondness for John Zimmerman. Her articles are
what I wish I could write about this show.
I am a mainly a fan of solo figure skaters, so I am a little out of my
territory with pair skating. I do at least know the difference between
real skating and fluff movement on ice, so I still have plenty to rant
about. If anyone wondered what I ranted about before reality television,
well, figure skating was one of my favorite topics to rant about. Figure
skating has to be one of the least understood things in popular culture.
I roughly divide figure skating into three categories. There is figure
skating as a sport that will be seen at the Olympics. I am mainly a fan
of this type of skating, skating as a sport. There is what I call
artistic skating which is art more so than sport, this is more like what
is seen at the professional level. I also enjoy this somewhat. Then is
there is what I call fluff skating or even worse, "movement on ice".
I admire what I consider to be real skating. These categories can also
overlap.
Figure skating is a mixture of many elements, but also has its own
criteria as well. Figure skating is not the same as dance, although
proper form and extension are critical for examples. Figure skating is
not purely jumps, although being able to do triples is a must at the top
amateur level. Figure skating is also not gymnastics (another
misunderstood sport). For a short program, there are required elements
that must be performed. If a skater falls and misses an element, then
the skater misses the points for the required element. The skater also
misses the points if a required element is not tried. For a free skate,
there is not a required set like the short. What counts is what the
skater actually completes and also the quality of the skating. This is
not the same as say a .5 mandatory deduction off the overall point value
for falling off a beam, no matter what else is completed. Although with
bonus points in gymnastics, even gymnastics is not that simple, but I am
getting off track.
A fall hurts the score of a skater because the skater
does not get full credit for a jump or element compared to a score if
there were no fall, so there are mandatory deductions in this manner,
but the emphasis in skating is still on the level of difficulty that is
actually completed. A more difficult routine with a fall is worth more
than a simpler clean program. Alright, I probably just made it more
confusing and muddled that up, didn't I? That was over-simplified and
I am behind the times on rule changes, so experts, please don't jump my
case, my point being is that figure skating is often misjudged by using
the wrong criteria.
I am impressed that this show has attempted to show some actual basic
skills of figure skating. I was expecting it to be entirely fluff and
cheese. I don't think it helps figure skating all that much, but if a
few people realize that figure skating is not for wimps, then the show
has been good for something. I am not quite sure how the skaters are
being judged, but it seems to be more like an old style free program, but
with required mandatory elements that have been introduced each week.
This week, the new required element is a jump that is at least half of a
rotation. This is in addition to the previous required elements from the
earlier weeks. The musical theme is Top 40.
Kristy and Lloyd are up first dressed in leather. They have become the
risk taking wildcards of the show. Scott pointed out that they had the
high risk show last week that went more badly than it went good. Will
they try more risks or play it safe? Kristy states that they need the
risks. Lloyd is known for being a trick pair skater. I am not sure if
Kristy is brave or naive, but she lets Lloyd flop her around like a rag
doll. This week the risks were completed well and cleanly. Dorothy tells
them that they took it to a new level. Sir John Nicks tells them pretty
good which is very high praise from him. He appreciates their aggressive
approach. Mark tells them that they had a wonderful program and were
confident on ice. He also mentions how difficult figure skating is to
learn as an adult.
I have to add that I am very impressed with how well they have overcome
Kristy being left-handed and Lloyd being right-handed. I am severely
left-handed myself and I am well aware how this affects every physical
activity that I try. Generally, leftys prefer to skate in a clockwise
rotation while rightys prefer to skate in a counter-clockwise rotation,
but this is not always true. Since pairs have to be in sync with each
other, wanting to rotate in opposite directions is something to
overcome. Over time, skaters have to learn to perform basic elements in
both directions, so I assume this is less of a problem for more
experienced skaters. Then again, more complex elements could be more of
problem too. However, Kristy is just starting out and her natural
inclination of rotation would have to be really strong and difficult to
deal with. While I think the judges were too harsh on this pair the
first week, I think they got off to a slower start because of this extra
difficulty. I am still amazed.
Their technical scores were 9.3 from Sir John, 9.3 from Dorothy, and 9.1
from Mark. Their artistic scores were 9.5 from Sir John, 9.4 from
Dorothy, and 9.3 from Mark. This gives them a combined score of 55.9 and
the highest score so far in the competition. Since they are the first
couple to skate, they have to go to the hot seat.
The second pair to skate is Jillian and John.....
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