As many of you have noticed, I’ve taken a little bit of a break from blogging, mainly due to the busy-ness of my life but things have slowed down a little bit and I will likely be writing more posts when the figure skating season kicks in. In any case, I thank all my readers for their patience and ongoing support.
This blog post will be all about Mao Asada’s new SP for the Olympic season. (I get chills from typing that.) Mao is using Chopin’s Nocturne again. These pretty twinkly piano pieces are definitely her strength and unlike her last Olympics, she’s sticking with what she’s strong with this time. Her new SP needs time to develop, especially in terms of her jumps so I’ll refrain from passing too much judgment on the program for now.
Her original Nocturne SP from the 2006/7 season is in my favourites library. I love how ethereal she is and the elements are fitted well into the program. I especially love that arabesque spiral. She looks as if she’s floating on the ice. This is how spirals should be in figure skating. Too bad they nixed it in the short program though I guess it can be a good thing seeing that very few skaters have the extension to pull off half decent spirals nowadays.
Here is her new SP from The Ice 2013. There’s a maturity to her skating that you didn’t see from the original Nocturne and according to the commentators, she’s trying to express the feeling of first love. Honestly, I think she’s grown past that and she could just express what this piece is all about: a celebration of the night. Oh well, to each their own. Also, that step sequence at the end is superb. The quality of skating there is lovely. Let’s hope she gets her jumps back to pull this SP off.
What do you think of Mao’s Nocturne SPs?
~The Rinkside Cafe
The Rinkside Cafe 