International counter Match Competition JAPAN vs USA

Wow, the step sequence was superb! IIRC it really is the first time a female skater got lvl4 on the step sequence!

Too bad about no combo - Mao looked upset about it for the first part of the performance and after the program - but the one in the practice was great!

I wish I could re-choreograph the program a bit - I would move the 2A later in the program and switch the spiral sequences around (Biellman into arabesque first). I don't like that the jumps are cluttered together so much - I loved the edgework into 2A from the Nocturne SP.

But that's the only thing that bothered me. And what a lovely dress!

Here you can find some photos:

http://www.tbs.co.jp/figureskate/photo/jw01.html

Mao's program on youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwH2joU8UKg
I like it a lot! I don't understand why she didn't do her triple loop after her triple flip, her triple flip was good...so she could have combine it!

Protocols:

http://www.skatingjapan.jp/InterNational/2007-2008/usavsjpn/index.htm

I haven't managed to open it yet but AFAIK Mao got Level 4 on everything!!

Mao got:

SpSq4
FSSp4
SlSt4
CCoSp4

Her new SP is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!! Love love love the Step sequence. And I'm excited to see if she does do a new exhibition, that song has really stuck in my head the last couple of days after watching fluffs and practice clips!

Mao exhibition!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0U8GTZ4BXQ
She didn't have any new ehibition...the song "to be free" was the song they used for the final!

Oh...
Still haven't got enough words. That was beautiful.
And Mao herself is beautiful...

-
I hope Popon will tell us something interesting more from her visit there. How many girls fainted in her vicinity when Daisuke appeared on the ice, for instance. Or something like this.

Watched the EX late, because I spent half a day re-installing Windows. I still have to install all the missing software and drivers...


So Deep is the Night... I just love that exhibition! Chopin's music fits Mao's skating perfectly.

And the encore was beautiful, too... The footwork and spins looked even better than yesterday.

I just wish the commentators would keep quiet - usually I don't mind commentating so much, but this time they were really loud during the piano part when music turned delicate and quiet, and I could not even hear the music!

Yeah, I can't wait for Popon's report, too.
I wonder what happened to Miki's music during SP? It looked like it started too early. Poor Mikitty, she looked a bit thrown off her game because of that. But the program was promising, though I would prefer her skating to something more delicate, like her earlier programs Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence or Clair de Lune.

Daisuke's costumes
His EX was very fun and reminded me of Michael Jackson for some reason.
Which made me miss Nobu all the more, because it would be fun to see "Michael Jackson" and "Red Hot Chili Peppers" programs next to each other - two boys in leather and with wild footwork.

Tatsuki and Yasu had really nice costumes. I've always liked their skating, but their costumes last season looked a bit

I also liked Rumi's program. I like her artistic style of skating. I hope her jumps will get more consistent as well.

z4mboni wrote:

I wonder what happened to Miki's music during SP? It looked like it started too early. Poor Mikitty, she looked a bit thrown off her game because of that.

Miki had a bad fall on the opening triple lutz (part of a 3lutz/3loop combo) and needed a two-minute break to recover. The video only shows what happened after the break. Here's a newspaper article describing her performance:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?mode=getarticle&file=sp20071007a1.html

Just have watched Mao's EX (finally). I love this program! It is completely fairy!
And the step sequence from the SP is terrific! I close my eyes and images from it emerge in my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHzAJ97H1nw
here's an interview with some skaters, can someone translate please?
thanks
bibi

Heres a lot of photos!
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/graph/2007/1006/
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/graph/2007/1007/

summervie wrote:

How many girls fainted in her vicinity when Daisuke appeared on the ice, for instance.

Yah, a lot of girls and ladies screamed like this "Dai-chan!!!GANBATTE!! "

By the way, after this competition on 6th, I waited for skaters to come out from Yokohama Skate Center outside.
Then, Weir, Stephen Carriere and Flatt appeared!!
(I was not able to see Mirai, caroline, Miki and Mao )
Weir took photos with his ALL fans together and gave them autographs very very kindly.
And, Carriere also took pics with his fans(He is not so famous in Japan yet. But, he was in favor with babys and kids! )

They returned to the hotel on FOOT.（not by bus）

You're lucky to have autograph from some skaters popon!
Here's a video of interview with mao and miki:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLC4JAddMsA

Here's another video of Mao interview+training ballet and skating in russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqAiZPC2ogU
enjoy!

What a nice video! I was hoping for a long time to see something with Mao and TAT. It seems that they are quite on good terms with each other. And the part with the ballet was quite amusing. The lady there was saying that the most important part is to acquire the "real technique", and then, with the real technique, comes the freedom, which allows you to express 'spirituality', figurativeness, garmony and beauty.
And the part with the cake... There was written on it: Happy Birthday, Maochka! Maochka is the very soft way to say Mao on Russian.

Popon wrote:

Yah, a lot of girls and ladies screamed like this "Dai-chan!!!GANBATTE!! "

Is Maochka in russian is the equivalence of Mao-chan in japanese?

bibi wrote:

Is Maochka in russian is the equivalence of Mao-chan in japanese?

Actually, no. The fact is that the Russian language is very flexible, you can take any word and make it sound more 'soft' or more 'tender' in many different ways. It's maybe something like the 'transition' from John to Johnny, or from dog to doggy. Only with Russian you can say Johnny in 10-20 different ways.
So Maochka is just one of the ways. They could also have written there Maon'ka (where "n" is soft), or Maushka... I would write Maushka.

thanks!
Actually, that's sad because in french, we don't even have one of that... We have nicknames but no little words like "chan" in japanese or "chka" in russian.

Thank you, Caliblue, for the info. Poor Miki! I saw the crash in the news, it looked painful.

I loved the clip showing Mao training ballet. Amazing. I have always had a great weakness for balletic skaters (not that there were that many of them...), so I'm happy Mao chose this type of training.

[quote="summervie"]

bibi wrote:

So Maochka is just one of the ways. They could also have written there Maon'ka (where "n" is soft), or Maushka... I would write Maushka.

In The Official Book of Ladies Figure Skateing of Japan, Mao says "Tarasova calls me Maoseichka"(I'm not sure if this spell is right ).
Seitz seems to mean rabbits in Russian. :albino:

[quote="Popon"]

summervie wrote:

bibi wrote:

So Maochka is just one of the ways. They could also have written there Maon'ka (where "n" is soft), or Maushka... I would write Maushka.

In The Official Book of Ladies Figure Skateing of Japan, Mao says "Tarasova calls me Maoseichka"(I'm not sure if this spell is right ).
Seitz seems to mean rabbits in Russian. :albino:

Ha-ha-ha!
Thanks for the information, Popon.
It's good that you mentioned :albino:, because without this I probably would have been quite confused.
But now everything is easy. In Russian :albino: is zayatz. While zaechka is the way adults sometimes call very cute and adorable children.
So, Maozaechka.

Thank you summervie

Then, in the magazine, Mao also says she has two exibition programs for this season. One is So deep is the night, other is a something like pop music, she says.

The latter is not shown yet. When can we watch it
Cant wait!

Hi, everyone! My internet got hooked up finally and I am happy to be here again!

It's little late, but I love her new SP so much like everyboday
Absolutely beautiful Mao-chan's looks and her skating looked sooo grown up, I was surprised when I saw on TV Popon, you are sooo lucky to see that there!! Slst level 4, no surprise Now I am so much looking forward to see her FP Skate Canada is sooo soon While her skating gets so matured, she still has very cute kidlike personality off ice that I love, hehe

summervie wrote:

In Russian :albino: is zayatz. While zaechka is the way adults sometimes call very cute and adorable children.
So, Maozaechka.

Maozaechka TAT seems like cherish Mao-chan a lot

Hello! Yumei ! Nice to see you again!
I was wondering why you weren't there!
Can't wait for Skate Canada also!! It's about 1 week and a half!!!!