Recent content by gkelly

Yes, I started watching that a few months ago. Currently taking a break but now I intend to go back to watch the rest.

I just finished reading The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. Fascinating look into the culture of women free divers on Jeju Island in Korea and the traumas that occurred there during during the Japanese occupation and in the post-WWII alliance of South Korea with the US, with a 21st century...

For all skating, you generally get speed by bending your knees and pushing against the ice with your blades. The specific ways of pushing will be different depending what kind of stroke you're doing with each step. Work on that with your coach -- we can't just tell you in words how to do...

It depends which dance you're doing. But yes, most ice dancing, and most figure skating, involves skating on one foot at a time. There are just different ways of pushing and changing from one foot to the other. That's what makes the different steps to keep the dances interesting.

Rocker Foxtrot was the required pattern in the junior rhythm dance as recently as 2024. In 2020 and 2021 seasons it was Tea Time Foxtrot.

For solo, you don't need to worry about what your partner is doing, or worry about them worrying about what you're doing. But you do need to feel steady on your feet and not try to make things up on the spot that might be more challenging than what you're ready for technically. Learn a number...

Yes, that's true. You need to be comfortable with your skating and focus on your skating technique so you don't fall. Dancing on the floor can be very improvisational, but dancing on ice needs to be planned carefully. ESPECIALLY if you're skating with a partner, you need to know exactly what...

Alice Sue Claeys?

And dance has 6. Bratti/Somerville are included under the last pair team. It's because there are only 5 pairs that there's an odd number total, leaving the open slot at the end.

My impression, especially based on what I observed 20-30 years ago, was that US TV networks, especially when covering the Olympics and the lead-up to them, would put more emphasis on skaters who were already known to the every-4-years viewing public, as well as US skaters with real medal...

She might have. What I remember more specifically was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEtkTHjXx2g&t=2m32s, with hands next to her head. And then there was this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebYJwKs4kpk&t=1m40s

I guess this would qualify? These turns go by several different names, including helicopters, but that doesn't seem to be what the ISU is referring to here.

There was a period when one of the official bullet points for positive GOE on jump elements was "varied position in the air / delay in rotation." It's not clear whether that was originally intended to refer to simple variations of air positions such as arm positions, as opposed to more...

I saw the Laurence Olivier film of Wuthering Heights when I was in high school. It only covers about half the book. Later I tried to read the book but I just couldn't get through it and stopped also about halfway through. A few years ago I watched a more recent adaptation (can't remember which...

The purpose of local competitions and club shows is not to get people who have no interest in figure skating to be interested in watching figure skating. You can't fault them for not doing something that they were never designed to do. Even if you did advertise local competitions and some...