The Shibutanis Thread 4: Ready for Paradise

MRani

Well-Known Member
Messages
426
Gold has the same appearance as beige in costumes on the ice. (It appears to disappear). Look at Kaitlyn Weaver's dress from last season. You have to put the gold over something like the dark green in Piper's costume in order to make gold show up.

Oh, I totally see what you mean after rewatching that program. Man, it’s complicated figuring out figure skating costumes. You need something that looks good for the camera in closeups but also looks good for the live audience watching from a distance. It’s tricky. Honestly though, I didn’t mind the effect Kaitlyn’s costume had from a distance and I don’t mind it on Alex either. I just like it when there’s a bit of color on both partners, that’s all. But people have different tastes.
 

chapis

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,874
I was thinking maybe altering the color of Alex’s shirt so it looks gold rather than beige. Or even just changing the material to something with a silken sheen even if it’s in the same color. I also still like the idea of changing the ribbon lining to a color that matches Maia’s skirt. What do you guys think?

Personally I don’t really get all the fuss about his top. I think it’s rather colorless and could be better but people seem actually personally offended by it somehow :confused:.

It simply doesn´t stand out enough for me, but at the same time I think it matchs perfectly with Maia´s dress (the top is the same color)
 

MRani

Well-Known Member
Messages
426
It simply doesn´t stand out enough for me, but at the same time I think it matchs perfectly with Maia´s dress (the top is the same color)

Yeah, that’s why I want a pop of color somewhere, but he does match Maia so well already that I can’t think of a drastic change that would still achieve that. I don’t think a red or fuschia shirt would suit this program at all. That would be too much.
 

clairecloutier

Well-Known Member
Messages
14,559
I think this is true and I watched this program again and P&C's program back to back and I think Shibutani's is more intricate. Also, I think if we (those of us that are) stopped focusing on the trilogy, it plays better. The program can stand on its own. The trilogy makes it seem tired.

This is what I did when watching the FD from Rostelecom--just tried to look at it completely on its own terms, without thinking of the other programs. (Of course, it was hard to miss the "Fix You" and "O" references.) For me, it totally worked, and I really liked it. I have not yet watched it as closely/analytically as many people here, but so far I really like it.

When the Shibs first announced the trilogy concept, I have to admit, my first reaction was that the idea was a bit too precious and self-referential. However, reading Maia's recent blog post really changed my perspective. It really made me think about how much the Shibs have gone through since their first World medal in 2011, and how hard it must've been to persevere through so many setbacks. Reading her post, I realized that it's only natural that they've had to focus intently on their own experiences and journey--just in order to survive all the negativity over the years. They almost had to be like a little island unto themselves, just to keep going. So now, I think I understand the whole trilogy and why they wanted to do it. I hope a lot of people do read Maia's blog post (beyond just Shibs fans, that is), because I think it was very revealing.

If the Shibs continue beyond 2018, it will be interesting to see where they go next artistically.
 

gk_891

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,261
If the Shibs continue beyond 2018, it will be interesting to see where they go next artistically.

Sorry if this was mentioned already earlier in this thread but have the Shibs mentioned anything about continuing to compete beyond 2018?
 

chapis

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,874
Sorry if this was mentioned already earlier in this thread but have the Shibs mentioned anything about continuing to compete beyond 2018?

They have not mentioned anything about it :(.
--------------------

The Spanish comments on Shibs SD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCqEZ6w3uU My translation:

¨Every year they are better. (After the twizzles) : What a good choreography, oh yes, counting twizzles. After they finished: wow, I loved it. Impressive, yes. This is a choreography very studied, detailed, every movement of arms coincides with a beat of the music, and what about when they start the mambo account?!, they do match it with the twizzles. They are on another level. It has been a great program, her placing in the pattern of rhumba, I have noticed that she has great control and position (I am not sure if the translation makes sense) of her body. It is a program that is studied, in each beat of music and in each word there is a movement. And 8 twizzles with music.

In the repetition of the twizzles: here it was where with the music they have done it super well, what a good positioning of both of them, and how close they are doing the twizzles, this is interesting because the closer they get, it is riskier.¨


it seems that they were really impressed especially about twizzles :respec:.
 
Last edited:

Mrs. P

Well-Known Member
Messages
628
I was thinking about it that while, yes they struggled greatly, their record was still pretty decent.

Whether you take issue with the 2011 WBM, they still got the WBM. At the end of the 2014-2015 season, only a few teams fared better: Virtue & Moir (who hadn't come back yet, but they're here now); Papadakis & Cizeron and Cappellini & Lanotte with a World Championship; Weaver & Poje with a WSM/WBM and Chock & Bates with a WSM. Bobrova & Soloviev also had a WBM.

They still managed to medal at every U.S. championship -- a streak they haven't broken since they were juvenilles (or juniors in 2008 if you look just atop 3) and medal at all but one GP event (and their two GPF appearances at the time). And, of course, made the Olympic team.

It's a real testament to their persistance.

And now at this point, they are only outranked in world medals by the top two teams. They've medaled at all but one GP event (which they may not medal at if they do not go on after this year and if they go on, I don't see them going to TEB if they keep getting top three with P/C) and won gold at 4 out of 6 events. I hope they have an Olympic medal to cap it off, but this is an amazing record for a team that had so many setbacks. There are a lot of U.S. skaters who would have loved to have even the record they had pre-Fix You days. :D
 

VGThuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
41,020
Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva just posted a few pics with her, Nikita Nazarov, and the Shibs with a few other young skaters here:

https://instagram.com/p/Bamheo0DE1G/

Her caption is absolutely precious. She called sharing the ice with them a dream come true and even better than seeing their dances live.

I’ve noticed that despite what some online commentators say, actual skaters and coaches have publicly said how much respect and/or love the Shibs, including coaches of their current close competitors. I think that says a lot about their skills. It also gives me life that Tarasova apparently loves the Shibs.

I finally Google translated Elizaveta's P.S. statement and it looks like her and Nikita's coaches were the ones responsible for the Shibs being there as she thanked them for the opportunity. It's great to see some Russian coaches wanting the Shibs to come to their rink and maybe give a class or demonstration. That's high respect right there.

Sorry if this was mentioned already earlier in this thread but have the Shibs mentioned anything about continuing to compete beyond 2018?

They haven't mentioned it. Maia is still so young. She's only like a year older than some of the competing Juniors or recently turned Seniors (like Michael Parsons). I can see her wanting to continue. I wonder if Alex is itching to take other opportunities. Some time ago, he posted this casting call for a tall-ish Japanese-American to play a former college basketball player for a show and joked that that was him. However, it really was. Alex has also been studying film making and I wonder how much of their vlogging and music editing, etc. is Alex exploring and expressing his want to go into the creative-side of filming. At the same time, I can see Alex really wanting to continue as well as he seems to really love competing and being on the ice.
 

chapis

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,874
I finally Google translated Elizaveta's P.S. statement and it looks like her and Nikita's coaches were the ones responsible for the Shibs being there as she thanked them for the opportunity. It's great to see some Russian coaches wanting the Shibs to come to their rink and maybe give a class or demonstration. That's high respect right there.
.

that is so cool, this must be motivating for the Shibs and their team.

About the retirement, I don´t want to think about it :(. If they have not mentioned anything I guess they are not sure yet. If Alex decides to retire, I doubt very much that Maia will want to skate with someone else, although it is more than obvious for me that Maia is more into ice dance than Alex. If she decides to stay, she should try to steal Michael from Rachel :EVILLE:, she will have to train him in the twizzles :slinkaway.
 

Mrs. P

Well-Known Member
Messages
628
No way, chapis! I like the Parsons as a team (I get they're not everyone's cup of tea though).

As for the Shibs moving on -- well let's take it one event at a time for now. :D
 
Last edited:

gk_891

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,261
They have not mentioned anything about it :(.
--------------------

The Spanish comments on Shibs SD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCqEZ6w3uU My translation:

¨Every year they are better. (After the twizzles) : What a good choreography, oh yes, counting twizzles. After they finished: wow, I loved it. Impressive, yes. This is a choreography very studied, detailed, every movement of arms coincides with a beat of the music, and what about when they start the mambo account?!, they do match it with the twizzles. They are on another level. It has been a great program, her placing in the pattern of rhumba, I have noticed that she has great control and position (I am not sure if the translation makes sense) of her body. It is a program that is studied, in each beat of music and in each word there is a movement. And 8 twizzles with music.

In the repetition of the twizzles: here it was where with the music they have done it super well, what a good positioning of both of them, and how close they are doing the twizzles, this is interesting because the closer they get, it is riskier.¨


it seems that they were really impressed especially about twizzles :respec:.

Nice to see the Spanish language commentators be complimentary towards them. And I agree that is a program that is 'studied' in that each movement, step, lift, turn, etc., looks very carefully thought out. As they get into better 'show shape', their programs should be amazing by the time the Olympics and Worlds come around.
 

GreenGan

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
So, has anybody actually went ahead and watched all three FDs in a row to see how the programs work as a trilogy?
What competition will you advise to watch their FD ? I'd say National or Worlds for Fix you, and maybe GPF for Evolutions. But I don't remember if the choreography changed between the competition, so asking the Shibs' uber here. (And not only VietgirlTerifa !)
 

MRani

Well-Known Member
Messages
426
I’m a weirdo who likes their GPF Fix You best, even though they came in 4th there. The emotion was just really intense in that performance (we know now because Alex was sick so I feel a little bad for liking the performance so much but I can’t help it :rollin:). But I love the Nationals one too because the little alterations to the choreo made that program complete and of course that KnC reaction may never be topped :lol:. For Evolution 4CC for sure.
 

VGThuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
41,020
I’m a weirdo who likes their GPF Fix You best, even though they came in 4th there. The emotion was just really intense in that performance (we know now because Alex was sick so I feel a little bad for liking the performance so much but I can’t help it :rollin:). But I love the Nationals one too because the little alterations to the choreo made that program complete and of course that KnC reaction may never be topped :lol:. For Evolution 4CC for sure.

I have a soft spot for the GPF one. I think that was their loosest performance of it, emotionally-speaking. I had never seen Maia and Alex react that way, and the Barcelona crowd was 100% behind them. I love observing all the people around the rink reacting to the crowd's reaction right after their skate as well.
 

Cayuse

Well-Known Member
Messages
366
--------------------

The Spanish comments on Shibs SD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCqEZ6w3uU My translation:

¨Every year they are better. (After the twizzles) : What a good choreography, oh yes, counting twizzles. After they finished: wow, I loved it. Impressive, yes. This is a choreography very studied, detailed, every movement of arms coincides with a beat of the music, and what about when they start the mambo account?!, they do match it with the twizzles. They are on another level. It has been a great program, her placing in the pattern of rhumba, I have noticed that she has great control and position (I am not sure if the translation makes sense) of her body. It is a program that is studied, in each beat of music and in each word there is a movement. And 8 twizzles with music.

In the repetition of the twizzles: here it was where with the music they have done it super well, what a good positioning of both of them, and how close they are doing the twizzles, this is interesting because the closer they get, it is riskier.¨


it seems that they were really impressed especially about twizzles :respec:.

Practice your Spanish numbers! Wouldn't it be fun if the entire audience at Nationals counted along as they mark off their twizzles? Go Shibs!
 

MRani

Well-Known Member
Messages
426
I wonder if there’s going to be a August and September vlog or if they’ll skip straight to the Rostelecom one next. I’m so impressed they have the time to make and edit these in such high quality considering how packed their schedules are!
It was really cool to see all that behind the scenes footage of their shoots. I guess we can expect a few Minute Maid ads featuring the Shibs in the near future :)
 

lauravvv

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,594
So, I finally got to writing about Maia and Alex's programs.

First the SD - I was not quite so impressed and/or ready to form an opinion after watching the not so good quality (mainly quite far away) practice video, but seeing the competition video for the first time I liked it instantly - and liked it a lot. Even if they can still go more out, this SD is so wonderfully choreographed, vibrant (no doubt also helped by Maia's incredibly beautififul dress), lightly fun, sophisticated and, yes, classy (even though I don't like using that word now as I feel that some people on these forums have been using it to sort of make an opposition to the the two top teams and their programs, especially V/M - and some have said it directly). No to mention that their rhumba pattern is/was great. As for the choreograohy, I especially like the not touching step sequence - already noted by others along with the partial sequence. In short, it's a simply wonderful SD. Definitely one of my favorites along with V/M's, P/C's and Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen's (there are some other SDs that I like quite a lot, but it would be too off-topic to mention all of them here). I even like it more than their last season's 'That's Life' SD - it's more elaborate indeed. All in all, they have had four splendid SDs in a row now (not to say that the previous ones were bad).

Now on to the FD. It's an entirely different story. I was not all that impressed after seeing it for the first time although I felt that it was a grower. I definitely saw some great things about it - the new lifts (especially the straight line lift - just hope they won't get any overheld lift deductions for it at crucial competitions), the holds, some choreographic details. It just lacked the instant appeal and excitement of the 'Fix You' FD or the almost quietly hypnotic quality of their last season FD. But then I got to watch it on the big (TV) screen in HD quality (my TV provider finally included HD Eurosport in their package just recently), and the impression was already so much better. Often it's the other way round - what looks good in a video on computer looses some of it's impact on the TV screen (partially because of the different perception of speed, partially because one is not able to concentrate on all the nuances anymore as the viewing experience is less "intimate"). So this is a really good sign, although I think the HD quality helped too. I must note their costumes as well, especially the colour - it draws your eye so strongly on the HD screen, looking, once again, so vibrant and lively. I have no doubt that it will be the same for those watching the competitions live. And the designs of the costumes are great too - modern, yet sophisticated.

At the same time, I must mention that, watching the FD on the computer screen in lesser quality after that, the impression was less once again. But I am sure that will change in the course of the season as the dance itself and Maia and Alex's performance of it grow.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing also the SD on TV in this HD quality (Eurosport International didn't show the Rostelecom Cup SD, nor did they show a recap of it as they did of the FD). I can imagine that it will also look even better that way.
 
Last edited:

chapis

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,874
I am definitely looking forward to seeing also the SD on TV in this HD quality (Eurosport International didn't show the Rostelecom Cup SD, nor did they show a recap of it as they did of the FD). I can imagine that it will also look even better that way.

If you have smart TV you can watch youtube in your TV , in others TV you only needs plug in an HDMI cable.

------------------

I am also concerned about the extended lifts deductions, Paloma del Rio mentioned that in this competition it seems that no one got deduction for this situation, but I hope we won´t get unpleasant surprised later.
 

Mrs. P

Well-Known Member
Messages
628
I took the suggestion to watching it on my TV (I used the YT app on my Blu-Ray player and my TV is hooked up to a soundbar/subwoofer from Sonos) and the striking thing to me was how much more dynamic the Paradise music was in the FD especially at the ending part, lots of bass down beats and I could hear more of the elements of the song.

The live version might sound not good on a computer speaker, but probably sounds better in arena speakers.
 

chapis

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,874
I took the suggestion to watching it on my TV (I used the YT app on my Blu-Ray player and my TV is hooked up to a soundbar/subwoofer from Sonos) and the striking thing to me was how much more dynamic the Paradise music was in the FD especially at the ending part, lots of bass down beats and I could hear more of the elements of the song.

The live version might sound not good on a computer speaker, but probably sounds better in arena speakers.

I watched in my TV both programs back to back, first the FD, this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjuDkzBvHKA&t=329s, then I watched the SD, this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NArM7glzCMg, and I needed turn down the volume because the difference was much, the volume is much higher in the SD. What video did you watched for the FD?
 

Mrs. P

Well-Known Member
Messages
628
I watched in my TV both programs back to back, first the FD, this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjuDkzBvHKA&t=329s, then I watched the SD, this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NArM7glzCMg, and I needed turn down the volume because the difference was much, the volume is much higher in the SD. What video did you watched for the FD?

SD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sdhh4XPoWE&t=46s (Olympic Channel)
FD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBkqgwWRrAo (CBC)

ETA: Already at 300 posts in just about a week, WOW guys. :)
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top
Do Not Sell My Personal Information