U.S. Women [#5]: Remain on the Dance Floor

[Marco]

Michelle was 24 when she skated to Bolero... but maybe she was too injured / busy COP-element chasing to care about music and choreography.

I also think Kevin Aymoz' Bolero this past season was EXCEPTIONALLY nice.

 

[mattiecat13]

I also think Kevin Aymoz' Bolero this past season was EXCEPTIONALLY nice.

We were lucky enough to see it in person at Skate America. It was amazing and brought the house down.

 

[Sylvia]

This Novice level skater (she trains with Skylar L-P - they're in pic #3) attended USFS’ camp last week and was able to get individual photos taken with (in order): Jason, Alysa, Polina E., Isabeau, Amber, Gracie & Ashley C.: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7J9SdXrtPU/

 

[Sylvia]

Earlier article (April 30) posted in this thread:

Article on the 3 Hilbelink skating sisters (at 13 Keira is the youngest one):

Tia, Maile and Keira Hilbelink are a trio of elite skating sisters

Tia, Maile and Keira Hilbelink are a sisters and are all elite figure skaters training with 9-time U.S. Nationals competitor Sean Rabbitt.

figureskatersonline.com

Clip of Keira attempting 3Lz 3 years ago to landing 3Lz+3T now: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6FXWWzvdVW/

Golden Skate's Keira Hilbelink article by Paula Slater was published today (May 26) and includes her 2024-25 program music:

Keira Hilbelink: 'Quad is a work in progress'

Keira Hilbelink This past season, Keira Hilbelink repeated a silver-medal win at the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. It proved to be a tight

www.goldenskate.com

SP: "Mirage" by [violinist] Lindsey Stirling
FS: "a variety of songs from the animated Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast"
Choreographers: Sean Rabbitt and Mari Malama

Keira is "planning to skate as a senior domestically and [debut as] a junior internationally" - USFS' JGP selection competition again will be the U.S. Junior Team Cup at Skate Milwaukee, July 8-12. (I'm aiming to create/compile info for the 2024 U.S. Club & NQS Competitions thread in the near future in the Kiss & Cry section.)

 

[DreamSkates]

Michelle was 24 when she skated to Bolero... but maybe she was too injured / busy COP-element chasing to care about music and choreography.

I also think Kevin Aymoz' Bolero this past season was EXCEPTIONALLY nice.

I wouldn’t agree that Michelle didn’t care about the choreography. I will agree that Kevin’s rendition was exceptional.

 

[Aceon6]

I wouldn’t agree that Michelle didn’t care about the choreography.

I think she cared a lot, but her body didn’t move in the same way Chris’ did, so a lot of the subtlety was gone by the height of the season.

 

[Coco]

The initial version of Kwan's Bolero had several spins that might not even have been level 1. So I think it was attempting to get those levels up that took up so much more time. That caused the choreo to go bye-bye.

 

[tony]

The initial version of Kwan's Bolero had several spins that might not even have been level 1. So I think it was attempting to get those levels up that took up so much more time. That caused the choreo to go bye-bye.

Can't agree with this at all. Kwan's camp wasn't really reading the IJS rules that much; remember at Worlds - end of season - she received a level 1 IIRC on the spiral sequence in the QR because she didn't hold each position for 3 seconds? I think most of her spins were level 2 at best and she probably even received some level 1's, also, so are we suggesting she put all that spin work in, took all the choreography out, to ultimately get level 1's? Well okay.

Instead of spin adjustments, the program obviously was going through so many changes choreographically. First, adding a bit more complexity in the late fall, to taking almost all choreography out and skating through the music by the time spring came. Dick Button (in)famously tore the program apart at one of the later cheesefests asking "Where is the choreography?!" and then he kept harping on the negatives of it.

I was a major Michelle fan, but the entire three seasons prior featured watered down to little choreography in her free skates, and I think her body simply couldn't adjust to a sudden increase in complexity later in her career. By the end, that program could've been skated to any music but it surely wasn't matching the rise in Bolero.

 

[Simone411]

I believe Michelle's original choreography of Bolero at 2004 Campbell's was the best. She then tried to improve that version, but it wasn't as good as her original choreography.

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[orbitz]

I believe Michelle's original choreography of Bolero at 2004 Campbell's was the best. She then tried to improve that version, but it wasn't as good as her original choreography.

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I love the flirtatious opening of the program. Was very disappointed when that portion was removed. I do wonder how much of Dean's actual choreography she was doing here though; The final SLF didn't seem very Dean-ish - It felt more like Morosov's work from the previous two seasons. I also love the lavender costume here. The gold outfit at Nationals and World aged her and made me think of later years Imelda Marcos (the youngsters on this board will have to google who that was, LOL.)

 

[On My Own]

I believe Michelle's original choreography of Bolero at 2004 Campbell's was the best. She then tried to improve that version, but it wasn't as good as her original choreography.

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Actually quite like several parts of it.

The initial version of Kwan's Bolero had several spins that might not even have been level 1. So I think it was attempting to get those levels up that took up so much more time. That caused the choreo to go bye-bye.

I think there was probably more? (I don't know her history of injury) But watching the Campbell's version and the worlds version here, I think you're onto something:

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Here are the protocols:http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2005/wc05_Ladies_FS_scores.pdf

In 2004-05 season, IIRC, the maximum possible level was 3. So she did decently for early CoP on most elements, apart from two spins. I think that "fan spiral" pose was too difficult for her, but she held those other two positions well (and it looks plainly bad with the music as a result).

Her style of skating was just plainly not made for CoP. It's unfortunate. The beginning of those steps at worlds compared to Campbell's

 

[Rukia]

I love a good old-fashioned kwan-fight during the off-season

 

[On My Own]

I love a good old-fashioned kwan-fight during the off-season

It is your birthright as an American

 

[Karen-W]

It is your birthright as an American

I must be the worst type of American. Michelle was never my diehard fave. I appreciated her talent and she was, quite often, the class of the field but my heart belonged to Sarah.

 

[On My Own]

I must be the worst type of American. Michelle was never my diehard fave.

You get no disagreement from me, you could literally be like "MICHELLE'S FIVE WORLD TITLES, SUCK IT FANYUS" but nooooooooooo

 

[Marco]

I think her body simply couldn't adjust to a sudden increase in complexity later in her career. By the end, that program could've been skated to any music but it surely wasn't matching the rise in Bolero.

Yes. At the time I was reading the rules very closely and was convinced that she COULD do these COP elements. She was doing these features on and off in different programs but never altogether in one program (I suppose that's the challenge ). She wasn't as flexible as Irina or Sasha and she wasn't as good a spinner as either, and she was heavily injured, so we all kind of knew it wasn't going to happen with the spins. By 2005 Worlds (her only COP comp) I believe she was aiming for level 2 spins and steps, and level 3 spirals. If she had held that outside camel or the bent knee variation for a tad longer, she would have gotten level 2 on it and very, very close to the bronze. But it was obvious that by that time the judges were no longer with her and FFS she went clean in the short and still lost to Irina and Sasha who had a visible wobble each.

For the poster who said upthread that the fan spiral might be too difficult for her, watch the opening of Fields of Gold.

 

[Simone411]

Well, the Kween performed Fields of Gold at competitions and also skated it in exhibitions. She performed it as her exhibition at the 2002 Worlds, and it was quite eloquent, IMO.

[HD] Michelle Kwan - 2002 Worlds Exhibition - "Fields Of Gold"

Michelle Kwan / ÐиÑÐµÐ»Ñ Ðван / ãã·ã§ã«ã»ã¯ã¯ã³2002 World Figure Skating Championships, Exhibition Gala, Nagano, Japan, March 24 20022002å¹´ä¸çãã£ã®ã¥ã¢ã¹ã±ã¼ãé¸æ権 ã¨ãã·ãã·ã§ã³, é·é ...

www.youtube.com

 

[Jarrett]

I can’t wait until some u.s. skater skates to bolero in 2044. Lol

 

[Coco]

IIRC, the way she did the fan spiral in Fields of Gold would not have counted as a difficult variation because the leg was too low. It would have just counted as a basic BOE spiral. Or maybe what I'm remembering is that she wouldn't have received credit for the change in direction because her leg dropped below hip height when she changed directions.

It's a shame USFSA didn't connect with Jackie Fie or other USA Gymnastics officials to learn how to "work" the process behind the scenes in 2003 and 2004. Perhaps they could have minimized the excessive over-rewarding of flexibility from the beginning. Looking back at those early COP years, if you were flexible, you could clean up. If you weren't, you needed others to make mistakes.

 

[Simone411]

I found

IIRC, the way she did the fan spiral in Fields of Gold would not have counted as a difficult variation because the leg was too low. It would have just counted as a basic BOE spiral. Or maybe what I'm remembering is that she wouldn't have received credit for the change in direction because her leg dropped below hip height when she changed directions.

It's a shame USFSA didn't connect with Jackie Fie or other USA Gymnastics officials to learn how to "work" the process behind the scenes in 2003 and 2004. Perhaps they could have minimized the excessive over-rewarding of flexibility from the beginning. Looking back at those early COP years, if you were flexible, you could clean up. If you weren't, you needed others to make mistakes.

Well, I think she did it a little better when she competed at the 2002 Hersheys Kisses Challenge. It looked pretty good compared to some other skaters I've seen do the fan spiral. But that's just me.

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Then I found this to compare Michelle's fan spiral with, and Michelle's fan spiral looks pretty darn good compared to this skater.

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[ninjapirate]

It's a shame USFSA didn't connect with Jackie Fie or other USA Gymnastics officials to learn how to "work" the process behind the scenes in 2003 and 2004. Perhaps they could have minimized the excessive over-rewarding of flexibility from the beginning. Looking back at those early COP years, if you were flexible, you could clean up. If you weren't, you needed others to make mistakes.

The US's upcoming top skater in that period was Sasha Cohen...

 

[On My Own]

IIRC, the way she did the fan spiral in Fields of Gold would not have counted as a difficult variation because the leg was too low.

And you don't NEED to watch it to begin. You can watch the Bolero performance (which happened 3 years later and many things can ruin your body in that time span), and see how insecure she was on that position, she quickly dropped out of it.

 

[On My Own]

It's a shame USFSA didn't connect with Jackie Fie or other USA Gymnastics officials to learn how to "work" the process behind the scenes in 2003 and 2004. Perhaps they could have minimized the excessive over-rewarding of flexibility from the beginning. Looking back at those early COP years, if you were flexible, you could clean up. If you weren't, you needed others to make mistakes.

I wish they'd given Kwan advice on how to achieve the full level 3 on steps. She was probably the only one during this era apart from Arakawa who had solid enough skating skills to be achieving it - so it's a pain for me to see her getting the same level as Cohen and Slutskaya in the free lol.

 

[Simone411]

The only problem with Sasha was she never had a clean free skate until ...

Sasha Cohen - 2004 Marshalls "Swan Lake"

www.youtube.com

I kept hoping and even praying that she would at Nationals, Worlds, Olympics or any competition and it finally happened. I liked Sasha and the Kween. I remember I was asked to be a moderator over Sasha's forum and Tara's forum at a certain message board with Ezboard, and I accepted. That was around 2003.

Everyone would be praying all the time (including me) in Sasha's forum that she would have a clean free skate. We were all elated when it finally happened!

 

[Sylvia]

Sonja Hilmer’s SP music announcement today - "Unforgettable" covered by Sia, self-choreographed as usual (footwork clip):

Sonja Hilmer on Instagram: "✨"I am unforgettable too" ✨ It's time for the new short program reveal! I am so excited to return to a lyrical short program style with Unforgettable by Sia, a song that very closely follows how I want to be viewed in thi

343 likes, 10 comments - gosanjaygo_03 on May 27, 2024: "✨"I am unforgettable too" ✨ It's time for the new short program reveal! I am so excited to return to a lyrical short program style with Unforgettable by Sia, a song that very closely follows how I want to be viewed in this sport and in my...

www.instagram.com

Sonja posted about her FS music & costume last month:

Sonja Hilmer’s FS music and costume reveal: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Mj3gDxdLj/

New things for the new season

So excited to share the complete package for my new free program! As usual, this program is self choreographed and the dress self made. My music is a 70s/disco medley inspired by the tracklist from @argyllemovie

"You're The First, My Last, My Everything" by Barry White >> "Now and Then" by The Beatles >> "Electric Energy" by Ariana DeBose, Boy George, and Nile Rodgers (with transitions from the OST )

Work in progress reel for making the dress will be out soon!

Sonja was one of the many figure skaters who participated in the Argylle movie (Ben Agosto & Katherine Hill choreographed the skating set piece near the end of the film). ETA that @Wyliefan linked to Agosto's and Alexe Gilles' Instagram posts back in February in the now closed 2023-24 Dance Hall thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...n-on-up-2023-2024.110662/page-35#post-6553221

Sonja has posted her “making the [FS] dress timelapse number 1” video:

Sonja Hilmer on Instagram: "As promised, making the dress timelapse number 1! For my free program, I used gold glitter spandex and beige spandex (appliqued) from Joann Fabrics and burgundy yoga stretch from KikiTextiles. I also ordered some really n

302 likes, 9 comments - gosanjaygo_03 on April 25, 2024: "As promised, making the dress timelapse number 1! For my free program, I used gold glitter spandex and beige spandex (appliqued) from Joann Fabrics and burgundy yoga stretch from KikiTextiles. I also ordered some really neat gold clasps...

www.instagram.com

Hilmer also has choreographed training mate Michelle Lee's SP to "Villain" by Stella Jang. Lee placed 15th in Senior at 2024 U.S. Nationals (she was in the ISP last season) and last week posted this short clip of them skating the SP together:

Michelle Lee on Instagram: "We all pretend to be the heroes on the good side, but what if we’re the villains on the other? 😈🩶 2024/25 Short program announcement! I am so excited to compete my new short next week and perfect it this upcoming season!

_michelleskates on May 24, 2024: "We all pretend to be the heroes on the good side, but what if we’re the villains on the other? 😈🩶 2024/25 Short program announcement! I am so excited to compete my new short next week and perfect it this upcoming season! I chose this song to honor my...

www.instagram.com

 

[BittyBug]

Sonja Hilmer’s SP music announcement today - "Unforgettable" covered by Sia, self-choreographed as usual (footwork clip):

How does someone listen to that tortured, vocal gymnastics evisceration of a classic and then decide, "Yup, I'd like to listen to that multiple times a day."?

 

[withwings]

The US's upcoming top skater in that period was Sasha Cohen...

Sasha was, is- and always will be- unforgettable...a (divine) feather from heaven (in human flesh)

 

[Jarrett]

Sasha was, is- and always will be- unforgettable...a (divine) feather from heaven (in human flesh)

Too bad about the shingles tho

 

[Frau Muller]

How does someone listen to that tortured, vocal gymnastics evisceration of a classic and then decide, "Yup, I'd like to listen to that multiple times a day."?

At least Sonja is going for something soft and mellow…not Avatar/Wonder Woman/Hero of the Planets.

 

[Wyliefan]

A Twitter account posted some U.S. women's performances from the All Year Open:

Sherry Zhang with a new FS to the Hunger Games soundtrack:

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Keira Hilbelink's new Beauty and the Beast FS that @Sylvia mentioned earlier:

FS: "a variety of songs from the animated Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast"
Choreographers: Sean Rabbitt and Mari Malama

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Josephine Lee with a new FS to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2:

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