Ⅴ. 3Lo 2A3T counter argument and overall Technical Analysis & GoE Comparison & PCS

Written by Paige Summers in GoldenYuna

Web Edited by Ene  


You can download the original file updated by Paige Summers in May 23, 2014

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III. PCS (PROGRAM COMPONENT SCORE)


PCS cover five areas


Skating Skills

Transitions/Linking Footwork/Movement

Performance / Execution

Choreography/Composition

Interpretation


http://iceskatingresources.org/ProgramComponents.html



01. Skating Skills


Definition: Overall skating quality: edge control and flow over the ice surface demonstrated by a command of the skating vocabulary (edges, steps, turns, etc.), the clarity of technique and use of effortless power to accelerate and vary speed.


Criteria: YUNA KIM


Balance, rhythmic knee action and precision of foot placement

Flow and effortless glide

Cleanness and sureness of deep edges, steps, turns

Power/energy and acceleration (Her effortlessness/poise degrades her power in the eye of the beholder, but she overflows with energy - her program’s filled with transitions/elements(restless) and she keeps great speed till the end

Mastery of multi-directional skating (Yuna fulfilled lv.4 step requirements 5 turns and 3 steps in both directions)

Mastery of one-foot skating

Equal mastery of technique by both partners shown in unison (pairs and ice dancing)

Balance in skating ability of individual skaters (synchronized)



* Jumping Technique

- Yuna’s jumps are textbook in terms of proper entry & posture & edge, speed & height, in-air position/axis, and stable landing. With Yuna, t’s very easy to tell the differences between different jumps.

Yuna’s skating skills worthy of 9.2~9.6 points



Criteria: SOTNIKOVA


Balance, rhythmic knee action and precision of foot placement

Flow and effortless glide (she stumbles in her footwork segment… lack of flow)

Cleanness and sureness of deep edges, steps, turns

Power/energy and acceleration (she does carry herself with energy)

Mastery of multi-directional skating (didn’t even fulfill 5 turns/3teps in both directions)

Mastery of one-foot skating (Lots of free leg swinging ? so she does A LOT of one foot element)

Equal mastery of technique by both partners shown in unison (pairs and ice dancing)

Balance in skating ability of individual skaters (synchronized)

* Jumping Technique

- Sotnikova’s toe jumps (Lz, F, T) are mostly pre-rotated and take-off with full blade (naturally looks like an Axel jump). And her blade jumps that take off with full blade (A, S, Lo) are unrecognizably similar that you can’t tell the difference. (you can barely tell from the entry ie) three turn before 3S, cross x shape for 3Lo)

Sotnikova’s skating skills worthy of 7~8 points




02. Transitions/Linking Footwork/Movement


Definition: The varied and/or intricate footwork, positions, movements and holds that link all elements. In singles, pairs and synchronized skating, this also includes the entrances and exits of technical elements. 


Criteria:

Variety

Difficulty

Intricacy




I’m not going to post all the transitions here, Adelina seems to have good amount of movements/transitions going in and out of the elements. Even more so than Yuna. (check out gifs of all the jumps and other elements) But if you look, only Yuna matched all the transitions with the music - the movements best complemented the tone of music ? make it a true part of her routine. And You’ll see that Yuna has better quality & flow of the transitions. Sotnikova does lots of three turns/movements in and out of elements but they are not with much quality and they are mismatched with music and they don’t help with the overall flow - it’s too much & overflowing & messy - don’t serve any purpose. But she got GoEs for supposedly difficult entry into the jumps when her jump themselves have cheating/bad technique.




03. Performance / Execution


Definition: Performance is the involvement of the skater/couple/teams physically, emotionally and intellectually as they translate the intent of the music and choreography. Execution is the quality of movement and precision in delivery. This includes harmony of movement in pairs, ice dancing and synchronized skating. 


Criteria: (I’ve removed pairs/synchronized criteria)

Physical, emotional and intellectual involvement

Style and individuality/personality

Clarity of movement

Variety and contrast

Projection - Very unfortunate that Kim skated in front of Russian crowd, waiting for Yuna to make mistakes (Adelina surely got lots of crowd response out of patriotism)


Look at the variety of tempos, rhythms, expressions, and characters/personalities - emotional connection, poise, style of tango/mature feminine - all of these translated into her intricate footwork & clean/clean-cut upper body movement requiring balance, tango moves give it a distinct style? again in full style. SHE DESERVED 9.5~10




04. Choreography/Composition


Definition: An intentional, developed and/or original arrangement of all types of movements according to the principles of proportion, unity, space, pattern, structure and phrasing. 


Criteria:

Purpose (idea, concept, vision); Yuna (Tango) Send In The Clowns (reminiscence of long lost love) Sotnikova??? Doesn’t have a clear concept… for both Carmen & Saint-Saens

Proportion (equal weight of parts) / Unity (purposeful threading)

Utilization of personal and public space

Pattern and ice coverage; Yuna tops Ice coverage ? she moves from one end of the rink to the other in a speed of light while executing her elements. Sotnikova lacks ice coverage.

Phrasing and form (movements and parts structured to match the phrasing of the music); Yuns’s every movement matches music ? Yuna incorporated tango moves into her routine, staying true to the music’s nature ? in perfect sync with tango melody (ie. Abrazo & Voleo in step sequence) Adelina had nothing that was dedicated to the essence of the music piece.

Originality of purpose, movement and design; Tango is often not a common choice for FS - the rhythm/tempo are dynamic ? meaning the music carries various tones - sadness, passion, etc. - hence, the music is very hard to interpret. Yuna included unique tango-on-ice moves that match the music perfectly.

Shared responsibility in achieving purpose (pairs, ice dancing and synchronized skating)

Yuna deserves 9.5~10 in this category


(from upper left; Abrazo, Voleo, Enrosque, Gancho)

So basically, Yuna evenly placed her elements and it would have taken her great energy to carry out all her elements till the end. Notice how she put her step sequence before half way point. It takes great energy out of you to cover ice and do steps/turns that require balance ? she does it for nearly a minute and then without a resting point she goes into 3Lz ? first jump past the half way point. Yuna didn’t play it safe at all ? this would have been very challenging.


On the other hand, Sotnikova stalls in the first half only completing three jumping elements (3-3, 3F, 3Lo) & spin ? Notice how it took her 30s to get to her 1st 3-3 jumps (she didn’t even cover ice for the 1st 15s) and after 3-3, it takes her another 30s to get to her 3F. Did she put any choreography in between there that interprets the music? Nope, not at all… just pointless transitions that still would count towards program component, but it is very cowardly to stall for so long because her lack of actual elements in 1st half was to save energy for the second half -she has difficult combinations planned for second half ? 2A3T, 3F2T2Lo. She planned to have these combinations in the second half for higher marks ? now, she wanted to save energy for those so she fills first half with lots and lots of transitions… Have Adelina do it in a similar order as Yuna ? do you think she can handle it? Also, she finishes all her jumping elements before 3 min into her program. No other skater has that composition of elements in their programs. Lastly, it was very cowardly of her to put Step sequence and ChSp1 back to back so people don’t notice that she lacks elements in her StSq. Her step sequence only lasted 25s vs Yuna’s 50s. And her Choreo sq wasn’t really Choreo sequence ? it was a 8s spiral ? nothing related to her music… How on earth can you call her program difficult? And how on earth did Adelina get over 70 PCS?




05. Interpretation


Definition: The personal and creative translation of the music to movement on ice.


Criteria:

- Effortless movement in time to the music;

- Expression of the music's style, character, rhythm;

- Use of finesse* to reflect the nuances of the music

- Relationship between the partners reflecting the character of the music (pairs, ice dancing and synchronized skating)

- Appropriateness of music in ice dancing, short dance and free dance


* Finesse is the skater's/team's refined, artful manipulation of nuances. Nuances are the personal artistic ways of bringing variations to the intensity, tempo and dynamics of the music made by the composer and/or musicians.


Again, this shows how Yuna reflected changing/dynamic tones/nuances of the music and made it all part of her character. You see how she marks the change of tempo/tone with various expressions. This piece of Adios Nonino is unique and creative in that it was colorful despite the overall sorrowful tone ? Piazolla wrote it in memory of his late father. (Moments like 2. and 4. ? bring a different dynamics/tempo from the original music piece.) And with Yuna’s interpretation, it comes natural to do a story telling from her various expressions (through her facial expressions/poses) THIS PROGRAM DESERVED 9.8~10 for interpretation.




I’m not even going to bother going into performance, choreography, interpretation with Sotnikova’s performance because it is an insult to even compare it with Yuna’s performance. All I’m going to say is that Sotnikova had a very weak program that doesn’t fulfill all the required criteria for program components. And she got one of the highest PCS (nearly perfect) simply for putting on a seemingly clean performance without a visible/major flaw (falls).




NOW, TO WRAP UP WITH WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN...


Total TES&PCS of both short program & FS after taking all technical errors into account and with more reasonable GoE