To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

I'm a little sad they're not doing something along the lines of the zombie free dance again, but if the practice pictures they just posted are any indication, I think I'm definitely going to like Nelli Zhiganshina & Alexander Gazsi's programs this year.

(Hopefully Alex will shave the face!tribble before the season starts, though. Oh, my.)

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I'm halfway through the second of four bottles of allergen mixture. (Once I get to the fifth bottle, I can start coming once a week, and six weeks later I can switch to once every 3-4 weeks. It takes six doses to finish a bottle.) With yesterday's dose I got a couple of big, red, itchy welts at the injection sites, sigh. Some local reaction is normal as you increase the concentration, though I suspect my body is overachieving again as far as size and duration go. At least my arms have stopped aching now that I'm getting the shots in my hips. Though my hips are looking a bit black and blue now. Perhaps they'll let me move to my stomach for a while?

I haven't done a Gratuitous Icon Post in a long, long time, but I'm doing one now because I felt this one needed to be shared.

Original image.

Yay for ice dancing zombies!

(OMG, their faces. I may have just splurged on some paid DW time almost entirely so that I could plaster their hilarious faces [also their elegant dancing] all over my icons.)

Uhhhhh, so apparently Spain was hiding some extremely bizarre skaters somewhere in their ice rinks until they let this one escape: Javier Fernandez does an aerobics class on ice exhibition number. Complete with what appears to be a Superman outfit with a big "J" on his chest, for Super!Javier! And if I'm not mistaken, that's him doing the narration over the music.

Even the British EuroSport commentators, who are rarely fazed by anything, sound a little nonplussed in the version with their commentary.

I am unsurprised to find that Kurt Browning choreographed this number.

Despite the amusement factor, I think what I like best about it is seeing interesting and unusual skills that would never be rewarded in competition these days, like the opposite direction jumps at 4:09, and that super cool up-and-down sit spin at 1:48.

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I had a good lesson and practice yesterday. My Waltz Eight was actually...well, okay, I don't think I can legitimately call it an "8" shape, since the right-hand circle kept collapsing in on itself because my left side still doesn't believe in back outside edges, but there was a definite circular motion to the stuff on the left-hand side. I still can't check my three turns worth a damn, so we ended up shortening the back inside edge part and pushing more quickly into the back outside edge, which helped things stay on a circle. I'm not 100% sure if I can just keep it like that or if I'm going to have to be able to check better before I take this test.

(If I could just alter the figure to put a poor man's back inside loop there before moving on to the back outside edge, it would be gorgeous and totally circular, but it doesn't work like that, alas.)

We worked on the forward perimeter stroking pattern for a bit, and I learned I actually get six strokes to make it down the long side of the rink. Hot diggity! I thought I had to do it in four! I can actually do it in four, especially since you're really going from red hockey dot to hockey dot rather than goal line to goal line, given how the intro steps and crossovers work, but apparently the rule-makers want six. Per C, "You actually have a lot of power, but we need to control it."

*beam*

I also managed not to fall over doing the spiral pattern for the first time, but I doubt my free leg was anywhere near my hip. You get two spirals, one on each foot, down the long side of the rink, and each of them has to go for about 50-60 feet. You get one push in the middle to build some momentum for the second spiral. I was just pleased to make it on both of them without running out of gas. Height can come later.

In practice, because someone in my group class was asking, I pulled out the half flip I haven't worked on in weeks and...actually managed to jump rather than step from toe pick to toe pick. IT WAS A MIRACLE! Apparently mastering that ballet jump (for generous values of "master") actually helped. Alternately, benign neglect improves my skating skills.

In other miracles, I managed to generate power on my backward cross rolls after applying P's advice from last night that it's kind of like a mutant edge pull. Now, we are not talking a lot of power--we are talking, like, AA battery versus the nuclear reactor that a pro could generate from these--but I could get the sixty feet or so from the goal line to the first blue line before I came to a standstill, which is much better than last week.

And I got a very interesting piece of general advice from fellow adult skater R, who told me about the idea of finishing a lobe*/edge, coming to a neutral position, and then being able to move to any foot/edge/direction from that position because you're not tipped over too far one way or the other. Which is a cool idea. I applied it to my swing choctaw and came out with...something that looked a bit more more like a choctaw than an unhappy mohawk, anyway. Maybe this will be helpful.

* I don't know where the term "lobe" comes from--I suspect figures; are the circles that make up an 8 called lobes?--but it basically means an arc.

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I don't know if it's the dust mite covers I put on my mattress and pillow last night or the Prednisone, Zyrtec, and/or Nasacort finally kicking in, but today was hugely less snotty than the past week or so has been. Downside: I am very obviously sleeping on plastic. It rustles when I move, and is warmer than I'd like. But if it means I can breathe...

I had vague plans to watch Olympic skating this year, but I keep forgetting we have a TV. Then when I do remember we have a TV, I think, "But who wants to watch all the commercials and be beholden to what NBC wants to show? They chack all the interesting skaters anyway. I'll just catch up on YouTube!" Except I forget to do that too, and now it's, like half-over, right? Oh well.

I decided to at least see what the one dance team I actually care about was up to this year by peeking at their programs. It turns out Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Gazsi of Germany, they of the amazing zombie free dance last year, have relatively meh programs this year. Come on! After zombies, surely there are aliens? Werewolves? Vampires? (Oh, wait, they did vampires already.) Their best quality is their creativity!

I do like that they've made their free dance a direct sequel to their short dance, though. I've always thought more skaters should do that, if only because of the savings on costuming. Anyway, the format is cool, but the story itself is dull.

So, since I found no joy this year, I decided to catch up on their back catalogue. Only to discover that apparently they are goddamn acrobats in addition to being skaters. Dude. Acrobatting around each other is impressive enough. Acrobatting around each other WITH SHARP OBJECTS ON THEIR FEET is crazy impressive. Or perhaps just crazy. [Check out 3:20 and onward for the really OMG stuff.] If they ever tour here once they turn pro, sign me up to come watch their show, because I bet it will be awesome.

Other interesting things:

OD from 2008 or something like that - "We're Germans! Nelli may be from Russia, but we are soooooooo German!" Sadly, no one gets caught in anyone else's lederhosen.

"Singin' in the Rain" OD - Super cute! Especially the little cheek kiss at the end that brings mannequin!Nelli to life.

A nice tango.

I'm not linking to a video because IMO the dance is kind of blah, but the costumes must be seen to be believed. No, they don't even get slack because it was music from Cirque du Soleil. Pompoms are never a wise costume choice. I'm just sayin'. Also, not looking like you were eaten by balloon animals is a good goal to work toward.

These costumes aren't much better on the attractiveness front, but that said I'm very curious what she plans to do with the collection of knives strapped to her thigh.

Finally, their Facebook page is kind of awesome. They just seem like such adorably dorky normal people! With their glasses and his receding hairline and their totally normal clothes and their random vacation pictures. (Tangent: Are they a thing off-ice too? I wouldn't have suspected from their interaction in the kiss & cry and such, but the couple-y vacation photos are sending some mixed signals.) Alex is such a goofball. So is Nelli. Actually, they both are.

Other particularly fun pictures:

"OMG, we made it to Worlds! So awesome!"

Um, so when I said "normal," I meant "normal except for doing acrobatics on a bus." Obviously.

Tangentially, can I just say that, not having watched skating since 2003 or so, I am baffled and confused by all the changes. Lyrics allowed in the music for the dancers (and other disciplines, for all I know)? Women can wear pants without anyone getting all het up? No more compulsories, but now the poor dancers have to add a compulsory pattern to their original short dance? (P.S. I'm sure they're happy about it, but it just looks weird.) Also, whatever the merits or lack thereof of the new judging system, I think it lacks a certain drama in the kiss & cry to have it just be one number read out rather than nine different values for technical merit and nine more for presentation. Hopes are raised and dreams are crushed so quickly! Where's the pacing?

Also, WTF is this "team" event? I would understand if the teams had, like, interrelated programs or something. But they're just doing the same short and long programs they're going to do less than a week later. What's the point? (Spoiler: Skating is the one part of the Winter Games that gets decent ratings, so the media and ISU wanted to plaster the two weeks with it, didn't they?)

Also also, if I never see another set of twizzles again, it will be too soon. Can we go back to ice dance that was not composed of 90% twizzles by volume? (See, Alex Gazsi agrees that twizzles are sad-making.)

WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT???

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In related news, I got my Boitano/Witt DVDs, woot! And OMG, there's an ensemble piece to "Tom's Diner" that is just...I don't know, if ever there were seven minutes that encapsulate 1991, I think it would have to be these seven minutes. It's got neon, it's got horrifying prints, it's got bodysuits, it's got hairspray, it's got big dangly earrings, it's got dance moves that look more like aerobics than dance, it's got the token avant garde bit, it's got it all.

These shows also introduced me to Gary Beacom, who is amazing and possibly does not actually have bones? That's the only explanation I have for some of his moves.

And they introduced me to Robert Wagenhoffer, who is also awesome! Skating to bluegrass? Fabulous! Outstandingly creative spins? Sure! Jumps that seem to float forever? Why not! Just, wow. Also, I think the only word for that mullet he's sporting is "majestic."

Plus there are quite a few programs from Underhill & Martini, who I knew were fantastic, and Blumberg & Seibert's "Adagio for Strings," which is gorgeous, and Boitano and Witt doing interesting things together, perhaps my favorite of which is their parallel spread eagles, where she's doing one inches in front of him.

...I know, I know, I'm so au courant. But I have fun anyway.

Apparently commercial figure skating compilation DVDs a.) exist, and b.) are on Netflix. Mwhahahaha.

Anyway, I ran across this program Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman did back in 2004-05 and...eh, the music doesn't do much for me, but JUST LOOK AT IT.

In addition to the opening "yep, just going to flip my partner all around my body like she's a scarf or something, no big" move, check out the lift at 0:26, where he turns around between throwing her in the air and catching her, how is that even possible OMG. Apparently it's called "fly high say bye," and they got it from Brasseur and Eisler, which...yeah, these two kind of are (were? not sure if they're retired or not) the new B&E, with all their fearless, death-defying tricks. (B&E, I have to say, were always the one pair I was genuinely frightened to watch. Half the time I had to look through my fingers.)

Also, while I rarely notice this sort of thing, I really have to say that John Zimmerman is an exceptionally good-looking man. I want to, I don't know, paint him or something.

This DVD also had a program by Kitty and Peter Carruthers, who of course I knew of because Peter was and probably still is the commentator du jour of just about every eligible event aired on ABC, but I'd never actually seen them. And they were fun! They vamped around (heh) to organ-y music I associate with vampire films and possibly Bugs Bunny, which Google assures me is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. They did a cool traveling death spiral that I didn't even know was possible, and now I wonder where it's gone. I'd love to see it more often. They had some nifty-looking skating in between the tricks, like a sequence where they pull each other into bigger and higher waltz jumps. The big jumps and other tricks are nice, no doubt, but I miss the in-between stuff that's gotten shafted with increasing focus on tricks. Sigh.

There was also Torvill & Dean's exquisite "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which is just...wow. Words can't really express how lovely it is.

Roca & Sur's incredible "The Prayer" was on there was well, although I've already seen it approximately 5,823 times. Watching it after that T&D number makes it very obvious that Christopher Dean choreographed it. He really likes his instant-replay-like dramatic repetition, as well as choosing one or two thematic moves to repeat across the length of a program. Not that both aren't incredibly effective, mind, but it's kind of amusing to realize I can sometimes pick out a Dean program without prior knowledge now. "Oye Como Va" is another obviously-Dean program. And it is fan-frickin'-tastic. R&S always did so well with Dean choreography. (Or when they stole liberally from Torvill and Dean. Though I suppose that concept is not exactly earth-shatteringly original. And this is probably heresy, but Renee and Gorsha's is way more entertaining.)

On second thought, I'm not sure I would've pegged "Casi Un Bolero" as Dean, though it is also very lovely and R&S do it so beautifully. (Presumably Meno & Sand did a competent job with it as well, although one really can't tell since the camera operator and editor chose to focus entirely on Gorsha and Renee. Given how much more ice dance than pairs this number was, and how much it was right in R&S's wheelhouse and, er, less so in M&S's, this was probably wise.) That was always my favorite Rumba to dance to.

Right, now I'm just rambling, so off I go to attempt something productive.

I did ballroom dance tonight! It was awesome! There's a group of about 100 that meets on Monday nights, when they have a (very, very basic) lesson in one dance that changes every month, such as tonight's west coast swing. Then they basically have a dance party afterwards. The age of the group tended well north of mine, but that was okay. Lots of people really knew what they were doing. And shockingly, there were more men than women. So I got to dance to every song I stayed for, mostly with one very nice older gentleman. I kept thinking, "I should leave...I have to get up for work tomorrow..." but then a waltz or an east coast swing would come on, and I had to stay. We did a cha-cha, and all the Latin abs/hip movement came back to me, and it felt so good. Plus apparently I can follow now? I used to be a terrible follow, but I did okay tonight. Not that anyone I danced with did very complicated stuff with me, but still.

Anyway, great fun. Although ultimately it's convinced me that I really need to pony up the bucks and find a studio that does group lessons, because I want more thorough instruction along with my messing around on the dance floor. And ideally those lessons would not be on Monday nights, ugh. Maybe I could do a few individual lessons until I fill in any holes that would keep me out of intermediate or advanced group classes? I don't know. Something to think about (and Google).

(Ummmm, let us not talk about how I also have the local Learn to Skate program up in another tab. I started to digitize some old VHS tapes this weekend, and all of them were of ice dancing--I was not kidding about the tape trading in the last post, y'all--and it made me want to do pale imitations of their moves. If I took lessons, those imitations could be ever so slightly less pale! And group lessons aren't nearly as expensive as I thought they would be. On the other hand, maybe I'll just screw around at a public skating session sometime and get it out of my system...)

I loathe loathe loathe ONTD-type communities (sparkle!text and huge uncut images make me want to punch things), but I just discovered that there is one for figure skating, and I had to check it out. I quickly couldn't take it anymore, but I did find it hilarious and oh-so-apt that they had tags for things like "illusion mesh fabric" and "oh plushy" (how many times did I say that myself?), not to mention "plushenkohnotheydidn't," as well as "your russian overlords," which, well, yes. Although apparently China is moving on up lately. And the US and Canada somehow started being amazing at ice dance, which I'm still kind of ???? over.

Anyway, I don't think I can bring myself to go back there again (my eyes, my EYES), but before I closed the window for good I did find a great collection of pictures of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, the Marina and Gwendal clones I'd hoped would be successful way back in 2004 or whatever. (Look. Clones! Less so now that Fabian has done something different with his hair this season, admittedly, although Nathalie dyed her hair darker, so it's kind of a wash.) Apparently they are successful now! Yay!

BTW, their free dance for this year is based on City Lights, which I guess explains the costumes. I'm not sure what explains the last picture in the collection above, but I can't decide whether to go "awwww!" or laugh. It's cute, whatever it is.

In other news, where half my flist seems to have finished the word-orgy of NaNo this week, I appear to be starting one of my own. Not a NaNo-type project, but between my fake TV show and a stocking stuffer I've started for fandom_stocking,* I've written 2,000+ words in the past couple of days. Pretty shocking for me, I have to say.

* Hahaha, oh, man. I am having such fun with this. I've gone through the lists left at the sign up post and made my own list of requests I could possibly fill. I have, like, thirty written down. I doubt I'll do more than five or ten, but that's okay! I love this buffet-style request-filling. Especially when so many people are requesting small fandoms that I know.

Oooh, ooh! I think this will only be of interest to spockette, but I must report anyway: some recent COI pictures on the Anissina/Peizerat list at YahooGroups indicate that Gwendal finally shaved off that irritating goatee! Yay!

It doesn't appear that they have any new programs this year. I can't blame them, though; the Flamenco is fantastic no matter how many times you see it. And hee, light sabers in the Star Wars one. Cute.