Just Because This Skater Is Japanese Doesn't Mean ANYTHING.

Since the skating season gets underway in a few tiny weeks I'd like to say a few things, but mostly I feel sullen and although Japanese Pop normally gets me out of my occasional fits of the blues and is what I most often turn to, sometimes I decide rather to go with it and appreciate silence.

This is how I feel right now, and I remember when I first saw the program. Mollie and I were sitting on the couch in our old dorm and I was forcing her through the Cup of Russia 2005. We watched this girl, who I often forgot existed back before she won the World Championships in 2007 . Miki Ando is often criticized for her lack of expression in performance, but I think it's because they keep choreographing her in sassy or sexy numbers. I think she has a talent for quiet sadness.



American skater Rachael Flatt has a similar style that I'm excited about seeing this year, but she also opens her mouth like a muppet when she does footwork so we'll have to see.

Edit: I often don't hear people talk about things being "endearing" or they use the word incorrectly to mean that something is "sweet" and slightly annoying, instead of something that I see as to be "dear" or showing a sense of gentle affection. How Miki Ando holds her hands next to the side of her face in her spiral sequence, or how they delicately sweep over her collarbone a bit shyly. That is endearing.