Tuesday, December 21, 2010

UCLA Intrasquad: Floor Exercise


Oh hells yes!  I haven't loved a batch of routines this much since Anna Li arrived and Miss Val told Tasha that she would NOT be having her doing a floor routine to Justin Timberlake: You will be my African Queen!

After watching UCLA for almost two decades, one begins to have some expectations about their routines.  Some will be wildly different.  There will usually be a lot of laying on the floor and STTTREEEETTTTTCCCHHHHING before the third pass and someone will always bend over at the waist and RIIIIIISE.  The past few years, Miss Val had a signature move where the girls would put their hands together behind their backs and walk in an 'S' pattern.

This season. Valorie was clearly feeling a bit inspired.  She just won NCAAs.  There is a new Olympian on the team.  Her upperclassmen have grown as performers.  It looks like she was really able to have fun and experiment in a number of the routines.  Overall, it is quite evident that Val had a bicurious affair with Twyla Tharp during college.  It was probably brief, but it is not unlike a fling you may have had where you smoked a little reefer, drank some red wine and watched the object of your affection play Tori Amos songs with two keyboards.


Val first flirted with Twyla during her 'ode' to her in 2005 via Kate Richardson's floor routine.  There was a false ending and a signature diva pose with ones feet pointed and the head is brought into the chest looking down at the floor.  There is often an arm extended.

Talia's routine is pure bliss.  The girl clearly works her ass off to get where she is.  Hopefully we'll see a few outings and exhibitions for her during 'B' meets and senior night.  They may like to say that every meet is a big meet, but don't be shocked if you see Talia compete against Cal State Fullerton.  The pirouettes after Talia's second pass excite me as though I've just seen Patti Lupone for the first time.

Aisha Gerber is a mystical creature from the Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter universe.  I imagine her trotting along green meadows and dipping her toes in water.  This routine is the most creative of the bunch.  The entire section before the third pass is pure bliss.  While the routine has moments of being introspective and almost private, there is a healthy level of drama throughout.

Out of all of the Asians on campus at UCLA, Sydney Sawa and Niki Tom are not my favorite.  That said, both look to be solid contributors.  Neither stands out much, but they don't disappoint either.

Olivia Courtney is a young girl who needs to spend every waking moment with Val in order to become a diva on the level of Brittani McCullough.  Hopefully they'll spend Greek Orthodox holidays together.  Her floor music is the wonderful 'Strobe's Nanafushi.'  It was the song used for the opening number of the 1999-2000 Stars On Ice tour and it will bring back wonderful Sandra Bezic memories when Olivia performs this each week.  It is evident that she is really trying and is becoming more outgoing while working on this routine.  Given that she trained at Orlando Metro, there is a good shot that Olivia will red-shirt at least one season.  She should have the performance thing down by her fifth year.

Tauny is Twyla-tastic and a sassy little thing!  I found her old routine to be a bit of a collection of Val's recycled moves, but this one looks like it will help her grow into her own unique Bruin mark.  Tauny will certainly see more action this year.  If she can get her tumbling situated, this routine will have serious growth potential.

Lichelle Wong brings me back to Antolin and Dantzscher levels of diva.  It appears that she is unleashing her inner bad girl and it makes me like her that much more.  And I absolutely live for the Twyla-type ending that was previously discussed.

MDLT is aggressive as sin.  Her extended sequence laying on the floor is a bit curious, as she is often chided about her fitness level.  There is something about Monique that stands out.  She goes against my typing Ekaterina Gordeeva tastes, but I like her.  There is a competitor inside her.

EHH- This new routine looks like Val really got to play.  I can tell that it is one of those that will sneak up and grow on me.  I really dig it whenever Elyse pushes down on the floor and rolls her head and shoulders from side to side.  It is what indicates that this nice sweet Canadian is a closet bad ass bitch.  The way that Elyse does her second pass indicates that she is one who enjoys the spotlight.  I question whether a double layout is the right pass for her.  Given how much they are going to depend on big scores from her, opening with a reliable double arabian could be the smart decision.  Then again, I suspect they want her to really take ownership of flipping twice in the straight position, as the girl has been known to have bar dismount issues.

McCullough- As a repressed Catholic, it will always amuse me that Brittani learned to dance like this in church.  She certainly wasn't wasting any time memorizing the Nicene Creed.  Her piked full in is out of this world and earns the right for this routine to be clapped along to.  There is enough of the old, new, borrowed and blue to keep us interested, while not making us miss the previous routine.

This will be a good year.

20 comments:

  1. I see some candidates for Suzanne's fat group.

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  2. Sawa could not possibly be any uhhh...rounder.

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  3. I love EHH's routine. I worry though that they will take out some of the choreo bc she was clearly sucking wind before the 2nd and 3rd pass (the same can be said for several of the other routines in terms of conditioning). The routines from Gerber, Wong, and McCollough (though I don't think it will top the old routine) are great too, and MDLT has really creative choreo.

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  4. As always overrated. These will grow on me in the future.

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  5. It seems like they have two different styles. I happen to like both of them. Wow what a great full in by McCollough, she seems to stall the twist of something. Very cool, wonder if it is related to the camera angle because her tucked full in did not appear this spectacular!

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  6. Sam's ankle has been bothering her so they rested her.

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  7. Lots of taped ankles- not good for it only being Dec! LOOVED the choreo- but why does the coach stand there for the big skills, but only give them a tiny bump and let them land short? There were LOTS of short, hard landings which worry me. Val needs to make sure the coaches are bumping and catching or at least let them land in a resi if they are going to land that short! YIKES!

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  8. Wow, the way you worship St. Val is almost nauseating. I can see why she said she enjoys your writting now! I will say the routines require a fair amount of energy, and the gorls really do a great job of performing, so props to them on that. But the spastic aggressive movements get old after the third routine. And with EHH's routine, last year's was perhaps my favorite in the country. This one just looks like she's high on something. And I was expecting to see 4-5 double lays from what was reported earlier, but looks like that didn't pan out and they are sticking with just one. Courtney and McCullough are going to carry the team this year. They both look great. Can't say the same for the rest of the team.

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  9. I don't really worship her. I think she's a trip though. I get excited by choreography in general.

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  10. Talia's routine is AWESOME, but why don't they give her passes that will suit it better so that she can get into the lineup? She doesn't seem to have enough power for a full in and double pike... I mean, she can do them, but there's landing deductions galore. Surely there has to be another way to get a high SV.

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  11. when was tasha offered a justin timberlake routine?

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  12. McCullough is fab.

    I'd like to see Tabitha Yim type of choreo in college routines... just less spastic. But I'd prefer that over some of the spastic stuff I see in college routines nowadays.

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  13. My favorites were EHH and Mcullough. I couldn't have picked better music for Brittani, it was just perfect for her. I loved her dancing in front of the mirror. She was feeling it! I wasn't wild about some of the other routines, I think they still need work. I kept wanting Lichelle to extend more and MDLT needs cardio, stat. The NCAA schedule is brutal if you are not in shape.

    Anon 11:59- Talia's a pretty weak tumbler in general. She struggles just to get those passes around. That is what keeps her from getting into the line up. She has a background in hip hop dancing and I think she choreographs parts of her routine with val and somtimes other gymnast's.

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  14. I must say that I wa most impressed with the first few up -- Talia rocks, love Lichelle, and Aisha is amazing. The middle was meh (Tauny being the most interesting). Personaly, I preferred last year's routines for EHH and McCullough; lots of similar moves, but last year's worked better.

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  15. did val do all these routines? They are good but by no means her best, but still way better then Elite.

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  16. To everyone who is surprised about McCullough's piked full-in: search on Youtube for McCullough 2005 and you will see that she's just been hiding that while at UCLA - due to injury. It's always been around.

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  17. Aisha Gerber did her own routine...with some Val tweaking.

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  18. Love the opening to EHH's, and watching Britt dance will always make me smile.

    There were some scary short landings, but I guess you have to start going to the competition floor at some point. I doubt they let their athletes crunch their ankles like that every day.

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  19. We all predicted a long time ago that Sawa would blow up once she got to college, unfortunate because she fits the UCLA gong/moose to a T!

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