Showing posts with label rhythmic gymnastics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rhythmic gymnastics. Show all posts
8/24/2014
Light, Shadow and the Orange Ball
Nadia is growing up but still likes her orange ball. This is the same ball I had on pictures when she was barely a month old:
8/01/2014
Take The 90s Gymnastics Quiz and Win a Gift
Crazy Fan's 90s Rhythmic Gymnastics Quiz
If you lived in the 1990s, a glorious gymnastics decade, I dare you to take this quiz.The person, who gets all correct answers first will receive a free Crazy Fan gift in the mail. Please take the quiz and send me a screenshot of your score at grashkina@gmail.com. Good luck!11/06/2013
Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Group May Have a New Addition
I have heard that Simona Dyankova, a gymnast, who I absolutely love as an individual, is about the now join the group. I think she has a powerful personality and a unique presence on the carpet so I was a bit surprised to here that. I wrote about her in the past here.
Here is also a new ball routine she showcased at a test competition, obviously not polished but promising:
I was similarly sad when Sasha Narkevich joined the group in Belarus instead of staying as an individual but then she ended up winning an Olympic silver and a world gold, so, in the end, I was happy for her.
Moving from an individual arrangement to the group competition can be a difficult transition. It is not for everyone, but for the bravest, strongest, and most adaptable athletes out there. Change is good when we welcome it with an open heart. I still like gymnasts with great expression like Simona, so I hope she will infuse the group with her strong spirit.
Here is also a new ball routine she showcased at a test competition, obviously not polished but promising:
I was similarly sad when Sasha Narkevich joined the group in Belarus instead of staying as an individual but then she ended up winning an Olympic silver and a world gold, so, in the end, I was happy for her.
Moving from an individual arrangement to the group competition can be a difficult transition. It is not for everyone, but for the bravest, strongest, and most adaptable athletes out there. Change is good when we welcome it with an open heart. I still like gymnasts with great expression like Simona, so I hope she will infuse the group with her strong spirit.
10/19/2013
Fall Butterfly Dance
In this series of pictures, I tried to capture my pre-Halloween mood and moves, and an inspiration drawn from gymnastics, ballet and dance.
I dedicate this not just to all crazy fans, but to the even crazier people who live with them, listen to them, bear with them, support them and love them.
7/26/2013
6/01/2013
Flying Hoops and Hopes: First Day of the European Championship
I watched the European Championship live from Vienna last night and loved the performances of all gymnast, both new stars and some well-established veterans.
A great hope for Greek gymnastics, Varvara Filou may be warming up her shoulders here, but her lines looked clean and strong in her performance at the EC so far.
Meanwhile, Margarita Mamun from Russia showed no nerves and got stellar scores with ball and hoop.
Alexandra Piscupescu, on the other hand, is not just a hopeful but the best Romanian rhythmic gymnast to date. She deserves to make finals and should be proud of herself.
Judges, please, give Alexandra good marks! ;-) And while we are at it, give them to Silvia Miteva, too. She made minor errors in her pivots and missed a risk with ball, but she showed strong routines and choreography as usual. This may be her last European championship!
Halkina from Belarus, a new hope for this gymnastics powerhouse, looks sad after dropping the hoop and with a reason! This error may put Belarus out of the medals, which would be very sad. Meanwhile, Lala Yusifova from Azerbaijan is just short of the 17.00 mark but her hoop and her spirit flew very high. I hope to see her win medals next year!
And, finally, the question remains: who will win more gold, Mamun or Kudryavtseva. I favor Mamun's style but prefer Yana's apparatus technique. Let's see if Yana's nerves will not betray her. This championship may become her first big victory.
A great hope for Greek gymnastics, Varvara Filou may be warming up her shoulders here, but her lines looked clean and strong in her performance at the EC so far.
Meanwhile, Margarita Mamun from Russia showed no nerves and got stellar scores with ball and hoop.
Alexandra Piscupescu, on the other hand, is not just a hopeful but the best Romanian rhythmic gymnast to date. She deserves to make finals and should be proud of herself.
Judges, please, give Alexandra good marks! ;-) And while we are at it, give them to Silvia Miteva, too. She made minor errors in her pivots and missed a risk with ball, but she showed strong routines and choreography as usual. This may be her last European championship!
Halkina from Belarus, a new hope for this gymnastics powerhouse, looks sad after dropping the hoop and with a reason! This error may put Belarus out of the medals, which would be very sad. Meanwhile, Lala Yusifova from Azerbaijan is just short of the 17.00 mark but her hoop and her spirit flew very high. I hope to see her win medals next year!
And, finally, the question remains: who will win more gold, Mamun or Kudryavtseva. I favor Mamun's style but prefer Yana's apparatus technique. Let's see if Yana's nerves will not betray her. This championship may become her first big victory.
5/07/2013
Letter from a Mom : Why I Choose Rhythmic Gymnastics for My Daughters
By Lidia Rozdilsky
I am Sophia's mama, the one that introduced her to the world of exquisite human motion.
Growing up in Eastern Europe "on the other side of the iron curtain," it was a token of nationalism to be proud of our athletes, particularly our gymnasts whom we believed to be unsurpassable. Back then, from an early age on, there was hardly any child of any gender who was not introduced to dancing or music.Years passed and both the country's and the people's priorities and likes changed but the love for the amalgamation of dance and sport in the form of rhythmic gymnastics stayed with me, probably because I left Bulgaria as a teenager and "it" remained part of me in the same token as the "old" Bulgaria still inhabits my memories.
Work, life, and a passion for interacting with different cultures took our family to many countries where on numerous occasions ballet and gymnastics miraculously crossed our path. For instance, in 2008, our family was in the middle of visiting Tokyo when I found out that the Aeon Cup was taking place. Sophia in a sling, I cancelled all plans for the day so baby and I could enjoy seeing Kanaeva, Bessonova, and company in person. I will never forget seeing Vera Efremovna Shtelbaums and throwing myself on her neck virtually screaming how much I loved her, upon which she jumped from joy like a little girl, saying: oй, я такое никак не ожидала... meaning: oh my goodness, I never expected anything like that. Yes, the woman who trained Olympic and World champions never expected that a complete stranger and a nobody like me would put her in a pedestal, why: because Shtelbaums knows that in the final analysis it is not the medals that make a champion but her character and she knows it because she lives it!
Being close to gymnastics and dance has seen me through some of the most horrid times of my life. When Sophia was born, I went through excruciating pain to nurse her so the only thing I could do is stare at the beautiful performances on the computer in order to feed my child what my body makes for her sustenance. Before Sophia turned two, I gave birth to our second daughter Alexandra who is following in the "pointe shoes" of her sister and loves ballet and gymnastics as well. Our family experienced a colossal tragedy as we lost our third daughter Asmara nine days after she was born for unknown reason. One day before she left this world, my friend Iva stopped by to give the baby a gift she was inspired to buy: dancing shoes. We buried her ten days later with them next to her so she can dance in heaven, being taught by "the greatest" like dear Oksana Kostina and Julietta Shishmanova who too left this world very young.
One of the common characteristics that all loss moms across cultures, religions, and other artificial divides exhibit is that whatever "ambitions" for our children we may have had prior to our tragedies, we no longer have them. In the world of gymnastic-crazed hyper-moms many of you may have been left with the impression that Sophia's passion may be the result of yet another woman who sees her daughter as the next Kanaeva. So, please understand, I wrote this entry not because my daughter could not speak for herself during her own video interview but because I truly "get" what the Bulgarian gymnast Silviya Miteva means when she says: my goal is to do the best I am capable of on the carpet. I don't care which place I end up occupying in the ranking afterwards.
Sophia is almost six, but she has never attended a formal gymnastics or ballet class. She has never been to daycare or kindergarten either. Our philosophy as parents about teaching the arts to our children in general is "expose them to the best." We have a high quality projector at home which allows our daughters to see huge images of the world's best dancers and athletes doing what they love to do. When Sophia and Allie want to dance, I turn on the video and simply say to them: do what they do... and stand back amazed at the results.
When they want to paint, they are welcome to just about all professional art materials in our studio. Too often, children give up on art not because of lack of creativity or too much technology but because of being exposed to mediocrity.
I believe that disciplines that embody physical activity and grace teach children so much in terms of character development. Through their interaction with coaches, teammates, and the audience, they learn to show respect, express gratitude, and cultivate their individuality whilst meeting high standards which become their own. They learn perseverance through hardships and joy in self-improvement. Engaged in dance and motion, they become instruments of beauty. And this is why whether my daughters do anything with their passion for dance, beauty, and flexibility is immaterial; because in my eyes (and hopefully in their own) they are already champions because in the "real" world it is all about character development, and there, no one gives trophies.
I am Sophia's mama, the one that introduced her to the world of exquisite human motion.
Growing up in Eastern Europe "on the other side of the iron curtain," it was a token of nationalism to be proud of our athletes, particularly our gymnasts whom we believed to be unsurpassable. Back then, from an early age on, there was hardly any child of any gender who was not introduced to dancing or music.Years passed and both the country's and the people's priorities and likes changed but the love for the amalgamation of dance and sport in the form of rhythmic gymnastics stayed with me, probably because I left Bulgaria as a teenager and "it" remained part of me in the same token as the "old" Bulgaria still inhabits my memories.
Work, life, and a passion for interacting with different cultures took our family to many countries where on numerous occasions ballet and gymnastics miraculously crossed our path. For instance, in 2008, our family was in the middle of visiting Tokyo when I found out that the Aeon Cup was taking place. Sophia in a sling, I cancelled all plans for the day so baby and I could enjoy seeing Kanaeva, Bessonova, and company in person. I will never forget seeing Vera Efremovna Shtelbaums and throwing myself on her neck virtually screaming how much I loved her, upon which she jumped from joy like a little girl, saying: oй, я такое никак не ожидала... meaning: oh my goodness, I never expected anything like that. Yes, the woman who trained Olympic and World champions never expected that a complete stranger and a nobody like me would put her in a pedestal, why: because Shtelbaums knows that in the final analysis it is not the medals that make a champion but her character and she knows it because she lives it!
Being close to gymnastics and dance has seen me through some of the most horrid times of my life. When Sophia was born, I went through excruciating pain to nurse her so the only thing I could do is stare at the beautiful performances on the computer in order to feed my child what my body makes for her sustenance. Before Sophia turned two, I gave birth to our second daughter Alexandra who is following in the "pointe shoes" of her sister and loves ballet and gymnastics as well. Our family experienced a colossal tragedy as we lost our third daughter Asmara nine days after she was born for unknown reason. One day before she left this world, my friend Iva stopped by to give the baby a gift she was inspired to buy: dancing shoes. We buried her ten days later with them next to her so she can dance in heaven, being taught by "the greatest" like dear Oksana Kostina and Julietta Shishmanova who too left this world very young.
Sophia is almost six, but she has never attended a formal gymnastics or ballet class. She has never been to daycare or kindergarten either. Our philosophy as parents about teaching the arts to our children in general is "expose them to the best." We have a high quality projector at home which allows our daughters to see huge images of the world's best dancers and athletes doing what they love to do. When Sophia and Allie want to dance, I turn on the video and simply say to them: do what they do... and stand back amazed at the results.
When they want to paint, they are welcome to just about all professional art materials in our studio. Too often, children give up on art not because of lack of creativity or too much technology but because of being exposed to mediocrity.
I believe that disciplines that embody physical activity and grace teach children so much in terms of character development. Through their interaction with coaches, teammates, and the audience, they learn to show respect, express gratitude, and cultivate their individuality whilst meeting high standards which become their own. They learn perseverance through hardships and joy in self-improvement. Engaged in dance and motion, they become instruments of beauty. And this is why whether my daughters do anything with their passion for dance, beauty, and flexibility is immaterial; because in my eyes (and hopefully in their own) they are already champions because in the "real" world it is all about character development, and there, no one gives trophies.3/05/2013
My Top 4 Routines in 2013
Now that the first two strong tournaments of the year, one in Estonia and one in Moscow, have finished, I can say I watched the new routines of most of the world's best gymnasts. I have made my picks as follows
1. Top Ball Routine: Margarita Mamun. This is a lyrical, brilliant, light-as-a-feather routine, in which I think Rita Mamun displays some of the best arm movements in the business of dance and gymnastics. We see risk and we also see expression:
2. Top Clubs Routine: Alexandra Merkulova. This is one of the few routines with a vocal and with words that I actually enjoy. Sasha Merkulova takes the credit for looking like she is having tons, tons of fun performing and not like she is pretending to dance. I really feel sad when so many gymnast just move their hips around because now you have to include "dance elements" and they are not feeling the music, or the mood, or anything at all. Joyful dancing aside, this is a routine full of small movements and tricks with the clubs, which is what every routine should be. None of the elements look static and a few are pretty original. The routine covers the entire carpet and matches the music:
3. Top Ribbon Routine: Melitina Staniouta. A classy and classical routine beyond any doubt. As we know, all of Melitina's leaps and pivots are some of the strongest in the world and she has put a lot of effort into interpreting the music and making this routine very "alive" and fluid. Melitina Staniouta is, physically, the best gymnast in the world right now. If her expression matches her physical fitness, she should be winning gold after gold. But mostly with this wonderfully sophisticated ribbon:
4. Top Hoop Routine: Ganna Rizatdinova. Ukranian gymnasts completely "own" the hoop as an apparatus. Maksymenko has presented a strong hoop routine as well but Ganna's pirouettes and her dramatic, yet, not drama queen-ish interpertation has put it over the top of me. She is truly flying high like her hoop here, taking over all the emotional space she can:
1. Top Ball Routine: Margarita Mamun. This is a lyrical, brilliant, light-as-a-feather routine, in which I think Rita Mamun displays some of the best arm movements in the business of dance and gymnastics. We see risk and we also see expression:
2. Top Clubs Routine: Alexandra Merkulova. This is one of the few routines with a vocal and with words that I actually enjoy. Sasha Merkulova takes the credit for looking like she is having tons, tons of fun performing and not like she is pretending to dance. I really feel sad when so many gymnast just move their hips around because now you have to include "dance elements" and they are not feeling the music, or the mood, or anything at all. Joyful dancing aside, this is a routine full of small movements and tricks with the clubs, which is what every routine should be. None of the elements look static and a few are pretty original. The routine covers the entire carpet and matches the music:
3. Top Ribbon Routine: Melitina Staniouta. A classy and classical routine beyond any doubt. As we know, all of Melitina's leaps and pivots are some of the strongest in the world and she has put a lot of effort into interpreting the music and making this routine very "alive" and fluid. Melitina Staniouta is, physically, the best gymnast in the world right now. If her expression matches her physical fitness, she should be winning gold after gold. But mostly with this wonderfully sophisticated ribbon:
4. Top Hoop Routine: Ganna Rizatdinova. Ukranian gymnasts completely "own" the hoop as an apparatus. Maksymenko has presented a strong hoop routine as well but Ganna's pirouettes and her dramatic, yet, not drama queen-ish interpertation has put it over the top of me. She is truly flying high like her hoop here, taking over all the emotional space she can:
1/31/2013
New Bulgarian Beauty: Kristina Tasheva
Finally, I found some time to share with you how thrilled I am that Kristina Tasheva from "Akademik" (the same club as Simona Peycheva) became part of the national team. Kristina placed 2nd after Silvia Miteva at the first test competition in Sofia:
Kristina strikes me as a very gifted athlete, but also as someone who looks ready and happy to work very, very hard. She just puts a lot of attention and effort in every movement, so I do believe that she can "polish" her routines to perfection. This is a strong, yet, flowing and expressive, routine, although I'd like to see more originality with the hoop (the hoop used to be, dear fans, the most "Bulgarian" apparatus).
The big question is: will the Bulgarian Federation allow another girl from "Akademik" to compete at international events, especially if Simona Peycheva does return, as she says she will? How will Silvia Miteva and Maria Mateva respond to actual competition within the national team? Time will tell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)