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seokjins · 7 years ago

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Hiiiii I love your opinion on dance and you're always so sweet and explains it well. Can you tell me your thoughts in this Jimin performance ([ENG] 170127 BOMB: Jimin Opening show stage @SBS Music Awards Festival 2016)

also do u know that day/bangtan bomb where jimin performed his contemporary dance w other idols? can u pls give ur opinion on how he's done? bc it upset me seeing him not satisfied w himself (also i LOVE reading what u write and getting educated on dance)

ref video (thanks for providing the title!)

i’ve been dying to talk about this performance bc jimin KILLS IT here. he looks so good. he’s beautiful he’s amazing he’s talented his gorgeous he’s talented wow what a prince let’s stop beating around the bush and get down to the nitty gritty

modern contemporary stage

this is not modern dance. this is contemporary, and i’m tired of people mixing them up wtf

2:12 - i wish he used a longer line for his arm bc he folded into himself right away, so there was a loss of contrast in the movement

2:16 - isolations (not moving anything except arms) and audience eye contact is good

2:19 - his hands are really nice

2:24 - he was so ON BALANCE for that pirouette ??? maybe it was only a half turn, but he didn’t come down from relevé (being on the toes) until he filled up all the music, and it left me wondering exactly how centered (how much balance he has) he’d be if he started taking modern/ballet again

the ending burst is also really nice. i liked the completion of his lines by looking up

2:22 - was weird choreography-wise. normally, you would do a preparation step before a stag leap instead of just jumping straight up into it. you can’t see it in this video, but his back leg is very close to being horizontal w the ground and that takes a lot of flexibility….again, he’s showing so much potential here, and i want to know what he’d be like at the top of his game

2:48 - the 🙃🙃🙃🙃 ariel 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 fuck 🙃🙃🙃 me 🙃🙃🙃🙃 tumbling king 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

2:59 - the action of “threading the needle/bow & arrow” is really really really really really well done. super graceful, strong line of focus, deliberate arms, etc

3:03 - the barrel jump he did was incredibly clean. he gained height, ballon (bounce), maintained a strong body position (his whole spine and the rest of his limbs were all lined up straight), and he wasn’t flopping around in the step. i know it’s bc he’s a male dancer, but u can compare him to the rest of the group & he definitely executes this movement the best

opening stage

3:22 - HE FUCKING OPENED W A BANGER DO U SEE HOW HARD HE HITS THAT STEP HIS HAIR FUCKING BOUNCES WHEN HE SNAPS INTO THE HIP AND THE ARMS AND THE GODDAMN WRISTS IM ABOUT TO BUST IN HALF

3:22 - 3:28 - let’s jsut talk about everything he does here ?? i could watch his interpretation of this combo for hours on end and still not be done w it. in fact, i’ve been watching it for MONTHS and i’m still not done w it.

he hits every beat. locks cleanly, isolations are good, knows when to be fluid (adding contrast!!). idk it just. wow. wowoowowwowowowow. blew me out of the water

3:29 - god he makes this step so sexy. it’s got a really nice fluid look to the movement and the way his hips move and his legs look and his shoulders twist it’s probably my favorite part of the entire piece ngl

3:33 - i just wished he extended his leg more. i’ve noticed that jimin has some problems w internalizing a lot of things, and sometimes he needs to push more energy outward tbh

3:47 - he was rushing during this part (bad)

overall, he was stronger in the second piece (the opening number with all the special stage performers), just bc the contemporary stage requires more classical technique, which neither of the boys possess.

since i’m a ballet dancer, i’ll have a more critical eye for that style, so i was less impressed by it. that doesn’t mean, however, that i WASN’T impressed by what jimin was able to accomplish. i thought he did really well for someone who doesn’t actively take contemp/ballet/modern classes, and was pleasantly surprised by the level of technique he’s been able to retain for the past 8 years

“in the name of love” (hip hop) is a piece i can’t talk much about bc jimin’s dancing clearly speaks for itself. i can’t point out certain sections that i loved bc i loved the WHOLE thing. his style gave the choreo a completely different edge. the feel was unique and was very different and his movements were sharp but also softer at some parts and GOD everything about him is amazing.

ofc there are places for improvement, but (guessing @ the time frame everyone had to prepare) this was already enough to blow me out of the water. thanks to sbs for giving us these stages 😂😂😂 i’m still not over them

#anon #replies: inbox #dance tag #bts #jimin #FLAKSDGLKASHGSG SORRY THIS IS SO FUCKING LATE LIKE 1 MONTH LATE BUT #OH BOY #this is so much #i watch his 'in the name of love' combo like 5 times a day #thank u @ anons for sending me these messages !!#and if u want to inbox me I AM OPEN TO DANCE STUFF 24/7 #IT MIGHT TAKE ME SOME TIME TO GET TO THEM BUT

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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SB Nation’s official WNBA awards ballot in the year of the Mystics

Elena Delle Donne, left, and coach Mike Thibault, right, are the masterminds of the Washington Mystics’ success. | Getty Images/SB Nation illustration

Let’s break down my media ballot for WNBA MVP, Rookie of the Year, and all the postseason honors.

The 2019 WNBA season could’ve felt like a drag. With so many of the world’s best talents out due to injury or other reasons, the season could’ve felt incomplete. Instead, the opposite happened.

We’ll remember this season as one where parity reigned, with eight solid teams set to play in the playoffs. One team — and one MVP — stood above the rest, but the breakout was progressive, and the top-5 seeds were all up for grabs into the final weeks of play. This season was as great as anyone could’ve hoped.

Now that we’ve reached the season’s end, it’s time to decide who deserves the league’s most prestigious awards. This is the first year I was asked to join the panel of WNBA media who vote, which felt dope! That is, until I had to actually sweat and shed tears over each decision.

Anyway, I like to be transparent about these things. So here’s who I voted for and why.

Most Valuable Player — Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics

There’s no controversy here. This decision should be unanimous. Delle Donne just posted a season in which she shot 52 percent from the field, 43 percent from three-point range, and 97 (NINETY-SEVEN!) percent from the free-throw line. She missed three free throws out of 117. She averaged 20 points, eight rebounds, and two assists for not only the best team in the league, but the best offense in WNBA history.

There’s nobody on Delle Donne’s level right now, healthy or injured. She’s the best player in the world.

Most Improved Player — Leilani Mitchell, Phoenix Mercury

I considered Seattle Storm big Mercedes Russell for this award, but Mitchell’s blown us all away all year, filling in a massive hole with the absence of Diana Taurasi. With Taurasi out for nearly the entire season due to a back injury, the Mercury could’ve folded, but Mitchell picked up the scoring slack. For the first time in her 11-year career, she averaged double-figures in scoring (13), and she also shot 43 percent from three-point range while dishing three assists per game.

Last year, Mitchell averaged four points per game on nine percent worse long-range shooting. That’s a glow-up.

Defensive Player of the Year — Natasha Howard, Seattle Storm

Over the past three years, Howard’s evolved from a reserve, to the Most Improved Player in the league on a title-winning team, to an MVP candidate and Defensive Player of the Year hopeful. The Storm has been an excellent basketball fit for Howard, who really stepped up with both Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird out due to season-ending injuries. Howard is only 6’2, but she can guard four positions comfortably, and her long arms helped her notch two steals and two blocks per game. She’s the clear DPOY to me, though I considered LA Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike here too.

Sixth Woman of the Year — Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas Aces

The Aces have underperformed this year due to the awkward on-court fit between the team’s best players, Liz Cambage and A’ja Wilson. That said, Hamby’s been the glue between them. In her best WNBA season yet, she scored 11 points with eight rebounds and two assists. She played brilliantly during Wilson’s three-week absence due to injury, and Vegas doesn’t escape playing two single-elimination playoff games without her.

Rookie of the Year — Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

I detailed the ROY chase weeks before the season’s end, and I still feel the same about it. Arike Ogunbowale was absolutely incredible the last two months of the season, and she’s already one of the league’s best scorers. She’s a star, a future all-star and a franchise cornerstone.

But she isn’t a better overall player than Collier right now. Collier is one of the league’s best defenders already, and she’s a solid scorer. She averaged 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block, and shot 36 percent from deep. Ogunbowale might be one of the league’s best shows to watch, but she doesn’t have Collier’s all-around game — at least not yet.

Coach of the Year — Mike Thibault, Washington Mystics

I’m not sure why there’d be any debate over this award, though I’ve talked to a number of media members who disagree. Thibault just coached the Mystics to play the best offense in WNBA history, and they finished with the best record in the league (26-8).

Also, he did it with maybe the third-most talent in the league. Seriously. Delle Donne is one of the best players ever, but after her, the roster’s filled with a few all-star level talents who wouldn’t be on every team in the league. Thibault turned Aerial Powers into a Sixth Woman candidate in one year. Ariel Atkins, a first-round pick who wasn’t even invited to the draft in 2018, is now one of the league’s best guards. Natasha Cloud’s an unsung hero. All-star point guard Kristi Toliver missed 11 games, and this team still rolled on.

Thibault constructed a beautiful system centered on ball movement and threes, and he created a masterpiece that scored 159 points more than the next-best scoring team in 34 games.

All-WNBA Teams

First

F Elena Delle Donne, Mystics F Nneka Ogwumike, Sparks C Jonquel Jones, Sun G Odyssey Sims, Lynx G Courtney Vandersloot, Sky

Choosing just two forwards absolutely sucked. Delle Donne and Ogwumike were clearly the best two in my eyes, though, which meant I had to bump Natasha Howard to the second-team. That feels unfair.

I debated Phoenix’s Brittney Griner over Jonquel Jones at center, but Jones’ defense gave her the edge.

Guards this year were tough since the top six or so were on similar playing fields. Vandersloot edged out the crowd because of her ever-astounding ability to create for teammates, and Sims was one of the most improved offensive players while maintaining her elite defense.

Second

F Natasha Howard, Storm F DeWanna Bonner, Mercury C Brittney Griner, Mercury G Chelsea Gray, Sparks G Courtney Williams, Sun

Howard and Griner dropped to the second team for the reasons I stated above.

The rest of the spots were super tough. I debated New York’s Kia Nurse, Chicago’s Diamond DeShields, Las Vegas’ Kayla McBride and A’ja Wilson, and Collier for those final guard and forward spots. Ultimately, I chose Gray even though her season was defined more by greater individual performances than a consistent full-season surge. She’s still performed like one of the league’s best PGs.

I chose Williams because she carried a lot of the scoring load for the Sun, and shot and rebounded well.

I chose Bonner because she was one of the best defenders and scorers in the league.

And, thankfully, that’s it. I need a year-long break from this.

Now for some fun stuff

This ref was extra as hell and also wrong

Kevin Fahy tossed Astou Ndour right in front of my face at the Mystics-Sky game and I had no idea why. I saw the replay and ... still asked myself the same question.

Here's the video replay of the Astou Ndour ejection: pic.twitter.com/MipIgQdfSM

— Nick Niendorf (@niendorf21) September 8, 2019

The overreaction was real, and the league ended up correctly rescinding the technical that resulted in the ejection the following day.

A round of applause for Delle Donne’s 50+/40+/90+ season

In a face mask due to a broken nose and leg cast due to a deep bone bruise, too.

Legend.

EDD. HISTORY. THE FIRST WNBA PLAYER TO JOIN THE 50/40/90 CLUB pic.twitter.com/FcjKDqp1qA

— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) September 9, 2019

Kelsey Mitchell dropped 30 in ONE HALF

The Indiana Fever guard set the record for most three-point makes in a game with nine on 13 tries! She scored 38 points on the night on 13-of-18 shooting.

Last night, @Kelz_Hoop scored a #WNBA record NINE threes‼️ Take a look back at her historic night "Buckets" by @MAGICxJORDAN | @unitedmasters https://t.co/10t9efR1xI pic.twitter.com/UjjcyxR5K2

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 9, 2019

It’s almost like she should’ve been starting all year ...

Delle Donne’s 30th birthday on a yacht featured the best Thibault dance of all time

after watching coach thibault dance i can confirm elena delle donne had the littest 30th birthday party of all time pic.twitter.com/77RmMt5bH2

— Matt Ellentuck (@mellentuck) September 5, 2019

Coach. Of. The. Year.

Off we go to the playoffs. Let’s do this!

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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A Tactical Guide to Conor McGregor Storming the Cage at Bellator 187

On Friday night, the bizarre career of Charlie Ward took another turn. After being ejected from the UFC following his last loss by TKO (Canvas), Ward was snatched up by Bellator. At Bellator 187, fighting in Ireland for the first time since June of 2016, the man with MMA’s worst sleeve tattoo got back in the win column. Ward winning a fight isn’t an everyday occurrence, but it’s not remarkable in itself. The immediate aftermath of this fight , however, was remarkable—so remarkable it overshadowed everything else on the show. Ward’s teammate, Conor McGregor had been seated next to the cage and upon seeing Ward getting the stoppage, he vaulted the fence, sprinted to Ward and jumped a closed guard that would have made Shinya Aoki proud.

As McGregor made a scene in the Bellagon, getting between officials and the knocked out fighter and in no way meaning to take attention away from his teammate’s win, he found himself locking horns with old rival, referee Marc Goddard. Most will recall Goddard putting McGregor in his place from inside the cage during Artem Lobov’s bout with Andre Fili a few weeks back. McGregor made a nuisance of himself from the VIP seating throughout that fight, but if you only follow the UFC that’s about all you will know. The truth of the matter, however, is that Conor McGregor played a major role in the origin story of one of MMA’s best refs.

Birth of a Hero

June, 2012 was a simpler time. Marc Goddard was a bright eyed young cornerman for Dave Hill. Hill was about to fight Conor McGregor for the latter’s second Cage Warriors world title. In recent years it has become fashionable to slate McGregor for never defending either of these belts, but in fact it is funnier to point out that he won neither of them from men who had actually held the belts in the first place. In what has become a key UFC play, Cage Warriors was experimenting with slapping random belts on matches. As Hill and McGregor set-to, Conor looked sharper than at any point in his career. He was blasting Hill on the feet and Hill could not take him down.

Finally a groggy Hill seemed to fall into a decent shot and had McGregor losing his balance. The Dubliner reached out, took a hold of the fence directly in front of the referee, and dragged himself into the mount. The referee acknowledged the fence grab but did nothing to punish the foul or remove the position.

This is purely conjecture, but perhaps it was on that rainy night that Marc Goddard swore a blood oath to become a force for good in mixed martial arts and the only referee that does jack shit about fence grabs. Flash forward five years to when habitual line-stepper Yoel Romero took a fistful of fence as Jacare Souza tried to drag him to the mat, then wound up mounting the Brazilian, there was Goddard—standing them up. “You got top position because of the fence, I’ve taken it away, do it again and I’ll take a point.”

The Basics of Siege Craft

Returning to Friday night, after some argy-bargy and the antics that McGregor usually saves for weigh-ins (any erection mercifully hidden by his trousers this time), the absentee UFC champ was ejected from the cage. While he hasn’t been able to give us a lesson in ringcraft inside the cage in over a year, the Irishman was about to deliver a televised lesson in siege craft as he paced outside the cage, unable to re-enter. Goddard is a big lad, but with four more fights on the card starving him out was off the table. Perhaps McGregor could use a dry ice machine to smoke him out? After a brief semi-lap of the cage, McGregor charged up to mount it. In the aftermath naysayers have painted this to look like attention whoring, but you will recall that McGregor was only attempting to steal the spotlight in the first place to thrust Charlie Ward further into it.

One of the most basic principles of warfare is to take the high ground. It gives a better view of surrounding terrain, and it forces the enemy to strike upwards while the man on the high ground is striking down. This is, of course, old hat to a savvy vet like McGregor but the basics are the basics for a reason. The flipside of the high ground is that while the opponent might not be able to reach your head, he can get to your base.

When McGregor stormed the cage, some dastardly egg-head bean-counter from the commission tried to push the one-time Moneybelt challenger out by his leg. Had McGregor been thrown off the top of the cage he could well have plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer’s table. Seeing red, McGregor smote this clown with the left hand. That paradoxical left, the Celtic Cross, Schrodinger’s Punch: the one that no man can take, but the one that fans simultaneously brag about McGregor landing more on Floyd Mayweather than anyone else.

The commissioner wobbled, questioning his life’s purpose, but McGregor was still forced to dismount the cage. This wasn’t about the fence though, this was about Charlie Ward. Seeing his friend in trouble, Ward climbed the cage wall and McGregor pulled him over the top of the cage to the outside like he was boarding the last chopper out of Saigon. The crowd were riotous at the local lads getting one over the on pencil pushers from the commission, right up until everyone realized that Charlie Ward needed to be in the cage for the official decision.

All of the silliness aside, Bellator 187 confirmed the Machiavellian genius of promoter, Scott Coker. Most fight fans would look at the card ahead of time and call it “so-so.” You would think that no one outside Dublin is revved up to watch Charlie Ward or Sinead Kavanagh fight. And slapping Kimbo Slice’s name on his son hasn’t made him a draw yet. But by placing Conor McGregor in a lawn chair, in front of the rest of the audience and with no obstructions between him and the cage, Coker basically assured that McGregor would get in the cage. It is unlikely that he could have relied on such a scene, but this was the first fight on the televised card. With an SBGi fighter in all but one of the fights after this, a good few viewers would have stuck around on the off chance that McGregor did do or say something. The fact that such a hullabaloo took place right at the start of the main card must have been a dream come true for Coker. Immediately the clips were up online and Bellator itself was keen to push them. The clip at the top of this article is from Bellator’s official Youtube channel, where this has already become the most viewed video they have posted in the last year in just a number of days.

And what happens to Conor McGregor after all of this? Someone extremely charming must have turned up to make excuses for him because the man expected to throw the book at McGregor, Mike Mazzulli went on the MMA Hour to tell Ariel Helwani that McGregor’s punishment was to be withdrawn from the UFC’s December 30th card. “He’s not gonna be making any more money this year and I commend UFC for that. I really do,” said Mazzulli, apparently appeased by McGregor not appearing in a fight which had not even been announced yet. McGregor gets column inches, Bellator gets views, the UFC can still get McGregor in to make up the pay-per-view numbers before the end of the fiscal year. One major MMA website has already squeezed ten stories out of the brief scuffle. Everyone’s a winner and we have all been played for marks.

Except McGregor’s agent just came out to undermine that story, making Mazzulli look even worse and inviting him to actually take some action for what amounted to assault. But don’t let any of that distract you from the real story here: at Bellator 187 Charlie Ward came home, and announced himself as a force in Bellator’s middleweight division.

A Tactical Guide to Conor McGregor Storming the Cage at Bellator 187 published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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A Tactical Guide to Conor McGregor Storming the Cage at Bellator 187

Birth of a Hero

The Basics of Siege Craft

A Tactical Guide to Conor McGregor Storming the Cage at Bellator 187 published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes