#elladj balde

Figure skating in colors: deep indigo

Featuring:

Cameron Medhurst (1998 Olympics FS)

Mao Asada (2014 Olympics FS)

Derrick Delmore ('Not in That Way' EX)

Elladj Balde ('James Brown Medley' EX)

Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (1998 Olympics FD)

Yuka Sato (1994 Olympics FS)

Jill Trenary (1990 Worlds FS)

Christopher Caluza (2013 4CC FS)

like, watch his short program at the 2018 canadian nationals.

This year there are big transits happening in Aquarius and Taurus, so people with major fixed sign placements (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius)  in their charts will be impacted more than most. You can also look at the houses where you have Aquarius and Taurus in your chart to see what areas of life are affected. 

Elladj is a Scorpio with a Scorpio stellium, Leo Moon, and Aquarius North Node, so he’ll be having transits to these placements this year. 

His Scorpio Sun is conjunct Venus and Pluto: Sun together with Pluto is intense and deep, particularly in Scorpio, with strong will power and a penetrating, forceful manner. And familiarity with the darker sides of human nature wouldn’t be surprising. But Sun together with Venus is charming, peace loving and refined. You’re creative and compassionate. And Venus conjunct Pluto is an intense love nature, where you seek depth and passionate experience through personal relationships.

All three of these are sextile Saturn in Capricorn in his chart, which gives a calming groundedness and stability to your nature. Loyal in relationships. Steely determination and endurance to follow through on goals. You have the ability to take on responsibility and leadership roles. Elladj just completed his Saturn return in December, which is a period of coming to maturity and being asked to figure yourself out. He co-founded the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance and is on Skate Canada’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group and has been speaking about the need to combat racial inequality and systemic racism in the sport, as well as his desire to inspire young people of color. 

He has Mars retrograde in Gemini: it’s fairly unusual for a professional athlete to have Mars retrograde in their chart because it can delay or make it trickier to figure out how to channel the active energies of Mars. Anger can get turned inwards when you’re young, or it can mean that a parent (or other authority) was strict or very disapproving when you showed anger. It can also feel like you get opposition when you try to stand up for yourself or when you show drive. Like other challenges, working through this can turn these difficulties into strengths. He has a ton of initiative and strength in other parts of his chart, so he may have worked through this already. 

Mars is also his only planet in an air sign, so staying detached from charged situations enough to keep perspective is something that would need to be learned as well. His Mars is in a yod in his chart, giving him even more drive and purpose:

Mars sextile Jupiter: You have the initiative to go after things with energy, enthusiasm and optimism. Courageous, generous and honest. Competitive and physically strong. Have good timing and instincts for risk taking. 

Jupiter inconjunct Neptune: big dreams and ambitions. idealistic and optimistic. need to test the limits over and over to find out where the balance is  between your vision and how it’s possible to make it reality. 

Mars inconjunct Neptune: Your idealism and inflated expectations of others and life can lead you into very frustrating circumstances where you feel emotionally and physically drained. Your energy and emotions strengthen as you learn how and where to be involved in other people's projects. Very sensitive to criticism. Mars/Neptune aspects are often found in performers- Neptune is creativity, artistic vision and Mars is acting that out.

Elladj finished his Saturn return on December 18, 2020, and then almost immediately got a huge transit to his North Node. 

Jupiter and Saturn meet in the sky once every 20 years. Their meeting on December 21, 2020 was particularly important because it’s the start of a 200 year cycle where they’ll meet in air signs, after meeting in earth signs since 1802. This so-called Great Conjunction on Dec. 21 happened at 0° Aquarius, and Elladj’s North Node is very close, at 1° Aquarius. He went viral on TikTok and Instagram on December 19. Jada Pinkett Smith shared it on Dec. 20. He’s gained 300K followers on IG in less than 6 weeks.

Transit Jupiter conjunct North Node: positive and lucky. Circumstances during this transit affect your future. The attention can also be overwhelming and you need to be careful of excess. but generally this brings good things and new people into your life and is a time for figuring out your path. 

Transit Saturn conjunct North Node: a time of recognition for your work and professional life. If you’ve built a strong foundation and are working towards a goal, this is a time when it will manifest. 

If you’re his age or a little older with an Aquarius North Node (Adria Diaz, Yuna Kim, Mao Asada, Jordan Cowan), these transits are coming for you, too, though maybe not quite as dramatically as they did for him, and not simultaneously. If your North Node is in early Pisces (0-3° ish: Tessa Virtue, Kaitlyn Weaver, Anastasia Bucsis) you’ll get the Jupiter conjunct NN transit between May-July this year.

Elladj also has transit Uranus trine Uranus: (11/21/20-3/8/21) a time to realize your independence fully and work out your own way of thinking. also a time for your personal self expression to come into focus

Day 20 of ✨ @anythinggoe‘s 31 Days of Figure Skating  ✨

Today: Favourite Skating Program With a Song You Love

Elladj Balde / Sound of Silence / 2018 Canadian National Championships

Originally I planned to use this programme as my “Favourite Skating Program by an Underdog”, so it fits both - I love the music, I love the skating. Elladj is so amazingly expressive in his skating, his movements are so expansive and his clean lines are so beautiful. I love this kind of skating, where the foundation is the performance. Bonus: his reaction at the end of the performance.

A LIVE Event Uniting the Global Skating Community to Fight COVID-19

Two ice dancers, Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver and skating cinematographer Jordan Cowan, unite the figure skating world from their apartments in New York City, with an intimate, one-time live broadcast benefitting the United Nations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

The event, beginning at 2pm EST on Saturday, April 25th, features an extensive list of figure skating legends, past and present, all willing to donate their time, energy, and talent to the cause.

Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Kurt Browning, Adam Rippon, Javier Ferrnadez, Ashley Wagner and more promise there isn’t a moment to be missed. Games, interviews, and impromptu performances vary the pace of warm and heartfelt sharing, with entertainment and unscripted moments of unbridled spontaneity.

“I wanted to create something that empowers and mobilizes the vast skating community for good. Together, from our own small corners of the world, we can do great things for people who really need help” says Weaver. “I’m uplifted and excited to experience what we can do just by tuning in and reaching out. And I’m extremely honored to share these stories amongst the legends of my sport.”

Produced by Weaver and Cowan entirely over the web, Open Ice aims to entertain, engage and give hope to a skating community in self-isolation.

The planned three-hour show will air LIVE on Open Ice’s official website, and on On Ice Perspectives’ YouTube Channel.