@Dano you are spot on!
If someone were proposing that we all come into the buoy on the back of the ski, and Stay on the back of the ski all the way through the turn.....then yeah, I'd have to call BS on that nonsense. That idea wouldn't work in the physical world and is nowhere close to reality, nor is it what I'm claiming.
The Physics on what I'm talking about are simple: the highest probability of a repeatable change in directions in shortline slalom, requires a weight transfer at the right moment. But most people are doing it backwards....they are approaching apex with their weight neutral or slightly back, and then transferring weight forward near the finish, to engage the shovel and get the ski to pull through the backside of the buoy. Unfortunately, speed is conserved (a trimmed ski, tip down, is more efficient than a tip up ski) which results in advancing on the boat and creating loose line. IF that loose line thingy doesn't happen, it means the skier was able to or has learned to engage enough of the tip that the ski very quickly rotated....BUT they instantaneously find themselves in a high load situation (ski pointing ~90 degrees across, rope instantly tight, and boat still moving at top speed down course). And that almost always ends with a loss of direction moving outbound into the next buoy. Often, by making the move to the tip of the ski at the finish of the turn, we see the tail of the ski blow out. This happens because more effective edge is engaged....the ski is flatter to the water in the "trim" plane....which means the fin is shallower or closer to the surface of the lake...and we know what that means: more chance of blowing the fin.
I am guilty of promoting this old way of thinking, since the late 90's. It was based on this idea of leading your feet with your center of mass, through the turn...specifically leading your front foot. Yes, it works at longer lines...works quite well. But at shoreline (38 and shorter), it is a lower probability move. The higher probability (more repeatable) move, is to trim the ski out as much as possible on the preturn (center of mass over front foot), so that you have the "room" or ability to advance the ski through apex without falling completely off the back....you do this by shifting your weight back and creating an impulse load through the back leg (at the right time,...timing is everything) which momentarily creates an inefficient planning surface. With less ski in the water, the ski rotates quicker, decelerates quicker and will basically be impossible to blow out. At the finish, the ski decelerates relative to your body (because as the tail digs in through the finish, the feet are decelerated too) and as the boat begins to pick you up, you land back over your front foot in Athletic Stance, matching the boat's speed and progressively applying lean and load as you move towards centerline. Ideally, you need things setup right into the turn to give yourself the room to make this happen. But if the right motor patterns are learned and engrained, this move will open up a whole new world for the skier, and they will be able to manage a much higher amount of "bad lines" into the buoy, and still be able to come out of the backside of the turn with a chance to continue skiing.
Many great skiers actually do this move, on 1 or both sides....but most skiers do this move as a reaction to skiing into slack...its the natural way we decelerate to quickly get the rope tight so we can begin stealing energy from the boat again. All I'm saying is that there's magic to be had if you actually learn how to utilize this "move" on purpose...preemptively, earlier than we ever thought.
And yes, this is backwards compatible. Is it necessary at 35' off and longer? No.
In fact, I'm a huge proponent of the Basics over everything else. So if you aren't a shortline skier or you don't have access to a coach that can guide you through this process, I would recommend you tuck it away in the far reaches of your ski mind and keep working on the fundamentals like Athletic Stance, Timing, etc...
But for shortline skiers struggling to make a breakthrough at 35 off or shorter, a concerted effort to chip away at this new turning paradigm could absolutely change the game for you.