Favorite Program so far?

okay, we have seen almost everybody's new programs by now, at least the LPs. so thoughts? My favorite program is by far Belbin and Agosto's freedance. I not not even that much of a dance fan, but thier freedance is so beautiful. I have watched thier performance at Cup of China like 10 times already... it makes me cry.

for the ladies I would have to say that Caroline Zhang's LP is a favorite or Bebe's LP... if they coudl skate them clean they would be magical. Mao's LP is growing on me.

for the pairs S&S are the best for me. Origianl music, great elements they have much good speed and really relate to one another!

Mao Asada EX - "So Deep is the Night" - Pure Perfection
Virtue/Moir FD - "Umbrellas..." - Spellbounding & Spectacular
Nobunari Oda EX - "Around the World" - Outstanding & Original

Daisuke's SP as EX, Yukari's EX and V/M's OD are nice too, and Mao's other programs are growing on me, but I can't think of any cool alliteration, so this is it.
I must mention that I haven't watched much of the pairs yet (no time) or male skaters (I end up crying because it makes me miss Oda all the more). In contrast, I enjoy ice dance now more than ever (since T/D and A/P, that is).

Overall, I think I had more favourite programs last season - it seems to me like this season a lot of skaters are experimenting with new styles and music choices, trying to get new tricks, challenging themselves and testing judges reaction. And I think it's a good time for such experiments - they let the skaters learn something new, expand their abilities and check what they feel the most comfortable with.

I am liking Mao's LP and Daisuke's SP.

Can't say about the other programs yet...

thus far

The German pairs short program. Can't say exactly why, but that one just seemed like it had world medal potential in a season where the other pairs have been under whelming.

Linny

Hm. The only senior program that was really spoken to me is Dube/Davison's Long. I am starting to like Meissner's long.

My favorite, even if it's not amazingly amazing, is Maxwell's Finding Nemo LP. I just adore it so much. Haha.

I know we've seen lots of programs to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, but I love Patrick Chan's program.

Two programs I really like in ice dancing: The OD of Carron/Jost of France and the Kerr's FD.

Of the ladies, I like the SPs of Joannie Rochette and Caroline Kostner. I also like the programs of Yu-Na Kim, Yukari Nakano, and Fumie Suguri. Alyssa Czisny is skating to a unique version of West Side Story - I hope she skates it clean in her next GP event so we can actually see it and not just bits of it like on ESPN's Cup of China broadcast.

Herm (sk8ngnutt)

The Skate Dancers seem to have it here with their FDs. There are several I enjoy and not necessarily those who win medals.

Singles and Pairs are just about the same every year. And to cite one gets one involved with was it the skater with the big tricks or ballet-like arms, or a really interesting choreographic routine?

Joe

Mirai Nagasu's LP is my favorite out of the ladies; hopefully she'll work out the underrotation issues by Nationals. Joannie's SP is absolutely gorgeous and it suits her perfectly. Carolina's LP could be breathtaking if clean or close to it (but what are the chances?)

Mao and Yu-Na have had very strong performances, but I don't think the programs themselves have as much to do with it as the fact that they're really in a league of their own right now. Same with Patrick Chan - the choreo itself isn't amazing but he makes it look amazing.

S/S have a fantastic SP. D/D's LP is really great, but since it's from last year I don't know if that really counts. The only dance program that I've watched is V/M's FD, but what a stunner that was.

I've mostly seen dance programs, and my favourites are V&M's FD, Carron&Jost OD and FD, The Italian number 2 team (their names escape me right now) with their La Traviata FD, and Del&Shoe FD.

NavBom and P&B's ODs!

Antilles said:

I've mostly seen dance programs, and my favourites are V&M's FD, Carron&Jost OD and FD, The Italian number 2 team (their names escape me right now) with their La Traviata FD, and Del&Shoe FD.

Click to expand...

Are you talking about Anna Capellini and Luca Lanotte?

OMG way too many programs to choose from... I only know those I saw at Skate Canada on Saturday and Sunday, so I can't comment on other (lack of time due to schoolwork):
Tessa and Scott's Free Dance and the CBC broadcast has no commentary, so it's great
Mao's Exhibition program - absolutely stunning, very light, and the music suits her well
Carron/Jost's Original Dance - Well it did help that I knew the music, but they really connected with th crowd. Sorry I can't remember their first names
Tesa and Scott's Original Dance - I liked that too, not as much as their Free Dance but still, it was really nice
Ashley Wagner's Long Program - I'd never noticed her but I really liked her style and energy... and she seems pretty consistent
Aliona (Savchenko) and Robin (Szolkowy)'s Exhibition program - OMG that was breathtaking!! I really liked the romantic side of the program
Jessica (Dubé) and Bryce (Davison)'s Exhibition Program - I know it's from last year, but it was stunning, even the commentator at Skate Canada said it was enough to make people want to fall in love (again).

I can't think of any others at the moment, hopefuly I didn't forget anything but, knowing me, I probably did!

Kypma

My favorite program so far is Moir and Virtue's free program. It's just beautiful.

This thread is about choreography, I presume.

The Dance Teams have the best of choreography. They are more able to construct good programs with the limited number of steps, moves and elements one can manage on ice to make interesting, stunning and viable performance. One does not see the same old....... every year.

The limited number of steps, moves and elements on ice are severely show in Singles and Pairs. I do not blame this entirely on the CoP scoring. The skaters and their choreographers do not have enough basics as a stage dancer does to see so much variety. However, I have seen some good work come out of Singles. Rochette's Firebird comes to mind immediately as does Kwan's FOG.
Yags' Gladiator. There are some memorable works of choreography and credit must be given to the skaters who perform it.

The confusing part in deciding who has the best choreography brings up Patrick Chan's burst into the forefront of Men's Singles. Was it his skating ability that put something into that routine? or was it the choreographer who put something into that routine?

If you think both, then, imo, you are not really judging 'the best program' but the 'best skated program'.

For me, the program was above standard, and it was he who put something special into it. However, I don't believe the choreography could not stand on its own. I would say Daisuke's routine was much better.

Joe

I thought this was supposed to be the favourite program of this season... When we speak about the programs of all times my list would be way longer.

I think a program to be truly good must have both good choreo and be skated by a good skater. The better the skater, the greater chance that even with bad choreography they will be able to pull off something enjoyable, but I've seen many cases that the program was so badly choosen or choreographed that they were just a waste of the skater's talent.

Here are my fave programs of 2007.

Ladies: SP-Caroline Zhang, Kimmie Meissner; LP-Mao Asada
Men: SP-Johnny Weir; LP-Patrick Chan, Ryan Bradley
Pairs: SP-Savchenko & Szolkowy; LP-Evora & Ladwig (I also love Dube & Davison's program even though it's last years LP)
Dance-OD-Navarro & Bommentre, Pechelet & Bourzat; FD-Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White

Weaver and Poje's OD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlijYC8QwI

Davis and White's FD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg3Ot6e6H_8

Delobel and Schoenfelder's FD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVeztVWtfOE
I know that Delobel and Schoenfelder pride themselves on having complex stories to portray, but this time, I loved it because of its simplicity.

Mirai's LP
It was extremely lovely. I also love the light blue and white costume with big ribbon. I thought it very fresh and lovely and suited her adorable character.

Carolina Kostner's SP
I did not find the SP music very nice, but the way she skated to it was really really cute. She looked very attractive and enjoyable. I am not sure about her LP yet because she had some trouble with elements in her recent LP performance. But the music was extremely beautiful and I hope that she can hit the jumps next times.

Daisuke Takahashi's SP, LP
I liked his SP a lot, just like many other people. It was very original and fun to watch. Looked very difficult as well.
I liked the emotion in his LP. I think that this kind of romantic, dramatic music suits him very well. But I did not enjoy the costume very much. Purple seems to be a good color on him. But it had so many decorations that it did not look very sophisticated. I actually felt the same way with Miki's costumes (both SP and LP). I wonder if these were all made by Morosov. Their music pieces are kind of similar, too.

Mao's SP, LP, and Gala
This season's gala performance is extremely beautiful. It is really a beautiful piece of music, beautiful vocal, lovely choreo, and delicate presentation.
I also love her LP very much. It is very light, fresh, and beautiful. When I first heard that she was going to skate to this LP music, I thought that it would be too melancholic and passionate for her. But it turned out to be extremely beautiful. The sweet, peaceful ending is especially beautiful. I don't think that she gave her best potential in her SP yet. She looked either nervous or shocked at her performances so that I would like to wait to see her best one.

Mai's SP, LP
SP was very beautiful and suited well with her classical style. I also liked her LP music very much. It was very soft, warm, and beautiful. It suited her gentle atmosphere and style.

KwanFan1212 said:

Here are my fave programs of 2007.

Ladies: SP-Caroline Zhang, Kimmie Meissner; LP-Mao Asada
Men: SP-Johnny Weir; LP-Patrick Chan, Ryan Bradley
Pairs: SP-Savchenko & Szolkowy; LP-Evora & Ladwig (I also love Dube & Davison's program even though it's last years LP)
Dance-OD-Navarro & Bommentre, Pechelet & Bourzat; FD-Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White

Click to expand...

I have to take back what I once said about Davis/White's programs. I really do love them now. I love how their OD's kind of slow, I think Marina really made sure they work on their expression, because where I would normally expect them to go fast, they really take their time with body language and matching their steps with the rhythm of their music, etc....

and I hate to admit this, but this is kinda cool too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBgAwZyfvfo&feature=related

and I also like Belbin and Agosto's OD....

oh, and barring any mistake, I believe this will definitely beat V/M. I think this is my favorite FD from this season so far. And whoever said Olivier is bad at expression..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVeztVWtfOE

and I really do love V/M, but as I've said so many times earlier, I don't like how their OD's not really a folk dance, and their FD is not much different from last year's except for the super-cool lifts....

Ladies: Caroline Zhang LP (nothing compares)

Mens: Daisuke Takahashi SP (so original, takes him to a whole new level!), Patrick Chan LP (repeat from last season, though)

Dance: V/M OD and FD (Umbrellas of Cherbourg - so stunning!), Del/Schoe OD and FD, D/W OD, Pech/Bourz OD, Cap/Lan FD, Car/Jos FD, Koh/Nov FD

Pairs: Mur/Tra SP (...I don't know, I haven't seen enough yet)

Yeah, I don't understand those who say Del/Schoe's FD is not good enough to compete for the top of the Worlds. I think it's got all their amazing athleticism with great choreography, dance, and they really do relate to each other. I don't buy it anymore if people complain they're too robotic.