Who are the campiest skaters? | Golden Skate

Who are the campiest skaters?

bump

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Ok, so there are some skaters that are fine technically but still seem to exude an aura of pure camp that makes for amusing viewing but anti-serious contemplation. I put skaters like Alena Leonova, Ross Miner, Johnny Weir, etc. in this category. It's not that they're bad skaters per se...but something about them just screams "I'm on fire!" Who do you put in this category?
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Well a lot of ice dancers are camp for sure. Johnny Weir would imho be the campiest on and off the ice.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Good one dorispulaski and I would add now Fernandez; he's got a bit of that Candelero but with his shirt on. Verner tries but it doesn't work. he just doesn't have the personality. Candelero had to have been one of the luckier skaters I think he had two OBM's even though I found his skating wild it was rather rough and unrefined.
 

TheCzar

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
I think Brezina has a touch of camp, and so does Machida and Trankov. Jason Brown too.

For the ladies, well Osmond, I thought Yuna's Bond Girl had a touch of camp but in a glittery disco girl kind of way, Leonova and Radionova.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Bending the rules a bit:

The campest coach has got to be Tatiana Tarasova.

The very bright dresses with all the ruffles, the big hair (sometimes), and especially those lux fur coats.
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
I remember, was a similar thread, and I didn't understand this word totally. But I learn it. ;)


I think Plushenko is campy at times. A lot of his choreography is borderline silly.

Borderline silly? His choreographies made by famous Russian ballet dancers or choreographers. Can you say me an example? I'm really curious.:yes:

And you can't deny when they become mature and developed his own style his costumes were very good, not at all campy. So I wouldn't call him campy skater.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
And you can't deny when they become mature and developed his own style his costumes were very good, not at all campy. So I wouldn't call him campy skater.

He's good now, but I mean when he was younger he was campier. Actually my favorite program of his, the 99-00 LP to folk music, had a lot of silly hand movements in the slow section, before the second 3A.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Although not generally campy skaters, you've got to give Yagudin's One banana program and DomShabs Aborigine OD a high camp rating.

For those not from US or the UK: (and those from the US & UK, note that "camp" is not quite the same word in the 2 countries.

camp: (UK, Cambridge Dictionary)
1› (of a man) behaving and dressing in a way that some people think is typical of a gay man: What's the name of that amazingly camp actor with the high voice and a funny walk?
2› using bright colours, loud sounds, unusual behaviour, etc. in a humorous way: Their shows are always incredibly camp and flamboyant.


US: online Dictionary
camp 2 (kmp)
n.
1. An affectation or appreciation of manners and tastes commonly thought to be artificial, vulgar, or banal.

2. Banality, vulgarity, or artificiality when deliberately affected or when appreciated for its humor: "Camp is popularity plus vulgarity plus innocence" (Indra Jahalani).

adj.
Having deliberately artificial, vulgar, banal, or affectedly humorous qualities or style: played up the silliness of their roles for camp effect.
v.camped, camp·ing, camps
v.intr.
To act in a deliberately artificial, vulgar, or banal way.
v.tr.
To give a deliberately artificial, vulgar, or banal quality to: camped up their cowboy costumes with chaps, tin stars,

So Plushy's Sex bomb, broken large flower or baby sex bomb exhibitions could fit one of the other definition of camp. His competitive programs, not, IMO.
 

80sskatergirl

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Ok, so there are some skaters that are fine technically but still seem to exude an aura of pure camp that makes for amusing viewing but anti-serious contemplation. I put skaters like Alena Leonova, Ross Miner, Johnny Weir, etc. in this category. It's not that they're bad skaters per se...but something about them just screams "I'm on fire!" Who do you put in this category?

I'm curious why you put Ross in this category? Can you give us an example for him?
 

Matilda

Medalist
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Are we talking about competition programs or EX programs? I wouldn't count most competitive programs as campy --not even Johnny "Swan", say what you will about the costume. (By the way, have you noticed that Elena Ilinykh is wearing a single red glove in their Swan Lake this season? :biggrin:) Zhiganshina/ Gazsi's zombie program from last year and S/S Pink Panther are two recent programs that I think are definitely campy, however.

Exhibition skates, on the other hand, are a treasure trove of camp! Yes, Plushy's Sex Bomb is an obvious one, as is Javi's last season's EX. One of my favorite campy performances from the past is Anissina and Peizerat's Suzanna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQkpLWPlOY
The campiest performance I've seen live was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iodhXLVmEMI
I frankly can't imagine anyone else who could have done justice to that insane costume :laugh::party2:
 

noidont

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
If we are talking about trashy camp, then N. Morozov....
Mishin's skaters are routinely campy as well.

Although I think the uses of the word "camp" now is quite differently from Sontag's definition (she didn't define it that well anyway). She really just meant what we call "hipster humor/irony" now, like putting a very designed "no peeing" sign on a toilet. I can't think of a single skater now who is that hipster. Even if they are, they probably have to hide it anyway. Athletes and hipsters don't usually mingle...Sex Bomb was just a well-mediated performance, nothing campy about it. Johnny Weir is plain gay, not so much camp. Tomas Verner maybe, as I often feel he seems to sell his programs exactly the way they aren't. Florent Amodio perhaps, though he could actually be sincere. Kurt Browning, most definitely. Adam Rippon is, but not the skater him. The campist of it all could very well be Lysacek, though it's very much closet, I suppose.
 
Top