Off-season video suggestions: what gives you chills? | Golden Skate

Off-season video suggestions: what gives you chills?

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
It's off-season and I've been watching a lot of old videos on Youtube.

I've realised that I seem to be exceptionally susceptible to chills/goose bumps/shivers when I see something awesome, and I always seem to get them at the same point of a programme. It doesn't necessarily have to be an especially cool lift or an exciting jump or a fast spin - sometimes the tiniest hand gesture just hits the spot exactly! I thought it might be fun to see if the parts that we find chill-inducingly awesome are the same for others, and at the same time give each other suggestions for vids we haven't seen/have not watched in a while that are worth a re-watch.

Some of my "special moments" are:

- Charlie's huge half-loop in their Borodin free dance
- The few strokes exactly to music just before the diagonal step sequence in D/W's Samson & Delilah & the back spiral into the camel spin in the same
- The Y-spiral followed by the 'tano Lutz in Jason's Riverdance free skate
- The hand gestures exactly to the music in the 2nd spin in Ashley's Samson & Delilah free skate
- The step sequence in Max's Tron sp - there's one cool step he does that I can't really describe, but it gets me every time
 

titatovenaar

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 11, 2014
I am a figure skating newbie so I don't know all the correct terms. But of some of the recent skates I have seen I love the way Carolina Kostner glides from one element into another during Ave Maria. There is something so refined and feminine about every little movement she makes that is unmatched by any other female skater I have seen. Also at one point she comes to a complete stop during the performance, which I found quite daring and very powerfull.

Another favorite moment for me was Adelina Sotnikova encouraging the crowd during her Fs in sochi. I know a lot of people don't like it/her for various reasons, but to me there was something so beautiful and powerful about that moment. Here is this little girl with all the pressure in the world on her shoulders in front of a home crowd doing the skate of her life. Having made it trough all her difficult jumps and spins, she is finally able to relax a little and just be in this moment of pure joy and extacy. I just found it a very moving moment.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
- The step sequence in Max's Tron free skate - there's one cool step he does that I can't really describe, but it gets me every time

Max's Tron SP is just all-round epic awesomeness. (That whole first group at 2013 Nats was epic awesomeness, actually.) And I think I know which step you mean.

In that vein, Jason's lovely Liebestrame free skate at JW2013. The whole thing!

The step sequence in Plushenko's 2013 European SP. Oh, it is pure magic. He knew his back was screwed, he knew he couldn't go on, but the steps were just...

Josh hits every nuance of the music in his almost-perfect Bach SP at 2013 Nats

Plushenko's Russian Nats SP - that chilling, spine-tingling moment when he took the ice again after that back surgery, against almost impossible odds...

Brendan Kerry's hauntingly perfect SP at Nebelhorn...
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
Another favorite moment for me was Adelina Sotnikova encouraging the crowd during her Fs in sochi. I know a lot of people don't like it/her for various reasons, but to me there was something so beautiful and powerful about that moment. Here is this little girl with all the pressure in the world on her shoulders in front of a home crowd doing the skate of her life. Having made it trough all her difficult jumps and spins, she is finally able to relax a little and just be in this moment of pure joy and extacy. I just found it a very moving moment.

I think that's the best explanation/defense I've heard re: Adelina's encouraging the crowd/waving. :) A lot of people didn't like it but I agree with you. She'd managed to give her best under the most pressure she'd ever been under in her life. She was elated! People forget she's only 17 years old! The kid had just had the skate of her life...some people can't contain that kind of emotion. I found it refreshing to see her cut loose and thoroughly enjoy the moment...she was the only skater who did. Everyone else was pretty much all business...she just went out there and had a blast. There's nothing wrong with that IMO.

Say what you will about the scoring but I won't take that moment away from Adelina. I enjoyed both of her performances in Sochi b/c she tapped into that focus she'd been missing for so long and she managed to do it without skating like a zombie. You could see she was into her performance and having fun. A lot of younger skaters will completely drop the performance and focus solely on the jumps, and it shows. Best example is Gracie Gold's FS from nationals in 2013. She was flawless but she was also completely blank/dead in terms of her performance.

Adelina managed to really let herself go in the sense that she hit all of her elements and did it while having a blast and playing to the audience/judges. I admire and respect that.:thumbsup:


And about Carolina, yes...she is exquisite:bow:. Since you're a newbie to the sport (welcome, by the way! :) ) I would advise you to go back and watch some of Carolina's performances from this last quad. From 2011-2014 she really blossomed as a skater, performer and artist.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
The superbe split RoLi in the middle of D/W's Die Flendermaus, that made everything so perfect! (2:40 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZSzLIs9S24 )

Julia's Ina Bauer in her Schindler's List ChSq: so gente, delicate and emotional (3:37 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QyFQXxeTnk )

The whole second half of Caro's Vampire SP (from 1:34 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywtl-3833c ): she realizes that the vampire has bitten her, then those little hops, the 2A and that incredible StSq begins (pay attention to that crazily difficult little jump at 2:20!) :love::love:

Michelle's RFI spiral in her Rachmaninoff SP (2:14 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHfgjszz_Tk ): all her joy came out and made the crowd react so emotionally!

Akiko's ChSq at the end of her O FS: that was pure beauty and happiness flying on ice :love: (3:50 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOuaUMgFOcg )
 

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
I think that's the best explanation/defense I've heard re: Adelina's encouraging the crowd/waving. :) A lot of people didn't like it but I agree with you. She'd managed to give her best under the most pressure she'd ever been under in her life. She was elated! People forget she's only 17 years old! The kid had just had the skate of her life...some people can't contain that kind of emotion. I found it refreshing to see her cut loose and thoroughly enjoy the moment...she was the only skater who did. Everyone else was pretty much all business...she just went out there and had a blast. There's nothing wrong with that IMO.

Say what you will about the scoring but I won't take that moment away from Adelina. I enjoyed both of her performances in Sochi b/c she tapped into that focus she'd been missing for so long and she managed to do it without skating like a zombie. You could see she was into her performance and having fun. A lot of younger skaters will completely drop the performance and focus solely on the jumps, and it shows. Best example is Gracie Gold's FS from nationals in 2013. She was flawless but she was also completely blank/dead in terms of her performance.

Adelina managed to really let herself go in the sense that she hit all of her elements and did it while having a blast and playing to the audience/judges. I admire and respect that.:thumbsup:


And about Carolina, yes...she is exquisite:bow:. Since you're a newbie to the sport (welcome, by the way! :) ) I would advise you to go back and watch some of Carolina's performances from this last quad. From 2011-2014 she really blossomed as a skater, performer and artist.

I agree re: Adelina - it was almost uncanny how relaxed and happy she was! It looked like I'd imagine she'd look if she did a run-through of her programme just for fun for a group of friends! Incredible composure for a 17-year-old.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
From old performances, T&D's paso doble osp, 1984, the part when Chris strides up the ice, dragging Jayne, a fluttering cape, behind him.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHt7DRxpxA

I always preferred this osp to the Bolero program, not just the concept and the execution but the music (love Capriccio Espagnol!—far richer music than Bolero for my taste) and those splendid black-and-white costumes. Before YouTube I depended on retrospectives on TV to get to see it, but now I can enjoy it any time I want, and it never gets old. Definitely gooseflesh-inducing.

The program "Missing," which Dean choreographed for the Duchesnays using music from the Andes, always gives me chills.
 

gotoschool

Medalist
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
1. Mao Asada's Sochi Freeskate is the most chill inducing for me: 1. When she hits the triple axel 2. When she cradles her arms beneath her neck and looks up smiling at the sky in the middle section after doing a sit spin. 3. The step sequence
2. Lu Chen's Roch 2 performance Worlds 1996
3. When Midori Ito hits the triple axel after falling on her first attempt in the 1992 Olympics LP
 

pandaatlarge

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 13, 2014
Can't believe no one's mentioned Shen/Zhao '03.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kql3sf_crA

This whole program. Especially the last footwork sequence. Always, always gives me chills.

Also, I second Jason Brown's Y-spiral into 'tano. I audibly sighed when he did it at SOI and my friend gave me a weird look. Oops.

I was going to mention it actually, it is my all-time goose bumps, especially the ending.
 

gammarae

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Shen and Zhao, 2003. I was there. People were still teary-eyed and in awe on the Metro the next two days. It is one of those amazing moments that leave you breathless.
 
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