2023 Lombardi Trophy Men's Free Skate

[el henry]

Ah the facial expression thing... see, I'll never be a fan of that. I'm totally fine with stern expressions. Let the body talk, at least with skaters, who, as we have been discussing at length elsewhere, are athletes. (And excessive facial expressions of skaters, well, I dislike them with all my heart.) I will have to see the video of this, but I remember him doing Michael Bublé exactly in the light footed, swingy way that it needs to be presented.
I agree about his musical choices... but I'd say they fail to excite me per se, but the more impressive is it when he can somehow bring it on for me.

I have always been a fan of both: body awareness and at least some facial expression. And facial expression does not mean exaggerated miming, for me, it means some awareness of what the music says and means. Throughout your entire body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And yes, your expression.

ETA: what I dislike is skaters who lift their arm to the beat, and you can just tell, they lifting their arm to the beat not because they feel the music, but because their choreographer told them, here is where you lift your arm to the beat. That makes me sad to watch.

The skaters I love most have always had that totality of performance skills, and that is what I wish for Yuma. But you are right, I include that in my evaluation, so our evaluations would differ.

 

[YuBluByMe]

Surprised Yuma is rated rather "low" here. I didn't see this free skate but to me he was already a charismatic performer before his injury, and overall just an incredibly well rounded skater with great skating skills.

I can’t speak for everyone else, but my issue is the FS - he couldn’t hold my attention and that’s never a good thing - not Kagiyama himself. He’s certainly not my favorite skater, but I like Kagiyama a lot and I’ve actually always disagreed that he’s need so much work on his expression. He’s well ahead of his peers in this (i.e, Sato, Miura). He’s not a natural performer, but he doesn’t skate right through his music, either. He listens to it. With a more introverted skater like Kagiyama, good choreography helps a great deal. That’s all he needs really.

I also strongly agree with your post about facial expressions, but I don’t like double posting so I’m just going to include my agreement here. Not all music requires facial expressions. In my opinion, it can even cheapen a performance. You can also have the best facial movement in the world yet still be robotic with your movements with zero musicality. Rika Kihira skated the entirety of Beautiful Storm with a blank face yet that was the most musical performance by a lady skater I’ve seen in the last seven years. Unnecessary facial expressions would have added nothing and the music didn’t call for it. Like you, I think what the body is doing is much more important.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

@norwegianfairytale i summon thy


P. S.: i possibly spotted the georgian lady

Nikita skated to Backstreet Boys? I have to watch that

 

[georgia]

Do we have video? I will love to watch the top 4.

 

[el henry]

Nikita skated to Backstreet Boys? I have to watch that

Backstreet's back, all right!

 

[el henry]

Do we have video? I will love to watch the top 4.

Andrew T., kindly found by @trishelle and placed in his FF

 

[Holy Headband]

Yuma’s FS is here:

éµå±±åªç ãã³ãã«ãã£ã¢ãããã£ã¼2023 Free Skating

youtu.be

Sorry if the link doesn’t embed properly, but I’m on mobile.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

where are you?

Lignano, scene of many of my childhood summer adventures. I still like to visit, especially in September when most of the tourists are gone (says tourist CrazyKittenLady ).

To the men at Lombardia: I have watched what I could find on youtube by now, and while there were many outstanding performances I must say, my absolute highlight was Nika Egadze dramatically ripping his shirt open to Roxaaaanne and the ensuing K&C with Eteri and Georgian Fed Lady. Pure entertainment.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Has anyone been able to locate video of Arlet Levandi's LP?

If so could you let me know where or possibly post it here? TIA!

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Has anyone been able to locate video of Arlet Levandi's LP?

If so could you let me know where or possibly post it here? TIA!

Arlet Levandi 2023 Lombardia Trophy FS

youtu.be

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Arlet Levandi 2023 Lombardia Trophy FS

youtu.be