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.
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