Favorite Programs of the 2020-21 Season

[osmolivia626]

The season is almost over, so what were everyone's favorite programs of this season?

 

[anonymoose_au]

Sasha T's SP and FS, but especially the SP. It really showed a different side to her and was so beautiful. I wonder if she'll try something lyrical again for next season? Opinion is very divided on what Sasha should do.

Liza Tuk's Spartacus. I can't believe they changed it! It was so epic! The new SP worked out though, so... And her FS is a classic, I love the opening and closing fingerography

I just noticed these guys yesterday at the Russian Elder Age Novice Nationals dance - Anna Rumak and Gleb Goncharov, their FD is just so engaging!

Here's a video of it from an earlier event.

Kaitlin and Jean-Luc's FD, it gives me chills when watching. Very compelling, they did a lot of choreo for it themselves and that's awesome.

And I love Mikhail K's SP and FS, the FS is of course gorgeous, but the sass in his SP! I love it!

That's all that comes to mind right now.

 

[sadya]

The FS of Kolyada and to my suprise, that of Chen (usually I like his SP better).
The SP of Uno was my favourite last year, this season I still adore it, but my favourite this year is the SP of Brown.
The FS of Sui/Han is one of my favourite programs ever, so this year it's my favourite again.
SP of Tarasova/Morozov.
Love the FD of Fear/Gibson, this year my favourite FD.
I love the FS of Karen Chen and am probably one of the few people who liked the FS of Kostornaia at the start of the season.
SP of Kihira.

When I rewatch several programs and competitions a few time, I will probably change my mind on some of these choises.

 

[fzztsimmons]

Jason's Sinnerman, absolutely hands down without a doubt my favourite SP ever

 

[Giu]

Sui/Han FS "Rain on your black eyes" by Ezio Bosso
Rika Kihira SP "The fire within"
Yuzuru Hanyu SP and FP

Moreover, even if I don't really like the final result, I really appreciated Boikova/Kozlovskii choice of music for their SP, I love Joe Hisaishi

 

[iluvtodd]

Jason's Sinnerman & his free skate, Tuk-Tuk's free skate, Nathan's programs, Yuzu's "Let Me Entertain You," Alexa & Brandon's "Fall on Me," Hubbelll & Donahue's free dance, Bradie's programs, Keegan's programs, Yuma's programs, Yaro's programs, Piper & Paul's programs, Michal Brezina's Bryan Adams medley (even though he wasn't able to skate it to his potential ), Vincent's "Vincent" ("Starry Starry Night"), Maddie & Evan's programs (I STILL their Snake Dance & "It's Too Darn Hot"), Karen Chen's programs, Alyssa Liu's "La Strada," ...

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Charlène and Marco's 'Atonement' free dance (also, bonus mention to their beautiful new '7+3' exhibition )
Madi and Zach's 'Hallelujah' free dance
Miriam and Severin's 'Another Love' free skate (hope they keep this for the Olympics!)
Kamila Valieva's 'Storm' short program
Liza Tuktamysheva's 'Mischievous Bird' free skate
Mishina and Galliamov's 'Esmerelda' short program
Daniel Grassl's 'Dig Down' short program
Ekaterina Mironova and Evgenii Ustenko's Medusa-themed free dance

 

[ancientpeas]

I'll do this by discipline:

Jason Brown's Sinnerman
Fear and Gibson's Vogue
Sui and Han's Blues for Klook (which I never thought I'd see again live and it's one of my favourites ever)
Satoko's SP and LP

 

[Seven Sisters]

Kolyada’s FP was hands-down the most stunning program in any discipline.

Brown’s SP would have won the honor in any other season.

A pairs program I loved, which has not been mentioned yet: Pavliuchenko/Khodykin’s Sing Sing Sing SP, as delivered with utter bravado at the National Championships.

 

[Dreamer57]

Kagonovskaya / Angelopol - Romeo and Juliet FD
Mishina / Galliamov- La Esmerelda SP

Loena Hendrickx - Fever FS
Yuma Kagiyama - Avatar FS (I love the music really)

 

[Colonel Green]

Men
Kolyada's White Crow FS
Kagiyama's "Vocussion" SP

Ladies
Taljegard's Joker FS (textbook example of how a low-tech skater can stand out)
Hendrickx's "Fever" SP (technically a carryover but she never actually competed it last year)

Pairs
Mishina & Galliamov's La Esmeralda SP

Ice dance
Lajoie & Lagha's Rio FD

 

[skylark]

Anna Shcherbakova's FS, especially at Russian nationals when she showed it with technical perfection and supreme artistry
Amber Glenn's FS and Karen Chen's FS
Yelim Kim's SP and Haein Lee's SP

Nathan Chen's breathtaking FS
Kolyada's beautiful FS
Yaro's programs
Vincent's Vincent: Starry Starry Night

Madi & Zach's "Hallelujah" FD
Sinitsina/Katsalapov's "Singin' in the Rain" RD
Fear/Gibson's FD
Hawayek/Baker's RD and FD

Walsh/Michaud's FS - the music brought out something so good in them, and I love how consistently they perform
Mishina/Galliamov's FS - "We Are the Champions" - so cheeky; no one expected to be prophetic such a good match for their talents
Tarasova/Morozov's SP and FS - both such lovely matches for their talents

I'm sure I'm forgetting some but those are at the top of my mind right now.

 

[el henry]

Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?

Not only the best men's program of *this* season, but one of the best of any other. A masterpiece that will only improve.

 

[LutzDance]

Nathan's FS: I always like Glass's music, but this is the first program that convinces me that it works for figure skating. I liked Jeff's Naqoyqatsi and Satoko's Glass/Satie exhibition, but both programs have bits of choreography that make me feel the choreographers have a somewhat different understanding of the music from mine. Nathan's program, especially its earliest edition, just completely visualized my conception of the music and therefore was special to me. Of course this is probably my "biased" fan's perspective - after all I became his fan because his musical understanding is so aligned with mine, so it's not a surprise that I respond the most to his interpretation of Philip Glass.

Misha's FS: While I'm a ballet fan, I like this program not because it's particularly balletic (my favorite ballet programs are Nathan's Le Corsaire, Davis/White's Giselle, and most John Curry programs) but because it's crafted to tell a story in a nuanced and sensible way. And it's always nice to see a classical-ish program while the field is shifting toward more pop/vocal-based music.

Keegan's programs - I'm against recycling programs in principle, but I don't mind seeing both of Keegan's programs again. They are just such good vehicles for his genuine and effusive joy on the ice.

Lolo and Nik's Bonnie and Clyde: Hands-down the best rhythmic dance of these two seasons that overwrites my aversion to recycled programs (maybe with the exception of Gabi and Guillaume's Fame But sadly they've been out of the scene this season). After watching through so many traumatic music cuts and formulaic choreography, there's finally a program that combines narrative and movement in a very clever way. I also just like their skating.

Hawayek/Baker's Glass free dance: well, I like Philip Glass, so I gotta put this one here. The opening one-foot steps give me chills every time. Fun fact, while Nathan's program uses the first movement of the Violin Concerto, HB's free dance uses the second movement. They must've texted each other or something.

There're also some recycled programs that I loved in their first season but wish the skaters have moved on from-
Madi and Evan's Snake Dance
Shoma's Dancing On My Own
Sui/Han's both programs (I'm ok with them reusing Blues for Klook but the WC performance just didn't bring additional sparks to the program. And I wish they left Rain at their superb rendition at Saitama)


Might ETA if more comes to mind.

 

[ladyjane]

Difficult. My answers tomorrow may be different but the first memorable programmes that come to mind are:

Men:
Mikhail Kolyada's Free Skate. Such a beautiful, fitting interpretation of the music.
Jason Brown's Short Programme: Best SP of the season. Best skating and performance skills in the business as well as great spins and transitions.

Honourable mentions: Yuma Kagiyama's SP, Nathan Chen's FS (both at Worlds especially).

Women/ladies:
Loena Hendrickx's FS: Fever indeed. Wow!
Lindsay van Zundert's SP: lots of bias here because I'm Dutch. But I enjoyed watching it so much at Worlds.

Honourable mentions: Olga Nikutina's, Karen Chen's and Josefin Taljegard's Free Skates. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Pairs
Evgenia Tarosova/Vladimir Morozov's FS: I know, they weren't at their best at Worlds but I love this programme.
Mirian Ziegler/Severin Kiefer FS: needs some polishing (they skated solidly but not superbly) but is a memorable programme all the same.

Honourable mentions: too many to individually mention to be honest. A great SP by the Japanese, A champion SP by one and a champion FS by another of the Russians, Great Canadians FS (both couples), Great Italians in the FS, wonderful lines by one of the US couples, and a great SP by the other, both Chinese couples in the SP and the FS. Some nice ones in the lower ranks too.

Ice Dance
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier FD: the moment of the competition for me. Such a beautiful, moving programme.
Kaitlyn Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker FD: I love this Dance. Don't know why but it works for me.

Honourable mentions: Madison and Evan's Snake Dance is still a favourite with me, as is Charlene and Marco's Free Dance. Alexandra and Ivan also had an excellent Free Dance, and I'm definitely not forgetting Lilah and Lewis. RD's are always tricky for me, and I am sorry to say that I have no real favourites.

 

[Clairecz]

Men
- Misha Kolyada FP The White Crow - the best program not only of this season
- Keegan Messing FP November Rain
- Alexander Samarin SP Polyusko Polye
and also the Elvises! Romain Ponsart and Yaroslav Paniot.

Ice Dance
- Natacha Lagouge/Arnaud Caffa - FD Sposa son disprezzata
- Guignard/Fabbri - FD Atonement
- Lajoie/Lagha - FD Rio (I totally didn't expect it, have to admit that I didn't have any special feelings for this team but what a change one program can make, the same goes for Green/Parsons and their Thorougly modern Millie RD)

There weren't many new RDs but I'm still glad I could enjoy Sinitsina/Katsalapov and their phenomenal Singing in the rain and Wang/Liu's Chaplin for one more season. Also, it's still their last season's RD but Skoptsova/Aleshin's Bonnie and Clyde feels like a new program, such a change.

Pairs
- Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii SP Oblivion
- Mishina/Galliamov SP Esmeralda
- Ioulia Chtchetinina/Mark Magyar SP Renaissance
- Pavliuchenko/Khodykin FP S.O.S. (they worked so much on the interpretation of the music)

Ladies (out of the very few I saw)
- Kamila Valieva SP Storm
- Mariah Bell SP Glitter in the air
- Mai Mihara FP Fairy of the forest

Exhibition
- Shoma Uno - Oboe Concerto

 

[ana]

Satoko Miyahara SP/FP
Shoma Uno SP/FP
Jason Brown SP/FP
Karen Chen FP
Yuzuru Hanyu FP
Evgenia Medvedeva SP/FP
Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov RD/FP
Aleksandra Boikova/Dimitri Kozlovskii FP
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier FP
Alena Kostornaia Four Season SP+2FP

 

[hannahbanana]

Satoko Miyahara SP/FP
Shoma Uno SP/FP
Jason Brown SP/FP
Karen Chen FP
Yuzuru Hanyu FP
Evgenia Medvedeva SP/FP
Nikita/Katpasalov RD/FP
Alexandra/Dimitri FP
Paul/Poirier FP
Alena Kostornaia Four Season SP+2FP

“Nikita/Katpasalov” ah yes, my favourite duo

 

[el henry]

“Nikita/Katpasalov” ah yes, my favourite duo

An understandable mistake; are you really saying you didn't know who they were?

And at least it's not initials. Lord have mercy when I start seeing A/B is better than C/D except for X/Y who scored higher than Q/T, it gives me the blue vapors

 

[tafattsbarn]

Yuzuru Hanyu's free program Heaven & Earth! It's absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, and i can't wait for another performance of it like the one he gave at japanese nationals.

I just love how quiet, introspective and self-searching with a very open ending it is. It truly feels like a more mature version of SEIMEI, one that examines war and conflict in a much different way. It's a ride into a battle where there are no easy answers; it's not straighforward in the way that SEIMEI is. While good and evil seems like the cornerstones in SEIMEI (as SLB put it "the light that banishes the darkness"), it's almost irrelevant in H&E. Heaven & Earth instead asks the difficult questions one might have to explore in the face of a war, but it leaves us no answers. There is no triumphant resolution to H&E (like there is in SEIMEI), and there's a quiet power in that. Yuzuru said in an interview that to him the program is less about victories and losses and more about the cost of battle, the cost of war. I think that is a very accurate way to describe the program, and it reflects my own thoughts about it as well.

I truly think it's one of the most beautiful programs we have yet to see from Yuzuru (or anyone, really).