Great skates to Swan Lake

[Vash01]

Swan Lake music is overused, but I never get tired of it, may be because there have been some really great skates to it.

Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze: 1998 season SP (I liked their skate at the European the best of all, but I also enjoyed the one at Goodwill games)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJCGGBmCmf0

Oksana Baiul: 1994 SP to Black Swan- one of my most favorite SPs by a lady

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m08GHxNDCto

Rudy Galindo: 1996 LP, especially the one skated at the US nationals was unforgettable. While watching it, I shed tears of joy for Rudy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVxjtzZyhFA

Sasha Cohen: 2004 (?): I liked the Tarasova version the best, at Marshalls. The later version she used at USN and worlds was diluted, and less enjoyable, but still beautiful to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouNL5ux17c4

Alexei Urmanov skated to it, as his 1995 LP. He also skated an exhibition to it. I loved his speed and the perfection of his jumps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdqRMYU8StY

Maria Butyrskaya and Shizuka Arakawa had somewhat different versions of Swan Lake. Also Ann Patrice McDonough skated to Swan Lake in the same year as Sasha.

 

[Olympia]

Great thread! I'll work through the links as I get the chance.

Like you, I think very highly of Baiul's 1994 short program. I'm not generally an Oksana fan, but that skate is just supreme to me. It comes as close to a direct translation of dance to ice as I'm ever likely to see. She carried it off perfectly.

 

[russell30]

Yes Baiul's version was very balletic and graceful, like seeing the bolshoi on ice.

Rudy's version in 96 was classy and gutsy (and made me cry too!!).

Also liked Shizuka's modern version of 03 and 04 season and more recently Polina Shelepen SP 11, again a modern take.


We will all be glued this year for the battle of the Clint Mansell's version taken from Black Swan OST.

 

[dorispulaski]

Ilia Klimkin SP 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLVGHiXtwbQ

 

[snowflake]

Ilia Klimkin SP 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLVGHiXtwbQ

Haha, you beat me… a skate that I have watched again and again….

Another then; Sasha's at Trophy Lalique 2003, which I saw live. It was my first visit to a real figure skating event. It was also one of the first COP competitions. I didn't understand a thing about the scoring, but there was no question about who was number one. She scored 197,19. A guy from the Russian(I think) ice dancers gave her a big flower bouquet after her awesome LP.

 

[Bartek]

Sasha's skate at Marshall's wasn't TAT version. It was the version of Robin Wagner's. Marshall's was the last competition of the season and she was with Tatiana at the beginning of it. Her best skate to TAT version was at Skate America 2003 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFtGt_s0JSY It's her personal best free skate in her career..

 

[essence_of_soy]

Absolute Professional

For me, the best music cuts and performance belongs to Rosalynn Sumners at the Challenge of Champions in Paris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwvUyHdFdh4

She skated this routine slightly better at the 1987 World Professional Championships in Landover, but won the competition here against Dorothy Hamill in France.

 

[Vash01]

Sasha's skate at Marshall's wasn't TAT version. It was the version of Robin Wagner's. Marshall's was the last competition of the season and she was with Tatiana at the beginning of it. Her best skate to TAT version was at Skate America 2003 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFtGt_s0JSY It's her personal best free skate in her career..

You are right. Marshalls was at the end of the season, not the beginning. The skate I really liked was at the beginning of the season.