The greatest pair skating performances

[skatinginbc]

Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze 1999 World Long Program was what first brought my eye to their artistic expressions. From the very beginning of the program, mood was created by Elena's face, not Yoshie Onda's deer-caught-in-the-spotlight face, nor Yuna Kim's exaggerated angst and sorrow, but a "blank" face that spoke a thousand words. Their statue-like poses in many places of the program, though simple to the eye, conveyed more than the beauty of their body lines. They fittingly amplified the mood in relation to the music as if static sculptures that tell dynamic stories. They went beyond the beauty of pure skating by adding heart and soul to their choreography, which I found lacking in G/G's programs.

 

[bsfan]

Shen & Zhou are overrated. They are the greatest Chinese pair ever, but that is it. They in no way deserve to be compared with Gordeeva & Grinkov, Miskuteniok & Dmitriev, Irina Rodnina, the Protoppopovs, or even Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze. They are not at that level. They were never really a dominant pair, their World titles and Olympic title were in 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2010 while their Grand Prix final titles were in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010. So except for 07 and 2010 when everyone was retired and they refreshed themselves with long breaks, did they win virtually everything in a season. They couldnt win anything (other than the 2 GP finals) until Sale & Pelletier and Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze had retired, and even then had trouble beating Totmianina & Marinin until they also retired. Even Savchenko & Szolkowy they never faced at their best, they were still up and coming in 2007, and 2010 was an awful season for them.

As for quality of skating they come nowhere near the pairs I mentioned in unision, line, basic skating strength, throw technique, lift technique, jump consistency, death spirals, spins, too many things to even list them all.

I agree completely.

Other than bigger tricks, S/Z didn't bring any new things to pair skating. They copied B/S's spin (the one that Anton hold Elena's wrait while Elena does a kind of layback spin), B/S's dance lift... But they couldn't do those with nice postures. None of their postures in lifts are nice to watch either. When T/M became their main rival, they rarely beat them. And T/M are at least one cycle younger then S/Z.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

jcoates post is an eloquent one, but it sorta reaffirms for me the breadth of what people respond to in the sport/art/performance of figure skating. For me, I respond firstly to the sporting aspects. I'm emotionally affected by the sport. So, athletically speaking, in general - the best are the more recent. Obviously, that's not always the case. But for me, I respond more to Shen/Zhao than I do to the Protopopovs, despite the obvious contributions made by the latter and by any fair standard, they are the better pair. But they're not the one's I'm gonna youtube.

re: S/S - My favourite of their programs was "L'Oiseau." There's something quite beautiful about the uneasy mood they create. The elements are choreographed very well (it helps they're one of the only teams who can do a COP step sequence without it dragging the life out of the audience). It's not quite as clever as "The Mission" or as jauntily well performed as "Pink Panther" was at worlds, but whenever I revisit it, I'm astonished anew.

 

[jcoates]

jcoates post is an eloquent one, but it sorta reaffirms for me the breadth of what people respond to in the sport/art/performance of figure skating. For me, I respond firstly to the sporting aspects. I'm emotionally affected by the sport. So, athletically speaking, in general - the best are the more recent. Obviously, that's not always the case. But for me, I respond more to Shen/Zhao than I do to the Protopopovs, despite the obvious contributions made by the latter and by any fair standard, they are the better pair. But they're not the one's I'm gonna youtube.

re: S/S - My favourite of their programs was "L'Oiseau." There's something quite beautiful about the uneasy mood they create. The elements are choreographed very well (it helps they're one of the only teams who can do a COP step sequence without it dragging the life out of the audience). It's not quite as clever as "The Mission" or as jauntily well performed as "Pink Panther" was at worlds, but whenever I revisit it, I'm astonished anew.

Pogue, I understand your point of view in this and agree with parts of it. I too appreciate skating as a sport first, but from my point of view skating is an athletic endeavor not just because of the throws, twists and sbs jumps. Skating is also about speed and power on good deep edges. That takes strength, stamina and fabulous unison. One of the things I dislike most about current pair teams is that the basics of things like super deep knees while stroking, lifts that fly across the ice, fast footwork and low well stretched death spirals are all given less value in favor of bigger twists and throws and catch foot positions. Despite their lack of sbs triples or even double axels, I still consider Underhill and Martini to be the best North American pair ever. You could teach a clinic on pair skating with them. I'd match many of their elements against current pairs. Everything they did was amplified by the speed and abandon with which they skated. It made their skating exciting.

I find many of today's pairs to be checklist skating in terms of how they approach their elements. They are not moving with a sense of freedom, but instead with caution because they are going after so many big tricks. As a result, I feel like their basic skating suffers. Nevertheless, I respect the effort being put forth. I do wonder, however, if the lack of variety of themes and music in recent years has contributed to this effect. Music can have a tremendous impact on the energy skater put into a program. While they are not perfect by any means, I felt that one of the reasons why Moore-Towers and Moskovitz were successful last season was that they skated to energetic music. They are not and should not try to be a romantic pair. They are powerful skaters. Their music should match that. I wish more teams would match their music more to their skills and body types.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

I'm guessing Mt/M's choice of Henry V has you disappointed then?

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I find many of today's pairs to be checklist skating in terms of how they approach their elements. They are not moving with a sense of freedom, but instead with caution because they are going after so many big tricks. As a result, I feel like their basic skating suffers. Nevertheless, I respect the effort being put forth. I do wonder, however, if the lack of variety of themes and music in recent years has contributed to this effect. Music can have a tremendous impact on the energy skater put into a program. While they are not perfect by any means, I felt that one of the reasons why Moore-Towers and Moskovitz were successful last season was that they skated to energetic music. They are not and should not try to be a romantic pair. They are powerful skaters. Their music should match that. I wish more teams would match their music more to their skills and body types.

I agree with this very much. I wish the ISU would relax the emphasis on things such as catch-foot positions and bizarre step sequences where the athletes are not really "skating" across the ice. The fundamental skating skills of today's skaters range from mediocre to just plain awful, but it really isn't their fault. Why focus on basics when they aren't adequately rewarded under this judging system? I also think the skaters are put in a difficult position when they are good at one thing but are asked to "grow" and stretch themselves by doing different styles of programs. It's what S&Z did so well when they stuck with romantic pieces that featured their connection with each other that moved many of us. I think they would have failed trying to pull off a program like the Beethoven Sonata of G&G in 1994, where the subdued music seems to focus your attention more on the skating and less about how they skaters are emoting.

 

[jcoates]

I'm guessing Mt/M's choice of Henry V has you disappointed then?

Hopefully they will skate to the sections of the music which are similar to Paul Wylie's program. Those cuts lend themselves to sharpness of movement, attack and passion. I think it could work for them. (I admit I have not yet delved into all the music selections for the top skaters.)

I just prefer not to see every team try to be soft and lyrical if that is not where their strength lies. Brasseur and Eisler were a team with many weaknesses, but made up for them much of the time with heavy emphasis on their best trait, lifting. Everything else they did was good to mediocre. But their lifts were so spectacular and frequently set to aggressive music that fans and judges were willing to look past their weak spots. Many North American pairs used that formula to far greater success than they do today during the 70's, 80's and 90's as a means of differentiating themselves from the more refined Soviets. Now, as I said already, the pairs are far more homogenized. Perhaps that's due in part to the prevalence of Russian coaches having trained so many foreign pairs in the last 20 years. Their school of thought may have been disseminated across a broader range or skaters to create a less diverse crop to programs. Just a thought.

 

[lionmilk]

I agree with all the posts about G&G, Rodina and Zaitsev, The Protopopovs, M/D and B/S....and I definitely believe Shen & Zhao should be included in this category...when I think of the greats in the sport, I think of pioneers and those who have set certain standards and left their mark....and although they might not have had the complete skating skills and elegance as the other teams above, they created great excitement on the ice and they pushed the technical side of the sport with their immense height on twists and throws....something that all teams today try to achieve...if we don't see a triple twist up in the rafters of the arena we all write it off as mediocre...all in all they left a mark in world of pairs skating...to see their superb technique at its finest take a look at their 2000 worlds SP...i don't think they could have done any element better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyBoUiKByZ8..and all their programs were perfectly suited for them...

But talking of all time great performances of recent times....
S/Z 2003 worlds LP
B/S 2002 SLC SP
M/D 1994 Olympics LP
S/Z's Nutcracker
Sale & Pelletier T&I 2001 4CC LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv6WD-QNJA0...

this B/S performance was also fantastic and is what made me fall in love with them....

1998 Euros SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJCGGBmCmf0

the commentator even compared them to G&G during the performance...it was like they were skating on air...and their final position during the spiral sequence was pairs skating 101....2 as 1....they matched perfectly...

And i must add that choreographically, Pang & Tong's Pearl Fishers SP from the 2010 Olympic games and last year worlds was one of the best i had ever seen....and actually P/T did a good job with it...

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

jcoates, I have to admit that I think COP, while overall a good thing that has made me interesting in the sport again, has negatively affected pairs the most.

 

[skatinginbc]

And i must add that choreographically, Pang & Tong's Pearl Fishers SP from the 2010 Olympic games and last year worlds was one of the best i had ever seen....and actually P/T did a good job with it...

I'm glad that somebody else took notice and thought highly of that program as well. It is the second best short ever in my book. It's a program with goods (e.g., height of the twist) and unfortunately bads (e.g., not so perfect body lines). That's why B/S's well-balanced 2002 SLC SP won my best short program ever title.

 

[jcoates]

jcoates, I have to admit that I think COP, while overall a good thing that has made me interesting in the sport again, has negatively affected pairs the most.

I'm afraid I agree with you on that point. It's ironic given that all these rules changes were begun in an effort to address a marking controversy in the discipline which they seem to hurt the most.

 

[aftertherain]

I'm not an avid fan of pairs' skating, thus I don't know much about it, but I really like Shen and Zhao's 2004 Worlds performance to the Nutcracker (2003 too, but that's kind of obvious). They did have a slight mistake at the end of their program, but I thought it was breath-taking to say the least. Even T/M knew that S/Z's performance affected the crowd more than theirs did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40X2SIc41HY

I also liked S/S's performance of "Out of Africa" at Skate Canada during the Olympic year. It was a shame because they never really skated this program flawlessly, but I do think it's beautifully choreographed for the most part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_DuW8WyLE&feature=related

 

[DianaSelene]

After 2004, I think T/M really grew up and became a great pair. I personally believe they were much better than S/Z.

 

[lcd]

My vote is S/Z at Washington DC Worlds. This was obviously all the more impressive given the incredible leg injury which she had sustained if I recall correctly. Moving to see how she could pull it off.

 

[christinaskater]

I think T/M are a lovely pair but they never emotionally connected with their performances with the audiences. Yes they can do all the elements wonderfully but there was always something missing for me especially from Totmianina.

 

[lionmilk]

I think T/M are a lovely pair but they never emotionally connected with their performances with the audiences. Yes they can do all the elements wonderfully but there was always something missing for me especially from Totmianina.

I totally agree...as much as I respected them as skaters their performances were always cold to me...actually the first and only time i was drawn into a performance was their short program in torino....

 

[christinaskater]

Shen and Zhao for me is not the greatest team ever in pairs figure skating but the passion and love for their sport, their commitment generates so much euphoria to a lot of viewers. I watched them live during the 2003 Worlds and it was one of the most beautiful and passionate performances I have ever seen. Simply exquisite. I guess they had the capacity like Michelle Kwan to draw the audience in their journey of emotions. People were crying and were rising before the end of the performance. I could still see myself in that moment and still feel chills thinking about that performance.

 

[jcoates]

I think the last two posts illustrate why T/M have not been named by most postesr in this thread. They were very good, but not inspiring; probably due in part to the fact that S/Z generated such a sustained emotional response from audiences no matter how they skated.

 

[Olympia]

One of the things that makes skating different from other sports is that skating has enough art in it (and enough performance in it) that it's an act of communication as well as an act of physical achievement. Of course there's a standard of physical skill that must be reached. But once that level is attained, skaters who can project something to the audience will be, if not always the winners, generally more memorable that skaters who are merely technically excellent. There's a whole slew of Russian pairs, for example, whom I think of as the "businesslike" pairs. (I won't mention names because it would not be charitable, and besides, they might only be businesslike to me.) There are American pairs who are likewise not memorable to me. They're perky or competent, maybe, but not creators of gooseflesh and breathlessness. Shen and Zhao are all that. Whether they have the purity of technique of their less inspired Russian rivals doesn't matter. They use whatever technical skills they have (and they are formidable if not always conventionally so) to create something amazing on the ice.

And another thing that recommends Shen/Zhao to me: they pretty much rebuilt themselves. The skaters of 2002, impressive as they were, would not stick in our minds the way they did later on. They had great tricks in those days, primarily throws and lifts. But compared to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze or Sale and Pelletier, they didn't make my heart beat faster. By about 2003, they somehow did. What top skating pair changes their approach that profoundly? Why would they feel they had to? It's darned hard work. But these guys--who weren't teenagers, either--put in that work. So they'd have my respect for that alone.

 

[jcoates]

One of the things that makes skating different from other sports is that skating has enough art in it (and enough performance in it) that it's an act of communication as well as an act of physical achievement. Of course there's a standard of physical skill that must be reached. But once that level is attained, skaters who can project something to the audience will be, if not always the winners, generally more memorable that skaters who are merely technically excellent. There's a whole slew of Russian pairs, for example, whom I think of as the "businesslike" pairs. (I won't mention names because it would not be charitable, and besides, they might only be businesslike to me.) There are American pairs who are likewise not memorable to me. They're perky or competent, maybe, but not creators of gooseflesh and breathlessness. Shen and Zhao are all that. Whether they have the purity of technique of their less inspired Russian rivals doesn't matter. They use whatever technical skills they have (and they are formidable if not always conventionally so) to create something amazing on the ice.

And another thing that recommends Shen/Zhao to me: they pretty much rebuilt themselves. The skaters of 2002, impressive as they were, would not stick in our minds the way they did later on. They had great tricks in those days, primarily throws and lifts. But compared to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze or Sale and Pelletier, they didn't make my heart beat faster. By about 2003, they somehow did. What top skating pair changes their approach that profoundly? Why would they feel they had to? It's darned hard work. But these guys--who weren't teenagers, either--put in that work. So they'd have my respect for that alone.

Amen. Well said. Couldn't agree more.