The Shock & Awe Factor: Round up of the Best Programs of All Times

[hongligl]

Sarah Hughes 2002 Olympics LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktkwNQpeN6w

B/S 2002 Olympics LP and SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z5fWd7Fu5o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB2lyUWrEcE&feature=related

Yu-Na Kim 2007 LP Lark Accending TEB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdVCbAFdbxc&feature=related

Yu na Kim 2007 Word SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FmncaNGLOI

Lu Chen 1996 World LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRaoNfU0r8

Lu Chen 1998 Olympic LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVW5W5-IwbQ

 

[demarinis5]

B/S 2002 Olympics LP and SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z5fWd7Fu5o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB2lyUWrEcE&feature=related

Thank you for posting. B/S were my favortie pairs team. After all these years these two programs still gives me chills.

 

[Tigger]

The Battle of the Brians. Both SP and LP's

Brian Orser's 88 Worlds LP. That was on every single Top Ten Performances of the 20th Century that I saw leading to midnight on New Year's Eve 1999.

Liz Manley Calgary LP. The gate crasher of the Battle of the Carmens.

Kurt Browning 88 Worlds. First quad ever. If anything changed Men's skating...

 

[NatachaHatawa]

Well I've always enjoyed figure skating since I was a kid, but the program that really turned me into an addicted fan was Brian Joubert's "The untouchables" at the Euros 2003.

Otherwise there's :

Men
Alexei Yagudin's "Winter", an all of his other programs come to think of it.
Evgeni Plushenko's performance of "The Godfather" at the 2005 Euros

Ladies
Shizuka Arakawa's 2006 Olympic LP
Yu-Na Kim's 2006/2007 LP

Ice Dancing
Bourne & Kraatz's Michael Jackson program
Denkova and Staviski's "7 deadly sins"

Pairs
Totmianina & Marinin's "Art on ice"
Shen & Zhao's last LP
Savchenko & Szolkowy's "Mission"

 

[Wrlmy]

Belbin/Agosto: Amelie
Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze: Lady Califf, Meditation de Thais
Michelle Kwan: Rachmaninov, Lyra Angelica, Aranjuez
Sasha Cohen: Swan Lake (Tarasova's), Malaguena, R&J
Maria Butyrskaya: Scene d'amour, Otonal
Stephan Lambiel: Poeta
AP Mcdonough: Madame Butterfly
Yukina Ota: Picasso's dance
Plushenko: Nijinski program
Fumie Suguri: Moonlight Sonata, Carmen, Toca Orilla
Shizuka Arakawa: Swan lake, Turandot
Joannie Rochette: Firebird, Don Juan, Hymn a l'amour
Yagudin: Gladiator
Jeff Buttle: Ararat
Evan Lysacek: Grease
Alissa Czisny: Sabrina, La Bayadere
Yukari Nakano: Memoir of Geisha
Yu-Na Kim: El Tango de Roxanne, Lark Ascending
Elene Gedevanishvili: Granada, Cabaret (Although never clean)
Mao Asada: Nocturn
Caroline Zhang: You raise me up

 

[iluvtodd]

So many great ones have already been mentioned. My particular favorites:

The Battle of the Brians - 1988 Olympics
Midori Ito -1988 Olympics - free skate
Shen & Zhao - 2003 Worlds free skate (We were there!)
Torvill & Dean - 1984 Olympics - Bolero
G&G - 1988 Olympics free skate
Michelle - 1998 Nationals - SP & free skate (Lyra Angelica - We were there!), 1996 Worlds (Salome)
Paul Wylie - JFK (which televised performance was his best?)
Todd's 1996 Worlds free skate (First Knight)
Elvis' 1994 Worlds free skate (Dragon)

 

[dorispulaski]

I always liked Mack & Mabel by Torvill & Dean better than Bolero:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MhIJqN3c_w

Some other great but seldom seen programs:

Duchesnay's 1991 Europeans program Reflections. They scrapped this program before Worlds because it was too controversial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5s49wH2oZo

Their 1994 Pro Program to Beethoven's 7th Symphony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCk27AurIc

Their 1988 Argentine Tango OSP-actually it was this program as much as Savage Rites that caused their breakthrough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7vh3dVYwe4

Their 1989 Charleston OSP was also very daring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jGtL-HQOV4

 

[kyla2]

Perfection

Michelle Kwan 1998 SP and LP absolute perfection
Shen and Zhao Turandot Worlds absolute perfection

Many other programs were brilliant and wonderful but those three were perfection to me. They were performances for the ages.

 

[silver.blades]

Jeff Buttle's Ex to "High" most amazing thing I've ever seen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu6CDz6P6Qk

His Glen Gould FP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLFa8-Qf25Q

His 2005 LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxxjmF5CVL8

I'll Just list those 3, but all his programs give me goosebumps, and of course I have to say his 2008 world programs, the SP & the LP

Joannie Rochette's Firebird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFqVTX58JU

Virtue/Moir's Valse Triste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbj0dc87wM

This one was already mentioned, but Shen/Zhao's Turandot

Michelle Kwan's Feilds of Gold, the only time I've every got the hype around her

Pretty much every professional program Kurt Browning's ever done. Special mention to:
Singing in the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lRJ-TB2zLg
Ain't no Sunshine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKDHoI0MEdU

Everything Torvill and Dean, especally one to a piano piece I can't remember the name of from their "Let's Face the Music" Tour. (or was it the "Face the Music Tour"? It was when I was really young, I don't remember)

 

[Spun Silver]

Alexander Abt's SP, commemorating the sailors lost on the submarine Kursk NHK 2003 (his COR of the same program was better)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5FFN6dh3Lo

My gosh, what a gifted skater. He can only be compared to the great male ballet dancers, but making everything seem so effortless. What a treat. Thanks for posting this one!

 

[dorispulaski]

Spun Silver, Here are two more really good Abt performances for you:

His 2002 Europeans Artsakh SP (I love this one!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0yYK4GXaU

His 2002 Europeans LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdgAIamDJgg

I think he should definitely have won gold, but only took the silver.

 

[mycelticblessing]

G/G's Vocalise programme is really awe-worthy. I think it is probably the most beautiful pairs programme I have ever seen.

I really loved N/K FD at the Olympics.. What a way to end their amateur career, with the skate of their lives!!

 

[Buttercup]

His 2002 Europeans Artsakh SP (I love this one!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0yYK4GXaU

That was a fabulous performance. I only wish there was a better quality youtube link, but it appears there is none. I recently saw a performance of his from the Ilia Averbukh tour and it was great, too.

 

[dorispulaski]

I'll see whether I can find a higher quality one. It's a great :swoon: performance.

Here's another performance that I really admire:
I&B's Olympic SP, commentary by Sale and Pelletier at the recap Olympic Ice broadcast.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DqcRw4Ueyzg

 

[BigJohn]

For the men, it's Browning's Cassablanca.
For the ladies, it's Lu Chen's lp in 95.
For pairs, it's Mishkutenok & Dmitriev, their 1992 long program.

But my favorite of all time from is from ice dance:

Missing by Isabelle & Paul Duchesnay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRtg7VpawSA&feature=related

Moving, it captures you. Just perfect.

 

[dorispulaski]

Definitely a great performance by the Duchesnay's, BigJohn!!

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Thanks, Tinymavy15!
I have been waiting for Shen/Zhao's "Turandot" to come up.
The highlight of this program was the throw triple loop towards the end.
The timing and the flow out of the landing was perfectly aligned with the point where the harmonic tension and the melodic contour started to build up.
Also, this was the exact moment where the beloved "Nessun Dorma" kicked in... and the rest could not have been more dramatic just like the end of the aria where it says "vincerò, vincerò! (I will win! I will win!)"

I hope you were at the DC Worlds that year as their perfect skate was nearing the end and the tension in the American audience was heavy which, and as you know, exploded into the most tumultous ovation. If we are comparing ovations, was it bigger than Kwan's in the same year?

Joe

Spun Silver, Here are two more really good Abt performances for you:

His 2002 Europeans Artsakh SP (I love this one!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0yYK4GXaU

His 2002 Europeans LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdgAIamDJgg

I think he should definitely have won gold, but only took the silver.

Those performances of Abt are incredible. You all know I want to see more than tricks and Sasha knew how to figure skate. Beautiful programs that I consider among the tops in figure skating. two questions:

l. What did Yagudin do to win over him?

2. Why did he leave Arutunian to be coached by a Dancer?

Joe

 

[jyshin]

G/G's Vocalise programme is really awe-worthy. I think it is probably the most beautiful pairs programme I have ever seen.

This was the best Zueva-G/G collaboration ever!
Based on the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, Katia remembered, in My Sergei, that each and every performance of this program felt magical... To my eyes, the choreography seemed to breathe on its own...there were no skaters anymore...simply...it was something from above...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvBBvDiQ_c&feature=related

 

[dorispulaski]

Here's Yagudin's 2002 LP (Man in the Iron Mask) from Europeans. Not a particularly good version of it. Abt was in second place in the SP, so a win in the LP would have won it for him. Unfortunately the judges were not going to place the 3rd Russian skater over the 1st Russian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4j6spdYkbc

 

[jyshin]

Toller's Pagliacci exhibition (Vesti La Giubba)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqJ0rLyBbM&feature=related

Although I liked Jeffrey's "Vesti La Giubba", Toller's interpretation seemed closer to the spirit of Enrico Caruso, the undisputed portrayal of Pagliacci.