I wasn't really thinking along the lines of making Yagudin-esque kind of step sequences when I mentioned artistic growth, or that I find Yuzuru's artistic growth to be lacking in relation to how H&L of Semei are unappealing to Western audience. His H&L and Seimei are the artistic pursuit I actually have in mind for Yuzuru to thread on, since I'm one of those who keep repeating that we need more non-traditional/non-western music in figure skating. My point is that Yuzuru has a specific style (or approach in his skating/technique) that has limited him in interpreting his programs like H&L or Seimei because he had been using it for so long. H&L, for example, could have been better if it was choreographed with more glide, with less arm movements and with more "low/slow" rhythm and vulnerability that he showed in R&J 1.0, to truly depict the depth of a flowing river. But for so long, his choreography has been fitted to suit his style, rather than push him beyond and above what he is already great at.
That he's deliberately thinking of expanding the depth of how we understand figure skating; that it is more than classical western music, that we can pay attention to a large and diverse form of music not known to the large audience, tells me that he wants to grow artistically too and that he just doesn't consider himself an athlete first.
But true though, I'm actually torn between wanting Yuzuru to turn pro and experiment with much more freedom and at the same time pursue his goal of landing a 4A.
