Who is more artistic, Aliona Kostornaia or Anna Shcherbakova?

[Happy Skates]

Kostornaia. Next thread!

Alena is absolutely more artistic. No shade but I could start a similar thread about who’s more artistic, Kwan or Bonaly, and it would waste everyone’s time. (And I say this as a huuuuge Surya fan arguably even more than Michelle.)

Uh, you're entitled to you're opinion, but you don't have to be rude about it, and you don't have to invalidate others' opinions (and comparing to Kwan and Bonaly? oh my). As you can see here, a good amount of people actually find Anna more artistic, so no it didn't "waste everyone's time", its actually been a good debate for the most part, with people respecting each others' opinions. Anyways I can understand liking Kostornaia more, but what I can't understand is finding Shcherbakova that unartistic. Um, have you watched her short program from last year? Have you watched her facial expressions, and how she hits the beat of the music in her free program?

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Anna reminds me so much of Elena that its sort of scary. They both share those amazing performer qualities that only few people have. They both can fall on their jumps but they never break character and are fully immersed in it and to me, that's what makes a great performer. Also I have never seen Anna live but I have seen Elena and she has charisma which I think Anna has too(and I only judge that through screens)

Aliona on the other hand is just beautiful to watch, I mean she really is just so damn ethereal and makes everything look beautiful.

Honestly idk what my point was because I like bothe the girls so so much and am always very moved by their performances that I just cannot decide

 

[LenaRadiFan]

Anna reminds me so much of Elena that its sort of scary. They both share those amazing performer qualities that only few people have. They both can fall on their jumps but they never break character and are fully immersed in it and to me, that's what makes a great performer. Also I have never seen Anna live but I have seen Elena and she has charisma which I think Anna has too(and I only judge that through screens)

Aliona on the other hand is just beautiful to watch, I mean she really is just so damn ethereal and makes everything look beautiful.

Honestly idk what my point was because I like bothe the girls so so much and am always very moved by their performances that I just cannot decide

OH I forgot to add. I once read in an interview from Elena, that for her the audience is like a battery and it charges her performance and that is exactly what Anna does too in my opinion. She skates for the audience and uses it like a charger

 

[le01]

I love Alena but for this season Anna’s programs seem so much better. I know Alena wanted Twighlight program but how can you compare it to Stravinskii?

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Ok but are you kidding? Is this like nust because Anna has quads?

Even if Alena had only singles and Anna had quints, IMO Kostornaia is more artistic.

 

[ancientpeas]

Wasn't it Kostornaia that wanted the New Moon soundtrack, turning her exhibition into the FS - the only part that I feel she is actually listening to and performing the music is the 20-30ish seconds of the Muse section at the very end; outside of that you could put any soft piano music to her skates and it would fit fine. Kostornaia has better skating skills than Shcherbakova and that helps her get the PE and IN scores she gets, but Shcherbakova has better performance and interpretation, in both her SP and FS you can look at her face and body movement and see her hitting the notes of the music.



But this is why PCS should be kept of lower importance than TES - TES is far less subjective than PCS.

I respect that Aliona wanted to skate to this music. I just can't help but know that if 16 year old me had been allowed to choose her own music I would have been skating Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Relax, Two Tribes and The Power of Love) or whatever passed for overwraught teenage emo when I was that age. I think Tori Amos hadn't come out by then but if she had I would have wanted to skate to Crucify. None of this would have been a good idea.

I just looked it up.. I was 22 when Crucify came out but I was 16 when I just died in your arms tonight came out so I probably would have wanted to skate to that. Or Thorn in my Side by the Eurythmics.

 

[vincerooo]

Here's the 1 where Anna and Kostornaia are doing the same choreography and I think the 1 Mirruna is talking about

Here's a video of just Anna and the instructor doing the full choreography

thank you!

 

[silveruskate]

I think Anna is by far the most musical Russian skater, ever. Her artistry is incredible not just for her age, but for any age. That musicality is also extremely versatile. Most people know her for her interpretation of classical pieces in her international career. I haven't seen anyone respond to all the nuances like she does; not many people can skate to her music choices. But she has also done a variety of styles like her lyrical Dream Catcher where she began to gain a huge following in Russia for her artistry. And of course, one of my favourites, a sassy number when she was just 10 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdzxpAGprHQ&feature=youtu.be where the jumps were nothing spectacular but the performance and interpretation were incredible.

The highlight of her artistry was at her worse skate internationally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOU-gAZUqgM where where technical (jumping) part was a disaster. However, the errors didn't disrupt her performance at all, and she never missed a beat of the music. I've also seen her make errors in other competitions where she then slightly alters the choreography and steps to hit the next note instead of playing catch up like every other skater when they fall. I remember her first JGP skate where Ted was in awe of her artistry, then he asked her how she feels the music in his interview later. He seems like someone who always sees her talent; he comments on her PE/IN in every skate.

The dancing clips on the floor really highlight Anna's musicality vs. Sasha and Alena. In the clips others have posted, you can see Anna really hits every beat of the music, even more than the choreographer/instructor. In dance we argue about technique vs. musicality a lot. Alena is someone who has very good technique: she has these amazing skating skills and pointed toes so she skates very "big". This is her strength and Anna doesn't have this (although Anna does have beautiful arms, movements, and posture, skating skills are the main technical part of skating). But I don't see Alena as particularly musical - her skating skills helps hide this. What Anna has is something that cannot be taught, a feeling for music. She's the only one who has ever reminded me of Sasha Cohen's musicality and coincidently, Cohen didn't have the best SS either.

I have to disagree! I think Evgenia and Lena are much better, and Alina too.

 

[Seruleane]

Anna reminds me so much of Elena that its sort of scary. They both share those amazing performer qualities that only few people have. They both can fall on their jumps but they never break character and are fully immersed in it and to me, that's what makes a great performer. Also I have never seen Anna live but I have seen Elena and she has charisma which I think Anna has too(and I only judge that through screens)

Aliona on the other hand is just beautiful to watch, I mean she really is just so damn ethereal and makes everything look beautiful.

Honestly idk what my point was because I like bothe the girls so so much and am always very moved by their performances that I just cannot decide

I agree with this! It took me a while to warm up to Anna- I admit I didn't really see how she was special, until last season's programs. She has this amazing warmth while skating that Elena (and only a few other skaters) have. I think comparing Anna and Aliona is interesting because they are both just so good. Anna is more innately artistic, as many have said, but Aliona overall looks more polished because of her superior SS and elegant posture. I also agree Anna has better programs this year, but I think Aliona's FS is so fun, and she clearly loves performing it, so that has made me into an Aliona fan as well. Whatever happens, I am excited to follow these two young skaters. I personally feel they can only get better.

 

[Jontor]

I'm on the Anna team. When she skates, it's like I am drawn into it. I can't really explain it.

I guess I am saying that Anna is like a fairy in a fairytale land

 

[ladyjane]

Sigh. I like them both, with a small advantage to Alena who seems to be more mature. Anna is too focused on lutzes. Both are artistic in their way.

 

[1111bm]

For me Kostornaia is very precise and has good posture, but I don't find her particularly artistic. Her execution is very neat and as someone else has already stated, she seems very methodical at what she does. But it doesn't look natural to me, like she's feeling the music and going with it and letting go, it feels more like a perfectly rehearsed performance.

 

[lariko]

To me Scherbakova seems to have intangible grace which is mesmerizing to watch vs Kostornaya, who is sure in all her elements. It is not so much the feeling of who is more artistic, it is rather that Scherbakova fits better the notion of the fragile, vulnerable, spiritual, complicated etc artist-lady, then the more assured Kostornaya (or even more so than Trusova’s youthful ardor)

For me the most important thing is that the team had the wisdom to bring up and coach three completely different ladies in the same age group and give them all the chance to thrive and stick to their guns.

 

[Edwin]

For me the most important thing is that the team had the wisdom to bring up and coach three completely different ladies in the same age group and give them all the chance to thrive and stick to their guns.

This !! #TeamTutberidzeForProgress develops their skaters through staging of difficult and challenging programs, bringing the best out in each of them, emphasising their strengths and hiding their weaknesses (not too obviously, obviously)

 

[crazydreamer]

I mean, one way of judging artistry is to imagine the skater doing other skaters' programs. Do I think Anna could pull off portraying a dark vampiress? Not really. Can I imagine her doing a spanish bolero or Alina's cleopatra program? Also not really.

Anna plays the young innocent girl type very well, but IMO that is authenticity, not artistry. Alena, on the other hand, I could imagine skating to just about anything.

 

[hippomoomin]

I feel Alena's LP is a step back from previous seasons' program. I remember she mentioned she wanted to skate something dark and show more of her own character, perhaps for teenage girls, being "dark" is cool and more "mature". But to me, it shows the opposite. The first part of her LP is actually nice, but the second part feels quite childish to me. It is just playful not cool "cool" at all. Alena's ideal on ice persona as everyone loves is the cool mature type.

I respect that Aliona wanted to skate to this music. I just can't help but know that if 16 year old me had been allowed to choose her own music I would have been skating Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Relax, Two Tribes and The Power of Love) or whatever passed for overwraught teenage emo when I was that age. I think Tori Amos hadn't come out by then but if she had I would have wanted to skate to Crucify. None of this would have been a good idea.

I just looked it up.. I was 22 when Crucify came out but I was 16 when I just died in your arms tonight came out so I probably would have wanted to skate to that. Or Thorn in my Side by the Eurythmics.

 

[Scott512]

Alyiona is more artistic and Anna is more of a ballerina on ice. Both are unbelievable and extremely likable.

 

[Seruleane]

I mean, one way of judging artistry is to imagine the skater doing other skaters' programs. Do I think Anna could pull off portraying a dark vampiress? Not really. Can I imagine her doing a spanish bolero or Alina's cleopatra program? Also not really.

Anna plays the young innocent girl type very well, but IMO that is authenticity, not artistry. Alena, on the other hand, I could imagine skating to just about anything.

Check out Anna’s exhibitions. She has wide range, and I think she can skate to all sorts of music, including Twilight soundtracks, Don Quixote, or Cleopatra.