Favorite Mens Singles Program of All-Time (Amateur)?

[wordsworthgirl]

My vote is for Brian Boitano's Napoleon program in the 1988 Olympics.

Eager to hear others' thoughts!

 

[Olympia]

You want us to pick one? This could take awhile. There are several by Daisuke, Kurt Browning's Casablanca, and Paul Wylie's amazing 1992 Henry V long program.

 

[wordsworthgirl]

You want us to pick one? This could take awhile. There are several by Daisuke, Kurt Browning's Casablanca, and Paul Wylie's amazing 1992 Henry V long program.

You can definitely pick more than one!
I TOTALLY AGREE about Wylie's Henry V!

Best to watch for inspiration and amazing performance would be the Wylie and Rudy's 1996 Swan Lake.

But as far as a program that was 1) beautifully choreographed, 2) technically dazzling, and 3) brilliantly performed (no errors) I'd give it to Boitano. Rudy also made no errors, but there were a few aspects of the choreography that were a bit over the top.

and Ah, Kurt's Casablanca. Fabulous program, but not performed well when he needed it!

 

[Olympia]

I love this thread already.

 

[Mathman]

The one and only -- John Curry, Don Quixote, 1976 Olympics. :yes:

 

[wordsworthgirl]

I love this thread already.

Thank you! I love you for commenting on it!
I think we can all have a lot of fun and good debate with this one! and remind each other of gems we'd forgotten or inform each other about gems we didn't know about!

 

[wordsworthgirl]

The one and only -- John Curry, Don Quixote, 1976 Olympics. :yes:

Mathman, that was right before my time- I started watching for the 1980 Olympics. I actually met John Curry once in NYC- he was lovely. Is this program available on video anywhere?

 

[Olympia]

The one and only -- John Curry, Don Quixote, 1976 Olympics. :yes:

Drat! How could I have left that one off my list? It's the wellspring of everything that came afterward.

Here's one tape of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79TMsYRnEc

Wordsworth, you met him! You lucky duck.

 

[aftertherain]

The one and only -- John Curry, Don Quixote, 1976 Olympics. :yes:

Mathman, that was right before my time- I started watching for the 1980 Olympics. I actually met John Curry once in NYC- he was lovely. Is this program available on video anywhere?

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

 

[Mathman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79TMsYRnEc

 

[Olympia]

Man, that guy did sit-spins in both directions. What technique!

If you started watching in 1980, you got to enjoy Robin Cousins, an elegant skater with a somewhat more jazz/modern dance tone to his skating.

 

[Mathman]

Not a note of the music went by without acknowledgement by the skater.

 

[wordsworthgirl]

OH . . . MY . . . GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

John Curry- absolutely EXTRAORDINARY!

So beautiful- what body line, what innovative and interesting choreography, and what gorgeous jumps.

and I LOVED Button's commentary. Gosh I miss that man. He could be stern but when he was impressed, he was so ebullient and excited. and his vocabulary is just head and shoulders above the commentators working today- "glided sinuously"!

Thank you so much for sharing this video with me!

I met JC in 1989-90 at a party- he came with a prominent NYT journalist. He was very sweet and very shy- seemed like a classic introvert. Beautiful to look at.

 

[wordsworthgirl]

Man, that guy did sit-spins in both directions. What technique!

If you started watching in 1980, you got to enjoy Robin Cousins, an elegant skater with a somewhat more jazz/modern dance tone to his skating.

Yes, I do remember Robin Cousins! My main memory of that Olympics was Tai and Randy's heartbreaking withdrawal. Just loved them.

and I remember not understanding how Linda Fratiane came in 2nd when she clearly skated better than the German girl. Now we know abt the fixed judging!

 

[wordsworthgirl]

Not a note of the music went by without acknowledgement by the skater.

So true. and I love the way he jumped and landed in time with the music. Gorgeous.

 

[gourry]

Stephane Lambiel - Poeta
Jeremy Abbott - Life is Beautiful. Such a beautiful program... It's a shame he never had a clean performance of it.
Daisuke Takahashi - La Strada

 

[wordsworthgirl]

Stephane Lambiel - Poeta
Jeremy Abbott - Life is Beautiful. Such a beautiful program... It's a shame he never had a clean performance of it.
Daisuke Takahashi - La Strada

Jeremy has so many beautiful programs. such a shame he could never pull it together. Which year did he do Life is Beautiful? Not sure if I've seen it or not.

 

[gourry]

Jeremy has so many beautiful programs. such a shame he could never pull it together. Which year did he do Life is Beautiful? Not sure if I've seen it or not.

It was 2010-2011 season.
This is from NHK Trophy: http://youtu.be/HihZ7L2MSE8
I can't remember which competition was his best that season... but this one was pretty good too.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Long Programs, chronologically:

Brian Boitano - Napoleon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPt90PnRf4
Paul Wylie - Henry V - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLhA7CVIok
Alexei Yagudin - Gladiator - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwy-pNScPA4 (annoying commentary, unfortunately)
Evgeni Plushenko - Nijinsky - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OZVZcx1w1c
Johnny Weir - Otonal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ttNzEwPMLM
Matt Savoie - The Mission - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRqY2Q2WUl8
Johnny Weir - Child of Nazareth - http://youtu.be/ZanKBHcQ8CE (too bad he could never deliver all the jumps)
Stephane Lambiel - Poeta - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vSl4Aif2I
Jeremy Abbott - Eight Seasons - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R01yT7n8_qQ
Jason Brown - Nessun Dorma - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94pHGvq3Fs

That's a lot more American-centric than I thought it would be. Oh well. I really feel these are the ten best.

 

[iluvtodd]

Well, if I limit it to one (admittedly so hard to do), it's Todd Eldredge's "First Knight" from 1996 Worlds (his performance of it at the 1998 Goodwill Games - in a different costume was also great).