What thrills you? | Golden Skate

What thrills you?

Joined
Mar 14, 2006
A lot of disagreements about skaters seem to come from the fact that fans are looking for different things in skaters, competitions, and shows. So, leaving apart the question of which skaters you like, what quality or ability are you looking for that thrills you when you find it? It could get boring if everyone says they're looking for the complete package, so try to be specific.

I'm looking for someone who looks like a natural - one who has the God-given ability to float, fly and spin on ice and look beautiful while doing impossible things. Sometimes I also admire the less gifted ones who may work harder to achieve their presentation marks - but they don't thrill me.

I'm looking for something distinctive and musical in choreography - something where the piece as a whole has a distinct flavor. I'm thrilled when the skater is also an artist who conveys the special quality of the choreography.

I like committed performing and passion. I'll forgive a technical flaw for the thrill of a skater putting it all out there.

This is kind of vague! What do other folks think?
 

Zanzibar

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 22, 2003
I get weak in the knees for Russian splits with lots of air, great flex and extension, and a big smile....ah yes....airborne splits will always get me.
 

Lanie

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I miss seeing pairs skating as it was with G&G...the fluidity of movement, the grace, the inherent connection between two people skating as one. I don't see that, and I do not think it's because of CoP or anything; there's just no one that grabs me!

Spirals...like Sasha's! I never get sick of seeing that, or Shizuka's Ina Bauer.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I get weak in the knees for Russian splits with lots of air, great flex and extension, and a big smile....ah yes....airborne splits will always get me.

You should check out vintage footage of Toller Cranston on Youtube. Toller did the best Russian Split jump I have ever seen. I think even the Russians admired his ability at this jump. It's awesome.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I guess what grabs me is a skater like Kurt Browning or Jeff Buttle. It's the way they move across the ice and use their edges and musicality. They make it seem easy and flow using deep edges. I can almost feel myself skating with them. I love a skater who understands the music and listens to it, the way Toller Cranston does when he skates. It's almost balletic like. These type of skaters are not just skating to the music they are listening and feeling and interpreting the music.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
I tend to the formalistic approach so I like interesting variations based on a bedrock of great basic skills.

I like jumps with the take off and landing on the right edges landed with some flow . Extreme height and more revolutions don't do much for me (despite a lingering fondness for the female 3ax).

I like fast, well-centered spins in aesthetically pleasing postions.

I like "edgy" light, fast footwork rather than chopping veggies and/or frantic arms.

I like it when everything the skater does seems to come from the blade up rather than the upper body down (hard to explain, that's the best I can do right now).

I like extension (not the same as flexibility at all).

Might sound like basic stuff, but who can do that now?

I like more athletic women and graceful men more than fairy princesses and guys trying to be jocks (Ito and Wylie over Cohen and Stojko, for example).
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Russian Split Jumps, Ina Bauers, Spread Eagles, intricate footwork (Kurt's!), fast centered spins, music well suited to the skater, etc. ...
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
Especially men´s skating: To me it is important that the skater has speed and looks effortless without long hesitations before a jump. Also I have allways prefered skaters who jump high, have beautiful air position including soft landings with a flow. I admire great footwork, but not that showy toepicking which is not even difficult.

Also the skater needs to have a bodytype which is pleasant to the eye. He does not need to be tall (with tall I mean about 5" 11), a shorter skater with a good bodytype will also do.

I like a skater to skate with his whole body and not just with legs, so to speak.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Edging, flow and musicality. Anything else is not ice skating but tricks performed on ice like barrel jumping.

Joe
 

flying camel

Medalist
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
I love someone who is competitive. I like to be able to relax while watching my favorite skater. I love knowing that this person came to skate. I of course love someone with beautiful jumps with beautiful air positions. I love a beautiful layback. We just don't see good one's anymore.
I love watching someone who is musical. I also like watching someone who has the joy of skating on their face. The last thing I want is to watch someone who looks like they are just doing their job.

One other thing I like is a program with a beginning a middle and a end. Dick Buttons says that all the time. I have such an empty feeling when people don't end their routines.
 
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Ravyn Rant

Totally 80s Dance Party!
Medalist
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
You should check out vintage footage of Toller Cranston on Youtube. Toller did the best Russian Split jump I have ever seen. I think even the Russians admired his ability at this jump. It's awesome.

ITA! Toller was incredible!
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Power and fluidity combined

Complex choreography with a clear point of view -- whether interpreting the music at a very detailed level, playing a character/telling a story, etc.
 

MKFSfan

Medalist
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
Any kind of program that makes me feel like my heart is in my throat and tears in my eyes. It's never about a specific move, but about the feeling the skate evokes. Michelle's exhibitions (Fields of Gold, You Raise Me Up) are a great example of that, for me, or Aranjunez, as she starts the FW to the final pose. Actuallly, as a Michelle fan, I've learned to LOVE the final moments, when she's skated well and the crowd is in her hand and then she finishes, wow, the look in her eye as she tears up gets me every time (Tosca, Aranjuez, Lyra, Salome...)

But if I have to pick a specific element that I look forward to, it's probably FW, when done well, to the music, and not a lot of arm flailing. Or a jump that is landed securely, with a deep flowing edge, that is held out.
 

anya_angie

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
I love it when a skater performs a spread eagle or spiral or something akin to that during (here's the catch) a crescendo in an emotional piece of music. Of course as long as the music is emotional there's not really a necessity for there to be a crescendo for these moves, but it is thrilling for me to see, personally.

I also love to see rarely-used moves like the flying Kulik and the Abt spin.

I would normally say that a skater using a Jerry Goldsmith composition thrills me, but sadly that thrill does not last long, as most programs I have seen to Goldsmith's scores have not done him any justice. In my opinion, if a skater can skate to Jerry Goldsmith well, they deserve respect for life! (for the record only 2 skaters that I've seen have done him justice; Todd Eldredge's First Knight, and Shen/Zhao's Mulan.)
 

anything_for_skating

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
First, I just love russian skaters.
Second...yeah, there are thousands of talented American or Japanese skaters, they do triples at age of 13, they are stretchy, they are perfect...BUT IT DOESNT THRILL ME. They are all the same, they have the same technic, and they are just "one person in a million of those"...For me it's amazing when there shows up someone from non-skating country, someone who comes "out of nowere" ...Like Fleur Maxwell or Elene Gedevanishvilli....or CARO KOSTNER :biggrin: ...
It's more fascinating for me when a 12 years old slovenian girl does clean double axel than when japanese one jumps triples at age of 13...
But the most imortant thing is that...I dont know, just to see SOMETHING in a skater..something that is beautiful and it's not the same as things other skaters have. And that is what thrills me.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I used to just go for the funny flashy showman style, but I have since grown to like a collection of different types

the one thing they all have in common is they are able to draw me in. They use every aspect of their sport, and they geinuinely care to be there, not just for themselves, though that is a big part of it, but because they love being out there on the ice. No one shows that more, IMHO, than Kurt Browning... but there are just so many skaters who absolutely love what they're doing and show that out there that it's hard not to like them...
 

kajsa

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 18, 2006
For me it's amazing when there shows up someone from non-skating country, someone who comes "out of nowere" ...Like Fleur Maxwell or Elene Gedevanishvilli....or CARO KOSTNER :biggrin: ...
It's more fascinating for me when a 12 years old slovenian girl does clean double axel than when japanese one jumps triples at age of 13...
But the most imortant thing is that...I dont know, just to see SOMETHING in a skater..something that is beautiful and it's not the same as things other skaters have. And that is what thrills me.

I have to agree with you although those three skaters you name do not exactly thrill me. I also think it's more fascinating when a skater from a non-skating country or a small skating contry does well, especially if they mainly practice in their home countries and use their domestic facilities as much as possible.

Another thing important to me is maturity. I definitely prefer womens skating to girls skating and mens skating to boys skating.

But most of all, as you said Anything for skating, there has to be something special in the skater. Especially my biggest favorites just nail me to watch their performance, even when they are not really "on". Their skating touch me in some deeper way.
 

dutchherder

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
I want someone who skates to the music-- not just skate around while music just happens to be playing simultaneously. Kurt Browning and Michelle Kwan are the best at this, IMO. I like great footwork, a la Kurt and Scott-- not spasmodic flailing. I also like it when a skater can showcase a common skill that nearly everyone uses as a "throwaway" move, and make it fantastic. Michelle's spiral, Brian Boitano's spread eagle and death drop, Angela Nikodinov's layback, and Shizuka Arakawa's Ina Bauer are good examples. Finally, they have to skate with heart: Kwan, Browning, Hamilton, Boitano, Wylie are all great at that. :love:
 

mkdream

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Any kind of program that makes me feel like my heart is in my throat and tears in my eyes. It's never about a specific move, but about the feeling the skate evokes. Michelle's exhibitions (Fields of Gold, You Raise Me Up) are a great example of that, for me, or Aranjunez, as she starts the FW to the final pose. Actuallly, as a Michelle fan, I've learned to LOVE the final moments, when she's skated well and the crowd is in her hand and then she finishes, wow, the look in her eye as she tears up gets me every time (Tosca, Aranjuez, Lyra, Salome...)

But if I have to pick a specific element that I look forward to, it's probably FW, when done well, to the music, and not a lot of arm flailing. Or a jump that is landed securely, with a deep flowing edge, that is held out.

OK, that was just beyond words.:bow:
 

2ndmark

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 19, 2004
A fast well-centered spin (ala Hamill's blurred scratch) will get me every time. I also like the "headless" varition that we still see in some programs ... although now they don't get enough speed to be truly effective due to the contant position changes required to gain points under CoP.

Oh, and in a Christmas homage to Dick Button ... he is correct... an exquisite layback spin with the back arched, the leg in proper turned-out 'attitude' position and the foot pointed, can indeed a thing of great beauty.
 
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