Have you been to any good ice shows lately? | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Have you been to any good ice shows lately?

Li'Kitsu

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
First videos are up on DailyMotion... Maos new Ex is so cute!
But I guess I had most fun watching this - Go Adelina, go Mao!! :party::party::party:
 

giulia95

Medalist
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Actually I feel sorry for Hanyu. I’ve red he had to dress up like a girl yesterday , wearing a pink bow, pink shirt and white skirt…than he took off his T-shirt and was naked from the waist up ... then in his new exibition there’s a “stripping” part...

Maybe it’s so funny, but it seems that the new course, the upper skating level he is supposed to reach , is all about to consider him as a sexy teen skater , in order to get the audience excited.

As an adult, I honestly think it’s too much for a kid who was able to move a world championship audience.

Now I’m waiting to see his new SP , hoping that at least in this case the choreographer’s main focus is on something different from sexy movements.
Go Yuzuru!!!
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
I visited two Osaka shows on Saturday. They introduced two junior skaters in The Ice. Both were tiny good thumbelinas with quite confident skating. Marin Honda in her azure blue dress landed 2A and 3T. Her legs position in Y-spin and biellmann are practically the same as in Lipnitskaya stuff but with the lesser number of rotations, for now. Eriko Yamakuma landed 3L, 3T-2T, 2Loop, 3L, fell on 2A. But at the end she challenged 2A again and landed successfully. She had a amazing layback spin, biellmann and dougnut spin, as well as fast footsteps. I hope they both will keep it up when they grow. There was only one pair- TakaTran. In the morning show they skated their new SP, made a 3twist, in a side-by-side 3S she had a step-out. The 3F throw jump was two-footed and step-out. In the afternoon they showed their EX with 3twist, a throw jump 3L got flutzed and ended with the fall. In a finale she tried 3F throw again and landed it. Shibutani skated their latin 100-times-seen stuff and was boringly meh-ed. Davis&White were just good. They showed a piece of their last season FD and got the ovation both times. In some news clip, which is a hard-to-judge-by thing since it's just a few second montage, I thought Meryl looked a little less inspiring. But in reality everything was fine. She was in a pale-blue dress which fits better a terribly hot summer weather than her royal purple stuff that she wore at competitions. Generally I don't like Tessa's a Meryl's outfits. They usually don't flatter their figures. But this time the choice was right, she looks light and feminine. The only flaw was in the afternoon show, when she didn't do her hair after the dance battle. So she skated with some housewife's hairstyle, which wasn't the good thing for such a gorgeous music and performance.
Boys with the boys' number was some kind of discovery. There was two much dancing "on the floor" where Charlie and Javi turned out to be the worst dancers, while Yuzu, Kozuka and Alex- the best, with Yuzu as a frontman. Jeffrey Buttle is now a better choreographer than a skater I think. He obviously lost his technical skills long time ago and in fact he was just a quadless champion in the first place. Nevertheless, it was some kind of charming to observe his efforts. In the morning he landed 3F and 3T, the 2A was with a shaky landing. Too many postures, waving arms and strokes, spins were slow, as well as the music choices. Jeremy was in the good mood all way around, a little stiffed knees but edges were great. The music choice was meh but since he was enjoying the mannerism, so that's fine. In the morning he landed 3Loop, fell on 3A, then doubled his flip. The combo spin was not a good one. When he changed the leg into a camel position he almost stopped and could rotate only once, so he moved into a sitspin in order to save the combo. In a finale he challenged 3A again and landed it. In the afternoon he again doubled a trixel, then he did 3F, the 3L was flutzed and step-out. Javi in the morning showed probably the worst performance among all EXs in two shows. A good deal of the music he was sitting on the floor, nodding his head and that is all. I don't know what concept such an EX represents. He was in some country shirt which is like 2 size bigger that he needs. I first thought that he put on weight, but then I realized that it's just that big shirt thing. He landed 3S and then he tried 4S but made it a triple, the 3A was good. In a finale he tried 4S again and fell. In the afternoon he skated his last season SP. The 4T was with step-out, then he did 3L and singled a trixel. In a finale he tried 4T, two hands and step-out. Kozuka skated his new progs and the second one in the afternoon show was especially good. Relaxed, full of steps and transitions. In the morning 3L was with step-out, 3S just from steps with no preparation, probably that's why the jump was too low (for him), he tried 3A from steps too but doubled it. In the afternoon he did 3S and 2A. His new hairstyle is questionable, I think the classic way suits him better. But why a 23yo man shouldn't try something new for a change. Like his mambo finale with Jeremy in cowboys outfits/hats where they ended up hugging and smelling each other in a la Brokeback Mountain. Lol. Mura changed in a super good way. He is clearly under Dai influence, which is hard not to be when you had such a leader in your team. I saw this influence in Tatsuki, in Murakami in DOI. Now Mura absorbed what he needed and with his natural masculinity the result became any girl's dream. The skating was with music, good work of upper body, beautiful hands, relaxed, with soft but iron muscle. He remains special, i.e. himself, in spite of all influences, and that's the reason why he stands out. In the morning he landed 3L, 3T, his hugest 3A, 2S, nice combo spin. In a finale he singled a trixel. In the afternoon he skated his new SP Pasadoble and it's different than all that reddish-false-passions stuff that many of us would expect from a hispanic thing in FS. Here he comes as a more reserved dancer, more elegant and proud. He doubled a quad, then he did 3L, fell on 3A, did a la Kim camel spin. In a finale he tried 4T again and two-footed it. Hanyu skated his new SP both shows, which slightly made me happy since I am not a big fan of his new EX to say politely. Well, of course his SP is better if you compare it with his new EX. But if you compare it with his last season progs, soon you might feel angry. It seems to me that both Canadian dudes eather still haven't realized who came to them, or they just put Yuzu on conveyor job and simply manufacture his new progs without getting into his individuality and the client's needs. If the things keep going like that, I want JFS to take him out of there a.s.a.p. In the morning he did a good 3A, nice spins, fell on 4T and did dogeza again as an apology. In a finale he did 4T with step-out. In the afternoon he landed 4T successfully, did 3A, 3L. In a finale he twice challenged 4T, first time- step out, second- landed clean.
Girls' number "Ave Maria" was very graceful and refine. In the morning Nagasu did quite low 3T, then failed 2A, her biellmann with two hands was good. In the afternoond she skated a new SP, did 3F, 2A but she got slow and tired at the end. Kanako screwed her morning performance. She fell on 3F and after that she failed her combo, did 2S-1Loop instead. It's not the first time when she can't keep it up after she failed the first element. The same thing happened in PIW and DOI, so her team clearly should do something. In the afternoon she did what she planned: 3F, 3S-2Lo-2Lo, 3T, ugly spiral and spin. I already wrote about her SS, so no need to repeat the same thing since there is no changes for good. Leonova put on weight terribly. She presented her EXs in both shows and both were Morozov trash. In the morning it was some image in headphones and orange underpants, landed 2A and 3T, legs were like sticked to the ice with no lightness at all. The same set of 3T and 2A was in the afternoon show with some French stuff and all-black outfit. She had a duet with skinny Yuzu. You get the picture. Sotnikova was introduced as a condidate for a medal in Sochi. The girl has grown up! She is stunning and glowing. Her new EX in the morning didn't have any empty place, plus all parts of body were involved in music. It was almost provokating, especially in that gorgeous outfit. What a great EX for almost always boring galas. Her jumps are huge, they are high and powerful, not the way like girls usually jump. In the morning she landed 3L, 3F and 2A as a matter of fact, amazing spirals, spins and beauty on the ice. In the afternoon the set was 3L, 3Loop, 2A. She skated her last season SP Bolero that they adjusted for ice shows. I think they should keep it as an EX because it suits her terribly well. Adelina, Mura and Davis&White were my favourites in The Ice shows. Mao skated Mary Poppins in both shows. She spoilt her fans with last season EX Jupiter which is hard to beat. Her new EX is lovely and cute. But you don't need to be Mao to skate it. Risa Shoji can skate the same EX, and many others. It seems kind of too simple for Mao, I mean the choreo and concept. The elements in the morning were 2A with the umbrella, a very good 3L, then she doubled her loop and fell on 2A. Her combo spins didn't have enough rotations, but I think it's because of her long big skirt. In the afternoon she did 2A with umbrella, 3F, 3loop, 2A and a combo spin. Mao&Jeff was a dance of an uncle introducing his niece to the world. Or I am just a Maozuka rooter. One very positive thing is for sure- Mao looks genki and very healthy. She didn't put on weight, her muscles just became stronger. Maybe her practice with that Hungarian dude worked, or maybe she ate a lot of buckweat porridge known as grechka in Russian cuisine. She said in the afternoon iterview that it's one of her favourite dish. She mentioned that it's cooked in suihanki (rice cooker) the same way as rice. But nobody uses a suihanki in Russia. Mao probably brought some storage of buckweat groats from her last trip to Moscow and now cooks it in suihanki. Lol. Well, whatever the reason is, Mao does look good. She called Adelina Adelina-chan. Adelya said that Mao is her idol and Alyona admired Mao's 3A. They were both invited to The Ice as Mao's rivals in Sochi. Both said that they would do their best to get the spots there. Adelina's English is not confident enough yet. She used notes, and I assume her roommate Alyona helped her to make them (thanks, lady). But what the hell, a lot of 16yo skaters don't even bother to give interviews in English. She also was very grateful to the audience who was very supportive to all skaters.
Narumi won the dance battle in the morning over Adelina and Mao, who tried to get it a al Jackson in sunglasses copying his moonwalk. Meryl won in the afternoon over Hanyu, who was in a white skirt, a pink blouse and a hot pink hair ribbon. Then he got topless. Well.
In general there's a little much fluff in the show. Probably that's why I like PIW more, because there's more FS sport than FS fluff. Plus team Japan is fully presented in PIW, unlike in The Ice and FOI, where it's impossible due to agents rats' fights. Still it was fun and I would visit more than two shows if they were in my city.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
That program sounds like a huge mistake to me, too. I didn't even like that approach when Candeloro did it. Why do choreographers go that route?
 

jasminum

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Olympia, Yuzuru was in drag when he competed at the “dance battle” of the show, not for his program.
As far as I understand based on blogs written by people who watched the show, Yuzuru dressed like a Kawaii girl – a pink bow, pink shirt and white frilly skirt. The match was between Yuzuru, Alex Shibutani and Meryl Davis. While he danced fiercely he took off a bow and slammed it on ice. And the audience is the judge. When Alex was first eliminated, Yuzuru and Meryl danced one more time and then he took off the skirt. When the audience gave win to Meryl, he became desperate and took his shirt off for frustration. Sorry for him. It seems the audience in this show prefers girls over boys at dance battle and they don’t buy no matter what boys do.:biggrin:

Some videos from the show.

Mao Asada
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xshari_mao-asada-yyyy-yyy-yyyy-the-ice-2012_sport

Mao Asada & Jeffry Buttle
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xshb14_yyyymao-asada-jeffrey-buttle-the-ice-2012_sport

Girls group number choreographed by Yuka Sato
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsheh9_yyy-yyyyyyyyyyyy-yyyyyyyyyy-the-ice-2012_sport

Dance battle (Adelina vs Alena vs Narumi & Mao vs Kozuka)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xshbon_yyyyyy-the-ice-2012_sport
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Mura changed in a super good way. He is clearly under Dai influence, which is hard not to be when you had such a leader in your team. I saw this influence in Tatsuki, in Murakami in DOI. Now Mura absorbed what he needed and with his natural masculinity the result became any girl's dream. The skating was with music, good work of upper body, beautiful hands, relaxed, with soft but iron muscle. He remains special, i.e. himself, in spite of all influences, and that's the reason why he stands out. In the morning he landed 3L, 3T, his hugest 3A, 2S, nice combo spin. In a finale he singled a trixel. In the afternoon he skated his new SP Pasadoble and it's different than all that reddish-false-passions stuff that many of us would expect from a hispanic thing in FS. Here he comes as a more reserved dancer, more elegant and proud.

Sotnikova was introduced as a condidate for a medal in Sochi. The girl has grown up! She is stunning and glowing. Her new EX in the morning didn't have any empty place, plus all parts of body were involved in music. It was almost provokating, especially in that gorgeous outfit. What a great EX for almost always boring galas. Her jumps are huge, they are high and powerful, not the way like girls usually jump. In the morning she landed 3L, 3F and 2A as a matter of fact, amazing spirals, spins and beauty on the ice. In the afternoon the set was 3L, 3Loop, 2A. She skated her last season SP Bolero that they adjusted for ice shows. I think they should keep it as an EX because it suits her terribly well.

As always, thanks a million for your detailed report! :)

:thumbsup: to Takahito Mura.
Every time I see him skate, he is improving as a skater drastically, both artistically and skating skill-wise, ever since he went to Tom Dickson for choreography and becoming into his own, isn't he? We don't have many of such masculine style of skating and look, like Takeshi, among our J-boys right now. I sincerely hope both Takahito and Tatsuki will stay eligible after Sochi. Their time will come; a realistic chance to go to the Worlds after 2014, and an Olympics spot in 2018. :yes:

And ditto on Adelina. I was very impressed with her skating when I first saw her live at the World Team Trophy. She skated BIG, especially in her Borelo SP.
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Yuzuru dressed like a Kawaii girl – a pink bow, pink shirt and white frilly skirt.

... When the audience gave win to Meryl, he became desperate and took his shirt off for frustration.
And in what frustration was he at DOI in his EX when he got half-naked every time? He didn't have any tendecies like that when he was training in Sendai. Also, Meryl wasn't a better "Kawaii girl" as the reason of her win. Maybe the audience simply wasn't that dumb as you are trying to portrait here. They simply didn't like what Hanyu did and gave the win to his opponent.

The match of Hanyu with Orser&Kurt is obviously not working. Some lousy music choices that don't fit his age and individuality, poor choreo, weak technique with falls more than enough, etc. If this is their way to remove PChan rival from the scene, then they are doing things just right. :biggrin:
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
I really prefer the previous two exhibition programs from Mao, but Mao as Mary Poppins is so fetching. Did you see the faces of the audience caught on tape!? I think I must look like that when I watch her skate. She's such a cute creature.
 

emdee

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
What a clever idea on the part of the JSF to give Dai the Oly medal by sidelining Hanyu:mad:
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
I think Yuzuru's image should remain boyish and innocent, someone who has yet to come into his sexual identity.
It's pretty obvious that Yuzu has a narcissistic side to him that is acceptable as long as the audience can think that it's the narcissism of a young child, but if it morphs into a fully-aware narcissism, well... once it is fully developed and becomes art much later in his career (a la Lambiel), then that will be another story, but while he is developing it during his late teens and early twenties, it could go all over the place and into the wrong direction.
They should take a page out of how Jeffrey Buttle's managed his career.
 
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giulia95

Medalist
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
I think Hanyu definitely deserves much more respect from adults, both as a person and as a skater.

But the fact we haven’t seen any famous choreographer working with him yet is even more scary. If you notice Tuktamisheva, who is considered a top skater by her federation and is younger that Yuzu , has two SP and two LP this year choreographed by Wilson and Dickson.

If the real goal is to stop his amazing trajectory of talent because he’s too young to be a contender in Sochi, they’re doing a very good job unfortunately.
 

Li'Kitsu

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Huh... some videos are up on youtube now:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2E6A89F391E5F29B&feature=plcp

I hoped Hanyus new SP would be online already, but it's that trash of Ex again... honestly, I didn't dislike Hanyu changing to Orser, and I was rather excited about Browning and Buttle doing his choero, but... that Ex sucks big time. I'm really getting worried now, I swear I hate conspiracy theories but if that doesn't make the thought of those canadians wanting to take Patrick Chans rival out of the game cross your mind than I don't know. Yeah, that's not how it is, but it sure as hell looks like it.

Okay, on to better things... highlight of these videos up till now is definitly Adelina for me. I mean - f' yeah! That programm is so much fun to watch, and she manages to look cute, grown up and beautiful and even sexy altogether! (Orser/Buttle/Browning, did you see? It's possible to throw in some sex appeal without ruining a skater...) And she seems to have so much fun - even with this mistakes on her jumps, she completly stole the spotlight. Just keep that fire and glow for the competitive programms, and Adelina will be tough to beat! She's got speed and power, great range of movements, grace and beautiful lines, huge jumps, musicality, great spirals... oh, and on a side note: she's developing into one of the most stunning female skaters I have ever seen :love: Well, okay, I better stop gushing over her... I'm just very glad to see her like that when she had a 'disappointing' season (no, I don't think at all this word really fits, but some people who love to jump to conclusions were pretty much already writing her off, so...)

The other programm I really liked was Kozukas, to my own suprise. I'm usually not a fan of his (but for his Spread Eagles definitly!) but that was beautiful to watch.
Hopefully the rest of the programms will be up soon :)
 

emdee

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Is Buttle doing Hanyu's SP and LP?
I have a chance to see Hanyu at the Mariposa gala but its quite a drive on a friday night.
 

Kalina

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Hello everyone, I'm new here :)

Just writing to say that Hanyu's FS is going to be choreographed by Wilson, as expected by many. Brian Orser was interviewed for the japanese skating book Cutting Edge that came out a couple of days ago (there are also a few pictures of him, Hanyu and Tracy Wilson working together in Toronto) and he has basically confirmed this, saying that Wilson is very excited at the thought of working with Hanyu.

I think it's too early to talk about conspiracy. I didn't particularly like the whole changing coach affair, but up until now there hasn't been any hint that his technique has gotten worse, considering that he's still slowly recovering from his injury. His basic skating skills have changed for the better already, his stroking looks much more effortless than it was before. It was unlucky that in the two EXes that were broadcast he didn't skate clean, but by reading twitter reports it's clear that he's also skated many clean programs, that his 4S has gotten better, so much that he did it solo many times and once in sequence with a 3A under spotlights. He's landed 4T-3A at least 3 times during the past two weeks. It seems like he never fell during shows last summer but he did, as much as he does now.
As for his programs, that's another question. I agree with all of you, his EX is trash. Though to be honest the atmosphere is not much different than his Vertigo EX, which was choreographed by his former coach, but had him shaking his hips and stroking his body in leather pants, at age fifteen. Was that supposed to look innocent? I think it's only hitting us harder now because the program was choreographed by Kurt and we were expecting something great :biggrin: The point is, I think he's enjoying himself, enjoying the chance of looking cooler, more grown up. He's almost eighteen, he's not a child (though he may look younger than he is) so it's no wonder, really. Yeah, it's bad but I don't see it making much damage, at least if it's confined to an EX program. I haven't seen his short so I can't comment on that, yet. As long as his programs for this year are well-choreographed, though not exactly fitting to his character (or what we think is his character), I wouldn't worry too much. Hanyu has been on the senior scene only in the past two years, and he really made a breakthrough only last year, so it's obvious that he hasn't had a chance to show much about himself, and that makes it harder for choreographers to come up with a program that really fits him. Orser himself has only known him for three months. You can't compare these relationships with the one he has with Abe, who's known him, coached him and choreographed for him since he was a novice skater.

I think I wrote too much for my first post :laugh:
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Welcome to Golden Skate, Kalina!

We :love: :love: long posts. There is no such thing as a post that is too long, IMO!
 
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