Celebrating Black Excellence in Figure Skating | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Celebrating Black Excellence in Figure Skating

Surya's one-foot backflip into triple salchow was incredible and I suspect it may also have inspired Elladj Balde's backflip into triple lutz as rcently filmed by On Ice Perspectives... :)
 
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Took me a while to remember where I'd seen her mentioned and track this down, but as the issues that tend to bar many Black US (and Canadian, and other nationality) skaters from continuing, or even starting, to skate also bar First Nations peoples I thought I'd add her to the thread: Naomi Lang (with partner Peter Tchernyshev - this program is from FCC 2000), who was the first Native American woman to compete at the Winter Olympics.
 
I fell completely for Elladj when I first saw him at the 2018 Fantasy on Ice shows (have quite a few saved) and again in 2019, I am thrilled that in retirement he has found a berth to give us more...

There are not enough of them, but it's lovely to hear about and see the work, some of which I hadn't come across, of these people.
 
Thx CSG for all the links. It was so wonderful to revisit Debi Thomas' 1986 performance for the gold at Worlds.
 
Anyways... i freaking LOVED Surya Bonaly. She managed quite bit of success while staying true to herself. And she really rocked the ice in her pro years.
 
VenusHalley said:
Anyways... i freaking LOVED Surya Bonaly. She managed quite bit of success while staying true to herself. And she really rocked the ice in her pro years.
Click to expand...

Surya was always exotic, interesting and very musical actually. She felt the music but didn't always have the skating skills to express it. Her operatic exhibitions and Cry of Beirut were my favorite pieces of hers.
 
Harriet said:
I'd forgotten that Vanessa James's twin sister Melyssa used to be an ice dancer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-PmWKcU1Y
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That's awesome! Lovely skating! There are few black ice dancers I could find, so I'm glad to see representation in that discipline.

Here's some info/video of Tiffani Tucker and Franklyn Singley - the first African American ice dancers to medal at the US Championships.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156238845949443

https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...K3A0hwbSD1sHotjdqo0POVukmaK_6uSe40Oe8-wSS-57U

Franklyn also competed at the Gay Games too! https://www.cleveland.com/recreation/2010/08/figure_skater_franklyn_singley.html
 
labgoat said:
Surya was always exotic, interesting and very musical actually. She felt the music but didn't always have the skating skills to express it. Her operatic exhibitions and Cry of Beirut were my favorite pieces of hers.
Click to expand...

Surya juxtaposing the incredible emotion of opera with her powerful skating was truly mesmerizing... there are few skaters in history who could pull off that type of music.
 
I hope someday that this program will lead to the next great African American skater. https://figureskatinginharlem.org/

And I know I probably shouldn't jump into this discussion, but I feel compelled to say that I'm sure Debi Thomas and other skaters are proud of being known as black athletes. We know what we go through as members of the African diaspora, but we don't see ourselves as "victims of being black." Most of us are proud of the skin and the culture God has gifted us, and realize that, in this current world climate, our accomplishments help pull each other up in a way that does not happen among peoples of other ancestry. We don't think we are better than everyone else, but we love being black and are proud to be called it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0A_N-wmiMo
 
Skatesocs said:
I don't think I ever managed to find my favourite Surya Bonaly program again (I didn't note down the name :palmf:) but here is one I really like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqm-DlijPXQ

And Magalenha! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqm-DlijPXQ
Click to expand...

Tell us what you remember about it - costume, theme, hairdo, early or late in her career, competition or exhibition - maybe we can help you find it.

My two favorites are...

Cry of Beirut https://youtu.be/p5tM2TU1_d4

1991 Worlds gala ex 1 https://youtu.be/dmLK7qf6ESg
 
In my own small world, people are all equal to me, I don't care what skin colour they have, what gender they identify with, which "class" they're from or whatever other random attribute people think is an argument to make them inequal to others.

However, I am happy to support and celebrate any surpressed group of people until they're considered equal, because sadly the big world out there isn't like my own small world :(

In that regard: Have this amazing performance from Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres :ghug:
 
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