Changing opinions after watching LIVE

[lulu]

I have never seen elite level skating Live. (blushes). But I take it that a lot of people here have seen comps or shows like SOI/COI. I also read post from people who say their feelings for a skater change after seeing that person live.

1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?

2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?

3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?

 

[NansXOXOX]

lulu,

I don't know the reason you have never seen skating live, but if you get the chance, don't pass it up, you will love it!

1) In the whole Brian/Brian thing, I was always a Brian B. person until i saw Brian O. live. The man floats over the ice. Amazing.

2) I don't know that I think anyone looks "better" on TV.

3) I have been fortunate enough to have seen Alexei, Takeshi, Michelle, Anton and Elena, Kat, Kurt, Michelle, Elvis, Naomi and Peter and a lot of other wonderful skaters.

Nan

 

[berthes ghost]

"1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?"

-Irina: speed yes, but her command of the ice really impressed me
- Alexei: always liked him, but loved him live. It baffles me the people think Abt should have taken Euros 02. He may have been clean, but ZZZZZ.
- Kristi: so smooth, so fluid, a class above the rest.

"2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?"

Maria, Tara

"3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?"

MK, Lulu, A&B, A&P

Just wanted to add:

4. Skaters who won you over with live performances:
- Jubert Lalique SP 02
- Bebe JGPF SP 03
- Kostner Euros 03 LP
- Liashenko Lalique LP 02
- Lambiel Euros 02 LP
- Miki Ando JGPF 03

5. Skaters who failed to win you over with live performances:
- Sasha: Really, what is the big deal?
- Honda: OMG, this guy could put a speed adict to sleep.
- Julia Sebastian: skates like a former East Germen

 

[Lisa]

Lulu, I can only agree with Nan: whatever it might take you, do it!!! The first and only time I was able to watch figure skating live has been Bofrost 2002 - and I loved it! It's so different from tv, and I think that it has helped me a lot in understanding the sport better. I totally agree with you, it causes spectators to see certain skaters from a different point of view.

1) new appreciation:
- Vakhtang Murvadnidze
- Sergei Davydov
- Silvio Smalun (never noticed his charisma before)
- Winkler/Lohse
- Dubreuil/Lauzon
- Steinel/Tsvetkov
- Elena Liashenko

2) better on tv:
- Yoshie Onda
- Chait/Sakhnovsky

3) favorites:
none

4) won you over:
- Alexander Abt (gala program)
- Susanna Pökyiö
- Denkova/Stavisky (gala)

5) failed to win you over:
- Shen/Zhao (but I just loved them at Worlds 2003!)
- Evgeny Plushenko (great skater, but somehow he left me cold; the choreography of his "Adagio" makes me shiver, while I like his LP)
- Michael Weiss
- Petrova/Tikhonov

Am I allowed to add a new category?

6) Skaters you long to watch live:
- Alexei Yagudin
- Brian Joubert
- Takeshi Honda
- Irina Slutskaya
- Sasha Cohen
- Jenna McCorkell
- Carolina Kostner
- Abitbol/Bernardis (unfortunately, they have retired )
- Belbin/Agosto

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

LuLu - Get thee to Dortmund in March!! It's not just the skaters we talk about. They are there live but it is also the skaters we never see and who have a lot of talent.

As to your question. YUKA SATO - so lovely; so musical; and moves over the ice with great speed which you don't realize on TV.

Joe

 

[dorispulaski]

ITA, go to the Grand Prix event nearest to you. The skaters are so wonderful live, and so many of the skaters you never see on TV are very, very good.


"1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?"

Todd Eldredge
Brian Boitano
Michelle Kwan
Alexei Yagudin
Shen and Zhao
Plush's Carmen

"2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?"

Tara, Sasha, Vika, Julia Sebasteyn (but I have only seen her live at World's 03, which was not a good competition for her.

"3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?"

Really, I like almost all of them in different ways. I would list favorite performances that I have seen live rather than favorite skaters.

4. Skaters who won you over with live performances:

Yebin Mok
Dan Fang
Stephane Lambiel
Shen and Zhou, Worlds 03 (first time I had seen them live. fabulous!)
Inoue and Baldwin
Sale and Pelletier (saw them at Skate America 1999 and was completely bowled over).

5. Skaters who failed to win you over with live performances:
- Sasha
- Honda: nothing there but the f/w
- Julia Sebastian: and I was so looking forward to her
- Plush's Petersburg 2000 at Worlds (see what I mean about the program, not the skater. I loved his Carmen)
-Carolina Kostner

dpp

 

[CynicElle]

Hi, all. I think this is my first post here.

1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?

I always liked Plushenko, but watching him live at Worlds practices just blew me away. He's so fast and powerful! I also enjoyed Yoshie Onda, someone I never much liked when I saw her on TV. I think watching her determination as she tried triple axel after triple axel in her practices impressed me.

3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?

Michelle, Sasha, Sarah, Elvis, Brian B., Rudy, Klimova & Ponomarenko, Viktor P., and probably many others who I'm too brain-dead to remember right now.

I can't wait for Skate America!

 

[Mathman]

Hi CynicElle, welcome to the forum.

The skater who looks a hundred times better live than on TV is Irina Slutskaya. Those close-up TV shots that follow the skater just emphasize the few little things that she is not so good at, like she doesn't get her leg up very high in her spiral. But when you see her in person, WOW! GO IRINA!

In fact the first time I saw her live she was skating against Michelle (my favorite) in one of those fluff competitions, and I hate like anything to have to admit it, but Irina outskated Michelle and was robbed by the judges, LOL.

Also, I have to second Joe's observation. The best thing about live competitons is that you get to see skaters that you never see on TV at all. All of these guys and gals are wonderful, even if they never make it to the podium. Vahktang Murvanidze (I agree with Lisa here) and Watanabe and Kido are skaters that I had never heard of before I went to Skate America last year, but they totally blew me away.

Skaters who looks scrumptious on TV but even more gorgeous in person: Jenny Kirk and Ann Patrice McDonough.

To me, every skating performance looks better live than on television. Plus, you get the "smell of the greasepaint, roar of the crowd" experience.

Mathman

 

[windspirit]

1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?

Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev.

Dan Hollander and Surya Bonaly. Last time I saw them at a small show, and what they really won me over with was the fact that they skated as if it was the biggest show on earth. They put so much enthusiasm and heart in their performances, the audience gave each of them (I think) a standing ovation. And it was no small feat, as there were some big names skating in that show.

Kurt Browning's "silly" program from this year's SOI looked much better live than on tv (zzzz....).

Yagudin and Plushenko are great on tv, but to see them live... Their speed, the height and power of their jumps , their showmanship, footwork, but most of all -- their command of the ice... http://members.lycos.co.uk/windspirit6/sm/hypnotized.gif Same with B&S. I really liked them on tv, but I fell in love with them when I saw them live.

2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?

Michael Weiss (but I saw him only once and at COI, so...). Come to think of it, I enjoyed Bourne & Kraatz more when I saw them on tv (or maybe I just don't like their new programs).

3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?

Yags, Plush, B&S, Cohen, Browning, Bourne&Kraatz, Galindo, Griazev, Roca & Sur, Petrenko, Kulikova & Markov...

If I can add my own category -- The skaters I'd like to see live: Kulik, Buttle, Sandhu, Abt, Slutskaya, Yebin Mok, Weir, Joubert, Gregory & Pethukov, Anissina & Peizerat, Drobiazko & Vanagas (lol, and I don't even like ice dancing too much), Stanislav Timchenko, Yamato Tamura... and many more.

 

[icenut84]

Apart from a T&D show when I was 10 (that I don't remember much of and I was too far away to see any detail anyway), the only time I've seen elite skaters live was the Nottingham gala last year - A&P, B&S, Kristi, Kurt, Sasha, Ilia Kulik, Steven Cousins. The one who impressed me most was Ilia Kulik. His jumps just went up and up and up... they were so light and floaty, it's really amazing. I was a bit "take it or leave it" before, but when I saw him live I was just like "wow". The other skaters who made me go "wow" when I saw them live were Sasha (on her spiral), and B&S during their The Kid routine, with the throw and all the unique lifts and moves. The woman next to me was gasping all the way through that routine as well.

 

[Jhar55]

Igree once you see skating live your hooked.

Two have better apprecation for is Sasha Cohen and Evgeni Plushenko. Seen them skate live before, but this year at COI ther was just something about them that made me think again.

 

[Grgranny]

A little over a year ago some friends & I went to COI. They had never seen it live before and they were so enamored they were crying. Just couldn't believe how much different it was.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

I must agree with Windspirit about Plush and Yags live. Wow. I saw them
both for the first time at COI 2002, and they blew everyone else away. They
are so fast, so fluid, and so graceful on the ice. There aren't any other men
who come close, except Alexander Abt, who I got to see at Bofrost 2002. He
is breathtaking, he gets his speed up so fast, and just appears to glide over
the ice. Wow. Such a beautiful skater.

Sasha Cohen doesn't do anything for me live (though qual at Worlds was pretty good,
neither does Timmy, though
he was quite good at Worlds FS (qual and SP were zzzzz). But he's got to do more like that for me to
be impressed. Mike Weiss is okay live, but every time I've seen him, Evgeni
or Alexander or Alexei have been there, and they make most of the other men
look, well, dull.

Sergei, Vakthang, Li, Joubert (love that SP!) are all fabulous live.

I want so badly to like Takeshi, but the only time I was really moved by his
performance is that final footwork sequence in Riverdance. That is spectacular
live (saw it at Worlds this year). Maybe if I'd seen his 4CC performance in
person, I'd feel differently.

Laura, off to ponder more

 

[hockeyfan228]

1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?

From competion: Plushenko, Davydov, Smalun, van der Peeren, Verner, Li (Chengjiang), Jahnke, Fraser & Lukanin, Petitin & Jost, Delobel & Schoenfelder, Zhang & Cao, Wing & Lowe, McCorkell, Maniachenko, Giunchi, Zhang & Zhang. From shows, Kulik, Brasseur & Eissler.

During Euros 2003, Petrova & Tikhonov, although I thought they were awful at Worlds 2003. Michael Weiss' SP at Worlds 2003 -- I couldn't believe he could be that good, even with the fall. But I thought he looked like a different skater -- Sandhu, actually -- in his LP.

2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?

Butyrskaya, Slutskaya, Chait & Sahknovsky, Sandhu, Honda (hard to see he's skating in circles on TV), Suguri, Navka & Kostomarov, Lang & Tchernyshev, Robinson, Dubreuil & Lauzon, Liashenko, Nelidina.

It's hard to compare competitive and show skates. I've never seen Bobek, Lipinski or Sale & Pelletier skate live in competition. So I would say they look better in competition on TV than they do live in COI/SOI. But I also think that's true of Michelle Kwan and many other skaters, too.

3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?

John Curry, Torvill & Dean, Klimova & Ponomorenko, Protopopovs, Usova & Zhulin, Krylova & Ovsiannikov, Michelle Kwan, Viktoria Volchkova, Julia Sebestyen, Alisa Drei, Susanna Poykio, Angela Nikodinov, Carolina Kostner, Brian Joubert, Stephane Lambiel, Jeffrey Buttle, Ilia Klimkin, Vahktang Murvanidze, Ryan Jahnke, Abitbol & Bernadis, Totmianina & Marinin, Volosozhar & Kharchenko, Pang & Tong, Berankova & Dlabola, Elena Berezhnaia, Hoffman & Elek, Bourne & Kraatz, Denkova & Staviyski, Belbin & Agosto.

 

[guinevere]

Gained new appreciation for:
Viktoria Volchkova and Elena Liashenko

I had always wondered how the heck VV managed to get high enough scores to be in medal contention in the free program, and always found her skating blah at best, and cringe-worthy once she inevitably starts falling apart during the LP. But at last year's Skate America I saw why she gets high marks: Her jumps are HUGE, and she seems to land everything in sight during warmups and practices. Also, I suspect that she does really well in her SPs (I usually don't get to see them on TV).

With Elena, I just saw a quality that was very nice, and her major "I'm going to do my Lutz at the pther end of the rink" set-up wasn't as distracting live as on TV.

Also: Min Zhang of China. I'd always found him incredibly dull on TV, but he has a very nice performance quality live, and his jumps are great!

And Sasha Abt. I already loved his skating, but getting to see that Bolero costume live was definitely something to appreciate

I also agree with everyone who said that one of the best things about live comps is seeing skaters you never see on Tv: Murvanidze is the BEST. Also Davydov, and the Japanese skater who landed the 3A at SA last year. I also appreciate seeing how so many of the skaters who tend to splat in competitions really do skate well....in practice. Clearly, putting it all together in front of the juges and the audience is a huge step and separates good skaters from great ones.

guinevere

 

[Ladskater]

lulu:

TV just does not do what seeing a live performance does in figure skating. There is no comparison.

I have seen many of the greats over the years. I don't think my opinion has been swayed, just my appreciation is deeper after seeing a skater in person.

Kurt Browning and Yuka Sato are both amazing to watch live as well as on tv.

I have seen too many to list them all, but some of the highlights have been:

Karen Magnussen
Toller Cranston
Kurt Browning
Yuka Sato
Brian Orser
Bourne and Kraatz
Elvis Stojko
Torvil and Dean
Roca and Sur
JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelly
Brassuer and Eisler

 

[Rgirl]

Almost all my "new appreciation" skaters upon seeing them live have been mentioned, but just for a funny thing about differences in perspections live: Nansxoxo said she was more impressed by Brian B. until she saw Brian O. live and that Orser literally floats over the ice. I had the exact opposite response and even for the same reason, lol. I always thought Boitano looked stiff on TV and that Orser looked so smooth. But upon seeing them both live, though at different times, I was blown away by the way Boitano moved over the ice. I still have yet to see anyone's blade speed through the ice as if it were heated it's that smooth and floating. I still liked Orser when I saw him live, but I was not as impressed with him as I was with Boitano. I should note though that I saw Orser in his "down" phase, before he had his resurgence a few years ago and got back into great skating shape.

One who knocked me out on TV and double knocked me out live is Ilia Kulik. Smooth smooth speed speed and edges so far over he's virtually on the side of his boot. And a great smiler. As a competitive skater, Kulik had one of the stoniest game faces ever so I never expected him to be so animated live. He's still awesome at being a real cool dude on ice, but he's also great at having "happy skates!"

Irina's speed, power, and charisma -- definitely a skater to be seen live. Her positions are not classic, she's more about the movement between the positions, which is a disadvantage on TV. But live, Irina is smokin'!

Yuka, as Joe said, is absolutely breathtaking live. Seeing Sasha Abt live changed me from a "What's the deal?" to "So THAT'S the deal!" Abt has phenomenally deep soft knees that allow him to cover half the rink in two strokes. And the man is pure animal sex appeal with beautiful edges, great balon (hang time) in the air, and overall skating quality. Such an enormous bummer about the injuries. The guy just had the worst luck. Imagine how he could have skated without ripping his leg apart five years ago?

Todd Eldredge used to look like an insurance salesman skating when I watched him on TV, but live, his speed, power, line, and intensity made me think, "Is this the same guy?"

Anyway, lots and lots of great "Wowser!" moments the first time, and even subsequent times, seeing skaters live, especially if occasionally you get an on-ice seat and you can feel the wind rush by you when a pair like Bechke and Petrov go zooming along. And I very much enjoyed Sasha Cohen when I saw her last Sept. at "Stars, Stripes, and Skates." Unfortunately, I thought she got weaker as the season went on, even though she skated very well at the GPF, but the reason seemed to be a loss of muscle mass. According to what I've read, Tarasova promises to put her on an intensive off-ice training program for this season. I hope so. With the right amount of muscle mass and using it right, Sasha can skate like a delicate Irina but with classic body lines. Without the strength, she's not able to get down into the ice and have that sturdy quality rather than the teetering quality I felt she had at Nats and Worlds. Cohen with muscles, I love her. Cohen without muscles, I like her but she looks unsteady.

But as others have said, beg, borrow, or steal but see great skaters live as often as possible! You'll have moments you will never forget.
Rgirl

 

[guinevere]

Rgirl ~

You hit it exactly about Abt! At Skate America we ran into him at the skaters' hotel, and my friend just babbled, "You are amazing...it's just..uh...your knees...WOW...". We had a good laugh about that for the rest of the trip (that and my other friend yelling "We love you Brian!" out the car window as she practically ran over the newly-crowned Joubert. Heh.

guinevere

 

[Kara Bear]

B&S...you can just not see how fast and high these two fly on tv.

 

[BrokenAnkle]

neat question

1. Are there any skaters who you gained a new appreciation for after seeing them live?

Maria Butryskaya is probably # 1. Actually I still don't care for most of her programs, but Habanera live is one of my all time favorites.

Todd Eldredge, again not a favorite of mine, but terrific skater and the guy knows how to pick music that audiences respond to.

S&P, well them I already liked, but seeing Cha-cha D'amour was amazing to me, they both filled the arena to the rafters, so naturally. I have been a fan ever since.


2. Which skaters "look better" on TV?

Ok, take this in the sense of coming in with pretty high expectations, these skaters were wonderful, just not as jaw dropping as I expected:

B&S
Yags
Pluschy
Sasha
Kurt


3. What are some of your favorite skaters-that you have seen live?

Michelle
Elvis
Yuka (WOW!)
Shen and Zhou
Kasakova and Dimitriev
Punsalen and Swallow
Brian Orser


BA