Does your favourite performance belong to your favourite skater?

[Mathematician]

What is your favorite program by Kostornaia though, just curious. Mine are Adios Nonino and Twilight.

Probably my favourite of her's is when she skated to "Stella's Theme"

But I really like a lot of her programs: "New York, New York" and of course from what I understand is her most revered program "November" also come to mind.

Again, lots of her programs are really high on my list - hard to pick just one.

 

[Magill]

Favourites? One and only Yuzuru Hanyu
Followed closely by Zhenya Medvedeva (oh, how I rooted for her in her struggles), Papadakis/Cizeron and Jason Brown.
Favourite performance? Any of Yuzuru's. I mean, they all somehow come at the top for me, with some slightly favoured over some others depending on the day's events and moods. One which would make the podium any day is Masquerade (I love it soooooo much, performance together with the song and the lyrics, and everything about it). As it comes from a show, it is not that well known, so I'll link it here if anyone is curious to see (please turn the subtitles on if you wanna see the lyrics as it is in Japanese)

Yuzuru Hanyu 羽生結弦 — Masquerade (4K) (Eng Sub) / FaOI 2019

An AI-upscaled 4K version of "Masquerade (ft. Toshl)," performed at Fantasy on Ice 2019 (Sendai).More about the program:Music by ToshlChoreographed by Shae-L...

www.youtube.com

 

[skatesofgold]

Off the top of my head, Nathan Chen is one of my favorite male skaters and his 2021 Worlds free skate is one of my favorite performances. Anna Shcherbakova is one of my favorite female skaters and her 2022 Olympics free skate is also one of my favorite performances.

 

[TallyT]

Now there are really two ways to read this (okay, I think I'm the only one who did so). First, like everyone else...

Some of them. Yes, my favourite skater is Yuzuru, and my absolute favourite competitive skates of all time are R&J1, Hope and Legacy, Chopin, Origin and Seimei (my favourite gala and show ones too, long list and getting longer). My other favourite skates that I go to when I need to feel good... favourite skaters again: Zhiganshina/Gazsi's Two from the Grave, Elladj's The Sound of Silence, Javi's Black Betty and Malaguena, Sui/Han's Rain In Your Black Eyes, Fear/Gibson's Vogue (first time I saw them). My go to pieces by skaters not my absolute favourites (though I do like/love them!)... Kolyada's White Crow, Gracie's Sleeping Beauty (used to be Firebird; also, I do love her Let It Go, even if the film is less than brilliant), Shoma's Nightbook, Khokhlova/Novitski's Night on Bald Mountain, and Torvill/Dean's Bolero (many videos less blurry, none more beloved).

(Please don't tell me what this lot say about my tastes in skaters or skating!)

Secondly, and the way I first read the question before everyone else's answers, was is there a performance aka piece of music that I feel 'belongs' to one skater and no one else barring homaging kids really can touch it? There's almost none of these (since much of the greatest music tends to get used and reused) but there are one or two that are so unique in themselves and also closely connected with one skater/couple...

 

[Mathematician]

Now there are really two ways to read this (okay, I think I'm the only one who did so). First, like everyone else...

Yes, my favourite skater is Yuzuru, and my absolute favourite competitive skates of all time are R&J1, Hope and Legacy, Chopin, Origin and above all Seimei (my favourite non-competitve too, btw and a loong list.) My other favourite skates that I go to when I need to feel good... favourite skaters again: Zhiganshina/Gazsi's Two from the Grave, Elladj's The Sound of Silence, Javi's Black Betty and Malaguena, Sui/Han's Rain In Your Black Eyes, Fear/Gibson's Vogue (first time I saw them). My go to pieces by skaters not my absolute favourites (though I do like/love them!)... Kolyada's White Crow, Liza's Gracie's Sleeping Beauty (used to be Firebird; also, I do love her Let It Go, even if the film is less than brilliant), Shoma's Nightbook, Khokhlova/Novitski's Night on Bald Mountain, and Torvill/Dean's Bolero (many videos less blurry, none more beloved).

(Please don't tell me what this lot say about my tastes in skaters or skating!)

Secondly, and the way I first read the question before everyone else's answers, was is there a performance aka piece of music that I feel 'belongs' to one skater and no one else barring homaging kids really can touch it? There's almost none of these (since much of the greatest music tends to get used and reused) but there are one or two that are so unique in themselves and also closely connected with one skater/couple...

Oh that second part is an interesting way to interpret the question.

I thought maybe it'd make a good thread, but at the same time, some answers are pretty obvious. For instance you really couldn't imagine someone else skating Bolero...

 

[TallyT]

Oh that second part is an interesting way to interpret the question.

I thought maybe it'd make a good thread, but at the same time, some answers are pretty obvious. For instance you really couldn't imagine someone else skating Bolero...

Others have done Bolero I think -? but it never works for me because there's that towering shadow if they do.

I might start a thread though.

 

[Mathematician]

Others have done Bolero I think -? but it never works for me because there's that towering shadow.

That's what I mean. Of course they can physically do a performance of Bolero, but I mean it just won't be anywhere near the same effect. In that sense Valieva "owns" it - there's lots of examples like that I imagine.

 

[TallyT]

That's what I mean. Of course they can physically do a performance of Bolero, but I mean it just won't be anywhere near the same effect. In that sense Valieva "owns" it - there's lots of examples like that I imagine.

That actually proves my point because I have barely seen Valieva, my thoughts immediately went to Torvill and Dean (and to be honest, in historical terms they will probably 'own' it).

 

[el henry]

That's what I mean. Of course they can physically do a performance of Bolero, but I mean it just won't be anywhere near the same effect. In that sense Valieva "owns" it - there's lots of examples like that I imagine.

Sorry to say, Valieva in no way "owns" Bolero.

I don't understand why anyone would skate to Bolero after Torvill and Dean. If any skaters own Bolero, it's them.

Maybe you had to live through it to understand just what a game changing program that was. It *changed* the sport. And not in the way of "Oh Skater X just jump seven Quint Lollapaloozas" in a program. Or "Skater Y is the most artistic skater to ever grace the ice". That may be impressive, but it doesn't change the sport. T & D did.

When I hear Bolero, I see purple chiffon and dying on ice. And for me, nothing any other skater has done since then has altered that.

 

[Magill]

That actually proves my point because I have barely seen Valieva, my thoughts immediately went to Torvill and Dean (and to be honest, in historical terms they will probably 'own' it).

Ha, ha.... I also thought about Torvill and Dean. As much for a universal sense of a skater owning a program.....
Although historically speaking Torvill and Dean it is!!

 

[Mathematician]

Sorry to say, Valieva in no way "owns" Bolero.

I don't understand why anyone would skate to Bolero after Torvill and Dean. If any skaters own Bolero, it's them.

Maybe you had to live through it to understand just what a game changing program that was. It *changed* the sport. And not in the way of "Oh Skater X just jump seven Quint Lollapaloozas" in a program. Or "Skater Y is the most artistic skater to ever grace the ice". That may be impressive, but it doesn't change the sport. T & D did.

When I hear Bolero, I see purple chiffon and dying on ice. And for me, nothing any other skater has done since then has altered that.

I don't watch pairs so

As much for a universal sense of a skater owning a program.....

It's just a for fun discussion. I'm not saying someone should be shot for skating to a classic program.

 

[el henry]

I don't watch pairs so


It's just a for fun discussion. I'm not saying someone should be shot for skating to a classic program.

Are you joking with me, or do you truly not know who Torvill and Dean are? With the comment about "not watching pairs", It's difficult to tell.

 

[Mathematician]

Are you joking with me, or do you truly not know who Torvill and Dean are? It's difficult to tell.

I never said I don't know who they are, I said I don't watch pairs, suggesting my statement was from the perspective of single's skating alone. I don't think a single's skate to Bolero will match Valieva. But, like I said, it's a light hearted discussion - I don't actually care at all who skates to what.

 

[el henry]

I never said I don't know who they are, I said I don't watch pairs, suggesting my statement was from the perspective of single's skating alone. I don't think a single's skate to Bolero will match Valieva. But, like I said, it's a light hearted discussion - I don't actually care at all who skates to what.

Are you joking with me by saying that Torvill and Dean are a pairs team?

 

[DoubleBass]

Many people have skated to Bolero, it's probably one the most overused pieces of music in figure skating. However Kamila's version of the music is a bit different from all of them and the pace is much faster too.

However no one else has ever skated to Allerdale Hall and Spiegel Im Spiegel (Kami's girl on a ball) and I can't even imagine anyone else skating to this music, it has no percussions/beats at any point and so much negative space, which makes it very difficult to make it work for figure skating.

 

[Mathematician]

Are you joking with me by saying that Torvill and Dean are a pairs team?

Ice dance - the point still stands. I don't know why you are being so unwaveringly passive aggressive with me. Lets disengage from this conversation.

 

[el henry]

Ice dance - the point still stands. I don't know why you are being so unwaveringly passive aggressive with me. Lets disengage from this conversation.

I'm sorry, I truly didn't understand, which is why I asked.

As to your other point, I agree no skater owns any piece of music, and that is a different topic. That is why I am very clear to say "for me", because no opinion is ever an unvarnished fact.

 

[Magill]

It's just a for fun discussion. I'm not saying someone should be shot for skating to a classic program.

And I was just joking as the situation turned out unexpectedly and innocently funny. Don't take it personal, please, no mean to hurt or offend!

 

[DoubleBass]

Ice dance - the point still stands. I don't know why you are being so unwaveringly passive aggressive with me. Lets disengage from this conversation.

It's ok many people don't know them, you probably have to be either British or much, much older to really know them

 

[Magill]

Are you joking with me by saying that Torvill and Dean are a pairs team?

el henry , it might be a linguistic nuance. In English it is ice dance and pairs, in some other languages it is both "pairs" (indicating it is teams made of two people) with different adjectives for "dance pairs" and these other "pairs"