Figure Skating Discipline Favorite

[evenstar]

Well, I've just been down to Youtube, and I was wathcing some old ice dance videos. I LOVED them! My favorites were Grishuk/Platov- The Feeling Begins, and Bourne/Kraatz- Riverdance. I also love most of Anissina/Piezerat's programs!

 

[Vash01]

Joe - you'd think i'd know this, but who do you consider your favorite male skater? I'm guessing it's Kurt? (if Stephane wins his third, and then fourth, consecutively he'll somewhat surpass both Kurt and Yagudin with 4 consecutive titles... a feat that was last done by Scott Hamilton )

Kurt and Yagudin won 4 world titles each, but neither won them consecutively. Kurt missed in 1992; Yagudin in 2001. Scott Hamilton was the last man to win 4 consecutive world titles. I doubt we will see that happen in the era of quad jumps, even with COP. Hamilton was helped by the compulsory figures, which can be more consistent and they take less toll on the body.

Vash

 

[SeaniBu]

The men, on the other hand, seem to be leading the way with better choreography, more attention to musical expression -- even better spins and moves in the field.

JMHO.

I think that is a great aspect to point out.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Are we saying that Men are more sportsminded and Ladies are more showminded"

Is it a case of Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus?

Joe

 

[SeaniBu]

Are we saying that Men are more sportsminded and Ladies are more showminded"

Is it a case of Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus?

Joe

Not Johnny

 

[Spun Silver]

Hmm, tough question. I finally voted Ladies because historically that has been my main interest.

Pairs seems suicidal to me, and ice-dancing is dopey. (Sorry!)

However, now that I am watching more seriously I've realized that men's skating is at least as interesting if not more than ladies.' I wonder if the ladies are held back by what I think of as the "pretty-girl" syndrome - the shrinking princess costumes and classical music and the ballerina moves. I'm a feminist and love the idea of seeing women do these powerful things out there all by themselves - but skating gender conventions militate against this. As a result, the personalities in ladies' skating seem veiled.

It was nice to see Sluteskaya and Meier (was it Meier?) skate in pants or unitards or whatever it was, becauses that is one way to crack open the stereotypes and let women use everything they've got instead of trapping themselves in the child-princess image.

 

[SeaniBu]

.....and let women use everything they've got instead of trapping themselves in the child-princess image.

Really for the aspect of "trap," it was chauvinistic to me - I like the skirt most of the time (some aspects of being a guy I just can't beat) but it isn't right to force them to. Sara Meier was far "sexier" then anything I saw in the skirts . And not that Carolina's skirt didn't look good - too short though - but her figure would look great in pants too IMO.

I would hate to see skirts go away, but I also love seeing "pants" come in. That is just FS version of "Pro Choice."

 

[Ilona]

Ehm ohm...Pairs!:agree:

 

[julietvalcouer]

Dance, then Men's (okay, okay, it's partially because of the skater butt), then Pairs, then WAY down the list is Ladies (boring, boring, boring.)

 

[Ladskater]

I love the ladies of course, because I also skated and Karen Magnussen is my idol. However, the men's is exciting because of all the jump requirements and Kurt Browning - in my opinion - has raised the bar on skating quality. There will never be another Kurt.

 

[guinevere]

There are individual female skaters that I am itensely fond of *cough*Kwan*cough*, but I love the men's competition overall - I usually am rooting for EVERYBODY! And even a lot of the men who aren't at the top level have something to offer than just draw me in. But most of the ladies who aren't top-tier leave me yawning (or cringing, depending on how many times they splat). There are exceptions: Yebin Mok, Stephanie Rosenthal, Tugba Karademir - but in general the ladies without the highest levels of technique tend to have very bleah choreography and presence as well.

I love pairs for its athleticism, and I enjoy the creativity of some of the ice dance free dances, but I get frustrated by the choreographic potential that lies outside the rules of these disciplines (especially dance). I'm learning to appreciate ice dance more for what it is - ballroom dancing on ice - instead of lamenting what it's not - modern dance on ice - but I have a hard time getting engaged in the compulsories or the rigid gender roles.

 

[ChelleC]

I'd rank it this way:

1. Men
2. Pairs
3. Ladies
4. Dance

 

[April]

Pairs skating is number one First, I love the lifts, spins, and speed. Second, it's not easy learning how to skates as "one". Third, I love the connection between man and woman. I really started falling in love with skating during the Goordeeva and Grinkov (sp?) era, then came Elena and Aton, and Ina & Zimmerman, Sale and Pelltier and the Chinese Teams.

 

[Jaana]

As I started to watch figure skating in early sixties my favourite discipline was definetely pairs and I also liked ladies. Men´s competitons I found rather boring until John Curry came onto the scene in early seventies. After that it became my favourite discipline which lasted until the olympiade 1998-2002 which was most boring in mens competition ever, in my opinion.

After 2001-2002 season I started to find great interest towards men´s competition again. Besides, the ladies became almost as interesting. Although I have liked some ice dance pairs, I have never been really enthusiastic towards it. With the exception of a few great pairs, I´m not really interested in pairs skating these days.

 

[Eliza]

My favorite is always either men or women's singles. It depends on who the skaters are. Right now there are more male skaters I enjoy watching than women, so for now my favorite is men.

Eliza

 

[icedancingnut31]

Dance is the best.
2 Pairs
3,4 Men's and Ladies
Ladies programs are all the same just the elements are switched around.

 

[1795]

hahaha dance ahs the least amount of votes...........:scratch:

 

[julietvalcouer]

hahaha dance ahs the least amount of votes...........:scratch:

Uh.....yeah? A lot of people like to look at jumps. (Not me, but I'm a dancer myself.) Or, girls in very short skirts. Or men with nice...uh...okay, let's not go into MY general motivation for watching men's. Dance is the dressage of the skating world--very, very hard to do well, but not a spectator sport unless the spectator really knows what going on.

 

[marioff]

Dance.

Had Michelle Kwan been healthy enough to compete the last couple of seasons, I would have voted Ladies, but since she wasn't my focus has shifted to dance.

 

[Teresa Dawn]

1. Dance
2. Pairs
3. Ladies
4. Mens