Further report of the FaOI shows in Nagano on 24 June (Day 1) & 25 June (Day 2)
As you may know, Big Hat, an indoor arena hosted ice hockey games during 1998 Olympics, is the venue for FaOI Nagano’s shows. The organizer placed an array of gift boxes for each skater at the front of the entrance, so as fans can leave their gifts/notes to their favourite skaters in the respective boxes.
Javier Fernandez
Opening-costume: Metallic Gold T-shirt with red panel, black pant, he was in the centre of the opening on both Day 1 & 2.
Day 1: it appears Javi (no facial hair) had rested well during the weekend and he was relaxed, in a playful mood with smile, opening with 3 Axel at up right corner of the rink, leaning forward;
Day 2: Javi did not shave overnight and did not sleep well? I was sitting very close to the up left corner of the rink in the first row, close enough to see big dark cycles under his eyes; his hair was short with small curly; he opened with the same jump at the same corner, cleanly landed.
He was warmly greeted by the crowd at the both of shows, since it was almost a full house in Day 2, the applause were louder.
Group Number- collaborating with Yoshida Brothers, along with Jeffery, Oda and Ilia, Javi had a good time with his buddies and his stroking were right on the beat of the music.
Barcelona-collaborating with Yoshida Brothers, the final program of the 1st half. Costume: black pant, white shirt, gray 5-button vest black satin full back, loved the red carnation boutonniere, an extra touch of style and knowing that anything patriotic always pleases Javi, as red carnation is the Spanish national flower. However, what I have to criticize the costume is that the vest was not tailored well, I doubt whether it was specially made for skating, when Javi jumped or did arm movements, the vest tended to be pulled up, revealing his lower back, which I didn’t like at all.
Day 1: except 3 lutz, his jumps were off in the first half, problems of landing for every jump, 3 Axel, stepped out or turned (couldn’t recall exactly), spread eagle to 3 loop, double-footed, 3 Sal, hand down, because he had problems with jumps here and there, he was a little behind the music; despite the mistakes, the audience loved him and gave him a half-standing ovation when he took his final pose.
Day 2: a much better performance, all the jumps were cleanly landed, what impressed me the most, however, was his upright spin with a lot of variations, it was fast, expressive, the arm movements fitted the music perfectly and the audience began clapping & screaming in the middle of the spin; and I was wondering whether he took some lesson from Stephen during the tour. I also loved the section in slow tempo, where Javi created some romantic touching moments, which were lovely. I have more confidence in his free skate next season, as I am pretty sure some of Elvis' famous romantic melody will be included and Javi can certainly handle it well. Overall, it was a brilliant performance, great ending for the 1st half. Standing ovation!
Malaguena- Costume: his usual beaded black velvet vest, red satin shirt & black pant, Javi looks stunning in this outfit as always
Day 1: his jumps were back in the 2nd half, except he stepped out his 3 toe when he did his 3 sal-3 toe, he landed his 3 Axel and 3 flip cleanly; the costume, the music and the red lighting effects made us feel like sitting in a cabana in Spain, enchanted by Javi, the handsome & charming dancer, with his sexy, passionate and powerful flamenco. Oh, man, I can watch him dancing flamenco the whole night, fans were in awe when he did choreographic dance move before the final spin, his final intrinsic footwork endeared him to all of us. Simply stunning! Standing ovation from the entire crowd!
Day 2: his jumps were crisp clean, totally round! The spin, the dance movement, the footwork were all splendid, when we were ready to roar before he took his final pose, he tripped over as he came too close to the rink side and caught by his edges, what an amusing ending, we did not expect this, so did Javi, he was a little bit embarrassed, making bows to the crowd in a hurry, but what a great, great performance, even the fall was joyful, especially since Miki also tripped over when she took the final pose a few minutes ago, what a couple they are
! SO again !
Finale-Costume: black blazer, black tight pant, black shirt shiny silver glitter on black bow tie, a huge white chiffon bow on the left shoulder. OK, the white chiffon bow for the male skaters were a little bit ridiculously funny, but when Javi was moving in a spread eagle from up center to the up left corner with a beautiful smile and then turned into a 3 loop in front of me, I was deeply moved. This was how he reached out to the spectators sitting at up far levels; I was sitting in the first row at the balcony facing the up left corner of the rink on Day 1, but I can saw him smiling at me, when he landed his 3 loop with such a great flow, his arm reached out to us, like he was dedicating this jump specially for us. Upon the landing, he kept on gliding to the center of the up front, holding the right hand of Tatiana who was standing in the middle, Maxim on her left side, taking a final bow to the crowd.
Quad Battle-Day 1, 4 toe, cleanly landed, Day 2, 4 loop, I guess he was a little bit ashamed of the fall he took earlier and decided to try something new, here we go the 4 loop, totally unexpected but well applauded by the fans.
he took his blazer off when went for the quad. he looks very slim & petite in black.
Final greeting-we all came to the rink side when the skaters skated around the rink waving to the fans, on day 2, Javi reached out to the fans in big smile and shake hands with them, fans were so exciting and screamed a lot, Stephen followed him and got hugs by the fans. Boy, they were greeted by fans like they are Princes.
On a side note, Javi and Jeffery were the two skaters who placed their jumps/skating movements, ina bauer, spread eagle in the four different corners of the rink, which were very thoughtful, since Javi always jumped his 3 Axel of Barcelona program at the up left corner, so I could clearly watch his tiny body quickly rotating 3 and 1/2 turn in the air, what an awesome treat!
take care, Javi :luv17:
