Notte Stellata 2024 and Yuzuru Hanyu 12-part interview

[Magill]

The double OGM Yuzuru Hanyu gave a long interview to Shigesato Itoi, a renowned Japanese interviewer and, among other things, the creator of MOTHER game. The interview entitled "No matter when the world might end" was published in 12-parts on Mr Itoi website in Japanese, English and Chinese. It is a rare occasion to have Yuzuru's interview properly translated to English so I thought it worth it to be shared outside his FF as more people could be interested to read. They talk about all sort of things, including quite a few of those discussed in this board, too. It's candid, interesting and fun. Here's the link to the main page from which you can go to subsequent parts:

No matter when the world might end – Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun | Yuzuru Hanyu | ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞

Yuzuru Hanyu and Itoi talk about figure skating, MOTHER 2, life... the kind of talk you’d want to listen in on forever.

www.1101.com

The publication of the interview coincided with the Notte Stellata 2024 show held in Rifu, on the outskirts of Sendai, for 3 nights over the last weekend in commemoration of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011 which is also one of big themes of this interview and Yuzuru's life. The splendid cast of friends who participated this year next to Yuzuru Hanyu included Jason Brown, Javier Fernandez, Shae-Lynn Bourne Turac, Satoko Miyahara, Akiko Suzuki, Keiji Tanaka, Takahito Mura, Rika Hongo, Violetta Afanasieva and a special guest, music hall actress, Mao Daichi . David Wilson choreographed for them their group numbers.
A breakthrough decision by the Chinese authorities taken last minute (literally between the shows) to allow for an official paid live stream to China made the cast enjoy a truly impressive official live audience of 342,000 in China alone on Day 3, despite the lack of any advertising other than fan-to-fan as there was no time for it (plus live audience of 6100 at the sold-out venue each night and an undisclosed as yet number of viewers on the official Hulu Japan paid live stream). The show will be also shown on two Japanese TV channels later this month.
Proceedings from the show and merch will go partly to Japanese Red Cross Emergency Fund for the victims of January 1, 2024 earthquake in Noto Peninsula, Japan, and partly to the Educational Sponsorships Fund for underprivileged children from areas affected by 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
It was the second time Yuzuru Hanyu organized this show (the first one was last year).
Kudos to all the skaters, to Yuzuru and to those in the background for making it happen!

 

[TallyT]

One interesting if maybe no sequitorial point - Mao Daichi is the Japanese star who Mao Asada was named for, and now little Mao Shimada is named after Asada. It would be lovely to one day see the little 2gen namesake interact with Daichi.

The skaters were all wonderful (I really love Violetta, even if what she does is not our sort of figure skating! and it was lovely to see Rika who is less high profile than some of the other women now) and the production values, like an increasing number of newer Japanese shows, is really leading the world.

 

[Magill]

One interesting if maybe no sequitorial point - Mao Daichi is the Japanese star who Mao Asada was named for, and now little Mao Shimada is named after Asada. It would be lovely to one day see the little 2gen namesake interact with Daichi.

The skaters were all wonderful (I really love Violetta, even if what she does is not our sort of figure skating! and it was lovely to see Rika who is less high profile than some of the other women now) and the production values, like an increasing number of newer Japanese shows, is really leading the world.

I love Violetta, too! It is truly breathtaking what she's able to do with the hula hoops on the ice, and I am always very excited to see what she will show next time around, exactly because it is so different from what we are used to
But, yes, they were all wonderful!
And we also had the same sex duo of Keiji and Mura skating to "Staying Alive". Same sex duos are really becoming more and more common thing in Japanese shows, it seems

 

[synesthesia]

It's great to see ice shows continuing to support good causes (during the current Prince Ice World tour, there were also fundraisers for the victims of the Noto earthquake, and the guest skaters donated a portion of their earnings to the same cause).

One interesting if maybe no sequitorial point - Mao Daichi is the Japanese star who Mao Asada was named for, and now little Mao Shimada is named after Asada. It would be lovely to one day see the little 2gen namesake interact with Daichi.

Btw, Mao Daichi and the 1st gen namesake met each other a couple of times. This photo was taken when Mao Asada visited one of Mao Daichi’s shows:




And this was the “reverse” case when Mao Daichi came to see Mao’s “Thanks” tour:

The skaters were all wonderful (I really love Violetta, even if what she does is not our sort of figure skating! and it was lovely to see Rika who is less high profile than some of the other women now) and the production values, like an increasing number of newer Japanese shows, is really leading the world.

Agreed, Rika is a wonderful show skater with lots of personality. That she’s getting so many show offers despite being "less high profile" speaks for itself!

 

[TallyT]

Agreed, Rika is a wonderful show skater with lots of personality. That she’s getting so many show offers despite being "less high profile" speaks for itself!

And as I said earlier on Jason's thread, the fact that Yuzuru personally chose and invited these people, most of them two years running, to a show that has such deep and emotional resonance for him says a lot about the respect and trust he has for each of them.

 

[Magill]

And as I said earlier on Jason's thread, the fact that Yuzuru personally chose and invited these people, most of them two years running, to a show that has such deep and emotional resonance for him says a lot about the respect and trust he has for each of them.

This is very true! Most of them have known each other and been friends with Yuzu forever (by which I mean pre-Sochi Olympics), which gives another special personal vibe to this show! An exception here is Violetta Afanasieva mentioned earlier. Last year she was very open about how thrilled and surprised she was being invited to join this crowd as, in her own words, she never even dreamed she could share the ice with Yuzuru Hanyu whom she had never even met before. This year she was invited again which shows how much appreciated she is and how much she has become a true part of the Notte Stellata team.
Here's a little vid from Violetta on the show's backstage:

 

[Magill]

Skating China has published today a comprehensive and enthusiastic review of the show in English on their website giving details also as to the order and programmes skated by each of the performers respectively. Let's hope the last weekend's permission for the live broadcast to China will open the door to many more live streams being made available for Chinese FS fans

Notte Stellata 2024 – A story of hopes, dreams and stars | SkatingChina

"It was pitch black and the lights didn't turn on. Then I noticed how beautifully the stars were twinkling in the sky." (Yuzuru Hanyu)

skatingchina.com

And here's Jason's message to Yuzu, surely speaking on behalf of many of us
Comments also show what some of us knew already, how many fans they share and how much their fandoms intertwine!

 

[Magill]

Javier Fernandez has just posted a short section of one of his programmes from Notte Stellata 2024, "Puttin' on the ritz". He does not do as much skating nowadays as he used to so I am sure even this tiny bit is precious for his fans....
An endearing detail is that the lady in the audience Javier was handing his flower to might have been one of the group of the elderly displaced survivors of the March 11, 2011, earthquake whom Yuzuru had met with during his victim supporting efforts in 2015 and later in 2018. Last weekend they were brought to one of the shows by a special bus which I thought really thoughtful and lovely. They were seated at roughly the same front row places Javier is heading to during his programme although I am not sure whether it is the same one of the 3 shows.
The elderly ladies were invited to a private meeting with Yuzuru later backstage and shared with him news on the reconstruction of their town


And here's the link to Every News All Nippon TV report on Notte Stellata show posted on their official YouTube channel including the story of the survivor ladies for those who would like to see and learn more

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

 

[labgoat]

Just came across these two programs from this show. This is the kind of skating that I love and want to see more of. I enjoyed these two clips so much more than most of worlds. This is what Yuzu was born to do.

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

 

[Arigato]

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

Beautiful.

 

[Magill]

Just came across these two programs from this show. This is the kind of skating that I love and want to see more of. I enjoyed these two clips so much more than most of worlds. This is what Yuzu was born to do.

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

This is so very true. Yet I do not think we will see more of this type of skating in competitions unless it gets properly rewarded by the scoring system. Still, Yuzu has been one and only of his kind anyway. Stats for his shows' paid viewership say it all.

 

[DancingCactus]

It's a really interesting interview and it also shows how much thought Yuzu put into the sports/arts/results vs self-expression conundum.

I kind of diagree wih him on the "you can't really skate in perfect synchronicity with the music" thing though. You might not be able to time your steps to the beat because there are no steps, only gliding on the ice, but I think skaters like Shoma, Daisuke or Jason manage to achieve synchronicity by using their whole body to put some kind of movement on each beat. Or at least they make it seem so.

 

[Magill]

It's a really interesting interview and it also shows how much thought Yuzu put into the sports/arts/results vs self-expression conundum.

I kind of diagree wih him on the "you can't really skate in perfect synchronicity with the music" thing though. You might not be able to time your steps to the beat because there are no steps, only gliding on the ice, but I think skaters like Shoma, Daisuke or Jason manage to achieve synchronicity by using their whole body to put some kind of movement on each beat. Or at least they make it seem so.

Well, I think most of all Yuzuru himself is an example of the highest mastery of the skill he himself thinks not possible to achieve. His musicality is sublime, his synchronicity with the music second to none. Just to think, I heard so many people saying that he is not skating to the music, but he is the music itself, it seems like a pretty popular impression from the viewers. So, yes, I was also surprised to read these comments from him. And yet I understand what he says is an expression of his endless and insatiable striving for perfection as well as a strictly technical comparison of means of expressing music available to dancers and skaters.
It is a very interesting interview indeed

 

[TallyT]

I kind of diagree wih him on the "you can't really skate in perfect synchronicity with the music" thing though.

Perfection is humanly impossible, and that is right and good and as it should be. But from how I read it (and given that it is (a) in translation and (b) Yuzuru and therefore probably complicated) I think he is looking at it as where the art/music and the techical demands (and even just the demands of actual physics!) and the human body intersect and cannot reach a level of perfection that is nonhuman. Certainly he, like Jason and Yuna and the other greatest artistic skaters, both IJS and before, should keep reaching, but as I said... absolute perfection is impossible, inhuman and would in my opinion actually detract from the performance.

 

[DancingCactus]

I read the Japanese version and from how I understood it, he thinks prefect synchronicity isn't possible for a skater because they don't really move to the beat due to being on blades, where you can't really "stop". Mind you, I read it on the train yesterday, with slightly too much alcohol in my system, so I might have misread.

I absolutely agree that Yuzu feels the music to a degree few skaters do and embodies it really well, but I also think there are skaters who use their bodies even more to kind of subtly express the rhythm? Like, he mentions hip hop being kind of impossible to translate into figure sakting properly. And that immediately reminds me of Daisuke's Hip Hop Swan Lake and I just have to disagree.

Anyway, it was also a reminder how respected Johhny Weir used to be. Listening to forum members from the US nowadays he seems to be mostly an annoying commentator, but everything I ever saw of him was a thoughful person with lots of artistic integrity.

 

[Magill]

I read the Japanese version and from how I understood it, he thinks prefect synchronicity isn't possible for a skater because they don't really move to the beat due to being on blades, where you can't really "stop". Mind you, I read it on the train yesterday, with slightly too much alcohol in my system, so I might have misread.

I absolutely agree that Yuzu feels the music to a degree few skaters do and embodies it really well, but I also think there are skaters who use their bodies even more to kind of subtly express the rhythm? Like, he mentions hip hop being kind of impossible to translate into figure sakting properly. And that immediately reminds me of Daisuke's Hip Hop Swan Lake and I just have to disagree.

Anyway, it was also a reminder how respected Johhny Weir used to be. Listening to forum members from the US nowadays he seems to be mostly an annoying commentator, but everything I ever saw of him was a thoughful person with lots of artistic integrity.

Yeah, I guess we all have our personal preferences and although both Jason and Shoma are among my favourite skaters and those I would call most musical in the field, I think Yuzu even more so, and surely not an inch worse. Still these are nuances and personal preferences. Anyway, I think what he meant was rather what he perceives as a general limitation of the sport than assessing personal capabilities of himself and others. The way I read the interview - in English, not in Japanese, I admit - was that whatever you do with your upper body does not change the fact that your legs are still gliding when you should accent the musical notes with well defined steps and stops. And while you can do it sometimes on the ice, you cannot just stop gliding all together cause this is the very essence of skating. I also had the feeling it was all said in comparison between skaters and dancers, and not between skaters and skaters , or in some kind of absolute terms, and that it was a perfectionist in him speaking - however great you skate, professional dancers will always do it better. Still I agree, I think both him and some of the others are managing it really, really well, and it is just his modesty and very high standards, and also very, very sensitive musical ear, speaking.

 

[labgoat]

Great discussion here with excellent points made by all.

If I may add, the glide of skating encourages a continuous motion and passing through moments but with the ability to sharply stop with a spray of ice and certain points to reflect, change direction and begin again in a new rhythm at times.
Skating is like time, it marches on with only brief pauses.

On perfection, one of my favorite lines from U2 is love leaves a window in the sky, sometimes it is lightening - a sort of crack to let in the light. We tend to think of cracks as flaws instead of opportunity for enlightenment. I think of pottery with the cracks painted in gold highlighting them. Perhaps growing from faults and failure is the real accomplishment here. It takes real courage to make this effort and is a love of self that allows this growth.

Thus ends my attempt at philosophy today, perhaps it is influenced by the upcoming eclipse that interestingly seems to travel a line across the most divided areas of my country.