- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
宇野昌磨単独インタビュー「不格好でも、強い気持ちが自分の強み」初プロデュースアイスショーを語る | AERA DIGITAL（アエラデジタル）
「Ice Brave」は、プロスケーターとなった宇野昌磨が表現を追求するアイスショーだ。
dot.asahi.com
Also some of my favorite parts in the interview:
Why Shoma thinks the title "Ice Brave" fits his way of facing skating in his career:
"I have spent more than twenty years facing figure skating as a sport every single day. It wasn't so much driven by a profound sense of will, but rather it was truly a daily accumulation of effort and repetition. Each day, I would think, 'I want to accomplish this during today's practice,' and simply build upon that day after day. So, I never really thought of my strength as being my determination.
However, now that I've retired and reflect on my career as an athlete, I feel that I faced figure skating with a great deal of strength. It's not something I can compare to others, but when I look at myself objectively, I think I approached the sport with a stronger resolve than most people.
I believe my strength lies not in my jumping technique or beauty, but in my determination to always move forward, no matter what. Even if it's not graceful or might appear somewhat clumsy at times, I think that strong will is my greatest strength. Looking back now, that's how I feel."
What Shoma means when he said "he's addressing the problems of his expression" :
"Well, it's everything. There are people who enjoy watching my skating, so I don't want to lower myself too much, but I’ve always thought, 'I can do better, right?' While expressing my individuality is important, I feel that first, I need a strong foundation, and then I can build my uniqueness on top of that.
I practiced expressing myself as skillfully as possible, trying not to appear unskilled. Throughout my competitive career, I was always looking for ways to skillfully cover up awkward poses so that people wouldn’t notice. But deep down, that's not what I truly wanted—I wanted to develop a level of expressiveness that anyone could see and say, 'Wow, that’s amazing!' My current goal is to become a performer who can make people say, 'That’s so skillful,' no matter where they look."
On wanting to incorporate dance into his skills:
"During my competitive career, I truly focused on doing it 'for myself.' While professional skaters also pursue what they want to do, expressing oneself in a way that makes people who come to watch think 'I want to see this' and 'I'm glad I watched it' becomes crucial.
When I was younger and taking ballet lessons, I often thought, 'I hope this ends soon,' and simply did what I was told. But now, I want to learn various things with the meaning of understanding why I am practicing certain movements, how these movements look, and how they differ from the current version of myself.
Knowing my own habits and what I can't do, I should pursue the expression I love the most. I haven't talked much about 'expressions that only I can do' because I think I didn’t yet have absolute confidence in my own expression. Regarding jumps, there are plenty of athletes who are better than me at jumping, but I can confidently say that the time I spent thinking about and facing jumps is something no one else can surpass. For now, I want to confront myself properly and build enough confidence to believe in myself."
I think his thoughts on Shun, Yuma and Ilia are well covered throughout the last few years, but I thought he made a good point (that was raised by many fans as well) on Tatsuya- his efforts contributed to Japan's overall standing indeed, even when it's objectively bad.
Lemme search for it!
