Utana Yoshida & Shingo Nishiyama

[lady_bee]

It's Sep.6th here in Japan.Happy birthday Utana!

 

[el henry]

And now it's (barely) Sept. 6 on the East Coast of the US.

Happy Birthday, Utana!:hap85:

 

[Tsurara]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_vLMQqjg84
This is an old video featuring Shingo at 11 yrs old (5th grade in elementary) with his former coach, Kawagoe (and Nobeyama camp for novice skaters).
He won 1st at 2012 Novice B (before Advanced Novice) national championship (single men discipline, and Koshiro Shimada was 2nd then).

 

[dorispulaski]

Happy birthday Utana!!

 

[el henry]

Utana and Shingo have been assigned to JGP Egna!

 

[el henry]

Shingo had an unfortunate fall, but even with the fall, Utana and Shingo are still in 7th after the RD at JGP Egna.

And no matter their placement, their pure joy in skating still shines through

 

[Colonel Green]

Despite another random fall, they placed very nicely at Egna, guaranteeing Japan a spot at the Youth Olympics in dance in the process (a first!). One imagines they will be the ones taking it up.

From the way they've been scored by the judges, even with the errors, I expect that by this time next year they'll be contending for JGP medals.

 

[el henry]

Yes, despite falls in both the RD and the FD, Utana & Shingo still finished sixth; very impressive!

Rhythm Dance

Free Dance

 

[el henry]

West Japan Sectionals were held this weekend, and evidently Utana & Yoshida slayed!

Sadly, I read not one word of Japanese, but this Twitter account in English reported on their results:

https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1191207509559656448

Many photos of Utashin at the Sectionals at this IG account,

including this one from the RD which is just classic for their expression and style:

and Utashin share a moment off ice:

Best of luck at Japan Nationals!

 

[PinkElephants]

Thank you so much for the info el henry, I've fallen in love with their joyous skating. The picture is beautiful!

 

[Colonel Green]

West Japan Sectionals were held this weekend, and evidently Utana & Yoshida slayed!

Sadly, I read not one word of Japanese, but this Twitter account in English reported on their results:

https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1191207509559656448

Many photos of Utashin at the Sectionals at this IG account,

including this one from the RD which is just classic for their expression and style:

and Utashin share a moment off ice:

Best of luck at Japan Nationals!

How many other teams were there at Sectionals, I wonder?

 

[el henry]

Thank you so much for the info el henry, I've fallen in love with their joyous skating. The picture is beautiful!

I’m glad you liked it. There is nothing I value more than joy on the ice and that is definitely an important part of what Utashin bring:yay:

How many other teams were there at Sectionals, I wonder?

As far as I could tell, only one other junior dance team. I saw stills of their programs, I looked up the girl’s name, and it was Japanese junior ice dancer. Of course I don’t remember the name:hopelessness:

I wonder if fan cams would be too much to hope for:hap85:

 

[madraykin]

How many other teams were there at Sectionals, I wonder?

There were five teams in total, one senior for Western, 1 junior for Western (Utana and Shingo), 2 senior for Eastern and 1 junior for Eastern.

Utana and Shingo got the highest score of all five teams.

Full results (in English) are here: https://www.jsfresults.com/non_responsive_toppage.htm?figure_top.htm%2CNational/2019-2020/fs_e/west/index.htm

 

[el henry]

Utana & Shingo are the Japanese Junior Ice Dance champions, with a total score of 147.55. I found scores at this Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1195616018502012928

I believe only one other team competed, but as we all know with Utashin, that's not the point. As this Twitter account said:
"If Utana and Shingo stay together and stay healthy, they’re going to take Japanese ice dance to new heights."

I haven't seen the programs, and no videos that I know of, I'll keep looking

(but I need to say, looking at the protocols, who is Judge 1 and how do they give Utashin a *5* for PCS in musical interpretation? I haven't even seen the program and I know that's poppycock)

 

[lady_bee]

It's not Utana & Shingo, but Shingo's FP which scored 111.35, today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhEF8jZtl9k

 

[Colonel Green]

They were formally named to Japan's Youth Olympics team.

They're also one of only a handful of prospective competitors from any country who were responsible for qualifying their own placement.

 

[lady_bee]

Utana & Shingo is performing in NHK Trophy's GALA:thumbsup:
https://twitter.com/JasonBrownFP/status/1198233056152150016

 

[el henry]

Utana & Shingo is performing in NHK Trophy's GALA:thumbsup:
https://twitter.com/JasonBrownFP/status/1198233056152150016

Hopefully a wider audience will see how charming our babies are. :thumbsup:

 

[aname]

Utana & Shingo is performing in NHK Trophy's GALA:thumbsup:
https://twitter.com/JasonBrownFP/status/1198233056152150016

non-geoblocked video of their gala performance: https://youtu.be/i8oRTCnQQSA

 

[dorispulaski]

Alas, blocked already.

However, in searching for a newer copy I found Shingo's FS in the recent sectional in junior men's singles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbyXYrbURXQ

Shades of Charlie White, who competed in singles through juniors, and was the first US male skater to get level 4 on a step.sequence.