【article】Yuzu in Absolute Skating's latest report.
Atsuko Kuryu's latest article (9, Aug) in Absolute Skating (online media) took a glance of Team Japan figure skaters and other junior ones. Her report was based on the show of Dream on Ice. It may help us to acknowledge other skaters' status so far.
http://www.absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=articles&id=2014dreamsonice
The paragraphs referred to Yuzu as following: (Sorry to list a long paragraph. But I quote them for easier reading in mobile phone
)
(1)
The Dreams on Ice shows 2014, one of Japan's most famous annual skating events, were held June 27 - 29, as usual at the Shin Yokohama Skating Center. The shows officially end the season as well as serving as a kick-off event for the 2014/2015 season.
All the tickets quickly sold out and the seats were filled up with fans of various ages. There had usually been many middle aged women and of course there were many still, however, we could also spot families in the venue, and young women. The ones wearing short skirts particularly drew my attention; they were most likely there because of Olympic gold medalist, Yuzuru Hanyu. Once he appeared on the ice there was loud screaming and cheering in the stands, and we confirmed that a new Japanese figure skating superstar was born.
(2)
I have been wondering how to appropriately portray the young Olympic and World champion, Yuzuru Hanyu. As tremendous? Terrific? Fierce? No, I couldn't think of the right words. After winning skating's two biggest titles, he seems to have a kind of aura around himself. I saw him in several performances before this event where he skated like he was in another dimension compared to before his Olympic win.
As the last skater in this show, he performed his new short program, Ballade No.1 by Chopin. He landed a huge triple Axel in the beginning, a quad toe loop and a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, both in the latter half of the program. He also did a sit and combination spins, and executed his gorgeous step sequence. He moved with outstanding speed, jumped so easily with little preparation, spun so fast and did several moves in the field such as a deep edged spread eagle, spiral and a fast Ina Bauer with bending his upper body backwards. He moved in amazingly sync to the music as usual. Of course this was the first time he performed the program in front of an audience, so he needs more time to get used to it.
Still, I must say this program, choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle, will be the sensation of the 2014/2015 season. He ever got a standing ovation after his performance. At the press conference Plushenko was asked about Yuzuru, and called him a young genius of a new skating generation. He has big future potential but needs to stay healthy, which is the most important thing. My concern is the same...
Yuzuru was asked many questions during the press conference. He admitted he was nervous before the shows since choreography had taken all his time and he hadn't been able to practice much. His music choice was made because he wanted to use a piano piece. As a junior, he skated to Paganini and ever since he has loved the feeling of skating to piano music. Programs to classical music are hard because there is often no specific story, but that is fine with Yuzuru as it gives him an opportunity to progress. Like including a quad toe in the second half of the program. He's also working on a quad loop and Salchow, but they are not reliable enough to put in the program yet. Since he is the reigning Olympic champion he feels he has a lot to prove and needs to achieve his best results. The overwhelming response from the audience caught him a bit off guard. He's not used to his superstar status yet, but was inspired by the cheering which helped his performance.
So cuuuute.
:
. I tried online..but no success...so a friend in Japan got it for me.
