Fresca

In fairness to David, both NdP and R&J2 were very well choreographed (spacing, timing and variety of elements, levels, transitions, pacing, use of the rink, etc). They were just too ambitious for Yuzu. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not but David did not choreograph to Yuzu's strengths. He instead gave him programs that pushed him to his limits. Yuzu used up all his energy to execute the technical and had nothing left to layer the performance aspect on top of that. Given how Yuzu has grown, that won't be the case now. Personally, though I would prefer Shae, I'd also be excited if he chose David.

Yuzu thrives on competitive pressure. He loves it I think. He performs his best when he sees his rivals skate well before him or when his back is against the wall and he needs to reassert dominance. Dragon Yuzu hunting for gold shiny appears and you know you will see this face with the number one finger in the air at the end. He has Don't Touch My World Record Syndrome Other kinds of pressure...It varies I think. IMO his poor WTT SP performance was due to the pressure he put on himself to dedicate his SP to Prince on his death anniversary. So he was not skating for fun, for himself, or even to win but to honor a dead legend. What kind of unbelievable pressure is that? I thought it was the worst pressure he could have put on himself. He was so tense and anxious before the SP.

He was totally holding back from resurrecting Romeo! Give in to the R&J 1 music Yuzu! You know you want to! I'd love to see him do the choreo again even just for fun.

Turandot is a great choice. Yuzu will need something similarly epic that's easy to sell. At least he knows exactly what he's going to be up against before making final decisions about his Olympic season FS.

Etude is indeed underrated. It definitely deserves more votes than Vertigo! The drama of the music and the choreography really suited Yuzu at that age (Nanami knew how to choreograph to his strengths) and this is one of my favorite costumes of his. It's one of those programs that I enjoy very much but which I don't love as much as the others because I prefer the music of his other programs. I just watched his 2011 COR and GPF performances of Etude and I am again equal parts pitying and laughing at those who critiqued his posture in his older performances. How sad that they cannot appreciate the articulation of his torso, how he uses contraction and release to add drama to his upper body movement to match the music. He uses this bending forwards and backwards over his core to emphasize the extension of his arms to skate very big consuming the space around him one moment and then very small and light the next transforming forcefulness into delicacy. This kind of movement with variety in space and weight with flow centered around a strong core- the limbs, upper torso and head moving as satellites in many trajectories around the center- this is the aesthetic of modern/contemporary dance. Another program I enjoy very much and could have really loved but for one section right before the hydroblade where I thought the choreography was a bit repetitive and empty (sorry Mr. Miyamoto but how many turns with arms in ballet 4th do you want him to do!). His Boston performance of Requiem was IMO, his best showcase of his musicality thus far because he was so emotionally invested in it that he improvised many of the details in the latter part of his performance. And his improv was so much more beautiful and moving than the actual choreography from previous performances :crybaby:

Yes I am! :yay: I had to join the party! This is such a fun place! It was hard for me to pick too but in the end, I had to pick the ones where I felt that I had seen something truly exceptional, the feeling that I had seen the ground of the sport shift.

I had to pick H&L, Seimei and Chopin. Though I have a very soft spot for many of the others, these 3 are the height of what is possible when you combine brilliant choreography, brilliant music, brilliant technical difficulty, brilliant execution and brilliant expression. PW was a very close 4th for the reasons mentioned but didn't make the list because he surpassed himself with the other 3. The others I have a soft spot for: R&J 1 (I adore this soundtrack and he was the perfect passionate Romeo), POTO (beautiful program nearly skated to its potential but for a 3Lz!), Notte Stellata and White Legend (he has such lovely swan arms). The program I want to see him perform again the most at his current state is R&J 2. It's actually a very well choreographed program (especially the last part from the Ina Bauer onwards) and the music is so beautiful. However, I don't think he ever skated this to near its potential. This was an ambitious program for him at the time and he needed to spend all his efforts to execute the technical elements due to his stamina issues but now...he would knock it out of the park.

She did say he was a genius :bow: Yes, he got that from her. Also, his attitude to always have the mindset of a beginner: https://goo.gl/H42PM3.

I don't think Nanami gets enough credit for what she gave Yuzu. Look what she's teaching him here? Alignment in his air position for his jumps :yes: If you don't have this during rotation, there is no way you can land your jumps correctly. How many times must she have done this for him?

Hi everyone! Congratulations to the admins and mods for getting the site up and running so quickly! It's lovely to see all the Yuzu avatars running down the right side of the screen. I have many pages to catch up on but I'm glad to see how lively and positive this place is! It's a shame what happened to the GS Fan Fest but here's to a welcoming, friendly place where everyone can cheer together for Yuzu!