Xen

Kwan did the Eva Cassidy version, if I remember. I'm okay with him doing Lindsey Stirling, though I'm more partial to her version of Skyrim and Dragon Age Inquisition. We should probably move further music suggestions to the music thread?

Hmm, you want him to go for Metal? I wouldn't mind Bohemian Rhapsody as an ex.

I kind of do want the swan for Olys...but frankly, I'm okay with whatever the guy chooses, it is his olys anyways. Oh, but there is one that might work: fields of gold

I'm okay with POTO, my least favorite long of his is R&J 2.0, the boobskirt didn't help. In fact, I think he could probably do POTO more justice now than before, since he and Shae understand each other more, I think any POTO he does today, will be better.

Don't think he's changed that much since 2015. Probably won't change much till post-age 27. Personally I think his skin has gotten lighter, so I actually try to judge his age by his skin tone. Also, lol at the 4cc 2017 image. He just didn't even bother to try smiling.

I'm always amazed by how disciplined those little kids are. If he showed up at my rink, screw practice, I'd just skate to the side and stare at him practicing. It's so rare to watch a master at work in person.

Is there something Yuzu related that you can't find?!

Etude style one?

Seimei opening pose?! *voice squeaks* that sounds scary. As for the closing, he's already done jumps in practice with helicopter arms.

I will tolerate the butt spin if necessary, but not even Yuzu will persuade me that the butt spin can be beautiful.

Agree- doesn't he normally stretch his right leg too for the biellman? In which case, maybe he was just going easy on his knee. But it's so nice he has so many position variations for his spins. Speaking of which, wonder if he has the flexibility for a layback haircutter spin? That one is more work for the back though, and if biellman's are giving him back pain already at times, maybe not a good idea?

Well yes, that one is the weird one that is stretched- but that just makes his 4Loop height issue even worse though in my opinion since it's flat, no matter how you look at it. Long story short, several of Shoma's jumps just feel "unbalanced" (for lack of a better word) when it comes to its distance/height for me. Reusing 3flip3loop again, have some other composites that are also amazing. 1) Shoma's 3A: yes the angle of the shot is not ideal, but move that curve a bit and it actually looks good. (credit here) 2) And Javi also has a nice height/distance distribution in his, it's pretty nice and balanced: (credit) Did I mention, composite images are awesome?

Um, Ice Dance Shibutanis.

Hm, I think the balletic roots is more PR from the USFSA and the media in general. From what I've seen and heard of Nate, he doesn't exactly promote it himself, even saying he liked this year's programs more since he views himself as a contemporary dancer. I think age and maturity is another issue. When you're 17/18 years old, and capable of jumping quads like Nate, the thrill of the jumps just doesn't go away. Jumping is addictive! Skating while a teen, I could do jump practices for hours, less for spins, and far less for footwork/skating skills (much to my coach's frustration back then). Once that thrill is over, the artistry will come, and I think Nate is trying.

Are there figure skaters who are not popular in Japan? The fans we ran across at ACI were so supportive of everyone and super polite.

Sorry, I wasn't disagreeing with you. =) I'm just grumbling to myself. Sorry it came out the wrong way.

But Nathan does have balletic roots, even if we disagree about his ability to display it in his programs (his upper body posture btw is still very good for a male skater of his age-his real issue are the ankles and knees). And his programs this year, are much better than last year's so far- so until they bring in the 7quads to ruin that vision, there's no point in harping about it.

That one jump by Shoma has better height, but that distance is tiny. Hmm, I'm not sure how to say it but this time he has more height relative to distance-aka he went up enough, but didn't jump out as much, from the composite. The one I'm thinking of is probably better covered in the image in this post from the-real-xmonster. And also, Yuzu's jumps usually has a nice, balanced curve-so he gets both up and out. Wow, poor Shoma, why do I always end up stumbling across his jumps for comparison?! The poor boy gets no breaks does he? But anyways, Shoma's jumps usually gives me the impression he gets sufficient distance, like that tumblr post, without the matching height you'd expect; or he gets enough height, but not enough distance for his height, like that 4F composite. However this doesn't always apply, ie Shoma still has some decent jumps, like his axel, and his 4S is okay too, as is his 4T usually. Anyways, I'm not sure how to say this, but usually Yuzu's jumps height/distance look more balanced: for example the axel below (credit to 3flip3loop) *btw, 3flip3loop has some amazing composites of Yuzu's jumps, they're gorgeous images! But usually you want to see a jump that's fairly proportional in its curvature-it should be both nicely smoothly up and out. Not like it got stretched a bit more in one dimension. Anyways, I could be objectively wrong too. For jumps, sometimes it's still a bit "feels right/wrong" for me, even though as a skater, it really should not be. T_T

Anyone know what this involves? I'm checking against Gladi's translation and not sure what this is about. The one translated does not sound like US propaganda?

Wasn't this expression->>> the one he made on Asaichi when they asked him to do something beautifully? Bet he's rolling his eyes at this statement now. Imagine if they ask him to raise his hand gracefully.

Hmm, I should probably say that his distance gained is relatively more than his height-aka a flatter curve.

It's not just a rotation speed issue I think. I was looking through Yuzu's rippons and noticed he tends to round his arms a bit- it's not fully straight (for comparison, look at Janny's rippons). This makes his rippon arms look more wide, and round. I do recall my coach as a child, who never wanted me to have my arms fully extended straight-as she considered it a bit ungraceful, as it lacks a feeling of "smoothness" going from the legs up to the top of your hands. Yes, ideally jumps should be a very nice parabola, aka Yuzu, Javi, Boyang (mostly), Patrick, even Nathan (it's still a decently good parabola even if not the largest in the world), with a fairly good distance along with good height. A lot of height but little distance (Vincent, though I think he's okay, there are a couple junior men), or lot of distance but little height (Shoma) are both problematic and indicate issues with jump technique (or not a natural jumper). And both can contribute to issues with exit landings, flow and axis issues. @Fay@Yatagarasu: Regarding the jumps-I'm thinking of that old russian article Fay translated, and according to that, a lot of height but no distance on a jump is a lack of control of the edge. In the case of little height and lots of distance I'm tempted to say it's a timing issue (aka not timing the take off correctly with leg strength issues being possible). Would I be correct in this hypothesis?

And for Evgeny Plushenko:

Not everyone folds their arms in like Yuzu when they rotate. If you get close ups of Boyang's jumps, you'll notice he kind of folds his arms across his chest and stomach (and not even grasped together) when rotating. Plushenko also used to fold his hands across his stomach region too and even one above, one below. Actually, Yuzu's arms on his waist in this way, is less an issue than the one used by Plush I think.

I'm joking okay. Besides, Yuzu already rippons his combo jump, his aesthetics probably won't permit him to permiate his layout with rippons. This 4Lz obsession with men this season....