unicorn

Thank you for the link, I do have to admit, I would love to see Yuzuru revisit his Chopin piece (yes, again! Chopin 4.0, anyone?) as a professional skater in an ice show.... and skate to this entire masterpiece. I've spoken already how his SP version goes through an arc from calm serenity into blistering controlled madness, but if he could expand the current choreography and pull a Machida by doing a super long and uncut exhibition, I think it would truly be one of the greatest skating exhibitions of all time. The sweet and tender B section perfectly complements and amplifies the drama and emotion of the coda. His depth of understanding of this Ballade seems to only grow and grow as he gets older, and if Chopin 3.0 is already this rich, nuanced, and stunning, I can only imagine the full piece!

It's nice to post back here again! I got busy for personal reasons for a while, but August is always "Yuzuru's program announcement" time so I'm here to join you all in the excitement! Once he announces his LP, I'll feel like the new season has really started haha. Then it'll be trying to piece together music cuts from the snippets in the news coverage, speculation on the arrangement of the elements, and all that fun stuff.

Let's Go Crazy is my favorite of Yuzuru's short programs, when it's done like at the GPF or in encores, I just love the electric mix of star power, absolute musicality, extroversion, as well as despite the incredibly fast pace, the playfulness with the choreography, the spontaneity, and the abandon to the audience and to the music. He's so good he doesn't need to follow every step as it's been outlined, he can play with the timing and his gestures like someone who is out there just having fun, nothing seems to be done for marks (pumping your fist in a sit spin? I'm sold!). It goes from one high to the next, it builds into non-stop exhilaration. It takes such command to bring all of that together with the quads and the level 4 spins and the deep edges. It's a program I can't imagine anyone else doing with that quality and that star power, not Plushenko, not Jeff himself, not Kurt Browning, not anyone. And certainly none of them can rock a lavender pant-suit like he does Someone said he does the "slinky androgynous rockstar" really well, and I think he's the only male skater right now, if not in the history of the sport, who can do it that well.

I agree that there's still a possibility of changing it, I'm guessing after FaOI is over and Yuzuru reconvenes with his team and gets time with Jeff, we might hear something different. It's unlike them to state his programs so early in the season, so I think there is room to change and maybe his team wanted to gauge the reactions (from fans, the audience, judges and officials who might have heard the news). Like you said, there's also some safety in performing a program that has previously been evaluated highly by judges, plus the comfort of not having to completely relearn choreography. Chopin has always been very loved by judges, even with mistakes. But I feel like +GOEs and PCS are going to be high for everyone next season, it's the Olympic season and the ISU is planning big changes to the scoring after Pyeongchang, it's time to throw out marks like candy to everyone. I just don't want him to psyche himself out by thinking he needs to do it perfectly at the Olympics (a defensive position), a new program without baggage of living up to past performances might have also been good (an attacking position).

Yuzuru "I'm starting to have negative feelings about the short program" Hanyu had 5 clean back-to-back short program skates culminating in his WR breaking Olympic performance. And 2 WR skates to that program the season before. That doesn't sound like a non-SP skater to me, Yuzu. Psychologically, having a program that he's comfortable with must be such a benefit that we can't even imagine. This couldn't have been a decision he made lightly, he's very in tuned to the reaction and reception of his programs (how he knew about the lukewarm reception to H&L, how he talked about not repeating SEIMEI after the 2015-16 season because he'd felt he'd done enough with it, how he prefaced his 2014 Worlds EX to R+J as saying "he knows he can never replicate the emotions and exact circumstances that contributed to that singular performance [at Worlds 2012]") and I'm sure he knew of the reaction he'd get for repeating Chopin. Or, if he didn't predict it, I'm absolutely certain he's now aware of the backlash. But above all, this is the choice he decided to make and the criticisms he's choosing to answer. It certainly brings its own set of challenges.

I just wanted to add to this, because it was something that came up a lot with the backlash against reusing programs. It's important to remember that outside of the very top elite, many competitors (regional senior competitors, novices, juniors, for example) can't afford to get new programs choreographed every year. Programs from very established choreographers like Lori Nichol or David Wilson can cost thousands of dollars, so it would be unfair to impose any rules that bar repeating programs. Obviously a skater like Yuzuru has a lot of money, but it would be unfair to impose restrictions on just the very top/financially well-off skaters and not on the others.

I don't know what it is about Chopin 1.0, originally I had been disappointed because it looked completely lavender in the first ice shows but instead it was a gradient from white to indigo, but it really grew to be one of my favorite costumes. The fabric seems just a bit more translucent and delicate than Chopin 2.0, I think that's what makes all the difference, especially in the sleeves (which I think are also looser than in 2.0). 2.0's gold pieces are intriguing stylistically, they're very geometric and bold for such an organic and flowing program.

@Murieleirum amazing work! I think the fluidity and gentleness of H&L really shine through when different music is put on, but there's glimpses of the idea of what a Danse Macabre program for him could look like with some different movements, and it's a tantalizing idea to think about! The timing on so many things like the ramp up to the 4S+3T and then the spread eagles right after are incredibly well-matched, and especially for me, the entire 2nd half has so many great ideas for timing to play with. The 3A jump combinations fit quite well, and as @Anony said, the 3Lz and combination spin at the end are particularly wonderful! I'd love to see more of your work, thanks for sharing it with us

@Fulcher, I can't say I entirely understand, but I am entirely delighted. Please keep making these!

His music is wonderful! @rozuyu I definitely did not coin warpony, we'll have to search for the person who that trophy emoji really belongs to! Similarly to Ravel who most skaters use for Bolero and occasionally Daphnis et Chloé, Liszt's repertoire is also so underused. We get so many takes on Liebesträume and then maybe the occasional Totentanz (and then it's usually the remix, looking at you, 2007-08 Yuzuru ). Bartók would be quite a bold choice any season, every season

Wow, the banners all look amazing! Congratulations to everyone for contributing! It's going to be like Japan Nationals 2013, a bloodbath (a cute and fun one, at least!) Just a suggestion, I wonder if there is an option to turn off showing the voting counts, and to just see the top 5? I think it would it would give extra incentive to vote (no banners look so far ahead that they can't be caught up to!), plus I don't want any contributor's hard efforts to be discouraged if they see a low number of votes for their work. But I realize that makes the process a lot more difficult, and I hate to ask more from the mods when you guys have already done a fabulous job organizing this (and everything really!)

Of course, I didn't mean to imply that it's not something you've been considering/working on! It's good to know, and take your time to create a set of rules for what you best see fit. You admins/mods do so much great work, I don't think I thank you enough!

Perhaps the General Thread could include some general rules that can be agreed upon here or here in the Feedback section? It's important that both the mods and posters all feel like there's a way to express themselves (agreeing or not) but also stay away from content they don't wish to participate in (for instance, I didn't even know there were shipping threads! ). Of course we're bound to have some disagreements, but it's better to establish the protocol right now than before Olympic season really ramps up. Shipping in particular seems to be a very, very delicate subject, more so than topics/jokes pertaining to Yuzuru only, which is where I think some people might draw the line between "normal" off-topic and "really" off-topic. Sorry, just some suggestions/thoughts! I think for the most part, the conversations here are totally understandable and the tangents are funny, but perhaps enough people have expressed their dislike of this particular topic for this to be taken into consideration.

Daphnis et Chloé is not quite warhorse territory, I think! I can only think of 4 programs off the top of my head going back to Sarah Hughes. Gracie Gold's attempt last season wasn't particularly suited to her I felt (it calls for much more freedom), and was unfortunately hampered by lack of fitness. Then there's Yukina Ota's FS, then the only other one I can think of is a senior ladies competitor at US Nationals, but who never quite made it internationally, I think it's quite underused for men... Actually listing it out, I realize that there's more than I thought Not a warhorse yet, but a warpony. But still, I love it! And I feel nobody has quite done the music justice and "claimed it" as theirs yet, unlike with Yuna's The Lark Ascending as you said. Hey, I like some Messiaen (and the joke!) ETA: The guessing is so much fun, @Smultron! I'm also really thankful to people's suggestions here, it really feeds the soul and the ears to hear such great new music.

I'm very convinced of this supposed bird program for next season!! Swan Lake is a great guess, the more bombastic sections make for great LPs, but I thought I'd look for some lesser used "bird" pieces. I love the idea of him kind of ignoring the Western canon and skating to music composed by Japanese composers so I suggest Takashi Yoshimatsu. So many bird-themed works to enjoy from him: Prelude to the Celebration of Birds (lots of dynamics and interesting little melodies to explore with a soaring finish) and Ode to Birds and Rainbows (the melody that builds starting around 2:38 is particularly delightful and would make a great step sequence) especially. The Age of Birds is similarly wonderful. And Birds Are Still... is an incredibly touching piece, although maybe too quiet and introspective for the Olympics. A lot of the little melody sections of Yoshimatsu's pieces could be cut together in interesting ways like Lu Chen's The Last Emporer FS. Perhaps no other piece of music captures the feeling of sun rising in the morning and birds taking to flight as Maurice Ravel's Lever du jour from Daphnis et Chloé. All at once it conveys the grandness of the world and nature and the power of the sun. Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending is another piece that evokes similar feeling, but it's more tranquil and less epic and transcendent as Lever du jour (plus, Yuna's version is hard to better!). The black blades make me think of something a bit more devious and sinister though, intriguing to think about! Shostakovich like @Murieleirum and @rozuyu mentioned upthread is someone who has a lot of darker music to play with, I really like his Piano Trio no.2 Allegretto or the even more out of control String Quartet no.8. I think both could easily be interpreted in a bird-theme like Mao's Ritual Fire Dance SP and Akiko's O. But most importantly, a bird/soaring theme begs for a spiral! Come on Yuzuru!

I wouldn't say he's lying per se, but skirting around the truth a little he hasn't definitively said yes or no yet. It lets him keep his cards close to his chest so he can reveal his strategy at the right time and in the right way (probably on media day with footage of his new programs). @Joey thanks so much for recalculating everyone's placements! Nice to see Yuzuru number 1, as he should be

I think that's absolutely an argument people make, I think edge jumps are more affected than toe jumps simply due to the fact that they are much more dependent on being in contact with more ice for the weight transfer/take off. More experienced skaters than me can speak to this, but I think it's like Goldilocks three bears, it can't be too soft, too hard, or too wet. I think if the ice is much too soft there's too much friction, lots of snow flying, making it harder to get a clean take off, too wet and you might just slide, or if the ice is full of deep ruts and holes because of the ice being too soft, your blade can catch on the take off. Harder ice generally seems to be better, but if it's too hard I don't think there's enough "give" to get into your edges to do the edge jump. Oh, I see @Xen posted just in time! Welcome to the forum!

I do think he was held to a higher standard this season compared to both his competitors and his own marks last season, hopefully it was honestly that the judges didn't like his programs and that made them mark harshly (it would be completely unjustified, but at least it means if he got programs the judges liked, then scoring would be better). @meoima you also bring up something I've been thinking about, is the 4Lo really not at difficult as the 4F? At least with the 4Lz, you have the counter-rotation (set-up lobe different from the landing lobe), but is the 4F really so much more difficult? The sample size is so small for those who do quads, there's barely any research/statistics to justify why the 4Lo is less difficult. Maybe for triples, the 3F/3Lz are more difficult because you have to master the inside/outside edge take off from the opposite foot, but once you have the mechanic down, the toe pick when doing a quad helps you stabilize and power through the jump, while edge jumps are completely about timing and your own strength to snap up into rotation, which is exponentially more difficult for quads. When you hear Kurt Browning describe how edge quads are so difficult for him to imagine, you question even more if the Scale of Values accurately depicts the differences.

Thanks for the info! I hope her and her team train carefully safely, but I think it's the right decision. The 3A in the SP is so risky and can set you back so far for the FS, it's best to focus on going clean in the SP, making the final group so judges don't have an excuse to undermark you, and then go all out in the FS. She has to "stand out" to serve notice to the judges that she's a top contender, and I think the 3A plus consistent programs is the way to do it. I'm glad she liked Gabby's short program, I think something like that very dramatic and fast music could highlight Wakaba's speed. It will be tough competition for Japan's two spots at the Olympics, but traditionally, she's done very well at Nationals, if she can back it up with a solid fall season, she has a great shot.

Thanks for the link! Interesting stuff. Despite Google Translate, I'm not sure I understand how equal GOEs are rewarded 1st/2nd/3rd place distinctions, it appears to be by whatever occurred first in the calendar year? I don't quite agree with that, so if same GOE = same "placement", 3 of his "2nd place finishes" would be 1sts (StSq4, CSSp4, 4Lo) and 2 3rds would be 2nd (CCoSp4, 3Lz). Of course, others would have to be recalculated as well. The GOEs on Yuzuru's 4Lo are funny, especially in the SP. I can't think of a single male skater in the world doing as hard transitions into/out of a solo quad as a spread eagle-4Lo-spread eagle, and yet he hasn't even cracked +2.50 GOE (+2.43 at Worlds, +2.29 at 4CC ), let alone the highest GOE for a solo quad in the SP this season. Where's the arguments that SE-3As deserve as much kudos as counter-3As, but his "immaculate" SE-4Lo-SE(-then some ina bauers, mohawks, pivots and other footwork ) don't even have the unanimous highest GOE It gets basically the same judging as his easier 4Lo in the FS. Where's the incentive to do difficult, creative, and musical transitions? Both his SE-3A-SEs in imperfect Chopin programs got +3.00 GOE (COC14 and SC2015), why are judges so unimpressed by his LGC SE-4Lo-SE? Oh judging. ETA: Okay, I knew I remembered correctly, he got a +2.57 for his 4Lo at WTT. Unfortunately doesn't explain why marks for his great SP 4Los are so stingy.

I actually think that the 2015 SC Chopin before the two invalidated jumping passes (new fans might not know about the mythical 6th place +3GOE 3A no-other-jumps short program ) is the best version of the first half of the original Chopin 1.0, it's stunning. Then it goes off the rails with his weird 4T entry and the cursed 3Lz+3T combo GPF 2015 is for me the absolutely best version of Chopin 2.0, and GPF 2014 the best version of Chopin 1.5

As much as I absolutely love LGC, I don't think he will keep it. Despite being in great condition/health for most of the season, the short program became a mental block, and that's an absolute no-no for the Olympics. PW was different because he was comfortable with it and did it clean multiple times his first season and only when he was derailed by injuries and health issues did it start to become unstable (It returned to consistent by next season with 5 clean SPs in a row!) He needs a SP that he can rely on. Like @surimi said, I would love to see it revisited as a gala! Then he could even bring back LGC White because of the show lights Although to be honest I love LGC Purple as well ETA: Haha, it looks like I mostly repeated what other people like wildstrawberry said, sorry, my fault for not reading properly on mobile!

I guess this is the official mock judging thread, so sign me up!

I'd love to participate in mock judging, especially if we can set it up to score live once the season begins! But if we do past events, judging competitions after the fact is fun as well. I remember scoring 2015 4CC live and it was such an informative experience.

Yuazz and yuzuangel, I believe those are the 2010 Vancouver Gold Medals! Known for their distinctly wave-y curvature and unique patterns on every single medal.