General Yuzuru Chat

[One_more_fanyu]

  On 3/9/2020 at 8:57 AM, Katt said:

I think I said before that Yuzuru + Eteri team = disaster combo. They couldn't be more different. Eteri's method is they control everything, technically and artistically, like you should do this move, give this look at this part. That's why their skating feel very staged and lack of connection. Pretty sure they wouldn't give Yururu that much freedom, whether he's 17 or 25. Yuzuru once said he didn't like all Nanami's choice for him, but he still goes with it because he trust her. He truly enjoy his old programs at Ciontu, and add a new feeling to those piece. Yuzuru has his own vision of skating, and at some points I think TCC even has a hard time to deal with it.  Luckily they're very patient and always put skater's opinion first. I often joke with my friend that if Yuzuru come to Sambo 70, he and Eteri would never go through 1/2 hour in peace, and he never get the music cut  with Danill. They would kick him out after 3 days

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I don’t know. I love Yulia’s programs in the 2013/2014 season. And from what I understand, She chose the song for both the short program (You don’t give up on love) and the long program (Schindler’s list). So maybe, if the skaters feel very strongly towards some piece of music for a program, they might try it... And David Wilson refused to choreograph a POTO program for Yuzuru at the 2012/2013 season.

 

Nonetheless, I don’t believe Eteri and Yuzuru would work well together, but we’ll never really know.

[cereus]

  On 3/9/2020 at 10:34 AM, Paskud said:

best boy and his turtle plane;;;;;;

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OT but I love that ANA calls them the "flying honu" models. Honu is the Hawaiian name for the green sea turtle.

[SitTwizzle]

  On 3/9/2020 at 2:39 PM, rubyblue said:

Absolutety, he always comes with some unique hand and head movements to match music accents and its character. And his range of hand (and head) movements as well as  its freedom during spinning is second to none. Speed is not the only factor that makes spins good.

 

I thinks this is a main thing that makes Yuzu so special in general - he's probably the only skater who can use absolutely every  athletic element (jumps, steps, spins, transitions) as a part of interpretation, they're not just sequence of elements glued with choreo/transitions in between, they're fundaments of his programs, part of his artistic language, equally set to the whole image. Unfortunately, there's no place in the scoring system that can make a justice to that (or - there's no will or competence by the judges side to use the system to make that justice).  He's surpassed the frames of this sport

 

That's why I'm on the board with the idea for seperate panel to score PCS - to have some judges who actually can watch a program and see it as a whole peace to be able to notice that differences. It's pretty much imposible rn. Imo, even viewers follow mostly techbox in the corner of the screen while watching competitions irt. 

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This is what I meant with "make them speak". You may look for instance Alina Zagitova's in her Cleopatra program, the shape she gives her back and arms, to give them the "Egyptian Nights" by Fokine aesthetics of its first part; or Alena Kostornaya's "vampire shape". But to this Yuzuru Hanyu adds arms movements, and though no skater, I am under the impression that any arm movement in a spin is extremely difficult and puts the skater at a risk of losing balance and fall — or at least travel. And these very arm movements are interpretation of the music to. He makes skating reach such levels!

Sorry, I can't watch videos right now, so I couldn't see Roman Sadovsky's and Yulia Lipnitskaya's yet.

 

  

  On 3/9/2020 at 8:42 AM, sallycinnamon said:

 

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Oh, how nice! One of ANA's three A380, they use them to fly from Narita to Hawaii if I remember well.

[Crow]

 
👀

[Henni147]

Did anyone mention Yuzu's sit spins?!

I think, it's time to bring back my sit spin attention post 

 

Joking aside. My current perception of Yuzu's spins is the following (it's a bit longer, so I put it into spoilers):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

1. Speed: His speed varies from good average to really fast. It depends on the position, the rhythm/speed of the music and his stamina. There are some skaters like Keegan, who can gain absolute insane speed, but I think Yuzu's spins in LGC and some other programs can compete with the top guys in that department.
    
2. Centering: Yuzu's camel and sit spins are nicely centered in most cases, while in the past his Biellmann used to travel a bit (in Barcelona Seimei for example). I would say that his Biellmann in H&L in Helsinki was his best one so far.
    
3. Body Position: For me Yuzu, Roman and Jason have the most elegant and aesthetically pleasing body positions overall. In camel spins their free leg doesn't hang down sloppily but gets quickly above hip level as it should. In sit positions Yuzu is unmatched imo. The sheer number of different positions and difficult variations is really impressive: broken leg, pancake, cannonball, mushroom, shoot-the-duck (also in extended deep variation)... However, in his upright/ layback positions Yuzu has some room for improvement imo. They are solid, but don't give me goosebumps yet.
    
4. Arm/ head/ finger movements: Roman and Yuzu rock this department. The most memorable arm movement for me is probably Yuzu "spreading his wings" during the sit spin in Notte Stellata. That was such a vivid and powerful image.
    
5. Entries: Travelling camel entry. Back counter into sit spin. Butterfly entry into camel. Sit twizzles into sit spin. Death drop into camel. Illusion entry into sit spin. Do I have to continue? I'd say, Yuzu deserves an extra award for this category. 
   EDIT: I forgot to mention side lunge (pistol pose) into sit spin. Shame on you, Henni.
    
6. Other features: One-foot-jumps of +1 meter height. Change of edge. Up-and-down spins from sit to non-basic position. Descending Grafström camel. Yuzu does quite well here, too. However, he has to take care of his balance when changing from one foot to the other. It's rare, but it happens that he wobbles a little like in his 4CC EX last month.

 

 

[FlyingCamel]

@Crow I think there’s already a discussion on this in the Worlds discussion and tickets thread if you’re interested! But thank you for sharing  

[EisElle]

  On 3/9/2020 at 5:07 PM, Henni147 said:

Did anyone mention Yuzu's sit spins?!

I think, it's time to bring back my sit spin attention post 

 

Joking aside. My current perception of Yuzu's spins is the following (it's a bit longer, so I put it into spoilers):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

1. Speed: His speed varies from good average to really fast. It depends on the position, the rhythm/speed of the music and his stamina. There are some skaters like Keegan, who can gain absolute insane speed, but I think Yuzu's spins in LGC and some other programs can compete with the top guys in that department.
    
2. Centering: Yuzu's camel and sit spins are nicely centered in most cases, while in the past his Biellmann used to travel a bit (in Barcelona Seimei for example). I would say that his Biellmann in H&L in Helsinki was his best one so far.
    
3. Body Position: For me Yuzu, Roman and Jason have the most elegant and aesthetically pleasing body positions overall. In camel spins their free leg doesn't hang down sloppily but gets quickly above hip level as it should. In sit positions Yuzu is unmatched imo. The sheer number of different positions and difficult variations is really impressive: broken leg, pancake, cannonball, mushroom, shoot-the-duck (also in extended deep variation)... However, in his upright/ layback positions Yuzu has some room for improvement imo. They are solid, but don't give me goosebumps yet.
    
4. Arm/ head/ finger movements: Roman and Yuzu rock this department. The most memorable arm movement for me is probably Yuzu "spreading his wings" during the sit spin in Notte Stellata. That was such a vivid and powerful image.
    
5. Entries: Travelling camel entry. Back counter into sit spin. Butterfly entry into camel. Sit twizzles into sit spin. Death drop into camel. Illusion entry into sit spin. Do I have to continue? I'd say, Yuzu deserves an extra award for this category. 
   EDIT: I forgot to mention side lunge (pistol pose) into sit spin. Shame on you, Henni.
    
6. Other features: One-foot-jumps of +1 meter height. Change of edge. Up-and-down spins from sit to non-basic position. Descending Grafström camel. Yuzu does quite well here, too. However, he has to take care of his balance when changing from one foot to the other. It's rare, but it happens that he wobbles a little like in his 4CC EX last month.

 

 

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Henni this is a great breakdown! And I see you've suceedeed in your learning all kind of spins, I'm envious

[SitTwizzle]

I didn't find a thread about Yuzuru Hanyu's general athleticism.

I was struck to read about Yuma Kagiyama's or particularly, Alexandra Trusova's admiration for Nathan Chen.

I couldn't put words on it for long, but could it be that very young, but talented, high level skaters like them believe Nathan Chen may be in any way "more athletic", have "more stamina" than Yuzuru Hanyu?

I concede Nathan Chen's stiff landings and sometimes struggling axis may consume a lot of energy.

But, please tell me if I am wrong, Yuzuru Hanyu could have Nathan Chen's FP and its "five quads" for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and skate it much better, and with a strong "consistency") should he find it somehow useful to improve his practice (but would never insult figure skating, ISU rules and his public by doing such a poor program in competition); while I am absolutely certain Nathan Chen couldn't, even after months of practice and if it was the key to next OGM, skate any of Yuzuru Hanyu's recent programs, even replacing quads by triples and triple Axels by double Axels (and, of course, replacing Biellmanns etc).

Do you think these young skaters will mature and see it?

Would it be possible (following Rockstaryuzu's advice about stupidity and ill-will) that some judges don't see it, and see precisely in Nathan Chen's desperate struggle to keep up with at least Yuzuru Hanyu's BV, a show of athleticism, and in Yuzuru Hanyu's "effortless" grace and mastery, a proof that his program is easier than the former's, as even such a thin, graceful creature can skate it?

[FlyingCamel]

Sharing this because I’ve never seen this angle before too!! It looks like he’s less than 90 degrees off 💪🏻

[micaelis]

I don't want to cause a panic but the Los Angeles Times, amongst others, has put out a story saying that Quebec officials are seriously considering the possibility of postponing or even cancelling the World Figure Skating competition in Montreal later this month.  They have not said when a final decision will be made as whether to hold it as scheduled, postpone it or cancel it.   If it were a case of a local competition and there were not many cases of the COVID-19 in the province they might let it proceed but this is an international competition with people coming from all over the world, not just the skaters but also the fans.  The virus has now shown itself in over 100 countries so all of us should be prepared to deal with the shock and disappointment of no Worlds this year.  I hate to rain on everybody's parade but I imagine all of us have already admitted the possibility of a cancellation in our private thoughts.  A decision will be made as quickly as possible and each potential cancellation or rescheduling of an event is being done on a case by case basis.  It was noted that the world championships of women's hockey being held in Nova Scotia has been cancelled but I would caution everyone not to panic since the figure skating Worlds is a higher profile event so the pressures will be to go forward as planned (There's too much money involved).  One complicating factor that just came to mind is that there are a lot of scheduled airline flights being cancelled so that just getting to Montreal might prove difficult if not impossible for many skaters and fans. 

[barbara]

  On 3/10/2020 at 1:11 AM, micaelis said:

I don't want to cause a panic but the Los Angeles Times, amongst others, has put out a story saying that Quebec officials are seriously considering the possibility of postponing or even cancelling the World Figure Skating competition in Montreal later this month.  They have not said when a final decision will be made as whether to hold it as scheduled, postpone it or cancel it.   If it were a case of a local competition and there were not many cases of the COVID-19 in the province they might let it proceed but this is an international competition with people coming from all over the world, not just the skaters but also the fans.  The virus has now shown itself in over 100 countries so all of us should be prepared to deal with the shock and disappointment of no Worlds this year.  I hate to rain on everybody's parade but I imagine all of us have already admitted the possibility of a cancellation in our private thoughts.  A decision will be made as quickly as possible and each potential cancellation or rescheduling of an event is being done on a case by case basis.  It was noted that the world championships of women's hockey being held in Nova Scotia has been cancelled but I would caution everyone not to panic since the figure skating Worlds is a higher profile event so the pressures will be to go forward as planned (There's too much money involved).  One complicating factor that just came to mind is that there are a lot of scheduled airline flights being cancelled so that just getting to Montreal might prove difficult if not impossible for many skaters and fans. 

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No panic - just concern.  Mine being that I get there and cases go up exponentially and the US doesn't let me back in.  I feel worse for those already on their way...

[zootown]

  On 3/10/2020 at 1:16 AM, barbara said:

No panic - just concern.  Mine being that I get there and cases go up exponentially and the US doesn't let me back in.  I feel worse for those already on their way...

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That's my worry, would I get in (Italian) would I be able to get back to the USA. Would it be smart to travel and risk getting sick knowing the cost of health care here? In addition would it be completely irresponsible to risk spreading a disease around? I was expecting the event would be cancelled today! Don't get what are they waiting for....

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 3/10/2020 at 1:30 AM, zootown said:

Don't get what are they waiting for....

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It's pretty simple - they haven't ruled out asking for it to be cancelled, but right now they still think the risk is low enough not to. Stay tuned for more developments, basically.

 

[holina]

Just thinking back, 4CC was such a great event that some of us joked at that time that “Okay, let’s just cancel Worlds!”, (thinking about the biased pro-US and pro-Rus Fed judging, awards sh*t show), never thought in a million years that it may actually become true! 🤪

[alwaysafan]

It's crazy what's happening in the world. I live in Italy in the red zone, already quarantined, and now our WHOLE country is on lock-down. I'm praying for Yuzu's health. Be safe everybody