[2021.04.22] Number PLUS - FIGURE SKATING TRACE OF STARS 2020-2021

[yuzurujenn]

Info: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B092ZDQWDQ/

 

Content:

FIGURE SKATING TRACE OF STARS: The Ice Rink of Determination.
Figure Skating 2020-2021 Season Highlights

 

[Detailed Report on the World Team Trophy]
Yuzuru Hanyu: "Illuminated by the Guiding Light"

 

[Determination Gained at the World Championships]
Yuzuru Hanyu: "Just One-Eighth More Drive"

 

[Speaking of Reunion After a Year]
Brian Orser: "The Magical Moment to Come"

 

[Innovation Explained by the Arranger]
Keiichi Yano: "A Unique Expression of Japanese Style"

 

Artists Talk About the Beauty of Yuzuru Hanyu's Past Programs
Shunji Iwai x "Hana wa Saku"
Reon Yuzuki x "Romeo and Juliet"
Daisuke Nagamine x "The Phantom of the Opera"
Satoshi Nakabachi x "Notte Stellata"

 

[Men's Power Map Explained by Takeshi Honda]
"Each Person's Strengths Revealed at the World Championships"

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

Source: FIGURE SKATING TRACE OF STARS 2020-2021, pg 28-31

 

Artists Talk About the Beauty of Yuzuru Hanyu's Past Programs

Shunji Iwai x "Hana wa Saku"

 

A skater who embodies strength, suppleness, and beauty through delicate movements that seem to carry awareness to the very tips of his fingers. Artists working in different fields are also captivated by the worldview he creates and the many exquisite programs that reach the realm of art.

 

“Thoughts that do not land, jumps that do land”

 

This March marked 10 years since the earthquake, and Yuzuru Hanyu performed “Hana wa Saku” (“Flowers Will Bloom”). What does the filmmaker who wrote its lyrics and has delivered numerous acclaimed works, think of the performance of fellow Sendai-born artist Yuzuru Hanyu?

 

Spoiler

— Please tell us about your first encounter with Yuzuru Hanyu.

 

“The first time I saw Hanyu-san, he was still a very young, slender boy, competing with Daisuke Takahashi. At that time, commentators were saying he tended to run out of stamina toward the second half of his programs. From there, he kept growing and growing, probably overcoming his stamina issues, and his subsequent rapid rise to success is well known to everyone.”

 

— The figure skating version of 'Hana wa Saku' was presented in 2014 as part of NHK’s Great East Japan Earthquake Project, two years after the original song you wrote the lyrics for was created.

 

“Hana wa Saku is a rather unusual song. Its premise is the Great East Japan Earthquake, and compared to that tragedy, what individuals can do is powerless and insignificant. With that as the fundamental premise, I think it's an effort to see if there's anything, however small, we can do. I was involved with that feeling myself, and I watched it thinking that Hanyu must have felt the same way.”

 

— Hanyu was a first-year high school student, 16 years old, when he experienced the disaster at the Sendai ice rink, which is also your hometown.

 

“He experienced the earthquake at a very sensitive and impressionable age, different from adults. Only he knows how strongly it has affected him, but I'm sure he's carrying some kind of burden, a weight he's carrying, and that's why he performs like that. The scenery Hanyu paints in his mind as he performs has a great tragedy lurking behind it, and even though it's through a television screen, I find myself watching with a sense of solemnity.”

 

— This year, marking 10 years since the earthquake, Hanyu performed 'Hana wa Saku' (Flowers Will Bloom) for the first time in a long time at the World Championships exhibition.

 

“I felt that it remains a significant matter for him. For me as well, over the span of ten years, there have been many things that made me reflect, and various memories came back. Especially in moments like the choreography involving flowers… there are many things that come to mind. What I feel most strongly is that I myself created lyrics and visuals as a form of ‘expression’ for this song, but when I confront it directly, there are moments when I simply feel at a loss. I imagine that Hanyu must find it very difficult to perform such a piece as well.”

 

— The 'Hana wa Saku' project consistently uses gerbera flowers as a symbolic motif, and Hanyu’s performance follows that as well. When you filmed the video clip in 2012, did you assign any special meaning to this flower?

 

“Simply put, I wanted to depict ‘flowers’ in a very simple way. I looked for something ordinary, something that wouldn’t evoke strong specific associations like carnations or roses. Eventually, I arrived at gerbera. At the time, I didn’t even know its flower meaning was ‘hope.’”

 

— There is an episode said to be the basis for the lyrics.

 

“During the earthquake, there were efforts on social media where people searched for each other’s whereabouts. I was also looking for friends myself. Amid all that, I came across a message from a girl who couldn’t find the boy she liked, but couldn’t say so openly, and wanted to search for him in a way that wouldn’t reveal it was her. In that tragic situation, and in a town that was also, for me, connected to something like a first-love experience, I initially felt a sense of despair. But then I thought, ‘Even in times like this, flowers still bloom.’ From that moment on, the phrase ‘Hana wa Saku’ (‘Flowers Will Bloom’) seemed to exist within me. So when I came to write the song a year later, the title naturally emerged.”

 

The "magical aura" that Hanyu himself possesses

— As someone whose hometown is in the disaster-stricken area, this project must have been extremely heavy in responsibility and very difficult, wasn’t it?

 

“The more I worked on it, the more I realized that what I put into words was only a small fragment, and it could never represent or express the entirety of the earthquake disaster. When faced with a disaster of such overwhelming scale in reality, there is no point of resolution, no landing point. Hanyu jumps, and when he does, he must land. But the theme of the music itself has no landing point. When I think about him performing under those circumstances, it really tugs at my heartstrings.”

 

— But you did face that theme head-on.

 

“At first, I didn’t know what to do. To be honest, I really didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t refuse. It was also a difficult job to turn down, so once I was asked, I suppose I had no choice but to accept. But I didn’t know how to express it. That struggle, that was my honest feeling. On the other hand, I decided to focus on how to express that honestly, as it was.”

 

— How did you feel about the response to the completed 'Hana wa Saku'?

 

“Even now, I don’t really have a definitive answer, but seeing people hum and sing it, I felt that the song was needed in some way, that there were situations where it was of use. That gave me a little relief. Each person expresses things in their own way, even if only in small forms. Hanyu also expresses himself in his own way, on the ice rink. When I imagine the weight of tackling this theme, I think it must have been incredibly difficult.”

 

— The lyrics are said to have been written from the perspective of those who have passed away. In that context, what kind of presence did you see Hanyu as, when he performed this program?

 

“I’m not him, so if I’m allowed to interpret it freely as a viewer, dance has existed throughout history around the world as a form of requiem, and a way of connecting to the other side. I felt that he might be performing as an existence between life and death, treating the ice as the boundary between the living world and the world of the dead, and portraying someone who exists in that in-between space, someone who moves back and forth across it.”

 

— As a fellow creator, how do you view Yuzuru Hanyu as an “artist”?

 

“I think he is very conscious of being a performer. He captivates many people not only as an athlete. His way of expression feels like he is ‘in dialogue’ with the audience. At the same time, of course, he has to refine his skating itself. The elements of skating beautifully and accurately are essential. Since it is a sport that is judged by scores, that is unavoidable, but I feel like he is not confined only to that. I feel he is truly engaging in dialogue with the audience.”

 

— As a fellow artist, have you felt anything?

 

“In my case, I tend to be a rather inward-looking type of creator, so I find it very educational.  In terms of ‘dialogue,’ I felt something somewhat similar with Masaharu Fukuyama (laughs). He is also an outstanding artist with remarkable expressive power as a concertmaster. In Hanyu’s case, he doesn’t sing or speak; he expresses everything only with his body, like pantomime, and I think that is part of his charm. Through his skating, his spins, and all his various movements, people are drawn in and have their hearts captured, aren’t they? No one can quite explain why he is so wonderful, yet people are drawn in anyway. It feels like a kind of magic. In that sense, I think Hanyu himself carries something like a ‘magical aura.’”

 

 

 

"Flowers Will Bloom"
2014-2015 2020-2021 EX
Vocals: Fumiya Sashida Lyrics: Shunji Iwai
Composition & Arrangement: Yoko Kanno

Choreography: Nanami Abe

 

 

"A spring breeze carries the scent of the pure white snow-covered road
I feel nostalgic
I remember that town
There were dreams I wanted to fulfill
There was a part of me I wanted to change
Now I just feel nostalgic
I remember that person
I can hear someone's song
Someone is encouraging someone
I can see someone's smile
Beyond the sadness
Flowers, flowers, flowers bloom
For you who will one day be born
Flowers, flowers, flowers bloom
What have I left behind?"

 

 

 

Profile:

Shunji Iwai
Born January 24, 1963 in Miyagi Prefecture. In 1993, he won the Japan Film Directors Association New Director Award for "Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?". In 1995, “Love Letter” became a major hit in Japan and abroad. In 2012, he produced the documentary “Friends after 3.11 Theatrical Version.” In 2020, he released “Last Letter.”

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

Source: FIGURE SKATING TRACE OF STARS 2020-2021, pg 32-33

 

Artists Talk About the Beauty of Yuzuru Hanyu's Past Programs

Reon Yuzuki x "Romeo and Juliet"

 

"The figure of Juliet appearing on the ice"

An immortal masterpiece he performed twice in his teens. Coincidentally, the acclaimed actress who twice played the lead role in the same work felt a unique worldview in Romeo on the ice.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011-2012 FS

From the movie "Romeo + Juliet"
From the movie "Plunkett & MacLaine"
Composer: Craig Armstrong
Choreographer: Nanami Abe

 

2013-2014 FS

From the movie "Romeo and Juliet"
Composer: Nino Rota
Choreographer: David Wilson

 

 

Profile:

Reon Yuzuki
Born in Osaka Prefecture. In 1999, she joined the Takarazuka Revue and was assigned to the Star Troupe as an otokoyaku (female performer specializing in male roles). In 2009, she became the top star of the Star Troupe. She retired from the company in 2015 after performing in “Kurohyō no Gotoku” and “Dear DIAMOND!!”. She is currently active mainly in stage performances. She will appear in the ice show “LUXE”, to be held at Yokohama Arena from May 15–17.