Who are genuine artistic skaters ?

People’s views are always different especially when it comes to artistry.

I really think we all are biased for our favorites based on our taste, our views, our personalities, and it also might be coming from which side of the brain is more developed , right brain or left brain.

And whatever art or other things that we learn, there are always levels, whether it’s judges scoring by whatever the rules happen to be, which BTW the rules were made by people who also have their own bias and favorite type of figure skating, or it comes from laws of nature.

We can feel which pianists are playing from the heart or not, besides being able to appreciate the technical ability.

In figure skating,

Genuine artistic skaters to me are

Johnny Weir
Emanuel Sandhu
Tatiana Navka
Oksana Baiul

These skaters come to my mind first.

The following are also genuine artistic skaters,

Stephane Lambiel
Daisuke Takahashi
Staviski (of Denkova/Staviski)
Shen( of Shen & Zhao )
Tatiana Totmyanina/Maxim Marinin
Shizuka Arakawa
Yukina Ota

Then,
Alexie Yagudin,

Then, maybe

Evgeny Plushenko for some of his programs.

Depending on the program and Gala number, there are more to name. But mostly my first level, second level skaters I listed above , I usually enjoyed most of the programs they performed whether they skated good or bad.

* Expression
* Emotional level
* Creativity
* Body movements ( total balance)
* Choreography/ music composition
* Performance execution
* Interpretation
　
It’s slightly different from the menu of COP.

Personally, I really care for skater’s expression, emotional level, body movements, creativity besides interpretation while watching figure skating.
Expression and emotional levels are all feeling.

Here are my lists for men’s skaters.
Expression ( how naturally showing )

1. Emanuel Sandhu / Johnny Weir
2. Alexei Yagudin
3. Daisuke Takahashi
4. Stephane Lambiel
5. Evgeny Plushenko
6. Brian Joubert

Sandhu didn’t often show his artistic talent in the competitions because of his nerves, so it took a while to find his true talent after collecting many past skating events.

Brian Joubert has been always under rated by many skating fans especially in the North American area, but I did feel his emotion with some of his programs ( for example, his Olympic FP.

It was disaster for his jumps but I liked his artistry in it.) and it looked very natural and was imaginative.
　
Emotional level ( the deepest )

1. Johnny Weir / Emanuel Sandhu
2. Alexei Yagudin
3. Daisuke Takahashi
4. Evgeny Plushenko
5. Stephane Lambiel
6. Brian Joubert

The deepest emotion I felt was the skaters above.
For ladies, Oksana Baiul comes my mind first. Then Yukina Ota.
To me, Lambiel’s emotional level is not so deep, he has an amazing musicality, however he is not the best actor to me. Weir, Sandnu, Plushy’s performances often deleted Lambiel Gala Numbers and also until 2005 - 2006 season because mostly it came from his emotional level. I’m more enjoy watching his dance moves more than his story telling programs.

Creativity

1. Stephane Lambiel
2. Johnny Weir
3. Emanuel Sandnu

But Weir may be more creative recently, since he has been constantly creating his Gala numbers every season.

And while I didn’t see Lambiel created new Gala number since his Romeo & Juliet. After that, he was doing his new FP at ice shows. I wonder what happened to him ?
　
Body movements ( total balance)

* Johnny Weir
* Emanuel Sandhu
* Stephane Lambiel
* Daisuke Takahashi
* Alexi Yagudin
* Evengey Plushenko
* Jeffrey Buttle
* Brian Joubert ( since 2008 season)
　
Body position & form, flexibility, sensitivity, line of movements, body language, using body, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers which comes from the root of body.

Those all skaters I listed above also have their own style and have well-balanced movements.

I’m not into skaters who are just skating gracefully, all soft movements all the time with no balance and no ups and downs.

Brian Joubert’s butt shaking in the starting choreography in his present SP is off balance, because he is using his butt but if he uses his hips instead of his butt, it can be well- balanced.

So as it is now, it looks hilarious.

For other parts, there are also a few parts , sometimes his movements get off balance, but mostly his movements are well-balanced, using his full body which are coming from the center of his body.

I also like his hands , the way how he uses look beautifully sharp.

I like many kinds of styles of art , and beauty when it’s well-balanced.

Brian Joubert is not a dancer however some of his movements reminds me of basic positions and forms doing Jazz dance.

I don’t think he is just a jumper like many people are saying. Only in his Free program, because of less choreography compared with other skaters , he often looks just doing elements to elements.

I think It’s more about stamina issue, to handle free program.

For Ladies,

I like Sasha Cohen’s skating especially for her passionate programs ( SP), very musical, and good balance of movements which has soft and sharp.

And her stretch for her body, legs, arms are magically beautiful.

Why she can make so well ? There are many flexible skaters out there, but not really magical like her.

For her hands and fingertips movements, I’m not so crazy since she seemed to only care for that part of her artistry during 2004-2005 season.

For her sentimental programs, her facial expression didn’t look so natural, but for her passionate programs, her facial expression looked more natural.

Shizuka Arakawa, I started liking her artistry since Olympics Gala. And I was not so crazy for her movements while she was an eligible skater.

Her true artistic potential seemed to blossom and appeared at ice shows where she can fully express her artistic world without having to worry about the judging system.

Her posture during the competitions was similar to Miki Ando. But people always point out only Miki for the posture.

For body movements,

I think in the present skaters, Mao Asada and Mirai Nagasu have great artistic balance of movements, they have ups and downs, soft and sharp with sensitive movements.

The way how Miki Ando uses her hands and fingers are often beautiful and sensitive, and also she is good at sharp movements and in this way similar to Sasha Cohen.

Many of ladies skaters are doing ballet style, graceful soft movements and no sharp movements with no originality but I think Miki Ando has unique artistry which is not ballet style. I really loved her SP during 2006-2007 season.

Shizuka Arakawa’s soft movements are true beauty. I was very impressed with her performance when I saw her live, especially one of her spins, for the movements of her arms and hands and fingers.
It was magic.

It’s different from Miki’s style. But I like them both.

There are more to write about artistry for skaters.

But I need to do something else now , so I will write in my next post.

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