Best Ladies Exhibition Performance

[krenseby]

Back in the days when we still had professional "competitions," I realized that not all skaters were equally good in putting together a good exhibition skate. Achieving that goal requires some combination of interesting choreography, inspired interpretation, and a varied and nuanced use of elements. Out of the three performances below, which came closest to achieving that goal? (The choices here are restricted to so-called "professional" female skaters that stopped competing after the 2006 Olympics and primarily skate in exhibitions. Also, in this poll, you are not asked to choose the greatest exhibition skate of all time, but just the best out of the three listed.)


Shizuka Arakawa - It's A Beautiful Day (Sarah Brightman)

Sasha Cohen - Note to God (Charice)

Michelle Kwan -Winter Song (Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson)

[LilJen]

Two words:
Wanda Beazle.

[briancoogaert]

Shizuka !!!
And I'm an MK fan

[krenseby]

Shizuka !!!
And I'm an MK fan

When Shizuka was an amateur skater, I never knew that she was capable of such artistry as she would go on to display in her post-OMG performances.

[geod2]

Back in the days when we still had professional "competitions," I realized that not all skaters were equally good in putting together a good exhibition skate. Achieving that goal requires some combination of interesting choreography, inspired interpretation, and a varied and nuanced use of elements. Out of the three performances below, which came closest to achieving that goal? (The choices here are restricted to so-called "professional" skaters that primarily skate in exhibitions. Also, in this poll, you are not asked to choose the greatest exhibition skate of all time, but just the best out of the three listed.)


Shizuka Arakawa - It's A Beautiful Day (Sarah Brightman)

Sasha Cohen - Note to God (Charice)

Michelle Kwan -Winter Song (Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson)

The music and the choreography to match it were perfect for Shizuka's...
as was her performance.... Just awe-inpiring...
I was afraid I'd be disappointed, but she finally did her signature Ina Bauer at the end. Hers is the best of these 3...easy choice for me.

The smaller ice surface area and her fall makes the inclusion of this particular performance by Sasha Cohen questionable (and a bit unfair?)....
...surely there are better ones to have used as an example for her at her best?!

I usually love MK's skating , but this particular performance, other than demonstrating some of her incredible skating skills, did not inspire me.
I felt uncomfortable with the overuse of fast, jerky arm movements that seemed to have no relevance to the pace or mood of the music...
...it looked and felt forced in some places.
I think this song, while beautiful, would be hard to interpret effectively through ice skating or even dance.....JMHO, and in the eye of this beholder.

Curious...how/why did you select just these 3 particular performances??
Is there a point you're trying to make? I'm missing it, or just clueless.
Also, if the choice is "just the best out of the three listed" why give an "other" choice button to click in the polling ???
Sorry.


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[krenseby]

Curious...how/why did you select just these 3 particular performances??
Is there a point you're trying to make? I'm missing it, or just clueless.
Also, if the choice is "just the best out of the three listed" why give an "other" choice button to click in the polling ???
Sorry.


_

I was thinking along the lines of comparing the best exhibitions by ladies skaters that stopped competing after the 2006 Olympics. I selected these particular performances because these were the best that I liked out of many available. I did look through a bunch of Sasha exhibitions and this one impressed me the most because it seemed to be very emotionally expressive and featured good edges and speed. I put in "Other" as a choice because I wanted to give people the option of expressing their dislike of all three performances or suggesting something better.

[geod2]

I was thinking along the lines of comparing the best exhibitions by ladies skaters that retired after the 2006 Olympics. I selected these particular performances because these were the best that I liked out of many available. I did look through a bunch of Sasha exhibitions and this one impressed me the most because it seemed to be very emotionally expressive and featured good edges and speed. I put in "Other" as a choice because I wanted to give people the option of expressing their dislike of all three performances or suggesting something better.

I understand now.
BTW, Sasha competed at 2010 Nationals and woudld've gone to O's if she'd qualified....does that still count as "retired after the 2006 Olympics"?
Well, she was retired for 3 years at least...

Anyway, if I could chose one of Sasha's exhibitions for your poll, this would be the one... and I might even give her the nod over Shizuka's.
This is a flawless and inspired performance, choreography and music in near-perfect synchronicity....Sasha at her best, even hampered by a small ice surface
...my personal fav of hers:

Sasha Cohen 2009 Super Match - Moonlight Sonata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGL2q...eature=related



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[krenseby]

I understand now.
BTW, Sasha competed at 2010 Nationals and woudld've gone to O's if she'd qualified....does that still count as "retired after the 2006 Olympics"?
Well, she was retired for 3 years at least...

Well, I changed my wording to "stopped competing after 2006" which is true for Sasha. She was out of amateur skating for most of the time since then and left amateur skating once again after a brief return. So yeah, from 2006 to now, she was mostly an exhibition skater who briefly returned to competition. (I think I've reached the appropriate level of precision now ;-)

Anyway, if I could chose one of Sasha's exhibitions for your poll, this would be the one... and I might even give her the nod over Shizuka's.
This is a flawless and inspired performance, choreography and music in near-perfect synchronicity....Sasha at her best, even hampered by a small ice surface
...my personal fav of hers:
Sasha Cohen 2009 Super Match - Moonlight Sonata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGL2q...eature=related

I actually thought of using that one and I absolutely loved it the first time I saw it, but I opted for "Note to God" because she seemed to skate with more emotion, deeper edges, and better speed on it than on the Super Match Moonlight Sonata. But I will grant you that the Moonlight Sonata was a very subtle, refined performance, however it was also very restrained. And I saw the restraint as a downside.

[alilou]

I had to vote "other" for Sasha's Moonlight Sonata which I find absolutely breathtaking, and way and above the best out of the links provided. Not always a huge Sasha fan, but for me she really does it this time.

[Aussie Willy]

I have to vote for Wanda Beazle as well. True champion and such class.

[Artifice]

Is there a possibility to cancel a vote ? I voted for MK but I thought it was for her Winter exhibition she made around 1996, not the actual one that is in the poll.
Because out of these 3 exhibition I would give my vote to Shizuka Arakawa. She is fabulous in this program.

[briancoogaert]

Is there a possibility to cancel a vote ? I voted for MK but I thought it was for her Winter exhibition she made around 1996, not the actual one that is in the poll.
Because out of these 3 exhibition I would give my vote to Shizuka Arakawa. She is fabulous in this program.

Yes ! It was a beautiful exhibition, during the 1996-1997 season. I loved it. And the one at 1997 Worlds she skated right after the resurfacing was amazing. Because we saw her wonderful glide and tracing on the ice.

[paskatefan]

If I were to vote in this poll, I would either go for Michelle's "Winter" (circa 1997) or her "East of Eden" program. Just stunning!

[miki88]

It's not listed but my choice is Michelle's Dante's Prayer. I just love that program so much.

[briancoogaert]

It's not listed but my choice is Michelle's Dante's Prayer. I just love that program so much.

One of my favorite MK exhibition with her 1996 East of Eden.

[Extranjera]

It's not listed but my choice is Michelle's Dante's Prayer. I just love that program so much.

Me too!! One of the best ex programs ever.

I've always loved Michelle's style, so Winter song was very touching to me (1st program after 3 years break) but this program of Shizuka... WOW! I can't believe I haven't seen it before, it's gorgeous.

[mmot]

There are so many of Shizuka's exhibition performances I like, but I love this one particularly - as it was performed on the competition sized rink and thus you can really see that she's still got amazing speed across the ice - she even seems 'liberated' compared to when performing on a smaller rink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WwIiATt1O4

(The video maker appear to have replaced the sound to get rid of commentary though)

[Artifice]

Arakawa is IMO one of the most packaged skater of all times. Her exhibitions shows how much she is artistic and athletic, close to perfection.

[ainouta]

Slightly OT, but in addition to becoming a tremendous artist post-2006, Shizuka has also retained her jumps like nothing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQun...eature=related

[DickButtonFan]

It's rare to ever enjoy a performance when the ice is so incredibly small. Sasha had problems with her jumps in that performance because there wasnt enough room. It's just too dangerous to jump like that.

Also find there are hundreds of programs that are better than this one of sasha's. I'd pick one of her Romeo and Juliet ones but I'll have to come back and post a link.