Show skating- am I the only one that does not care for it?

[mmscfdcsu]

I hate most show skating. I'm sure that doesn't shock anyone. The music is generally hideous, designed for kids between the ages of about 7 and 15. Nothing to interpret, and the noise all sounds the same and usually gives me a headache. There is little to no choreography. The skaters usually use the same tired old moves in the same order that they used them in their last craptacular program.

I did love COI, especially in the days of Boitano and Kwan. Boitano was never the most artistic skater out there, , but he was constantly improving in that area and kept his technical skills at an astounding level. He used lots of different types of music. Even though the COI music was often cheesey, there were generally actual melodies and changes of rythym present in the numbers. Wayyyyyyyyy better than SOI

[Frau Muller]

I agree with the majority on this. I watch exhibitions and 'show skating' (SOI, Dissons) only if "that's all there is" on TV. I cannot stand the cheesiness and cheapness of the Dissons, in particular, with skaters acting (very poorly, in most cases) to convince us that they LOVE the sponsors' products. Case in point: Kristi Yamaguchi hugging a plastic coconut shell party accessory as if it were the Hope Diamond.

I used to love pro shows, when they were big productions with large ensembles + a few stars...Holiday on Ice ca-1967/68 comes to mind, with beautiful episodes on Carnival in Rio, Paris Showgirls, etc. What I loved about the old Holiday on Ice/Ice Capades/Ice Follies type shows were the group numbers with gorgeous, glittery costumes, feather boas, etc. It was a perfect blend of lavish production numbers and a few great solo skaters, whose numbers were artistically woven into each production-number theme. Even SOI, for all of its early attempts to weave themes, was little more than a glorified post-competition exhibition; not a cohesive artistic endeavor. The absolute-low point was 2010 SOI, with a bunch of post-Olympics skaters presenting their tired SPs or exhibitions already seen throughout the year...wearing the same old costumes from the competitive season. Then charge $75-80 a ticket.

[LilJen]

Can't stand most of it. There is all the advertising for the Disson shows in particular that's incredibly tacky (and I really feel for the skaters having to push applesauce or jewelry or whatever, but I guess they have to make a living).

Mostly, though, it's the terrible music, awful costumes, and programs that are given little to no thought beforehand or are incredibly cheesy. I LOVE the exceptions, though--good music, decent costumes, great choreography? To me those are signs of respect for the audience.

[modern_muslimah]

I never liked show skating. I always thought exhibition programs seemed much more empty than competitive programs. Plus, show programs lack the excitement of competitive. I did love some of Michelle's exhibition. Fields of Gold still brings me to tears. Beyond Michelle and maybe some of Jeremy Abbott's exhibitions, they just don't interest me.

[Ziggy]

I never watch any shows or any galas.

It's not real skating.

(Well, they're just boring as hell)

[Carmen Ovsiannikov]

.....I understand the need of the skaters to practice their new programs in front of an audience, and to generate some revenue. What I don't like is the 'show' where well known skaters are doing some not so high quality performances, or just skating the same program in every show. Forgive me if you are participating in the discussion for the 'Blades' and 'Fashion' shows in the GSD. Those are the kind of shows I stay away from. May be in the past I was so crazy about FS that I would watch every FS program on TV and that burned me out.

......

That's part of the reason I don't generally like the Disson shows. From what I recall the dancers are assigned which live songs they will skate to so from the get go it's difficult to choreograph new moves. There isn't proper time. Most of the time many of the skaters as has been mentioned just skate to portions of old programs set to the live song. And it's true that when there are the odd numbers that aren't accompanied by the live musicians it is the skaters using the format as a way to practice this years new programs.

I realize that the golden television era of skating is over and that way an anomaly. However, skating itself seems on the way out; at least on television (unless you are ready to pay per view). I feel that Disson is out to make a quick buck and perhaps it's less expensive to throw together the types of programs he produces.

[mmscfdcsu]

It is kind of strange that they always say that they are trying to appeal to the public when they choose boring pop/rock music for exhibitions. Most people who fell in love with skating did so because of something they saw during a competition to more interesting music. You go to an exhibition and it is like bait and switch. What happened to all the performers who complained that their artistry was impacted by the restrictions of the scoring system? They have the freedom to demonstrate artistry in an exhibition, but they sell out instead. How I would love to see a beautiful program to sophisticated and emotional music. Instead we generally get exhibitions that are completely boring. Forgotten the moment you leave the arena. I remember the days of leaving the arena on a real emotional high after seeing and experiencing an astounding performance.

[Frau Muller]

Now here's a thought!

Remember when I wrote earlier, above:
I used to love pro shows, when they were big productions with large ensembles + a few stars...Holiday on Ice ca-1967/68 comes to mind, with beautiful episodes on Carnival in Rio, Paris Showgirls, etc. What I loved about the old Holiday on Ice/Ice Capades/Ice Follies type shows were the group numbers with gorgeous, glittery costumes, feather boas, etc. It was a perfect blend of lavish production numbers and a few great solo skaters, whose numbers were artistically woven into each production-number theme. Even SOI, for all of its early attempts to weave themes, was little more than a glorified post-competition exhibition; not a cohesive artistic endeavor.

One of the networks should develop a weekly drama centered on the lives of members of a traveling Holiday on Ice type of show in the 50s or 60s! They did it for a PanAm crew -- my absolute-favorite show of the new season -- so why not for a traveling ice show? They would travel around North America or, if it's a Holiday on Ice theme, even around the world. Wheee!!!!

[query5]

for me the current cop system has ruined show skating.
how-no artistry , lack of connection to the audience.
3 skaters themselves-how just skating on ice and not trying to please audience.
yes there are a few exceptions.

mao, yu-na, stephane lambiel, sasha to a point., but for me most of the older skaters who skated under the 6.0's don't have as hard of time connecting to the audience as the skaters who "grew up"under the cop.
the skaters skate in shows like the skate in competitions-like they under the cop still. why that is how they are used to skating

[Vash01]

for me the current cop system has ruined show skating.
how-no artistry , lack of connection to the audience.
3 skaters themselves-how just skating on ice and not trying to please audience.
yes there are a few exceptions.

mao, yu-na, stephane lambiel, sasha to a point., but for me most of the older skaters who skated under the 6.0's don't have as hard of time connecting to the audience as the skaters who "grew up"under the cop.
the skaters skate in shows like the skate in competitions-like they under the cop still. why that is how they are used to skating

Lambiel and Cohen skated in the 6.0 system for many years before the COP became the norm, so I don't see them as COP skaters. Mao and Yu na definitely are, and they have been artistic inspite of COP. However, they are the exceptions.

[aliceanne]

I don't watch show skating much anymore either. Now that skaters can earn money and stay eligible they generally do. Since their reputations and incomes are dependent on their competition skating, that is what they focus on, shows are usually a vacation.

Skaters in the past usually retired at the peak of their career to earn money. Their reputations depended on maintaining their technical skills. You would never see a recent olympian do a show program with nothing more difficult than a triple salchow or double axel. That is the norm now.

I also think in the past a lot of pro skaters crossed back and forth between skating and dance. I don't see much of that nowadays.

[gkelly]

Skaters in the past usually retired at the peak of their career to earn money. Their reputations depended on maintaining their technical skills. You would never see a recent olympian do a show program with nothing more difficult than a triple salchow or double axel.

Well, it depends what you mean by "in the past." Many skaters who turned pro before up to about 1992 did not do more than triple toe or salchow and double axel -- if they even did that much. Some of the women never even had all those jumps when they were competing.

E.g., Brian Orser didn't focus on the jumps much at all his first year or two as a pro, but then he later added some more triples back into his repertoire.

[centerpt1]

I like show skating and exhibitions live, becasue I can see my favorite skaters (hopefully) enjoy skating and (hopefully) do something they normally wouldn't do in competition. I still enjoy just watching skating.
Skating is not so good on TV-especially the Disson shows -becase they are all cut up. It ruins the skating performance.
I've been to only a couple SOI's. I have to admit 2010 was my favorite, because the Olympic skaters still had thier skills. I would have preferred original programs rather than cut down Olympic programs, but it was impressive to see the skating. Some of the Veteran SOI skaters were lackluster and boring.
Yu-Na's shows in Korea seem amazing when I watch them on you tube. The skaters are the best from all over. Usually they showcase new show programs there. Skaters that are invited to her shows put effort into having interesting programs.
For some reason non-US skaters tend to be better at exib skating. Shizuka Arakawa, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim, even Joanne Rochette are good. The one US lady I like, Alissa Czisny, can be good-if she's not trying to be overtly sexy. (I think she could pull off sexy with the right choreo) Mirai and Flatt are just not impressive exhib skaters. Kurt Browning is the epitome of a show skater. Always creative and amazing. Lambiel, Buttle, & Takahashi are great. Weiss and Abbott(Detroit era only) are my two favorite US men's show skaters. Weir is entertaining, but the Ga-Ga programs need to Go-Go. He can do a lot better.
I actually like programs to current music. I mean, I listen to that music. I can relate to twenty million Adele routines because that's what I'm listening to.
Unless a skater is doing a creative piece that stands as art without jumps (ie Nyah) there is no excuse for having no jumps (Sarah, Sasha in FOI 11). I expect a professional skater to be fit, trained and able to skate a good show program.

[mmscfdcsu]

Well, it depends what you mean by "in the past." Many skaters who turned pro before up to about 1992 did not do more than triple toe or salchow and double axel -- if they even did that much. Some of the women never even had all those jumps when they were competing.

E.g., Brian Orser didn't focus on the jumps much at all his first year or two as a pro, but then he later added some more triples back into his repertoire.

ITA! Boitano really was the one who spurred others to keep up the technique. Before Boitano, lots of Pro programs were very weak technically...and often artistically.

[aliceanne]

ITA! Boitano really was the one who spurred others to keep up the technique. Before Boitano, lots of Pro programs were very weak technically...and often artistically.

I don't think Brian Boitano could hold a candle to John Curry, Toller Cranston, Robin Cousins, Denise Biellman, Torvill and Dean, the Duchesnays, or Gary Beacom as a show skater. I would pit "Ice Dancing", "The Snow Queen", "Strawberry Ice", or "The Planets" against any show skating today.

[gkelly]

It's all a question of whether you value choreography (and what kind of choreography) or jumps more when it comes to pro skating.

And even when expectations are on the same page and different skaters are giving both of the above areas approximately equal attention, we're still each going to have different favorites.

[aliceanne]

It's all a question of whether you value choreography (and what kind of choreography) or jumps more when it comes to pro skating.

And even when expectations are on the same page and different skaters are giving both of the above areas approximately equal attention, we're still each going to have different favorites.

I don't have a problem with a skater focusing on jumps if that is how they express themself and that is what they are good at. What I do have a problem with is a skater who is billed as world class coming out and doing a lot of hip wiggling and posing, or doing a watered-down version of their competition routine because they haven't been training.

[gkelly]

Yes, I agree. Whether they do difficult jumps or not, if they're professional skaters I do expect them to go out and skate.

[Judy]

I used to love it but it's been a long time now going to shows and I don't go anymore unless I get free tickets. For me I think I'm just jaded and I don't get into it as much because I've seen it done a million times. I prefer competition and most of the time don't even bother watching the gala anymore.

[berthesghost]

It is kind of strange that they always say that they are trying to appeal to the public when they choose boring pop/rock music for exhibitions. Most people who fell in love with skating did so because of something they saw during a competition to more interesting music. You go to an exhibition and it is like bait and switch. What happened to all the performers who complained that their artistry was impacted by the restrictions of the scoring system? They have the freedom to demonstrate artistry in an exhibition, but they sell out instead. How I would love to see a beautiful program to sophisticated and emotional music. Instead we generally get exhibitions that are completely boring. Forgotten the moment you leave the arena. I remember the days of leaving the arena on a real emotional high after seeing and experiencing an astounding performance.

This is why I can't stand galas. It's depressing to learn that stripped of their muzzle, most skaters have nothing to say.

The few really good pro programs that were out there during the 90s boom were really by the more seasoned professionals.