Michelle Kwan Worlds Short Program 1996

UGG said:
I felt like posting a throwback. I still cannot believe Michelle was 15 years old (A 10th grader) here. I miss her!

1996 Worlds Short Program
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Yes, quite a short. I went on to watch the Salome long. 7 triples. No 3-3 but still pretty remarkable. The bits in between are so more satisfying than we have today. Trying to jam as many points in as possible. Kwan's held out positions, extensions, etc. please me more.
 
When Kwan stopped competing, I worried that the technical progression and evolution of skating may make me appreciate Kwan less than I did when I was in full fan mode, but I actually truly appreciate her more now and think what she did back then was absolutely prodigious. I think I actually took her and her performances, and her success for granted back then rather than fully enjoying what she was accomplishing and giving and I truly thought I was appreciating her fully at the time.
 
Katha said:
Kwan had many lovely programs, but her 1997 SP is probably one of my fave ladies' programs ever:

Dream of Desdemona
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This is absolutely one of my fav SPs and iirc the debut of the iconic COE spiral.

I was just thinking about these two SPs yesterday, after reading Raf’s disparaging words about Ashley’s ‘17 programs. They weren’t that bad. But they were a step backward from ‘16 in comparison. Although Kwan had worse results on ‘97 than ‘96, her programs were just as good if not better than her breakthrough season. Especially the SP imho.
 
Interesting - an arguably "backloaded" short program from the mid-1990s, since the combination was at 1:00 (probably would have been pushed back the extra 15-20 seconds in the IJS era).
 
Seerek said:
Interesting - an arguably "backloaded" short program from the mid-1990s, since the combination was at 1:00 (probably would have been pushed back the extra 15-20 seconds in the IJS era).
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Michelle was ahead of her time and
I thought the same thing. I think Michelle would have done very well under the current judging system if it was implemented during her career.
 
She had so much attack and such momentum that season, I will always "what if" the change of year for the Winter Olympics. I truly believe she would have won a 1996 Olympics (and would have made the team even if Kerrigan/Harding were still competing).
 
I thinks nats would have been a lot easier for her than Olys. Nancy didn’t even want to stay in another 2 years, 4 would have been doubly hard if not impossible. Although Kwan couldn’t outskate Tonya in 94 by 96 she probably easily could.

Now, is Oksana at 96 Olys? Yuka? On paper Kwan beating Baiul especially on the tech Mark seem a given, but first explain how Oksana beat Nancy and lulu, then be sure she couldn’t beat Michelle too. The judges seemed to be in love.

Even if they are not, lulu was the reigning WC and was pretty darn awesome in her 96 lp. Is Kwan winning the lp still a given?
 
Once upon a time, there was a website forum FSVids. It had a section where people shared skating music, then it was discontinued.

No one else I can remember ever skated to this music. But I have as a pair skater, and it was wonderful. We did the inside-outside spiral as the first part of a pair spiral sequence - it was too tempting not to lift it from Lori/Frank/Michelle - and our pair spin was at the end like MKs spin. Too tempting not to do it!

Thanks for the memories.
 
I know Daleman skated to the second half of Kwan's DOD SP for her SP last season, but not the first part. I don't know anybody else who used that music.
 
Does anyone know who the US judge was? The only one to put her in 2nd, and everyone else had her first. :rofl:
 
LarrySK8 said:
Once upon a time, there was a website forum FSVids. It had a section where people shared skating music, then it was discontinued.

No one else I can remember ever skated to this music. But I have as a pair skater, and it was wonderful. We did the inside-outside spiral as the first part of a pair spiral sequence - it was too tempting not to lift it from Lori/Frank/Michelle - and our pair spin was at the end like MKs spin. Too tempting not to do it!

Thanks for the memories.
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Shen and Zhao skated to Romanza--choreographed by Lori Nichol, who is never above re-cycling.

ETA: Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5YwnDdnnCw
 
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IIRC, Krylova/Ovysiannikov skated to Romanza (at least the second half) for the Spanish FD in the 1994-1995 season. That's honestly my favorite FD of theirs probably. I wonder if Lori heard that music and thought it'd work for Kwan.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
IIRC, Krylova/Ovysiannikov skated to Romanza (at least the second half) for the Spanish FD in the 1994-1995 season. That's honestly my favorite FD of theirs probably. I wonder if Lori heard that music and thought it'd work for Kwan.
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I think you're right about Lori. That section at the end isn't Romanza--it's the Monte Kelly part. But it is the exact same cut Lori used for Michelle.
 
Absolutely love Romanza.

Does anyone know why that final "Ole!" did not ever attract a vocal deduction?
 
Coco said:
Before vocals, I believe you could have vocalizations that were not "words" such as ole, ohhh-ahhh, or - apparently - most of Carmina Burana.
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Dance allowed words before the other disciplines. Or are you talking about Plushenko?
 
Marco said:
Absolutely love Romanza.

Does anyone know why that final "Ole!" did not ever attract a vocal deduction?
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Maybe they were subtlety pushing the boundaries, but it was Frank and Lori's version of pushing boundaries, so you couldn't tell because having a one word shout of approval that is the equivalent to bravo as the last sound of a program is like taking the "do not remove" label off a mattress :rofl:
 
I also wondered about Krylova/Federov's 1993 Worlds FD where their Latin FD started out with "1 2 cha cha cha...3 4 cha cha cha". I didn't think that was allowed either because ice dance didn't allow lyrics at the time during that point. Maybe they make exceptions for that. As to Carmina Burana, I remember reading like 15 years ago that non-ice dancers were allowed to do it because it was sung in a "dead language" so was allowed despite the no lyrics rule. I remember a lot of critique about that loophole and the idea that Latin was a "dead language" even if it was Medieval Latin.
 
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