Perfect 10! Your favorite 90s pro programs

alchemy void

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We were pretty much doing this in the Olympic ladies thread.

What are your favorite 90s pro programs? Drop a youtube link below and let us know why. It could be the program you watched repeatedly until you wore out your poor VHS tape, a hidden gem you've recently (re)discovered, or the program that got you into skating

A few guidelines, as I'm feeling bossy:
  • 90s please. I'll accept 1988-2002, but nothing outside of those dates
  • I'd prefer competition programs, even if it was a bullshit competition like Too Hot to Skate.
  • Yuka Sato's Hat Full of Stars is banned from this thread, for obvious reasons. ;)
I'll start, with one of the "hidden gems" variety. Discovered this one going down a youtube black hole last week:


Liz Manley, 1991 International Skating Champs.

The skating is awesome. So much speed, power, and attack. A costume Tuktamysheva would kill for (or might have already worn). Camels in both directions. Have I mentioned yet the music is an amazing mashup of Carly Simon's ITSY BITSY SPIDER featuring Kidz Bop and "Coming Around Again"? :inavoid: :lol: Somehow it really works, though. And there's very little "spider" choreography here, which makes the music choice all the more curious.
 

tony

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Haha- that song is an addition/stripped down version of Coming Around Again, which was a super huge hit. I wish she had used more of the original- it’s very good and she often combined the two in concert.

 

tony

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Making a list here, I’ll go back and add links if there are any:

My absolute #1 was super surprising for myself 20 years ago: Nancy Kerrigan from the 2000 Goodwill Games (I know, it's not the 90s.. but just watch)

Oksana Baiul Arabian

Denise Biellmann Push It

Denise Biellmann Frantic or whatever it was called, the aerobics class program from 1994

Denise Biellmann On Golden Pond (see post below, and compare this program with the one linked directly above. She was crazy versatile!)

Surya Bonaly Tu quieres volver

Surya Bonaly Cuor senza sangue

Josee Chouinard The Sweater

Josee Chouinard Prima Donna

Rory Flack Step by Step

Rory Flack Brass in Pocket

Midori Ito Rose of Pain (see post below)

Caryn Kadavy Foolish Games

Tara Lipinski The Second Element

Yuka Sato Take My Hand (this was 2000 but it’s my favorite from her)

Jill Trenary These Boots are Made for Walkin

Jill Trenary Canon

Katarina Witt I Belong to Me

Katarina Witt Rescue Me

Other Favorites:
Oksana Baiul The Color of the Night
Surya Bonaly Incantation, Magalenha
Josee Chouinard Poeme, My Drag (hardly ever talked about but this one is really good)
Caryn Kadavy One More Try, It’s All Coming Back to Me Now
Nancy Kerrigan The Indian in the Cupboard
Yuka Sato If We Hold on Together, Sozo (see post below), I Love You Always Forever
Kristi Yamaguchi Madame Butterfly
 
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all_empty

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Second Tony on these:

Biellmann "On Golden Pond"


Sato's "Sozo"


Midori Ito "Rose of Pain"

 

bardtoob

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The judges thought she deserved no more than 6.0 :ds1:

The taping was from when he brought it back 2002 but it had been debuted in the 90s.

You can take off 0.2 for this being from late 2001.

You can take off 0.2 for this being from late 2001.
 
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alchemy void

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Haha- that song is an addition/stripped down version of Coming Around Again, which was a super huge hit. I wish she had used more of the original- it’s very good and she often combined the two in concert.

I added Coming Around Again to my rapidly-growing adult contemporary playlist as soon as I saw Liz's program and shazaamed her music. So good.
 

BaileyCatts

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AxelAnnie

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Skate Talker

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Skate Talker

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@Skate Talker All you have to do is post the link and the preview pops up.
thanks for the reply but I just did that but I don't see anything but the link showing up??
Thanks for the info - just replaced the links the way you suggested and didn't use the tool bar insert - just pasted the link and Yeah! it worked
 
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Andora

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This Betchke & Petrov program remains an all-time pairs favourite.

Honestly, the entire 1996 World Pro competition, artistic programs in particular, is a treat. I think it was Underhill & Martini's final year at the competition, and they gave a touching performance to "Not a Day Goes By". The men's competition was pretty great: classic Boitano, classic Petrenko, classic Browning, an early Rudy Gallindo pro appearance. And the women all had great programs-- I'm linking the video to the start of Katarina Witt's "Sister's Keeper." She only attempts one jump, so...

 

paskatefan

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Not in any particular order:

Kurt Browning - Brickhouse, That's Entertainment
Torvill & Dean - Hat Trick
Kristi Yamaguchi - It's, Oh, So Quiet, Doop, Doop
Midori Ito - Rose of Pain
Caryn Kadavy - It's All Coming Back to Me
Paul Wylie - JFK, Apollo 13, Why, God, Why?
 

Foolhardy Ham Lint

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Not in any particular order:

Kurt Browning - Brickhouse, That's Entertainment
Torvill & Dean - Hat Trick
Kristi Yamaguchi - It's, Oh, So Quiet, Doop, Doop
Midori Ito - Rose of Pain
Caryn Kadavy - It's All Coming Back to Me
Paul Wylie - JFK, Apollo 13, Why, God, Why?

I was fortunate enough to see Ito's skate live and in person. Even sitting high up in the stands, everybody around me gasped at how much distance her triple axel carried across the ice. She was amazing.
 

Foolhardy Ham Lint

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skatesindreams

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alchemy void

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My absolute #1 was super surprising for myself 20 years ago: Nancy Kerrigan from the 2000 Goodwill Games (I know, it's not the 90s.. but just watch)

Damn. Stunning program and performance. Too bad we didn't see Nancy try similar programs like this. I know she famously disliked skating to classical music, but she interpreted it SO well. Most of her pro performances usually seemed rather uninspired to me, and she was my usual fridge break by the point. I wonder who choreographed this?

Sorry Nancy, as good as that was, it's not enough to overtake my all-time favorite pro program, not to mention one of the most unjust results ever in figure skating: :mitchell:


In other news, I've found my first post-quarantine outfit.
 
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aliceanne

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I remember Kristi was embarrassed to win that competition. She made uncharteristic mistakes and Caryn wowed the audience.

However, Dick Button had to pretty much guarantee that the most recent OGMs win, or they wouldn’t compete for fear of tarnishing their reputations. Most of the skaters took it with a grain of salt, but it used to really piss Orser off when he came in second to Boitano every time.

I remember Toller Cranston refused to put Torvill/Dean first, and that ended his tenure in the judging panel. The audience was shocked it was so against what was expected.
 
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Skate Talker

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Anything by Underhill & Martini. They are my favourite pairs of all time, and for me, the emotional and artistic equivalent of Torvill and Dean.

But if I had to choose, their interpretive skate to 'When A Man Loves A Woman' was sexy to the rafters.

Absolutely - if I hadn't been so lazy I would have put up Underhill and Martini links myself. Actually I think the first pro program I saw from them that caught my attention is actually from the late 80's. I was totally mesmerized by their AP performance of On My Own from Les Mis. The shadow skating was just perfect to get across the idea of her being alone but imagining him there with her. The day I saw that is the day I became a dedicated fan. (I haven't actually been able to find a YouTube link to this program so if anyone can PM me one I would be very very grateful.)

I also loved their series of sexy man/woman interaction numbers but I am going to offer this program to classical music as another of my all-time favourites and proof of their versatility - Variations on a Theme by Paganini


(Now if anyone wants to start a thread of Least Favorite pro performances I would immediately put all things Phillipe Candeloro at the top of my list. IMO he is, at the very least, partially responsible for the demise of the World Pro Championships.)
 

tony

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I remember Toller Cranston refused to put Torvill/Dean first, and that ended his tenure in the judging panel.

Toller marked T/D wayyyy down on Cecilia at World Pros in 1995, I think giving them a 9.6 when the rest were either 10s or maybe one 9.9. But then I think he tried to be a super drama queen and in his book said he gave them a 9.4. I wonder if he initially did try to give them the 9.4 and Button & co told him hell no, even if the score was clearly going to be dropped. He also was on the bandwagon at the very beginning saying Dean’s choreo for D/D was directly lifted from another (dance) performance. He just really saw no creativity in Chris ;)

BTW- for those not familiar, it was not likely to get below a 9.6 or maybe a 9.5 in any of these pro competitions unless it was some unique format like the US Open. A 9.6 tended to signify that the program or the performance were pretty bad, but there was no point in going lower as scores were cumulative. Cranston was obviously making a huge statement with that in mind.
 

Taso

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This event has already been posted, and Surya's performance of this program from another event is here, but this performance to "Cuor Senza Sangue" is also so very good. And she beat allllll of her old rivals in an event that theoretically was meant to play to their strengths and not hers :respec: Honestly this one gives me chills - she even got a 10 for presentation!
 
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