Skaters' Signature Programs

[Miki89]

Janet Lynn's iconic Afternoon of a Faun with selections from Lizst, Adam, and Beethoven. Skating at its purest.

Janet Lynn - 1970 U.S. Figure Skating Championships - Long Program

Music: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy, Les Preludes by Liszt, Le Corsaire by Adam, Leonore Overture No.3 by Beethoven

www.youtube.com

 

[pollyanna]

Thank you @Miki89. Janet also performed an exhibition to Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, with thanks to @floskate for posting on youtube.

Janet Lynn - 1971 Worlds EX Afternoon of a Faun

When I was a kid, we had a great series on TV called Curry on Ice. John Curry coached a group of skaters throughout the series. Here he shows them what Artis...

www.youtube.com

 

[AxelAnnie]

Brian Orser - The Story of My Life
Kurt Browning - Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain
Todd Eldredge - First Knight, Il Mare Calmo de la Sera, 1492, The Glory
The Kerrs - their Scottish dance
Paul Wylie - Henry V, JFK, Carmina Burana, Apollo 13
Michelle Kwan - Salome, Winter, East of Eden, Lyra Angelica, Dante's Prayer
The Shibutanis - Fix You
Chock & Bates - their "Snake" Dance, so far ... (I LOVED their "Under pressure" program, too)
Javi Fernandez - Guys & Dolls, Malaguena, Man of La Mancha, Black Betty, his "Aerobics" exhibition
Capellini & LaNotte - Life is Beautiful, their "Dance of the Hours" exhibition
Davis & White - Samson & Delilah

Good minds think alike! Love all of those. I so thank you for Brian's "Story of my Life" I have not seen that before.......I am totally awed by Brian and that story!

 

[moebius]

Grishuk/Platov-Memorial

 

[briancoogaert]

Anissina & Peizerat : 1999 Men in the iron Mask

 

[gk_891]

Anissina & Peizerat : 1999 Men in the iron Mask

I'm not questioning your choice as I absolutely loved that free dance from A&P. But out of curiosity, what made you pick this program over say Romeo & Juliet, Carmina Burana, or Cyrano de Bergerac?

 

[briancoogaert]

I'm not questioning your choice as I absolutely loved that free dance from A&P. But out of curiosity, what made you pick this program over say Romeo & Juliet, Carmina Burana, or Cyrano de Bergerac?

My favorite program is probably Romeo&Juliet. Maybe Carmina Burana is more of an iconic program for them.
But I have the feeling that 1999 was the year so many people discovered them, with the fight for 1st places at Euros and Worlds. So many people wanted them to win both over Krilova&Ovsianikov, with that particular program, because of its power, passion...

 

[gk_891]

My favorite program is probably Romeo&Juliet. Maybe Carmina Burana is more of an iconic program for them.
But I have the feeling that 1999 was the year so many people discovered them, with the fight for 1st places at Euros and Worlds. So many people wanted them to win both over Krilova&Ovsianikov, with that particular program, because of its power, passion...

Oh I see. I thought they should've won Worlds in 1998 and 1999 over Krylova & Ovsiannikov. I found it funny that K&O's African Drums FD was considered to be technically superior when most of that free dance was skated hand to hand or side by side. It was one of those typical Linichuk creations that was designed to look difficult even though it really wasn't. I much preferred A&P's MIIM free dance. The choreography was much more seamless and they phrased the music amazingly well.

A&P have really been done-in by politics in my opinion throughout their competitive career. I thought they should've finished second at the 1996 Worlds, I actually had them second at the 1997 Worlds (I didn't like their Ahla Leila FD at first but rewatching it recently, I was shocked at how much better it looks now as opposed to back then, it was a very ambitious program), I thought they should've finished second at the 1998 Olympics behind G&P and I had them winning Worlds consecutively from 1998 to 2001. They really should've achieved more in their career together.

 

[delayedaxel]

Shen/ Zhao: Turandot (Worlds 2003)

Jozef Sabovcik: Trapped

 

[Shyjosie]

I find this thread very interesting, so many programs I knew somehow of come to surfice. But I must admit I have a bit of trouble understanding what "signature" means in the first place, if we don't mean to say "my favourite program of (skater)". To me, signature means something that is very personal, something you recognize a person by. In this case, it would mean a program with moves a certain skater was known for, some moves, jumps, steps or choreography that remained linked to this certain skater more than to anyone else, and more to this particular program of that skater than any other program of them. So there are and were fantastic programs out there which are neither neccessarily a skater's signature (no moves or anything in particular that would be linked only to this skater), nor programs which stand out in camparison to other programs of the same skater.

So for example:
Duchesnays: Missing I (1990), I would say, is their signature program. Missing II won them the world title one year later, but Missing I remains the most iconic program of their competitive carrier, undoubtedly. This could be their signature program. Then again: Reflections (Euros 1991, then abandoned in favor of MissingII) was the program they used for exhibitions even years after they turned pro, with moves only they did, with the famous ending position. So what is more of a signature?

 

[mjb52]

I think it means more like the program they are known for, their iconic program - so the one that instantly comes to mind when you think of that skater or that someone else would instantly think of if you brought them up. T & D's Bolero would be the ultimate example of this.

 

[Miki89]

I pretty much agree with Michalle's definition of a signature program. It's the one program that most fans typically associate with a skater, not necessarily your personal favorite program. Sometimes there are different opinions on a skater's iconic program or a skater has several iconic programs/performances (e.g. Michelle Kwan). That's why I started this thread because I was curious to see others' opinions, and it was also a good way for fans to introduce their favorite skaters to others through their iconic programs.

 

[Lemonade20]

Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to choose! There are so many signature programs, but I think the one I remember the most was Kurt Browning’s 1994 Casablanca at the Olympics. This was after a disastrous SP, and he turned around and put in one of his best ever Olympic performance ever. It was so emotional and I’ll never forget the chills I had that day.

 

[Orm Irian]

Phillipe Candeloro's signature program, for me, would probably be his Three Musketeers. He still performs a version of it in shows now, it's so iconic.

 

[sap5]

It's impossible to pick a signature program for Savchenko, she's one of those skaters who has had more than one distinctive/memorable programs. I couldn't choose a signature program for Virtue/Moir or Papadakis and Cizeron, either, and I'm debating if Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze should be Chaplin or Lady Caliph.

The easiest one in this thread is The Matrix for Joubert

Not yet mentioned: Ashley Wagner - Moulin Rouge.

For me, P/C's signature (so far) is To Build A Home.

 

[Fiero425]

Surya Bonaly - Four Seasons (I've literally spent the last couple days going through every performance of this on youtube in sequence )

Surya used "4 Seasons" for maybe 2 or 3 complete seasons and as a last minute replacement program at the '98 Nagano OG's! It had great potential, but the "gypsy" program probably suited her more as a "signature program!" She won her 5th European and a 3rd Silver World medal with it! IIRC, she was doing "Sampson & Delilah" that '97-98 season! It was in the height of the figure skating craze with Primetime "evening" telecasts of the Grand Prix! I remember taping a less than perfect performance of Surya's! After her Achilles tendon surgery in '96, she was never the same; completing 1 triple Lutz in a pro event a couple years later!

 

[nuge]

I didn't like the Duchesnays.They were just a lot of tricks and for them to win over K/P

 

[Vash01]

Although many of these have already been mentioned here, here is my list.

Mishkutenok Dmitriev- Liebestraum

Gordeeva Grinkov- Reverie and Moonlight Sonata

Berezhnaya Sikharulidze- Citylights (2001) and Lady Caliph (2002)

Tarasova Morozov - Pygmalion (2022) and Rach 2 (2018)

Bechke and Petrov- - You don't bring me flowers anymore

Volosozhar Trankov - Masquerade waltz 2014

Yagudin - Winter 2002

Plushenko - Njinski and St. Petersburg 300

Boitano - Napoleon 1988

Orser - The Story of my life

Paul Wylie - Miss Saigon and Schindlers list

Petrenko - The Doll number

Johnny Weir - Otonal

Kulik - Rhapsody in Blue

Oksana - The Swan

Irina S. - 2005 Worlds LP

Maria B. - Otonal

Yulia Lipnitskaya - Schindlers list

Evegenia Medvedeva - Anna Karenina (2018)

Midori - 1989 worlds and Scheherzadeh (1990)

Katarina Witt - Carmen 1988

Chen Lu - Butterfly Lovers (2018)

Michelle Kwan - Lyra Anjelica

Kristi Yamaguchi - Malaguena

Sasha Cohen - Second Waltz

Mao Asada - Chopin SP and Madam Butterfly

Yu na Kim - Send in the clowns

Sasha Trusova - 2022 Olympics LP

Anna Shcherbakova - 2021 Russian nationals LP

Kamila Valieva - 2022 SP (Grand Prix series)

Torvill Dean - Bolero (1984)

Klimova Ponomarenko - Bach (1992) and Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony(scarf exhibition)

Usova Zhulin - Four Seasons

Annenko Sretenski - Thanksgiving

Anissina Peizerat - Romeo and Juliet 1998



I am having difficulty remembering more. Will try later.

 

[Icetalavista]

I loved Kryl/Ovsian’# Masquerade Waltz. One theme, great performance.