Well, we fans might, but I do not believe the judges score any category in Program Components with the heading "artistry." Food for thought.
It's semantics, and as we all know, the judging system is imperfect. 'Artistry' is a catchall term that is inadequate, ephemeral, and indefinite as are many human emotions. The sport is very subjective, but also political. And as a sport it has gone through numerous changes and evolutions that have not adequately been covered or written about in any definitive or exhaustive way (as we might find in some other sports).
Figure skating is a unique sport in which creative performance and music are very important. Yet, the sport began as tracings on the ice without music, jumps or any particular attention to creativity involving telling a story. When skaters began to evolve the sport by exploring movement beyond tracings, in the form of acrobatics, that was frowned upon. Today acrobatics is largely the be-all end-all, with costumes, music and creative expression taking a backseat and at times almost being dismissed as secondary. I think it's partly a result of the sport being run by speed skaters for such a long time.
Even though blade skills are very important and foundational to figure skating, the sport truly does very little to encourage skaters to train and perfect blade/figures fundamentals. It would be like tennis players slacking off practicing their shots, or ballet dancers skipping their daily barre workout.
Aspects of 'artistry,' 'musicality,' 'creativity, and 'performance' are very complicated qualities to discuss coherently and without argument. And yet, there are definite measures of how skilled a skater is in interpreting the music, expressing genuine emotions, displaying a unique style and movement quality on the ice, etc. Some skaters are good in some aspects of the components but not as good in others. Quite often the judging does not accurately reflect varying levels of proficiency in the program components. Partly this has to do with politics and rep-based scoring with an emphasis on technical expertise. Also, there are some skaters who move beautifully but may not necessarily be as masterful in interpreting music and conveying authentic emotion as their scores would suggest.
Therefore, it's clear that the imbalance between how technical ability and performance ability are judged and valued has increased to a greater degree than existed previously. But once again, politics and reputation have always been factors in the scoring. So its important to realize that while PCS are manipulated and lip service is given to how important it is to develop one's 'artistic' side, the overriding problem is a lack of attention paid to the sport's complexities and problems, which are generally swept under the rug. Still, I would acknowledge that even with the huge imbalance between how tech and creative presentation skills are actually valued and scored, there has been huge progress creatively with much more emphasis on skaters using their entire bodies and working with top-notch choreographers to fine-tune their aesthetic side, even if their aesthetics are weak or nonexistent.
I think there are so many aspects of figure skating that truly need to be examined and explored and discussed without hype, prejudice, snarking, ubering, and ego-driven, inflamed combative commentary. Such conversations should be happening within the figure skating community as a whole on a number of levels. Utilize the experiences and knowledge of the living legends who still grace this sport. Why not a regular interview show focusing on veterans sharing their reflections and memorable moments,* accompanied by shows that convene a group of people from all parts of the sport engaging in fruitful conversation and constructive debate on hot topics and controversial issues, as well as historical anecdotes and insights? But yeah, there are a mountain of things that are never adequately addressed in the sport of figure skating. OTOH, there are so many ardent and selfless fans who make and have made enormous contributions to the sport and to other fans via blogging, commentary, research, interviews, dedicated sleuthing and sharing of information. They should be continually thanked and commended for their efforts. We all know who they are! And they are many and so dearly appreciated.
* Scott Hamilton has contributed to trying to offer something of this nature on his very welcome and delightful IN show. And of course, Nick McCarvel and Jackie Wong provide a great interview, news update and event summarizing service with IceTalk. (Allison Manley and P.J. Kwong have provided us with some archival interview gems as well).
I am going to recheck Dick Button's book to see whether he had anything profound to say about 'artistry.' I remember that in some of his past on-air commentary, Dick always pointed out that a debate between sport and art in figure skating has been a hot topic for a long time, and that it will always be debated. Way back in the 1800s when the 'father of figure skating,' Jackson Haines, began skating to music and using his arms in a graceful manner, his inventiveness led to an epidemic of raised eyebrows, frowning and pearl-clutching. Haines had to flee the states for Europe (Austria) where he was adopted and lionized as a true 'artistic' pioneer on the ice who helped figure skating find its soul.
over who should have the highest PCS scores. If two skaters/teams are essentially evenly matched, they could go either way. I don't even bother.
