Tonight Becky and I had the joy of watching far too much figure skating. I Love Figure Skating,...and well I just absolutely love watching the Olympics. I watch everything. (How 'bout those snowboarders tonight! Pretty Damn Sexy!)
But, in this entry is about figure skating. Men's Figure Skating.
I have to say, on a whole, I am usually under whelmed and dissatisfied with men�s skating. They are usually a little up tight, a little boring. They focus more on the jumping and less on the presentation. There has always been a strange issue of what male figure skaters should wear. If it is too straight (no pun intended) forward than they look boring, to frilly and they are flaming. So what they end up wearing always just looks plan silly.
This is why the women are so much more interesting to watch. They have an exciting variety of costumes! Many different colors and textures that look lovely on the ice as they move. the female performances are marked by lots of grace and beauty. Lots of elegance.
But it appears things have changed since I last paid attention to Men�s figure skating. I believe the combined efforts of Illia Kulic and Rudy Galindo have changed skating for the better. But then again, I haven't been paying attention in awhile.
While it was Elvis who started actually introducing the Quad. If I'm correct he did this as a professional, while (I think) Kulic was the one who brought it to the amateur level. Now it seems one can't compete in the top ranks without one, or the attempt at one, or the considered attempt of one. Before Quads were absolutely unheard of. The men appear to be better and stronger with the need to hit such harder jumps.
But have to say that it was Rudy who really changed the sport for the better. His androgynous costumes had us all a little taken back. We were so used to this men trying to be hyper masculine and yet graceful and elegant....(and failing). When he came out in the exhibition show wearing the black suit with the fluttering blue sequined cape of sorts, had us all in shock and aw. It was new, different, exciting, interesting. but most importantly, it was Beautiful, and his skating, incredibly graceful. That performance was so memorable it was later featured in the film Amelie.
So tonight�s performances were nothing but a parade of flying elves! They were all so beautiful! and their jumps were amazing. There didn't seem to be any shame (and rightfully so) in wearing something feminine. These gorgeous costumes helped the programs immensely. they moved and flowed with them. Johnny Weir had the best looking costumes of them all. he calls himself a "russia-phila" and his constumes refect the traditional look of Russian skaters. I believe his attire in the long program was my favorite. It had all these crazy blue ruffles and sashes over his arms and chest and moving down his body. It might seem a bit much (and if Santino had made it he would have been ridiculed into next week) but as he moved and skated and contorted himself into all sorts of shapes the ruffles became far more than ruffles, but an artistic statement. while the spin forms he was making would have been amazing no matter what he was wearing, this gorgous costume made them far more powerful!
There was so much promise tonight. Knowing that so many of these skaters are in their teens or early twenties just makes me excited for the years to come.
The point being, we watch figure skating because, while being a sport, it is art! It is color and grace. It is humans expressing themselves with movement and emotion. Yes, great jumps and atheism are great, but so many of these performances just moved me very deeply.
Quite honestly, I�ve been bored with woman�s figure skating for some time as well. It was the shining stars that captured my attention, Kristi Yamaguchi and then Michelle Kahn. Personally I thought Michelle was robbed in the last Olympics. I think they were so scared of causing another controversy that they gave the gold to the crowd favorite, and that kinda pissed me off. Sara Hugh�s performance did nothing for me.
I guess what I�m getting at is that I�m totally into the men right now! They are Beautiful and talented and doing innovative and exciting new things. An absolute joy to watch!
2:13 a.m. - February 17, 2006
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