fewer cookie cutter programs...

Right now some russian woman is skating to Debussy and the recording is just horrendous.. ugly actually..
which means she and her coaches have no clue....

between the music and the skating. That should be fundamental, and it's why we still talk about Torvill and Dean....

Kerrigan was perfect technically but Baiul was so artistic and breathtaking with her potrayal of the dying Swan. I think back the artistry played a bigger role.

Oksana made me gasp. Kerrigan was wooden.

These days I enjoy ice dancing as much, if not more, than figure skating.

Oksana was out of this world... I just loved watching her.

Little story, I think it was the year after she won, maybe 2 years, I was eating in a Thai restaurant in Syracuse.
During dinner, Oksana came in with several other skaters who were on a pro tour....

I almost fell off my chair....

. . . was that she was so long limbed that her artistic movements seemed to be in slow motion. It created a gracefulness that went beyond how graceful she already was.

Check out Yuna Kim, if you are of a mind.

I watched the women's free skate last night..

And for me, as good as the top few are, as difficult as their jumps are, I don;t think they can touch Yuna for pure artistry, grace, expression and genius...

I have become increasingly disinterested in any sporting event in which i need someone else to tell us who won.

It's like judging symphony orchestras.

And here come the 1st violins, watch these runs... HOLY COW they did it.... !!!

And the post concert interviewed..
"Tell us, how did it feel to just 'stick' that trumpet solo at the beginning of the Mahler?"

"OH, you know, its what I get paid to do, jerk."

. . .i did competition jazz piano when i was in my teens, and played at lots of battle of the bands with my rock bands. So, i get that!

When I taught percussion in one of the best high school music programs in the country, the band director refused to ever take his band to any competition.

As Bela Bartok(probably) once said. "Competitions are for horses, not artists."

her ballet training in those movements. They were exquisite.

...expressing great admiration for a couple of the skaters whose moves are timed to coordinate with certain phrasing in their music.

Hello - is that not the whole point of good choreography?

Jumps are jumps... I only really like them when they are something especially spectacular.. I mean in the artistry of the jump...

...the Beilman spin. I appreciate the athleticism and flexibility involved, but I don't find it graceful or attractive.

Otherwise,, no.

Maybe you have to watch basketball to understand that, but... Yes.

I maintain that the NBA should raise the hoop four feet. It would improve the game tremendously. The skating rules should outlaw the quad altogether, and not allow more than three jumps per routine.

More emphasis on expression, artistry, more varied technical skills...

I get the feel8ng wr are all just waiting to see jumps.

. . . is that if they further emphasize the artistic aspect, the judging becomes even more subjective.

Now, it's not a matter of the judge's opinion of how artistic something is, but what is artistic? Some judge might simply decide a jazzy element is not art. That would be stupid, but the mere judgment as to what artistic is, then how artistic that particular thing is or isn't makes for some awfully confusing decisions.

Especilly considering the disaster of the 2014 women's result.....

So you are right, there has to be a good deal of 'technical merit.'