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Post by Jeff on Mar 1, 2018 11:11:52 GMT
I never knew Nana Mouskouri did classical crossover ! This is her version of what we classical fans know as Rodrigo's Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez.
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Post by Jeff on Mar 1, 2018 11:23:08 GMT
During the gala Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond skated to Tori Kelly's version of "Hallelujah" but I can't find it on Youtube. There's some homework for you Libby ! In the meantime I'll have to cheat. Here it is from 2017.
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Post by comet on Mar 1, 2018 11:27:30 GMT
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Joe
Administrator
Supporting Hayley since 2003!
Posts: 6,715 
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Post by Joe on Mar 2, 2018 0:35:51 GMT
Hello John  NBC chose not to air the Figure Skating Gala until early in the morning on their cable sports channel NBCSN so I reckon not much of America watched it. Thank you for providing some videos! The Guitar Concierto do Aranjuez is one of my favorite melodies! |
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Post by Libby on Mar 2, 2018 6:52:08 GMT
Plenty of snow and ice in the UK at the moment but some ice is welcome, especially when combined with beautiful music and wonderful skating. I'm surprised no-one has posted anything from the Figure Skating Gala at the Winter Olympics so I'll have a go. Now I'm no expert (I wouldn't know a triple salchow from a lutz). My starting point is always the music. If I like the tune then I get interested in the skating ! The biggest cheer of the night (and deservedly so) was reserved for Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu who performed beautifully to "Notte stellata" by Il Volo (a group I will clearly have to investigate further). This is based on a very famous piece for cello by French composer Saint-Saens called "The Swan" (hence the feathers on his costume). Some people say Classical-Crossover is dead. Clearly they have never watched Figure Skating and personally I'm very glad I did ! I'm glad you liked that, Jeff. I would post skating a lot more, but sometimes I'm just too preoccupied and pressed for time after work, that I don't think of things like this. Also, I suppose I just didn't realize there would be many people interested in it. I would be happy to post more skating videos in the future, if you would like that. I could even post a competitive program or 2, if anyone would enjoy that, as well. None of the programs are available directly on youtube, as the Olympic committee is extremely strict about anything from the Olympics. However, some videos I've seen online via nbcolympics.com. I wonder if that would be available outside the US or not. We'll see. Yes, Yuzuru is an exceptional skater, which is why he is now the 2-time gold medallist. There are skaters who have great artistry, there are those who can land quads, and some that can do both. But none of them have quite the same command and charisma that Yuzuru has. Of course, he has millions of fans worldwide cheering him on, but of course, hands-down, the Japanese audience the best audience for figure skating a skater could ever dream to encounter, in this era at least. The bronze medallist from Spain comes close, being very entertaining and bringing out the characters in his performance, especially if any of it involves a bit of comedy (think Charlie Chaplin). Il Volo is another of Simon Cowell's singing groups, right? They didn't particularly appeal to me at the time they first were introduced, but I did enjoy this song. |
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Post by Libby on Mar 2, 2018 6:59:23 GMT
Hello John NBC chose not to air the Figure Skating Gala until early in the morning on their cable sports channel NBCSN so I reckon not much of America watched it. Thank you for providing some videos! The Guitar Concierto do Aranjuez is one of my favorite melodies! Yes, I missed that, and had to rely on Canada's coverage, which was not much better than NBC's primetime.  Absolutely abysmal coverage by NBC. It's horrifying enough that one of the biggest satellite TV networks does not carry NBC AT ALL, let alone the special channels, but even to the people that have NBC, AND have cable, still miss out on certain things because they have to send it over to the cable channel. I didn't see Satoko's performance, so thank you very much for sharing this, Jeff. She skated to Madame Butterfly for her free skate, and although she placed 4th, this was one of the best skates I've seen her do in quite some time. Probably since her win at NHK trophy in 2015, when she skated to Hayley's song during the gala there. |
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Post by Libby on Mar 23, 2018 5:43:55 GMT
Well, in case anyone's still interested in skating, here's my favorite program from the World championships in Milan, Italy, so far:
Carolina Kostner, whom you all saw in that stunning Benedictus number a couple years ago, is in 1st place after the short program. She skated beautifully and passionately, and the commentators said it might have been her best skate ever. She's the same age as Hayley, which is far older than most of the young skaters competing. Here she skates to Ne me quitte pas, by Celine Dion (this is actually from the European championships earlier this year, but she skates just about as well, although she didn't win that competition):
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Post by Libby on Jun 1, 2018 4:13:12 GMT
If anyone's actually still interested in skating post-season, here's one of my favorite programs from this year's Stars on Ice show in the US; this is Meryl Davis & Charlie White, 2014 Olympic champions in ice dance, the first and only US ice dance team to ever win the Olympics (I've posted about them many times before); the music is Elastic Heart by Sia, which I liked:
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Post by comet on Jun 1, 2018 10:12:10 GMT
If anyone's actually still interested in skating post-season, here's one of my favorite programs from this year's Stars on Ice show in the US; this is Meryl Davis & Charlie White, You post them and I'll watch them, There is something about the speed and elegance of ice skating, the risk of the jumps, I doubt there is little else on your mind when you are skating at that speed, as you get older you realise this is for the young who still have that sense of invincibility and unbreakability. I used to go to an ice rink in Cherbourg on my time off, I don't think there was an ice rink in Ireland in the mid 70s. |
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Post by Libby on Oct 23, 2018 3:54:58 GMT
I attended Skate America this weekend, which was held in Everett, Washington. It is the first of 6 international events in the Grand Prix of figure skating series, and ends with the Grand Prix final. Whichever 6 competitors earn the most points goes to the Final. I had a great time! I only attended the free skates (there are 4 different disciplines, of course), and the exhibition. Here's my favorite part of the entire event (as I mentioned in my FB post below: |
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Post by Libby on Nov 12, 2018 1:50:55 GMT
My current favorite ladies' skater, Satoko Miyahara. She's the one who skated to Hayley's Wings to Fly for her exhibition/gala program during the 2015-2016 season. She won one of those competitions, at the NHK trophy in Japan. She is also a 2-time World medalist, and she placed a very commendable 4th at the recent 2018 Olympics in South Korea. She skated about as well as she possibly could with no drama or controversy (the gold medallist was not without controversy), she just got the job done, and performed beautifully to boot. I recently witnessed her winning Skate America in Everett, Washington, which was very exciting. I was very happy to see her compete (and win!) live, as she's been one of my favorites since she skated to Hayley's music (and because she is a very good skater). She "only" won silver at NHK trophy this year, but I decided to show her short program from that event, partly because she received her season's best score for the program here, but also because I just really love her dress (she wore a different one at America, though that was also very beautiful): Oh, what the heck, since Hayley doesn't go anywhere where she can wear stunning outfits lately, we might as well talk about figure skating fashion now!  Me, myself, and I, that is.  Here is Satoko's other beautiful dress used for this program:   And another shot of her white one for good measure; it looks like a figure skating wedding dress to me!  |
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Joe
Administrator
Supporting Hayley since 2003!
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Post by Joe on Nov 12, 2018 7:12:07 GMT
I really lke Satoko too! She is so graceful and expressive in her skating. I hope to catch the replays of the NHK Trophy programs this week! Fingers crossed for Gracie Gold as she makes her return to competition at Rostelecom this weekend! Her free skate song is a song that I love “She Used to be Mine”. i have this site bookmarked... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_ISU_Grand_Prix_of_Figure_Skating |
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Post by Libby on Nov 12, 2018 8:27:44 GMT
I really lke Satoko too! She is so graceful and expressive in her skating. I hope to catch the replays of the NHK Trophy programs this week! Fingers crossed for Gracie Gold as she makes her return to competition at Rostelecom this weekend! Her free skate song is a song that I love “She Used to be Mine”. i have this site bookmarked... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_ISU_Grand_Prix_of_Figure_SkatingAny idea where the 2nd photo I posted of her blue dress went? It was there for sure when I posted it earlier. 🤔 Is it too big? I’m also looking forward to Gracie’s Grand Prix debut next weekend. I hope she comes back strong. While I appreciate Bradie Tennell’s talent and consistency, I don’t find her style very appealing. I’d love to see Gracie lead American ladies again. I also like Mariah Bell this year. |
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Post by John H on Nov 12, 2018 8:52:18 GMT
Any idea where the 2nd photo I posted of her blue dress went? It was there for sure when I posted it earlier. 🤔 Is it too big? I see a video and three photos in you previous post - two photos of the blue dress and one white. Sometimes I find that photos take a while to load up and display. Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
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Post by Libby on Nov 12, 2018 9:07:40 GMT
Any idea where the 2nd photo I posted of her blue dress went? It was there for sure when I posted it earlier. 🤔 Is it too big? I see a video and three photos in you previous post - two photos of the blue dress and one white. Sometimes I find that photos take a while to load up and display. Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
How long is long enough? 😂 It’s still not there, and nothing seems to be happening where it looks like the site hasn’t fully loaded yet. |
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Absolutely abysmal coverage by NBC. It's horrifying enough that one of the biggest satellite TV networks does not carry NBC AT ALL, let alone the special channels, but even to the people that have NBC, AND have cable, still miss out on certain things because they have to send it over to the cable channel.
Me, myself, and I, that is. 
