Women's programs outside of the box

[icewhite]

We desperately need more programs for girls and women that show that women can step into a thousand roles. What are your favourite (competitive) programs for female skaters that are challenging the standard images? Which programs come to mind? Which kind of program/image/choreo would you like to see more?

I've been thinking of
- Surya Bonaly, Four Seasons
- Sasha Trusova, Cruella
- Lara Naki Gutmann, Mandingo; Hitchcock
- Kaori Sakamoto, Matrix
- Josefin Taljegard, Joker
- Eva Lotta Kiibus, Baianá
- Ivett Toth, AC/DC
...

 

[dorispulaski]

Stephanie Rosenthal
Robot SP

Stephanie Rosenthal - 06 Nationals SP

Stephanie Rosenthal - 06 Nationals SP

youtu.be

 

[dorispulaski]

Tonya Harding always outside the box
People Are Still Having Sex by Tone Loc SP

Tonya Harding 1992 US Nationals Short Program

Tonya's 92 short program

youtu.be

Also Two Tribes SP by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Tonya Harding 1990 NHK Trophy (Asahikawa) SP "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Tonya Harding / Ð¢Ð¾Ð½Ñ Ð¥Ð°Ñдинг / ãã¼ãã£ã»ãã¼ãã£ã³ã°1990 NHK Trophy - Original Program - November 23-25 1990, Asahikawa, Japan1990 NHKæ¯å½éãã£ã®ã¥ã¢ã¹ã±ã¼ã競æå¤§ä¼ 1990å¹´11æ23æ¥-11æ2...

www.youtube.com

 

[Idiote]

Inga Gurgenidze's Mephisto's Lullaby
Hana Yoshida's Koo Koo Fun
Rika Kihira's Breakfast in Baghdad
Loena Hendricks's Si Mama
Niina Petrokina's Give Us A Little Love
Rika Hongo's Ghost in the Shell
Chaeyeon Kim's Le Bal des Folles

I forgot her name but I remember an Italian woman in 2018 Olympics who skated a gorgeous contemporary program to Eyes Wide Shut. Same competition and already cited, Ivett Toth's AC/DC program is a must - she generally had a lot of programs I loved.

My absolute favourite women program is Niina's Give Us A Little Love ; it's a true contemporary dance piece with acute attention to the music and gorgeous details, I'd love to see more of that style.

 

[Rikku]

The first one I thought of was Katarina Witt's SP (technical program back then iirc) in Lillehammer, portraying Robin Hood, not a female character, wearing opaque black tights way before pants were allowed. For 1994, probably not standard.

 

[el henry]

Stephanie Rosenthal
Robot SP

Stephanie Rosenthal - 06 Nationals SP

Stephanie Rosenthal - 06 Nationals SP

youtu.be

Stephanie's "Rockit" was one of the first hip-hop pieces in skating period, IIRC. Great program.

 

[withwings]

For me it does not matter either a program is "out of box" or "standard image". IMO what really gives a life to the skating/program is that a program is skated from the bottom the heart, with authenticity where body merely becomes like a music instrument in the hands of the skater to express his/her "music". And then a skating/a program resonates to the audience, involves the audience and gives that unforgettable moment which uplifts the audience above the mundane life; give a breath of fresh air. IMO it is a choreography/a choreographer which is a crucial part to achieve this; to find a choreographer who can perceive the skater's "inner music" and masterfully to bring it out.
On the other hand, there are skaters who even can even bad program watchable. And no, indeed for me it does not matter at all if women skating is "in the box, standard" or "outside the box". I am ok with " standard" programs, and very much so; the same with the programs "out of the box".

 

[AlexBreeze]

Olga Mikutina - My Nocturnal Serenade
Veronika Yametova - Royal Blood
Veronika Yametova - Valhalla Calling

Edit: updated link

 

[noskates]

I think Benoit Richaud's choreography for the most part is what I would consider out of the box. He also chooses music that isn't the standard fare.

 

[gkelly]

More from the 1990s:

Olga Markova - European's 1994 Copenhagen

Olga Markova - European's 1994 Copenhagen - free

www.youtube.com

Krisztina Czakó 1997 Worlds FS "The Addams Family"

Krisztina Czakó / ÐÑиÑÑина Цако / ã¯ãªã¹ãã£ã¼ãã»ãã£ã³1997 World Figure Skating Championships Ladies Free SkatingÐ§ÐµÐ¼Ð¿Ð¸Ð¾Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð¼Ð¸Ñа по ÑигÑÑÐ½Ð¾Ð¼Ñ ÐºÐ°ÑÐ°Ð½Ð¸Ñ 19971997å¹´ä¸çãã£ã®ã¥ã¢ã¹...

www.youtube.com

Vanessa Gusmeroli (FRA) - 1997 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate

Lausanne, SWITZERLAND - 1997 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate - Vanessa Gusmeroli of France placed 4th in the Free Skate and ended up d...

www.youtube.com

Laetitia Hubert (FRA) - 1998 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA - 1998 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate - Laetitia Hubert of France, skating to a Dead Can Dance medley, wa...

www.youtube.com

Laetitia Hubert FRA 1998 Cup of Russia Ladies Long Program

Laetitia Hubert Cup of Russia 1998 "Prostitute on Drugs" Free SkateI do not claim any ownership or copyright to this video.This video is intended for educati...

www.youtube.com

Vanessa Gusmeroli (FRA) - 1999 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Long Program -(US, ABC)

Helsinki, FINLAND - 1999 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Long Program - Vanessa Gusmeroli of France placed 5th in the Long Program. She dropped ...

www.youtube.com

 

[withwings]

I think Benoit Richaud's choreography for the most part is what I would consider out of the box. He also chooses music that isn't the standard fare.

Absolutely. For example no one can say that Bradie Tennell's programs are expressing " a standard image" of figure skating They are not. Bradie's programs brings out the flavour of her identity, her programs are unique.
I do respect Benoit Richaud"s as a choreographer a lot. A huge, huge dislike towards Adam Solya's programs. he is not able to help skaters, he does opposite. Oh, sorry, this is already

 

[icewhite]

Thanks for all the programs!

I am convinced that figure skating needs them very much.

 

[LazyFuzai]

We desperately need more programs for girls and women that show that women can step into a thousand roles. What are your favourite (competitive) programs for female skaters that are challenging the standard images? Which programs come to mind? Which kind of program/image/choreo would you like to see more?

I've been thinking of
- Surya Bonaly, Four Seasons
- Sasha Trusova, Cruella
- Lara Naki Gutmann, Mandingo; Hitchcock
- Kaori Sakamoto, Matrix
- Josefin Taljegard, Joker
- Eva Lotta Kiibus, Baianá
- Ivett Toth, AC/DC
...

Define what you mean by standard image? Typical ballad ones or what?

 

[Idiote]

Absolutely. For example no one can say that Bradie Tennell's programs are expressing " a standard image" of figure skating They are not. Bradie's programs brings out the flavour of her identity, her programs are unique.
I do respect Benoit Richaud"s as a choreographer a lot. A huge, huge dislike towards Adam Solya's programs. he is not able to help skaters, he does opposite. Oh, sorry, this is already

I think Niina's Fallulah SP and Loena's SP from last season were actually really really good - well-crafted choreo, surgically timed to the music, each showcasing a fresh, unique and different image that made both Niina and Loena stand out

I do completely agree that this season is another story - Loena's programs especially are (imo) a poor attempt at recreating the freshness of last season's SP, but the choreo is lazier and emptier and the music cuts, well... Not my personal taste, I'd say.

Ouh la la, it's a no for me

 

[TallyT]

Satoko Miyahara - Egyptian Disco
Pretty much anything by Mae Berenice Meite
Kaori's Matrix has been mentioned, what about No Roots?

 

[Magill]

Rika Kihira's Breakfast in Baghdad (one of my all time favourites) and Kaori Sakamoto's Matrix come to mind as surprising and unforgettable, not the least due to the outside-of-the-box music choices and deserving choreography to match.
Here's Rika


and Kaori

 

[bartlebooth]

I forgot her name but I remember an Italian woman in 2018 Olympics who skated a gorgeous contemporary program to Eyes Wide Shut. Same competition and already cited, Ivett Toth's AC/DC program is a must - she generally had a lot of programs I loved.

That was Giada Russo

 

[icewhite]

Define what you mean by standard image? Typical ballad ones or what?

It's difficult to define for me without sounding derogatory, because obviously I have my opinion on this.
I mostly mean the ice princess stuff. There's the sweet delicate flower ice princess, the elegant ice princess, the sexy little thing ice princess. Then there's also the fiery woman with a temper à la Carmen, and the hot sexy athlete in shades of orientalism or pop dance music, and of course, who could forget, the plagued soul, which is also very common in the male version though, skating to wheepy music. Then we have the cute little childlike girl, that one's a bit rarer, and the cheeky jazzy burlesque dancer which might just be a sub-category of the sexy little thing or something in between.
Of course all of that often requires strong sportive abilities, and I am not against most of these programs per se if they are some among others. But programs I want to see more are those which display a strong, powerful, quirky image, maybe to rock music, maybe to dance music, maybe to horror movie soundtracks, representing original characters, telling interesting stories - maybe with a more straightforward, sportive elegance, not focusing on being delicate, not focusing on being sexy.
I just want to see a range of images, more like in men's - I will still complain about the programs in men's and the many warhorses, but there are more different characters and there is a broad range of viril/feminine, while in women's I will watch a competition and get 90% delicate/sexy/wheepy. More delicate if it's Asian, more sexy if it's European, more wheepy if it's North American.

Sorry for the stereotypes. I don't mean to be as mean as this comes across. I'm just despairing and thinking no wonder so many girls and their families want nothing to do with figure skating and rather choose hockey.

But as we can see in this thread, there are some great original programs for women, too!

 

[AlexBreeze]

Sofia Titova - Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack
Sofia Samodurova - Nava Nagila
Alysa Liu - Gypsy Dance
Maria Paramonova - Dirty Dancing soundtrack

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Be careful what you wish for.

I have just watched a Chicks level girl at the Icebeat Winter Trophy skating to "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus" by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.

It is definitely an outside the box choice. But it is definitely not appropriate for a skater of that age (or probably any age!) to be skating to.

It was very uncomfortable to watch a little girl skating to the sound of, well, you know.

CaroLiza_fan