Choreography

There have been several threads about the artistic aspect of this sport: 1 2 3 4

(Yes, the two of us are likely insane.)

It seems like a natural progression to ask about choreography next, and it also has motivation drawn from recent events -- there has been discussion about Averbukh's choreography due to his taking offence from certain statements Orser and Medvedeva supposedly made about it.

What makes good choreography, and what does it draw from? How much does music selection and theme figure in? What influences audience opinion?

How does a choreographer work with a skater? I believe there's a style that a skater or a choreographer each works best with, so what are the styles the most famous ones gel most with? Would a choreographer draw inspiration based on the style they gel with, or something else?

How limited is a choreographer considering someone's style and "artistic talent", and how do we partition this "blame"? I believe the blame for a badly choreographed program goes mostly to the choreographer, because it is their job to make the skater look good for the money they pay them. They are responsible for working well with the skater's style, and to bring out the best qualities, and also to somewhat challenge them to advance artistic development in their skaters.

There are certainly examples in which not-too-good choreography has been made to look good by the skater. There are certainly also examples of programs that are good, and lift the skater's ability to a new level. Lastly, there are examples of choreography and skaters working well together. How does this happen?

What are your favourite examples of choreography, and what makes you like them, specifically? A good breakdown would be appreciated because it would be fun to read.

EDIT: Maybe someone can also answer:

Baron Vladimir said:

Sorry if it is not suppose to be a point of your thread, but thats the topic im most interested in about choreography. The basic premise/point of it and how they can help skaters to get better scores in the end?

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First, i dont think a job of making the choreo is that important for the skaters scores (unless you are the tech coach and choreograph at the same time). It is important tho for our subjective preferences what i admire the most in work of choreographs is originality of choices. I think Europe choreographers work (i dont consider Russia there) is the best in that regard.

Baron Vladimir said:

i simply dont think choreographs job is important regarding the scores.

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This wasn't really about scores, and that debate about what PCS should reflect or not has been done elsewhere with neither side being able to convince the other. But even so, this isn't correct. Choreography reflects in SS, TR, and CO, or at least is supposed to.

chopinskate said:

Choreography reflects in SS, TR, and CO, or at least is supposed.

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Which i think is more of a job of a skaters coach. Or you think is a choreographer job? What is an exact job of a choreographer here is the main queston?

Baron Vladimir said:

Which i think is more of a job of a skaters coach. Or you think is a choreographer job?

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A choreographer would have to choreograph a good showcase of TR, SS, and certainly will have to plan the elements well for a good CO mark. A coach can work on TR and SS all they want, if the choreography makes the skater not display it, how will the skater get that mark?

chopinskate said:

A choreographer would have to choreograph a good showcase of TR, SS, and certainly will have to plan the elements well for a good CO mark. A coach can work on TR and SS all they want, if the choreography makes them not display it, how will the skater get that mark?

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In my opinion choreograher job is to make a programme which can allow skaters to show in that 3 or 4 minutes the best of themselves. And i would love to hear more explanataions about their work (or the point of their work) E: Sorry if it is not suppose to be a point of your thread, but thats the topic im most interested in about choreography. The basic premise/point of it and how they can help skaters to get better scores in the end?

On the "is the choreographer to blame, or the skater?" I think it can be mixed.

Let's break down Max's career, for example. To me, the best choreographer he had was actually Camerlengo. Camerlengo did Tron, West Side Story, Historia de un Amor and Gladiator, which are four of Max's best programs and among the ones people come back to when they think of Max. Max was clearly engaged with the themes and the music, and Camerlengo took all of Max's strengths and showed them off. (Break in writing this post for a minute while I rage at how criminally underrated the judges and the fans in general found Historia de un Amor.)

I also thought Katherine Hill's programs for him this season were very good, particularly the SP - again, Max was engaged and his strengths were shown while still enabling him to skate to his beloved warhorses.

The "lost" program that I always thought could have been better than we saw was the Black Swan FS. But that was Mills that changed the music cut and thus the choreography, rather than Max. Given the time to work his way into that original program, it would have been a real winner.

And then you look at his two most maligned programs, Footloose and Carmen. Both of those are examples of the choreographer giving straight-up garbage choreography to the skater. Footloose was dreadfully choreographed and Max knew it - you could see it on his face every time he did it. And that was a real shame because I love Mark Pillay's work for Brendan, and Pillay seemed enthusiastic about working with Max, so I'm not sure where that went wrong. Carmen was just a plain example of Lori Nichol doing a lazy cut-and-paste.

Anyway I think I drifted off topic there, sorry.

Good examples:

- Joshua Farris' Schindler's List: obviously. No gimmicks, no tricks, no exaggeration; just soft, gentle movement to the music, a shadow and a ghost of a memory. I originally preferred the circular shaped step sequence, but he really made both versions work. During those step sequences you could hear a pin drop in the arena. Every movement was deliberate and precise. Part of what made this work was his awareness of his exquisite lines; every movement was finished and polished.

- Jason Brown's The Piano: Similarly to the above. This is probably the best program Rohene has ever done for Jason (though I was a big fan of Tristan). Again, lots of extensions, showing off Jason's lines, quiet, gentle music. The pacing of this program was extremely well done, too. Even though it was a long step sequence, it didn't make you feel like it. You wanted it to go on forever.

- Max Aaron's Historia de un Amor: This was a choreographer and a skater coming together and understanding what they were doing, and what both the skater and the audience wanted. Made good use of Max's speed with the high energy music, but also showed off Max's charm, including several moments where he outright played to the audience (funny how Max was maligned for that but when Adam does it's "sassy" and "great choreography"). The step sequence was also one of the best ones, fast and quick but full of content.

The bad ones:

- Joshua Farris' Libertango: First: tinkly piano tango is already a terrible idea from the start. Second, this program almost certainly came a year too early in Josh's development. At 18 going on 19 he was still too shy and introverted to really pull off a tango. He didn't project it enough. His movement was also too delicate in the delivery of the program; it didn't have the strength and power for a tango.

- Jason Brown's Juke: When a program reminds me of a program a skater did as a Junior, only the Junior program was better, that's always a bad start. Juke was just all-round bad in so many ways. The music was Juniorish, the choreography was Juniorish, and the costume started out promisingly only for Rohene to destroy it. Instead of being the "mature" jazz/jive program that Jason's team tried to portray it as, it made him look like a Junior on the ice. Only more Juniorish than his Junior program, which I suppose is an achievement of itself. Doing the sprinkler in a competitive program was a cruel misrepresentation of Jason's actual talent.

- Max Aaron's Footloose: (Y'all thought I was gonna say Carmen, but that one takes one sentence to lambast, so.) You're a choreographer. You're given the most explosively powerful US man and a fun, explosive classic piece of music. So when the music builds to the chorus, what do you do? You should have the skater explode into movement. NOT DO WHAT PILLAY DID, WHICH WAS HAVE MAX STAND AROUND. Oy. And on that note, you don't give that piece of music to a 2 year old on sugar to cut, either. My major problem with this program was that the choreography ignored the music. Max, bless him, did his best with it, but the choreography was just so bad...and worse, it never stayed the same. I don't think he ever skated that program the same way twice. Constant tinkering is a recipe for disaster too.

chopinskate said:

There have been several threads about the artistic aspect of this sport: 1 2 3 4

(Yes, the two of us are likely insane.)

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We ARE insane

As for the topic though, there's a lot to unpack when it comes to choreography, and even to your question of "who is to blame" when a program falls a part, or falls short. Is it the skater's inability to put personality or to put life to the choreography? Or is it the choreographer's uninspired / pasted artistry?

So I'm going to go ahead and talk about what I generally want to see in a choreography. It's actually pretty simple: when the program doesn't feel like it comes with sections or compartments; when elements and music cuts don't feel strategically placed because they suit each other, but rather are seamlessly interwoven to create a cohesive image. In your other post, you put Karen Chen's On Golden Pond to be the best program of Ladies SP in the last quad; choreographically, I agree. While this program is choreographed by Chen herself, the tenderness and the gentleness with which Chen exhibited all the elements included in this program really brings out the equally intimate, tender, dramatic yet somewhat silent mood of the music. For example, her step sequence didn't overwhelm her music, but are as silent and leveled to music to which she skates with. Nothing looks so extraneous in her step sequence to distract us from listening to the music. We don't often see this kind of step sequence anymore, since "fast/rhythmic" music cuts are integrated for the choreography to include fast/explosive step sequence, which can in some ways take out something from the seamlessness of the program (like I mentioned, where programs appears to be choreographed in compartments). Or sometimes, even if the music doesn't really demand explosive step sequences, choreographers still have to put them, and most probably for the sake of gaining points. But going back to Chen's programs, nothing in her movement appears to be rushed, nothing looked unfinished, so by the end of the program, you can still feel the music.

So generally speaking, the great problem of choreographers, is how to pack a program with elements that can win scores without compromising the totality of your program? And perhaps for the skaters, how can they bring the totality alive.

And btw, with Averbukh's choreography, I always find them to be incomplete, and the movements he incorporates actually puts me out of the program rather than inviting me in. And this is not just a recent phenomenon; it has been the problem of his choreography since I've first watched his work around 2011 with Makarova's SP. Unfortunately, nothing has changed.

ETA: Another program that picked my interest this season is Wakaba Higuchi's Skyfall program. In terms of music cuts, nothing should have worked in this program to make it as seamless as it could be. In terms of the movements, not everything should have worked out because there are times that her movements don't follow the basic rhythm of the music. Yet, everything did. Transitions after transitions, Wakaba's movements hold the program together, and even when they don't follow the music rhythm (for example, she has variations of movements when the note is held, or that she will hold a movement when there is a distinct variation of notes), they still work. I had to watch it several times to put it in proper words, Bourne knows how to fill in a program with movements that just don't follow the rhythm of the music, but how to complement it, to make the choreography looks so dynamic. It would have been easy, for example, for Wakaba to simply follow the vocal rhythm of Adele placed in the middle of the program, yet she didn't. Bourne had to make her do movements that capture notes accompanying Adele's vocals, or sometimes nothing at all, but still movements that are great company to the rhythm. I'm not sure if what I'm observing was right, but I have seen this too in Yuzuru's Hope and Legacy (which has somewhat different affect on me but that's for a different topic ). If someone is well versed in Bourne's approach to how to choreograph a program, I really want to know what you think.

Baron Vladimir said:

First, i dont think a job of making the choreo is that important for the skaters scores.

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I don’t know much but I do know one example that shows he importance of choreo for the scores (though I have no idea if this what happen in general or an exception). I’m just going to talk about it as an input - from my understanding Shae-Lynn’s Seimei choreography for Yuzuru was changed because the original step were not ‘difficult’ enough to get a level 4 (I believe the program was constructed before some rules changed). So they had to go back and change something up so that the intended steps can get to the desired level. So I’d say it’s the choreographer’s job to make sure that the steps, at it’s full potential, has enough difficulty and fulfills the criteria for the highest level. But whether or not the max score is obtained in conpetition depends entirely on the skater’s execution, of course.

Choreography is something that I have been interested in for a long time, so thanks for the thread!

One of the things I have wanted to know more about is how the programs are constructed and how do they work. Layout of the elements tells one story, transitions have been analysed in other instances, but one thing that is kind of difficult to see and document is the pattern and ice coverage. TV-cameras with changing angles make it quite difficult to follow where the skater is at any given moment in the program. If they almost hit the borders doing sth it is likely to be a large pattern covering most of the ice. But there appear to be no easy resources (that I know of) to analyse how the program works, where the elements are located in it and how do they relate to one another. (In Boston, they used some kind of heat camera which picked up the skaters’ movements and it was rather interesting to look at the patterns.)

The Choreoraphy/Composition description in the ISU regulations is currently somewhat short, but variety in patterns and using different directions are looked at, as well as the distribution of elements and how well the overall pattern uses the ice surface. An older and longer explanation can also be found and used here as an aid – I suspect that the criteria have really not changed that much over the years.

After the Olympics, I bumped into some fancam videos from the men’s competition and realized that they could be used to trace the movement and make a plan of a program. So, I fiddled with a drawing program and also found these two vids of Patrick Chan’s and Yuzuru Hanyu’s 2015–6 FS programs. The person who made those looked also at changes in direction, which I did not have energy to do. (Maybe someday.) And that is because I wanted to see many skaters and what they do in different parts of the program. I chose the men’s category because there has been discussion as to the effect of quads to the program structure and simply because that happens to be my favorite part of the competitions.

What I did was this: I looked up fancam videos of FS at the Olympics for 10 different skaters (Aliev, Chan, Chen, Fernández, Hanyu, Hwa, Jin, Kolyada, Uno, Vasiljevs). Then I traced the patterns element to element on the ice as well as could be done – sometimes using also several videos to check details. The Seimei 1.0 video referred to earlier led me also to check other versions of it to make sure what I was seeing for version 2.0 was really happening. Then I got greedy and started checking out programs from previous years for Chan, Fernández and Hanyu just to see how things work in the long run at the very top (starting with 2011–2 season for Chan and 2013–3 season for the other two). Which meant that the whole process took several months to complete. (And I am still wondering about what to do with the backwards–forwards part.) I chose to show the overall pattern, the element placement and what happens in the two parts of the program separately. The plans you can get here as a 10 Mb-pdf in dropbox. Hope it works!

So, at the beginning you have a 4 min 30 s piece of music and probably the technical layout of the program outlined by the coach (and skater). Most of the skaters in my sample did 5 elements in the first half and 8 in the second half of the program. The jump content is usually divided 3 to 5 between the 1st and 2nd part with one spin and StSq in the first half and 2 spins and ChSq in the second half. In recent years, StSq and ChSq could also change places. For the second part, you naturally have to make sure that the jumps start after the half way mark to get the bonus.

The creation of any program IMO is a fairly mechanic process, because you have to take into consideration so many technical details for every element with regard to the skater’s skills, what the aims are for that skater and the what the rule book says about reaching those aims. And, of course, you have to try and emphasise the best parts of what the skater can do. The skater then has to try to execute the program as it is or start changing the original to one direction or another, with or without the choreographer. When you bash choreographers for bad programs, remember that what you see is not necessarily what was planned, but that often enough the skater and coach change things also on their own, and not necessarily for the good. Getting the skater comfortable with whatever they are doing is one of the aims as well.

When you look at my long-term sample, Chan, Fernández and Hanyu, you can probably see quite clearly that the first half tends to be kept the same rather conservatively. There can be changes according to technical development – e.g. both Hanyu and Chan adding new quads to their programs with one of them at least in the first part. Fernández had already 3 quads in his programs in 2012–3 season and only in 2015–6 season he added a second 3A into the FS. Also changes in rules can alter the layout (StSq and ChSq particularly). In addition, the requirement for a certain pattern for a StSq was removed and its length became a factor – hence the StSq in recent years tend to vary a bit more from before.

The second half features usually more variety. It begins with the jumps with most commonly 4 in a row, then another element (ChSq/StSq or a spin) with the last jump later on. The last element is almost invariably the third spin. The order of the jumps can also be varied in different seasons, but usually the more difficult ones start and the last one is an easier jump.

Patrick Chan
Most of the programs are by David Wilson, first is by Lori Nichol. There is really no great difference in the pattern in that respect – Lori’s makes a big number 8 (elements fairly tightly on the long axis), David’s three first ones have a big circular element in the middle (elements more widely spread on ice), then the latter ones are more along the long axis of the rink (back to elements on the long axis). He jumps his quads to the ends of the long axis usually from a diagonal line. 3As vary in position, but he could do them in towards both ends usually from a curving line, sometimes also almost from a straight line. His Lutzes go to either end of the long axis usually with the traditional straight or diagonal line approach. Other triples are easier to put almost anywhere necessary and the approaches vary. He usually skates big sweeping patterns right along the borders, also gets overall very good ice coverage – hardly any part of the ice is neglected. His StSq and ChSq tend to be varied and long, level 4 almost invariably for the steps. There is one particular feature in all his patterns: loads of small loops and circles which I suspect is to show off his skating skills (deep edges on those tight curves).

Javier Fernández
All the programs are by David Wilson. As said before, he has the most conservative technical layout. He is also very conservative when it comes to approaches to his quads – they have been the same since almost his first days with Orser. And that shows in the overall pattern: there is a big circular pattern (the quads) in the middle. Until 2015–6, the rest of the pattern also tends to be similar in different programs (and I can see very well why many people thought his programs were always the same). Then, the Mickey Mouse figure of Guys and Dolls (2015–6) pattern is unique and funny (I think it has gotten the only full 10 for choreography in men as far as I could see). In Peter Gunn (2013–4) and Elvis (2016–7) he skates much more in the judges’ side of the ice. His elements are always placed nicely in different parts of the ice leaving little unused surface. The quads are jumped at sort of 2/3 along the long side on either side of the rink from a long curving line. 3As tend to be at the ends of the long axis with straight/diagonal line approaches. Lutzes and Flips alone and in combos the same way. The attempt to put the 3F+1Lo+3S combo in a curving entry line in 2016–7 was not a great success and was not repeated. Other triples go where ever needed. His StSq have been mostly circular and level 3 until 2015–6 after which regular level 4 comes in. He skates big sweeping the borders. Javi’s biggest strength is not visible in the patterns: with his presentation skills he can sell pretty much any old program.

Yuzuru Hanyu
Choreographies by David Wilson and Shae-Lynn Bourne here. Despite his changing technical content and a change in choreographer, his overall patterns look very similar until Seimei 1.0 (2015–6). The biggest difference comes from changing the entry to his 4S to a curving line and then placing it also in the second part. The first pattern is roughly a figure 8, then the curving entry makes its mark in the pattern, along with the curves of the 3F entry in the first part of the program. In Seimei 1.0 (2015–6) the circular elements make it into an almost nest-like figure. Hope and Legacy (2016–7) looks a bit different because of all the diagonal or curving line entries to the quads. With Bourne, his skating tends to be more in the judges’ side of the rink. His elements have a fairly good spread until Seimei 2.0 (2017–8) where they tend to concentrate along the long axis. The overall pattern is smallish apart from 2016–7 – Hanyu does not go near the borders if he can avoid it (I wonder if this is a stamina issue? Particularly in 2017–8.) The quads tend to go to the ends of the rink, some in the lower left section. The 3A combos somewhat similarly as quads. Other jumps varyingly, though 3F almost always with the same entry in the first part. Loops and Lutzes with variety and very short approaches. His StSq is usually circular apart from Hope and Legacy which is also the only one to get regularly level 4. He is a technician above anything else and gets away with the repetitive programs because of his jump content.

Then the other 7 guys in the Olympics: Uno, Chen, Jin, Aliev, Kolyada, Cha, Vasiljevs.

Shoma Uno: Choreo by Higuchi. Two large circles side by side basically. Almost all the elements on the right hand side. The first part he spends almost entirely in the right hand side. Cross-shaped StSq (level 3), ChSq on a long curving line just to make enough speed for the cantilever. This a rather strangely constructed program compared to everything else. (The tango in 2017–7 was more conventional.)

Nathan Chen: Lori Nichol. A rough figure 8 with some curving approaches breaking it a bit in the middle. Diagonally axial element spread with approach loops in the opposite corners. 2nd part mostly in the right hand side. Longish StSq (level 4) with a circular ChSq.

Boyang Jin: Lori Nichol again. Largish pattern with some concentration on the central axis. Good element spread. Good ice coverage in both parts, but approaches often contain long straight bits. StSq – level 2 – and ChSq very small and tight in front of judges.

Dmitri Aliev: Olga Glinka for a change as a choreographer. Overall pattern with concentration in the central part, left hand side neglected a bit. Good element spread with the slightly easier jump content than the previous guys. Good big pattern in the first part, but then an almost ridiculously small second part (because of the famous stamina issues, I guess). Easier jumps and shorter entries for them make it possible. Good circular StSq (level 4) and a long ChSq.

Mikhail Kolyada: A Russian choreographer here also, could not find the name. Sort of roughly elliptical pattern with repeated passes along the same lines. Good element spread. Big pattern in both parts. Long StSq –level 4 – and a sort of simple line for ChSq.

Junhwan Cha: David Wilson. Large ellipse with a bit of figure 8 inside. Element spread mostly along the long axis. A rare 4+4 jump layout. Relatively large pattern in both parts, but because of easier jump content, shorter entries usually. StSq level 4, and a very long figure 8 ChSq.

Deniss Vasiljevs: Stephane Lambiel. Pattern emphasis on the long axis because of the 2nd part. Diagonal axis spread for the elements. First part good coverage, but needs long approaches to easier jump content than most others. Second part a figure 8 set fairly tightly on the long axis. Long StSq level 4, fairly short and simple ChSq line.

These are some of my initial observations and am very interested to hear what others think!

E

^^^ Amazing analysis.. thank you!! Learned a great deal from it. From my own limited knowledge and experience it does help to watch several versions of the same performance to get a complete sense of what is happening in a program at any given moment. A move I may particularly like in a performance may be perfectly seen in one video and almost invisible in another depending on the viewing angle and distance from the skater. I also remember the Boston heat patterns you mentioned from Worlds 2016 which were very interesting mostly with regard to revealing ice coverage, Ashley Wagner doing very well in this regard... I actually bookmarked this on my old tablet at the time for further reference, but my tablet now needs maintenance so I don't have access to it at this point (or, it may have been taken down at this late date). Again, many thanks for your enlightening work..

@eppen Nathan's stsq in Last Dancer "longish"?
if you are referring to the path length as longish I will agree, if you are referring to the time. I acctually times it, Among the level 4 stsq at OG, the time Nathan used to finish the stsq is acctually quite short.

eppen said:

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Great analysis, eppen! It's certainly very informative, and definitely covers one side of choreography very well -- the "technical" side about layouts, and ice coverage, and patterns. I wonder how much this influences judges scores, now.

eppen said:

Javier Fernández....with his presentation skills he can sell pretty much any old program.

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I saw many fancam of Javi. In most cases, he was slow. Extremely slow during step sequence and choreographic sequence. These sequences are usually when be lack ice coverage the most. His element distribution was even and easy for the judges to spot.

eppen said:

Yuzuru Hanyu
He’s a technician above anything else and gets away with the repetitive programs because of his jump content.

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Hanyu’s programs complexity >>>>>>>>>>>>> whatever Javi has done.

Hanyu’s Hope and Legacy’s choreographic pattern drew by a fan: https://twitter.com/sorairohituji/status/933646389896101890?s=21

His Chopin 3.0 choreographic pattern drew by the same fan: https://twitter.com/sorairohituji/status/925235163885289472?s=21

Liza Tuk’s LP pattern at European 2015 https://twitter.com/sorairohituji/status/569841182869573632?s=21

Radionova’s LP pattern at European 2015 https://twitter.com/sorairohituji/status/569840467564568578?s=21

Hanyu’s Seimei 1.0 pattern: https://youtu.be/ULTvP9NAQRI

Patrick Chan’s 2015-2016 Lp pattern
https://youtu.be/Qhc8Pfksg6o

Note: all these drawings are done by fans so if there’s not perfect accuracy it’s not my issue.

But apparently it’s better than reading a great wall of text IMO.

charlotte14, if you read my post carefully, you will find the links to those two videos as well as to my own drawings there.

Those videos are great, but it was kind of difficult to make the differnce between the first and second parts and what the overall pattern is like. I envy the directional data, though, as said. The other drawings of Hanyu's programs just about verify my observation of the smallish size of his patterns.

Javi's and Yuzu's StSq form and size are fairly equal - both did circular ones mostly in their early days, Javi usually very clear circles, Hanyu maybe less so. Javi's two last ones have been straight lines, Hope and Legacy was straight and with Seimei he went back to circular. Javi's StSqs have been predominantly level 4 since 2015-6. What is interesting - and I have been wondering why - is that Hanyu has been getting mostly level 3s for his FS StSqs, only the one in Hope and Legacy ever got level 4s regularly.

The distance Nathan's StSq covers is on the good side and comparable to everyone else on the top level. Shoma's and Boyang's are perhaps the shortest which partly can explain the low levels they tend to get from tech panels.

Great to have links to the other pattern drawings and I also hope that the story with Boston heat signature traces gets found - I tried to look for it, but it did not surface very quickly and had no patience to dig deeper.

Some of the things judges are trained to look at in choreography are ice coverage, element spread and changing directions. I once had the pleasure to sit next to a young lady who was training to become a skating judge - she was already judging at lower level national competitions - and we talked a lot about what she was learning and what she was looking at during the competition we were watching.

E

While I think there are many parts that make great choreography, here's are the top three for me:

1) The choreography needs to show that the skater is actually listening to the music.

2) The choreography needs to show that the skater is expressing the right "idea" of the music - this is especially important if it's something like a movie soundtrack, opera, musical, etc. It irritates me beyond belief when a skater performs to music and it's obvious that they didn't bother to watch the movie/production. Or even look up what the story was about on something like Wikipedia.

3) The moves needs to work well with the skater's body type. Certain footwork/spins look better on longer legged skaters, for example.

eppen said:

The other drawings of Hanyu's programs just about verify my observation of the smallish size of his patterns.
E

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“Small pattern” which covers more ice (705m > 620m) than the average top 5 men https://youtu.be/tQQ5aOZdy4Q