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*leaves thread to go watch all three of these programs again with your words in mind* Thank you for this beautiful post.Magic happened.
Keegan Messing. As I watched his opening moves and saw a close-up of his face, I thought of Obiwan Kenobe saying, "Reach out with your feelings." That's what I think Keegan did today from the first moment of his free skate, to the nth degree. His emotions met mine half way, and presto change-oh, I was right there on the ice with him, through the magic of broadcasting, in real time. My second ah-ha moment was somewhere in the second half of his program, when I realized that I'd completely forgotten about his earlier bobbles and even a fall. They didn't matter, because Keegan had the program inside himself, and all he had to do was let it come out. I realized then that this is almost always true of Keegan's skating. Unless he's in a free-fall fest (which distracts even me) he keeps so true to the vision of his skate that I see the perfection in all the imperfections. And the music was inside him as well, all he had to do was live it. I have to mention also that the time he took to do a full circle spread eagle and then hydroplane are so well worth it! The crowd roars; it's an emotional high. Another "where'd that come from?" moment is when he hangs in the air at the beginning of his Flying Sit Spin.
Boyang Jin. Before today, I kept wishing that Boyang would bring back Spiderman, and I probably still do. But he drew me in at points with The Path of Silence and Yellow Moon. I think you have to know or pay attention to the announcement of the music to get why the shirt works. When I hadn't paid attention, the yellow streaks seemed sickly; but when I knew, the yellow streaks became pathways of pale golden moonlight lighting up earth from the heavens. As far as being with him on the ice, that was in and out, probably because he was concentrating on jumping. (that can happen with or without quads, so it isn't a quads vs. no-quads question) It wasn't Keegan-level magic, but there were flashes of it. When Boyang, and also Nathan Chen, jump quads, something in their faces reminds me of my eldest son at age 15 or so. Like, you can magically see the 4-year-old wonder-child existing right alongside the grown boy/man.
Han Yan. Here's to La-La Land, the City of Stars, the Ones Who Dream. I fancied I could see him listening for that world from a distance, hearing it, and manifesting it with his really awesome skating. What's so extraordinary about Han Yan is the quality of his movement; everything is exquisite and fully felt from the inside out; in his bones. I was spellbound from the beginning few bars, because of his demeanor and bearing, as though he inhaled the music and the program and then exhaled so that he could share it with me. (yes ... not with us, but with me! LOL) He fulfilled the promise of the short program. Because he's certain of his priorities, he makes me feel certain of him. One "wow!" moment was near the beginning, when he jumped a 3F-2T combo, and the triple flip came exactly on the moment of a whimsical, stand-out chord. (Yuka Sato and/or Kurt Browning note: #GeniusChoreography. Maybe they should be a team.) The whole program is a masterful, beautiful, and supremely balanced. Every arm or leg movement Han makes is balanced by another arm or leg. He reminds me of Katia Gordeeva; never an awkward position, always unceremonious but perfect. The choreographic sit spin near the end shows my favorite sit spin arm movements: angled, balanced but not rigidly so. At the end, he seemed to need to take a moment to come back from the parallel world that he'd created.
I was spellbound.:luv17:
I loved the way that all of her jumps just soared across the ice (including the stunning quads even if they were dinged). Also loved the gigantic bear given to her. Looking at the protocols she left a lot of points on the table (!s on all four lutzes?!?!) so those (+posture) are things that her team should pay extra attention to heading into the final.
But I really hope this will be how things go from now on - she's been underscored for way too many years. Obviously there were UR issues in both skates (some uncalled too IMO) but her silver was definitely justified. I feel that her two programs still have some room for improvement, but the fact that they're already so polished this early in the season just comes to show how amazing of a skater she is.
