Gotta Skate thoughts

[Alexa]

This was a pretty good special...I liked some of the group numbers--especially the one with Kurt, Brian, and Elvis. I also liked the closing number.

Shae-Lynn did a fantastic job with All that Jazz. And I liked both of S & P's programs. Overall, a good show...

[NJSk8Fan]

I thought this years "Gotta Skate" was better than last years. I enjoyed seeing Elvis as I haven't seen much of him at all so far this season. I always enjoy seeing Yuka and Jason skating together, too. Kurt is my favorite, you'll never hear me complain about seeing him. ;)
I thought all the programs were good. A mostly up-beat theme, light hearted and fun!

[backspin]

It looked like it was a really good show. Unfortunately, I could barely tell this due to the distraction of the camera guys tilting things every which way, showing the singers more than the skaters, and doing long shots of the skaters from the waist up! Esp. Shae Lynn's number, which from the little they actually showed of her *skating*, looked like it would be spectacular. :frus: :frus:

[dbny]

Shae-Lynn did a fantastic job with All that Jazz.

How could you tell? They only showed her upper body! ITA with backspin. Very frustrating. I half watched while taping, but I really don't have any desire to sit and watch it now. I want to see SKATING!

[Alexa]

I have always found the camera work horrible for most of the StarSkate events, so maybe I have just grown accustomed to it :)

So, I should amend my statement to be--from what I could see, Shae-Lynn did a great job...

[Nicki]

I watched the CBC show last week, and did'nt care for it at all. In contrast, I really enjoyed the NBC show. More skaters shown and lots of fun group numbers that wern't shown on CBC. I was especially happy to see Jason and Yuka on. It always amazes me that she was able to learn all of those pairs elements after skating singles for so many years.
Overall, it was a nice mix of skaters and a well done show.

[dbny]

I watched the tape with hubby last night, and there was a lot more that I enjoyed than I thought I would. Kurt, as usual, was amazing. He is truly the king of footwork, and his camels are extraordinary. I also liked the Kurt, Brian, and Elvis number, and have a new respect for Brian. Sale and Pelletier's Over The Rainbow number was beautifully choreographed and very reminiscent of Christopher Dean's work.

OTOH, I probably set a record for the number of muttered curses hurled towards the cameramen during a skating event.

[jcspkbfan]

Typically shoddy Disson/NBC camera work aside, I really loved this show and it was wonderful to finally see the whole thing (or at least much closer to the whole thing than either Canadian broadcast showed!) I'm especially glad NBC showed both of Sato/Dungen's programs, Kurt's "You Win Again" number and the '50s group number in the middle of the broadcast since neither Canadian broadcast bothered to show any of those programs. :evil:

I hope Kurt will skate the number he performed with Michael Bolton at least one more time because I really would like to see the other half of the program we didn't get to see during this performance thanks to the "let's cut away from the skater every 30 seconds to show closeups of the singer" camera work. :roll:

I also really loved both of S&P's programs (especially "Radar Love") and Kurt, Elvis and Brian's "trio" number. Other than the camera work, the only other complaint I have about this broadcast is it just emphasized how short the Canadian broadcasts were in comparison!

[singerskates]

I only saw the CBC version. I do have NBC on my satilite but I didn't even know when it was on and even if I did I probaby was out when it was on.

I liked all what I saw except my favorite skater, Elvis Stojko. I know he's acting and working on singing but it's time for some new skating programs. The number is old. Plus Elvis, known for his jumps, was really messing up. Time to spend a few more minutes on the ice than 5 minutes training. When you don't use it, you loose it. I hope Elvis gets working on his triples, all of them. He doesn't need to do his quads anymore but when your triple toe starts to go, you're in trouble. Elvis should be training at least 3 times a week for one hour. I'm sure he can sqeeze in the ice time somewhere. There are rinks almost everywhere.

Elvis please, please, please get new music and new programs. And please flirt with the audience less and do more artistic pieces with more skating elements. They don't have to have as much as the amatuer long programs you once did but two jumps and one spin does not make a program.

Love your skating when you really skate Elvis! See you at 2005 Canadians.

Brigitte

[jcspkbfan]

I'm afraid I have to agree with you about Elvis' Gotta Skate programs, singerskates. To be honest, the only way I could tell the difference between Elvis' two solos was he skated one to a fast alternative rock song and the other to a slow alternative rock song. If I had watched with the mute button, I would have thought they showed the exact same Elvis program twice. :roll:

This is one of the main reasons why I believe there needs to be more of a legitimate pro skating circuit nowadays (or at least more individual pro competitions besides team events like Ice Wars or World Team Challenge). Regardless of how some fans might feel about those events, pro skaters seemed to take World Pros and similar competitions very seriously and it really gave the skaters motivation not only to keep practicing most of their difficult jumps and create entertaining and choreographically complex programs. Most of the skaters who turned pro post-1998 don't seem to have the same motivation to keep up their triples as the skaters who turned pro during the "golden era" of the early and mid-90s and I think the lack of a strong pro competitive circuit has a lot to do with that...especially for a skater like Elvis who's always loved to compete.

Elvis was definitely capable of keeping up with Kurt and Brian in the number they did together and I believe he's more than capable of skating more artistic, complex programs if he has the motivation--and chooses--to do so.

[classcaptain200]

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