To start off, I will show you one of my bonus videos. This one is Jeff Foxworthy's "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas". Check out this soundbite:
🤣Well, that was funny! Ok, here's some skating.
#10: Peng Chang and Zhang Hao- Arabian Dance
This performance from the 2014 Artistry on Ice show is a great one! Peng and Zhang skate a more modern interpretation to the Arabian Dance music. Their throws are sky high! I love how he gets to show emotion in the program too, and have his own little spotlight.
#9: Alexei Yagudin- The Whole Damn Nutcracker Suite
Ah, yes, one of my favorite skaters right here. This was from the 1996 European Championships, early in Alexei's competitive career. If this one doesn't get you in a festive mood, I just don't know what will. All the jumps are right on the money with the music. And the pointy finger dance? Epic.
#8: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov- Pas de Deux
You may remember me posting this in my recent Swan Lake post. Well, I screwed up. Pas de Deux is in The Nutcracker, not Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky composed a lot of stuff. One of the videos was mislabeled and I just went with it without doing my research. I apologize. Anyway, you get to see this beautiful program again! Every time they took the ice, it was magic.
#7: Zijun Li- The Waltz of the Flowers
Here we have Zijun skating to my favorite piece of the Nutcracker Suite. The Waltz of the Flowers is just beautiful. Zijun has such a pretty classical style, and she is definitely an underrated skater. Seriously, check her skating out! She withdrew from the Grand Prix this season due to an injury. I hope she is healing up and we will see her at the Olympics and Worlds!
#6: Meryl Davis and Charlie White- The Waltz of the Flowers
Now we have Meryl and Charlie taking on the Waltz of the Flowers! They have a similar halo effect on me that Gordeeva and Grinkov do. Everything they do on the ice is wonderful and they can do no wrong. Hey, look, we all have biases, and I am well aware of mine. Anyway, this is a lovely dance, very light and airy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND NOW FOR AN INTERMISSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we are watching all these lovely skating programs, I wanted to throw this in. This is from Lindsey Stirling's new Christmas album. It is an excellent remix on the classic "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and I would love to see someone skate to it!
Her costumes and makeup are so amazing in this video too! I especially love the Snow Queen look.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND BACK TO SKATING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#5: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy- Pas de Deux
This performance from the 2014 World Championships secured a fifth world title for Savchenko and Szolkowy before they retired. This performance is so dynamic, and they have huge twists and throws! I loved their side by side spins too!
And of course there is a plot twist here. While Robin did retire and moved on to coaching, Aliona opted to keep skating with a new partner, Bruno Massot. If you saw their free skate from Skate America last weekend, you will see why I'm glad she decided to stay around. Not only that, but she is freakin' 33 years old! You get it girl!
#4: Ilia Kulik- Op. 71A, Nutcracker Ballet Suite
Here's Ilia's performance from the 2003 Ice Wars. Man, I miss that competition. Ice Wars was my life back in the day! I think they stopped doing it in the mid 2000s, but that was some cool stuff! The World Team vs Team USA. Epic. Anyway, back to Ilia's program. This music suits him and his skating style very well, complete with huge jumps, wonderful spins, and unique choreographic moves all his own.
#3: Mao Asada- Waltz of the Flowers/Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Here we get to see one of Mao's early performances of her skating career, back from the 2005/2006 season. This program is so festive and she exudes such joy! You can see the early makings of her legendary career here. That layback spin into a Biellman was so amazing! And my favorite move is the spiral with the hand wave! I love little details like that.
#2: Misha Ge- Pas de Deux
Misha brought down the house with this performance at the 2017 World Championships. It was a truly amazing performance, filled with emotion. At the time, he had planned for this to be his last competitive performance. Luckily for everyone, it was not. He has such versatility in skating style and can turn anything into art. He choreographs his own programs and is becoming a well known choreographer for many top skaters. If they ever do a new Nutcracker on Ice show, I nominate Misha as the Nutcracker Prince!
Well, these were amazing! Now for my #1 program....
#1: Zue Shen and Hongbo Zhao- Pas de Deux
This program is legendary, particularly this performance at the 2003 Grand Prix Final. Not only that, but there's actually good commentary on this one! If you've seen any broadcasts from the USA in the past few years, you will know that is quite a rarity nowadays. Everything in this performance flows so beautifully, and they really captured the essence of the Nutcracker Ballet.
There were a few more performances that I also enjoyed, but they just missed the cut for my top ten. I wanted to mention them here though. First, there is Sasha Cohen's performance of The Nutcracker from the 2004/2005 season. Her best performance of that program was at the 2005 World Championships. Yuka Sato also had a lovely performance to The Waltz of the Flowers, with a perfectly matched dress for the music. You should check these performances out too!
That's a wrap for now! I hope to come back soon with my reviews of the Nutcracker on Ice productions! Hope your holiday season is off to a great start!
Icy Trails ⛸
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