Dear Readers, In light of the recent disasters, I have been thinking a lot about the people of Japan. My heart goes out to those who are experiencing heartbreak and hardship, as a result of the tragedies. I wish and hope that Japan will have a successful recovery.
While I am disappointed that the championships may not happen, obviously that loss is nothing at all in comparison to what has happened, and is happening, in Japan right now.
I want to use my blog for the next week or so to pay tribute to Japan through showcasing the talent, beauty, grace, and heart of Japanese figure skaters, who are a true testament to their extraordinary country.
In 1994, the year I first seriously became enchanted with figure skating, 21-year-old Yuka Sato became only the second Japanese World Champion, male or female, in history. (Midori Ito had been the first Japanese skater to win the World title in 1989. At that event, Midori also became the first woman in history to land the 3 1/2 revolution Triple Axel.)
I have my own special connection to Yuka's skating. After falling in love with watching skating in 1994, I longed to try skating myself. I had memories of skating in second-hand, double-blade training skates on frozen patches in my family's driveway with my brother as a child, but had never skated at a real ice rink. I had visions of gliding serenely on a fresh sheet of ice, reflecting like glass, floating with as much ease and grace as the skaters I watched for countless hours on the VHS tapes of the Olympics and World Championships. Finally, around late March or April of 1994, my mom said she would take my sister and I skating at Ice-a-Rama in Analomink, Pa. My mom had gone skating as a child at the same rink.
The rink was on the grounds of a run-down honeymoon resort that back in its heyday, had apparently been a very nice destination, as many places in the Poconos, a former hot-spot for honeymoons, had been. Though the rink was dilapidated, I didn't care. I was going skating! I spent a lot of time preparing for this big day. I even checked skating books out from my elementary school library. I have memories of sitting at my Nana's kitchen table one day after school, copying information from the book about how to execute basic skating moves, such as stroking, crossovers, and T-stops. I was serious about skating and had grand visions for my experience!
I watched Yuka's World Championship freeskate, over and over for inspiration. I loved the joy on her face, and the sounds of the cheering crowd as she flew across the ice in a royal blue dress with silver sparkles down the front, reeling off triple jumps, footwork sequences, and a final blurring scratch spin.
When I finally stepped onto the ice, I was upset when I discovered that all the moves I had watched Yuka, and other skaters, do, weren't as easy as I had expected. The ice was discolored, rough and bumpy, and my ankles ached in the shabby brown rental skates made of old, worn leather. I was in such discomfort that I told my mom, after a relatively short while, that I couldn't continue and wanted to go home. Bitterly disappointed, I removed my skates and trudged reluctantly to the mini-van. My skating dreams had been dashed! My feet and ankles continued to throb after I got home. Once we got home, with a heavy heart, I ascended the stairs to the upstairs den and pressed play on the VCR. I watched Yuka Sato's Worlds freeskate again, feeling waves of disappointment that my much-anticipated trip to the rink hadn't been the Yuka Sato-esque experience that I had hoped!
However, everything worked out in the end as I recovered from my disappointment and went back to the rink many times following, usually with my sister and my friend Julia. It was always a special day when we went skating! That summer, I taught myself how to do a spiral (well, my version of it) and all was right with the world again!
Over the years, Yuka Sato has been one of the skating world's most revered skaters. Known for her pure, deep edges, soft, supple knees, and quick, intricate footwork, and graceful, ethereal artistry, Yuka has long been regarded as a "skater's skater"--a skater who has no weakness and whose stellar skating skills are admired by other skaters. Yuka has capitalized on her many talents in a long-running professional skating career. As one of Japan's forerunners in a nation that is now burgeoning with skating superpowers, Yuka is an important skater in Japanese figure skating history, and in the skating world in general. She's a gem!
The video posted today is Yuka's "Claire de Lune" by Claude Debussy, performed on the Stars on Ice tour last year. I had the pleasure of witnessing Yuka skate this live at Stars on Ice in Wilkes Barre last April. It's simply glorious. "Claire de Lune", which means moonlight in French, is one of the most hauntingly beautiful, subtle, and delicate pieces of music I've ever heard. It's a divine work of art that is a complementary backdrop to Yuka's understated and sophisticated grace. Under the theatrical spotlights, it's easy to imagine that Yuka is gliding through brilliant pools of moonlight.
I couldn't find a perfect version of this video. The only ones I found were recordings from fans in the audience, complete with someone walking in front of the camera, a baby's cry and a little boy asking, "Mommy, where's my program?" toward the end of the tape --but it's better than nothing. This performance is too special to miss, so even though the video doesn't begin until a few moments after the beginning, and is cut off before the end, you still get a taste of what makes the combination of Debussy and Sato so exquisite. My biggest regret is that the video cuts off before you can see Yuka's gorgeous layback spin.
For one of my literature classes, I memorized a Modernist poem by William Carlos Williams, two lines from the poem, simply entitled, II, remind me of Yuka's skating:
"petal lays its glow upon petal" and "petals radiant with transpiercing light."
I hope you enjoy the video post in my tribute to the people of Japan by honoring their figure skaters, who have given the world so much delight.
Yuka Sato's "Claire de Lune" by Debussy:
For another memorable Yuka Sato performance, click HERE to see a previous post I wrote featuring her "Hat Full of Stars" program.
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