Tuesday Inspiration: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy's "Pina" from the 2012 World Championships

The gold-standard.

Ode to Miss Saigon #2: Nancy Kerrigan's "I'd Give My Life For You" by Lea Salonga

I just watched this program for the first time a few minutes ago. Though Nancy has a little slip-up on a spin at the very end, this program is one of the strongest I've ever seen her do. Her jumps are strong and her artistry sophisticated and regal, as always. Lovely job, Nancy!

Ode to Les Miserables #4: Jeremy Abbott's "Bring Him Home" from the 2012-2013 Season

Jeremy's program is not without flaw, but even so, one can appreciate the quality of skating. This program is a gem. Thank you, Jeremy, for not just giving us skating, but art.

Ode to Miss Saigon #1: Yu-na Kim's "Miss Saigon" Soundtrack Freeskate from the 2007-08 Season

Listening to the glorious music of Les Miserables (which inspired me to begin posting "Ode to Les Mis" posts) has led me to links of the great and beautiful Lea Salonga. Salonga performed in Les Mis on Broadway and turns up in most of my Les Mis You Tube searches; however, she is best known for her work in Miss Saigon. Click HERE to hear a clip of Salonga performing "I Still Believe" from Miss Saigon.

The music from Miss Saigon is comprable to hte brilliance of Les Mis, in my opinion. There have been many fine skating performances to the music over the years. While I'm "ode-ing" to Les Mis, I'm going to start an ode to Miss Saigon, too!

For the first post, I'm featuring Yu-na Kim's 2007-2008 freeskate performance to the "Miss Saigon" soundtrack. The music is perfect for Yu-na, from a cultural standpoint, but also it gave her a lovely artistic vehicle. The whole package suited her and it's one of my favorite programs of hers. This particular performance from the 2007 Grand Prix final is flawless!


Enjoy!

Ode to Les Miserables #3: Todd Eldredge's "Les Miserables" Short Program from the 1998 Winter Olympics

Ode to Les Miserables #2: Kurt Browning's "Bring Him Home"

Kurt Browning Skated to "Bring Him Home" at the 2000 Holiday Festival on Ice. Enjoy!

Ode to Les Miserables #1: Michelle Kwan's "On My Own"

I finally saw the Hollywood version of Les Miserables this past week. What a beautiful film! Not to take anything away from the film, but some of the musical renditions aren't quite as magnificent as some of the ones I've heard from the Broadway version of the musical, notably Alfie Boe's "Bring Him Home" ( though Anne Hathaway's turn as Fantine and her song "I Dreamed a Dream" are phenomenal!) Still, the movie does a fantastic job of bringing the epic story to a whole new generation of viewers. Les Mis is again at the forefront of people's minds, and thank goodness because the story and music and simply first-rate! In honor of the beauty of Les Mis, I'm going to do a series of posts of skating performances done to its music.

Enjoy Michelle Kwan's "On My Own," skated during the 1997/1998 Olympic season as her exhibition number: