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adevyishYuri on Ice acknowledging the “feminine” element of men’s figure skating means so much. For decades there have been loud voices in the skating community who insist that men’s skaters had to be masculine and macho, but Yuri on Ice embraced the feminine men’s skater as the style of a winner.
The late and great Toller Cranston blazed the way for artistic, non-traditionally masculine men’s skating. (“Artistic” in men’s skating is often code for “non-masculine”.) He spent the 70s fighting against preconceived notions of what men’s skating was—stoic guys in suits doing jumps. He ended up resenting the sport. Since then the masculinity of men’s skating has been one of its biggest debates, second only to the quad.
Rudy Galindo in the 90s and Johnny Weir in the 00s both struggled publicly against being considered “too feminine” for men’s skating, Weir very publicly so. During the years of the Lysacek–Weir rivalry it was obvious the USFSA would rather the more “manly” Lysacek win than the flamboyant Weir.
On the Canadian side, there was a perception that Skate Canada didn’t much like Jeff Buttle (who later came out and now choreographs for Yuzuru Hanyu) and pushed him out in favour of the (presumably straighter and manlier) Patrick Chan. I don’t know if this was true, but this was also around the time Elvis Stojko was publicly denouncing non-macho skaters, and Skate Canada wheeled out then up-and-comer Jeremy Ten to look uncomfortable while reciting talking points about how skating should be more masculine. (Tip to Skate Canada PR: Jeremy Ten is not a very masculine skater himself.)
It’s only been recently that a more feminine style of skating has been a good thing for men. This is partly due to the shifting emphasis to artistic merit due to the CoP scoring introduced in 2004. But it’s also thanks to skaters like world no. 1 (no. 2 atm) Yuzuru Hanyu being successful technically while doing traditionally “feminine” moves like the Ina Bauer and the Biellmann spin. (Plushenko did also have a Biellmann, but was a macho skater otherwise.) There’s been an increase in Ina Bauers since Hanyu made it his signature move.
Back to Yuri on Ice: the show could have stayed away from one of the biggest debates in figure skating, but instead it took the issue head-on and made a feminine style the key to Yuuri mastering the choreography to Eros. And that’s really great.
The late and great Toller Cranston blazed the way for artistic, non-traditionally masculine men’s skating. (“Artistic” in men’s skating is often code for “non-masculine”.) He spent the 70s fighting against preconceived notions of what men’s skating was—stoic guys in suits doing jumps. He ended up resenting the sport. Since then the masculinity of men’s skating has been one of its biggest debates, second only to the quad.
Rudy Galindo in the 90s and Johnny Weir in the 00s both struggled publicly against being considered “too feminine” for men’s skating, Weir very publicly so. During the years of the Lysacek–Weir rivalry it was obvious the USFSA would rather the more “manly” Lysacek win than the flamboyant Weir.
On the Canadian side, there was a perception that Skate Canada didn’t much like Jeff Buttle (who later came out and now choreographs for Yuzuru Hanyu) and pushed him out in favour of the (presumably straighter and manlier) Patrick Chan. I don’t know if this was true, but this was also around the time Elvis Stojko was publicly denouncing non-macho skaters, and Skate Canada wheeled out then up-and-comer Jeremy Ten to look uncomfortable while reciting talking points about how skating should be more masculine. (Tip to Skate Canada PR: Jeremy Ten is not a very masculine skater himself.)
It’s only been recently that a more feminine style of skating has been a good thing for men. This is partly due to the shifting emphasis to artistic merit due to the CoP scoring introduced in 2004. But it’s also thanks to skaters like world no. 1 (no. 2 atm) Yuzuru Hanyu being successful technically while doing traditionally “feminine” moves like the Ina Bauer and the Biellmann spin. (Plushenko did also have a Biellmann, but was a macho skater otherwise.) There’s been an increase in Ina Bauers since Hanyu made it his signature move.
Back to Yuri on Ice: the show could have stayed away from one of the biggest debates in figure skating, but instead it took the issue head-on and made a feminine style the key to Yuuri mastering the choreography to Eros. And that’s really great.
