Crystal Skate

A friend recently asked me what the best music for figure skating is. I replied that the answer to that is too complex for me to crowd in one genre. However, now that I've had a chance to actually think about it, I believe that there is such a thing as the perfect figure skating music; it's called soundtrack. That's not to say though that soundtracks are for everyone or that they should be used more often than other genres - every skater is unique and has their own style, so the music they use should be as varied as they are. I do believe though that if you are talking about the sport in general, soundtracks are the best musical fit at this moment in time. From the costume to the interpretation, Ashley Wagner channeled her inner Satine Photograph: Atsushi Tomura / Getty Images Asia First of all, they are as close as modern music gets to the classics. That means that they can provide an alternative to classical music for those skaters who want lyricism and grace, bu...

After more than 150 years since its official appearance, figure skating finally caught up with modern times last season when the International Skating Union (ISU) decided to allow all disciplines to skate to music with lyrics. This decision was seen by many as the perfect opportunity to bring modern music into the equation. After all, it's been ignored for far too long in competitions, always kept at bay by how much of an impact the lyrics have over it. Joshua Farris took the Four Continents Championships by storm last season with his Ed Sheeran routine. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images Asia The assumption that the new rule - which kind of translates into 'there are no rules' when it comes to the choice of routine - would encourage more skaters to turn to contemporary tunes was right. There has been a noticeable increase in this type of programmes last season. Some feared that this would take something away from the lyricism of the sport, but anyone who has...

From the beginning of times, mankind has enjoyed two things when it comes to entertainment: stories and music. People used to gather around the fire and sing or tell tales long before the first theatre opened its doors or the first musical instrument was invented. So it was only a matter of time before someone, allegedly Jacopo Peri, an Italian composer, combined the two and created the first opera. The opera evolved as a genre throughout four centuries, but as the music scene changed, a new form of entertainment emerged: a hybrid between opera and theatre - the musical. There is a lot of debate over the debut of the musical as a genre. Charles M. Barras' The Black Crook  is still widely considered the first musical despite critics saying that it was just a play with songs and dance. Some say Charles M. Barras was the creator of the musical. Photograph: www.wikipedia.com In figure skating, operas and musicals are both under-used and over-used at the same time. There are s...

Every sport has a defining element without which it cannot survive. Football has the ball, tennis has the racket and figure skating has the music. Yes, not the ice, not the skates, but the music because without it there'd be no figure attached to the skating. I've been meaning to talk about music for a while now, but never really got around it before. So now I am dedicating the next five posts to this wonderful invention that gave colour to the world and helped create our favourite sport. Patrick Chan performing his 2013/2014 free skate Photograph: Robert Cianflone / Getty Images Europe There is only one genre of music you can begin this discussion with; the father and mother of all melodies, the king and queen of grace, the god and goddess of sophistication: classical music. Classical music started it all. If today we have the likes of Rihanna, Coldplay, Adele and millions of other performing artists, it is because hundreds of years ago, people like the Italian name...

Coco Chanel once famously said that when a woman dresses shabbily, all everyone will remember is the dress; but if you dress impeccably, they will remember the woman. Her words can also be applied to figure skating because the routines that stand out, that are remembered for their quality, are the ones that benefit from fabulous costumes, especially in the exhibition. This routine was initially their free skate in 2012/2013 Photographs: Dave Sandford / Getty Images N America Exhibition programmes can blend into one another if not handled with care. Most of them are set to popular songs, the type that you hear on the radio, love for a few weeks, then quickly forget about when a trendier song hits the radio stations. That is not to say that the routines set to them are not beautiful, but just as the songs themselves, they can be forgettable. To avoid this, some skaters go to great lengths to create programmes so unique, they can never be confused with someone else's. And with ...

In figure skating, exhibitions are like that nice glass of red wine one might enjoy at the end of a really pesky day of work. They're the long satisfied breath you let out or the triumphant fist bump in the air that means: 'I've done it!' Concurrently, they are also a way to show off. Sure, it's nice to be able to throw the rules out the window for a change and skate to whatever, in whatever, however you want it. But figure skaters like being in the spotlight, and what better time to shine than when there is nothing restraining you from showing your full potential? What that means is that some athletes will go to unbelievable lengths to put on a show, like when Adelina Sotnikova  did rhythmic gymnastics on ice,  or when Javier Fernandez  made a mix-tape to get us to get off our butts and join the gym.  These programmes were so good, they will never be forgotten. But they wouldn't have been as fantastic had they not benefited from some terrific costume choices....

If season 2014/2015 has taught us anything about figure skating, it's been that this is an unpredictable sport. From Javier Fernandez winning the World Championships, to Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov not winning the European Championships, we've been fully reminded that it's never safe to bet in figure skating. Skaters who are now on top can abruptly drop tomorrow and rankings can change like the wind. This changeable nature of the sport is also reflected in the costumes. Just because a skater has the best costume in the short programme, doesn't mean they must also have the best costume in the long one. That is certainly true for this next pair: Ksenia and Fedor skated to Notre Dame de Paris  by Richard Cocciante Photograph: David Ramos / Getty Images Europe Their music was sung in English, French and Spanish, depending on the country they were skating in Photograph: Jamie McDonald / Getty Images Europe I decided to begin with the worst costumes this ...