Maybe after Salt Lake skating did lose a lot of fans (though I'm guessing a lot of those "fans" were just casual observers anyway) but thanks to Buttle, my voracious appetite for the sport was put in overdrive. I was so excited to see a young Canadian skater with so much talent, who skated with artistry and musicality. I suddenly foresaw all sorts of great things for Jeff: Canadian championships, world medals, and a real threat for gold at the Torino Olympics. I don't mean this in a smug-cheesy "I knew he was special before he was famous" kind of way, I was just so captivated by Jeff's unique style that I pinned all my enthusiastic wishes for a new great Canadian hope onto him (as opposed to hyper-erratic Emmanuel Sandhu - but that's another post for another day).
I've always been an advocate for the complete package in figure skating. I don't give a crap if you can land 23 triples in a program, if you're skating around with airplane arms and no expression on your face I have no time for you. In any event, Jeff Buttle, to me, is a skater who did everything right: intricate choreography, precise attention to detail, beautiful expression, and never sacrificed the presentation of a program for the sake of jumps. Oh, and tasteful costumes. Though he was often criticised for his inconsistent jumping and lack of a quad, he stuck with what worked for him and it usually paid off. When his flashier counterparts' jumps went awry, they often didn't have the strength of skating skills and complex choreography to hold a candle to Jeff's overall package. I'm sure that people who only care about big tricks and showmanship dislike Jeff, but I for one love his understated style and the way he picks up on the subtle nuances of his music. And he does ina bauers, how could you not love that?!
And so, six years after I first saw him skate as a 19-year-old at Worlds, Jeff Buttle put together two near-flawless programs to take his first World Championship gold medal. His performances were lacking in high drama but were quietly brilliant, just like his career. I think it's fitting that Jeff - often considered the poster boy for the new judging system - has finally been crowned World Champion after all the post-Salt Lake fuss about corrupt judging. A skater like him, who lacks the big jumps, probably would never have won back before the new system. I'm not saying the new system is perfect, and even a devoted Jeff fan like myself sometimes wonders if the judges aren't a bit over-eager to award Jeff big points (as Brian Joubert likes to moan about). But, in my opinion, Jeff helped revive the concept of a complete skater who doesn't just rely on his jumps, which has to be a positive for figure skating, and confirmed to me that skating isn't, as many jaded media types claimed after Salt Lake, just a tacky Vegas revue thinly disguised as sport.
Speaking of tacky...ice dancing, wow. Luckily ice dance has a Jeff Buttle-esque saving grace too, in the form of the delightful, charming, adorable (insert nauseating but accurate superlative here) Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. They were already my favourite dance team even before they chose music from one of my favourite films, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for this year's free dance. Maybe some are already sick of the hyperbolic praise heaped on these two, but not me because I completely agree. Much-needed breath of fresh air in a discipline bogged down by third-rate theatricality and hideous wardrobe choices. I'm already excited to see what they come out with next season.
No comments:
Post a Comment