"Stars On Ice" - Figure Skating Performances... How Can It Be Compared With Vocal Performances?

 Yesterday, in celebration of Mother's Day, my assistant Vlad and I, finally went to see "Stars On Ice". 

Before the Pandemic, I was attending those shows every single year without ever missing one! 

Then the Pandemic hit and for two years those shows, like everything else, were unfortunately cancelled. 

I have to say, that the organization of the show was better than ever - the technical elements like the lighting on the ice and lighting overall, were amazing, to say the least! 

However, the skaters themselves were performing in a little less capacity and less quality than before, especially in the first part of the show. 
The group performance synchronicity, in a lot of moments throughout their skating together, was sometimes just lost. 
 
Some of them were doing, to say the least, very strange performances, and also, quite shorter than usual. 

There were a few of them, though, which reached the bar, so to speak. 

Number One, from our perspective, was a petite Japanese girl named SATOKO MIYAHARA.
Both of her performances were flawless, in the first part of the show and in the second part even more so. 
She possessed within her perfect technical merit, coupled with the perfect artistic expression.
Her skating was very expressive and very emotional, not to mention, extremely structured and intelligent. 

When she stepped on the ice, even in the group setting at first, you could notice right away that she was very talented and very special.

I can compare it with a singer who ideally could possess all the same qualities listed above. 
And if he/she does, we would be talking about a celebrity calibre vocal performer.

In the second part of the show, Satoko came out in a beautiful white flowy longer dress, and was skating like an angel would be coming down from the sky to perform on the ice.
Her performance was magnificent, as it also included a lot of elements of classical ballet. 

Way to go girl! 
It was indeed a pleasure watching you! 

As for the singing:
Not only does a singer have to possess the right vocal technique (support, structure, placement, projection), but they also have to be open to expressing their emotions, sometimes even more than the skaters are being able to do so.

In this case, I also say to my students:

"You have to be willing to be able to stand completely "naked" in front of complete strangers... If you are not prepared to do so, you have nothing to do on stage. And regardless of what kind of a voice I will discover and uncover in that "presumably" new artist, if that artist is planning to stand like a "monument" on stage (with hardly any vital signs present), being completely closed in - physically and emotionally, they would be "setting the stage" for failure and possible disaster." 

The moral of it is:
So if any of you are planning to become a professional singer, you have to be willing to give all that you have gotten (inside and out). 
If you are not prepared to do so, do not waste anybody's time. 

Now about another participant of the "Stars On Ice" Tour: 

This writing will be about our Canadian Bronze Medal Olympic Champion Kaetlyn Osmond. 

I personally have been watching this girl rising up to stardom since she was discovered at the age of 17. 
She simply loved to skate and, clearly, possessed a lot of talent. 
However, almost like everybody else, she could not avoid the injuries which brought her to nearly quitting the sport altogether. 
Thankfully her trainer Ravi Walia brought her through all the turbulence and tribulations "back to life" and then prospered her straight to the Olympic Stardom!

So, I have not seen her skating since the 2018 Olympics and thus, was in great anticipation of seeing her performing in this "Stars On Ice" show.
 
To my biggest surprise and in my subjective opinion, she looked like she was not in any shape to skate the way she used to skate before. 
Firstly, she put on a lot of weight over these last few years and thus, looked strange and skated very heavily, practically not being able to lift herself off of the ice. 
I was shocked, to say the least...
 
Her looks, her skating and then her speech (about World Vision) suggested that she has been through a lot over these pandemic years. 
Promoting the World Vision, she mentioned that she, herself, felt alone and lonely, felt scared, and mainly, her biggest fear was that she will never skate and perform ever again. 



She looked very puffed, whereas the people who usually look like that have been through a lot emotionally and, possibly, even took some amount of antidepressant drugs to cope with the occurring circumstances.
That is just my guess and assumption, but I am pretty sure that I am not too far from reality. 

Nevertheless, she looked pretty scared and insecure while performing, even in the group settings, let alone twice performing a solo act.

I hope that was a temporary effect and consequence of the pandemic and that too shall pass... 

Kaetlyn proved that she is a strong person, as she overcame the injuries, picked up the pieces and along with her inner and outer strength, she ended up on the Olympic podium.  
However, before that, recovering from the injuries, and not wanting to miss the season, she came back way too soon to compete again. 
Watching that performance, I nearly was in tears, witnessing her landing most of her jumps on the ice on her behind, as opposed to landing on her foot, as it is supposed to be... 
Obviously, she came out of her rehab way too soon.

I wrote an article about it and compared it with speakers and singers whose voices I have been non-surgically fixing for a long time. 

They too did and still do the same thing as a lot of athletes:

The minute they regain their voice, they acquire what I call "Verbal Diarrhea" (speaking and/or singing).
As a consequence, just like with Katelyn,  shortly after they return to their original injury (becoming again hoarse and raspy, or even losing their voice altogether). 

What does it tell you, my reader...?

"HOLD YOUR HORSES!" 

Do not rush back to the field.
Allow your injury to be fully healed and then gradually come back to what you were loving and were doing originally. 

In Kaetlyn's case, her injured ankles and legs, while jumping, were simply not able to hold the weight of her body.
When the figure skater jumps, there is a huge impact present on their entire body and, nevertheless, on their joints.
They have to land the whole weight of their body from the height of 3 or 4 revolutions, on one foot. 
So, if the injuries are not healed properly (or the healing is not brought to its completion), it may ruin the whole healing process and make the injury become even more severe than it originally was. 

Similarly with a speaker or singer, if they did not learn the proper application of the voice and did not secure it within their physical body, emotional makeup, muscle memory, and sufficiently strengthened their vocal anatomy, they may be asking for very big trouble and may end up with the complete loss of their voice to the point of no return...

Please be patient my readers and see to your injury to the very end.

Do not jump on stage and start screaming again, not knowing exactly how to approach, for example, a proper rock and roll scream. This type of scream should not be coming out of your vocal anatomy (your throat), but should be properly restructured all the way to the facial muscles (vocal chambers) and put together to work in full conjunction and coordination with your lower abdomen and upper diaphragm, in which case the harmful pressure of the sound on your vocal anatomy, will be completely avoided and thus, eliminated.    

As for the Stars On Ice:
Overall it was a magnificent show, no doubt, worth to be seen!!