“Not everyone may understand how challenging what he’s doing is in terms of steps and choreo. But all we can do is lead by showing excellent examples.” Lori Nichol about work with Yuma Kagiyama

Posted on 2023-12-27 • No comments yet

 

Translation of Lori Nichol’s comments about her work with Yuma Kagiyama.

original source: number.bunshun.jp dd. 23 December 2023 by Akiko Tamura

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Here’s a translation of Lori Nichol comments about working with Yuma Kagiyama from the interview with Japanese media posted on Sports Graphis Number Web.

“Yuma loves skating so much that he wanted to skate no matter what. Not being able to skate the way he wanted was, I think, unbearably tough for him. But through that, he learned that athletes must rest when they need to.” Lori started about time Yuma missed not competing due to an injury.

Their cooperation started in May 2022, recaling that time Lori said, “Yuma embodies purity as a person. And the foundation and base skating instilled by his coach, Masakazu Kagiyama, is fantastic. But at that time, he didn’t have that much vocabulary yet,” meaning the variety of expression methods by “vocabulary.” “But he absorbed it all very quickly. Like a snowball rolling and growing rapidly, he experienced significant growth.”

As for the free program to “Rain, In Your Black Eyes,” Lori Nichol mantioned that the inspiration came frpm the Kenji Miyazawa’s poem “Ame ni mo Makezu” (Be not Defeated by the Rain).

When asked how she knows about such a work, Lori responded with a laughter-infused voice, saying, “I study various things.”

“For me, preserving the dignity of figure skating is very important.” For Lori Nichol choreography is no longer just about pursuing beautiful movements and scores. “It’s about whether it’s true, whether there’s necessity, the right timing, and whether there’s kindness. I choreograph while considering these aspects.”

“Athletes don’t make the rules, so they have to focus on what they can control. I only hope he becomes the best version of himself that he can be,” said Nichol regarding the tough competition in men’s single skating.

In an interview they also touched upon the complexity of the step sequence from Yuma’s free program, “How challenging that step sequence is may not be understood by everyone,” Lori Nichol commented, hinting at a degree of dissatisfaction with judges. “But all we can do is lead by showing excellent examples.”


 

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