24/5/2019 FaOI Makuhari Day1 Interview with Yuzuru Hanyu after the show
Original language: Japanese
Translator’s note: Based on TV Asahi Ch2 version aired on June 30th, 2019. This is not a word-for-word translation. I paraphrased some of the things said in the broadcast to clarify the main point.
Interviewer: Otsukaresama deshita.
Hanyu: Otsukaresama deshita.
(t/n: Seems like the footage has been edited here)
Hanyu: After all, you get extremely nervous when you perform your new number… new program for the first time, so I felt weak at the knees at the beginning of the program. However, I truly feel… how should I put it? I truly feel that I could put my passion into the program putting forth my whole energy.
Interviewer: Probably many fans thought of the program you skated in 2014.
Hanyu: Well… I’m kind of putting my focus on delivering something evolved from that program, so… I want to make my performance cool and fascinating at the same time… um… how should I say? I am wholeheartedly trying to bring this collaboration with this great artist ToshI san to perfection.
Interviewer: Well, this time, I think the hand choreography is more impressive than in the program you skated in 2014, although it was a competitive program.
Hanyu: I asked Ms. Shae-Lynn Bourne to choreograph this piece. I thought of her when I decided to skate to this song because it starts and ends with the musical phrase quoted from The Phantom of the Opera. After all, with Shae-Lynn, I… I think The Phantom of the Opera was the first program she choreographed for me. Compared to those days, I have a wider repertoire, (t/n: of skills, probably) so I thought I might be able to do more than I could before, or I might be able to perform what she would want me to. I guess that is one of the reasons why the new program has more impressive choreography.
Interviewer: Do you feel that performing this kind of ice show program would make a positive impact on your performances in the next season in terms of expression?
Hanyu: Well… it has been a while since I skated an over-the-top passionate program like this, and this is not a competition but an ice show, so I enjoy… I mean I feel great being able to put my all into expressing. After all I… how should I say? Well, of course, I love lyrical, poetic programs as well, and I can perform from my heart with such programs too, but… (t/n: this kind of program) consumes my energy in a different way (laughs) and always gives me something like a sense of achievement. So… after all, I felt so blessed as a skater to be able to perform in a show and receive a warm welcome from the audience like this.
Interviewer: You also landed a quad toeloop during the opening number. I think everyone thought that you are coming back.
Hanyu: Well, I’m coming back to some extent, but… um… some parts of me haven’t come back yet. I mean… I want to improve myself to reach my ideal self but there’s a long way to go. I haven’t reached 20 percent of my ideal self yet, so… I’m going to train harder, hehehe.
Interviewer: I see. So, you are aiming to improve yourself in terms of jumps and expression as this show continues…?
Hanyu: Of course, I want to work on my jumps and expression as well, but more than anything I want to unite with the audience and the artists we are collaborating with… I mean, I’m hoping to deliver a performance the audience would love to see in each one of the shows, and hoping to deliver each performance in sync with the artists, breathing with them, sharing the same view of the world with them.
Interviewer: Thank you very much.
