For all you Stephuka shippers out there...
Here's a very adorable interview from the Swissinfo website, featuring Magic Zebra Stéphane and Icy Heart Shizuka. (From Feb. 2009)
By special request from our Zebra-stannin admin pourtant, I translated Shizuka's part (and transcribed some of Stéphane part because I just couldn't resist the PRESHNESS.)
[0:00]
Narrater: Before the final show of Art on Ice in Lausanne, we had the opportunity to interview Shizuka Arakawa and Stephane Lambiel.
First of all, we asked about the difference between ice shows in Switzerland, which have a mature audience, and ice shows in Japan, which are aimed mainly at children.
[0:25]
Shizuka: The concept is totally different, this show we are having here, Art On Ice, and the ones we have in Japan.
The main focus here is placed on the artists as well as the skaters, while in Japan, most of the shows concentrate on the skaters, so we have everything tailored for each skater.
But I really like the style you have here too. I get the feeling that I'm collaborating with other artists, and there is this sense of unity.
Stéphane: There is no difference if you perform for children or for adults, because I think they love the way we skate, at any age.
They don't have to be adult or children, they just like the way we skate, and we don't have to do a special program for children or special program for adults.
We are just doing what we love and I think that's the most important, we staying like we are.
[1:50]
Narrater: Do you choose your choreography and costume yourself?
Stéphane: I always try to control everything by myself. I really like to be the boss of...It's my baby, when I do a program it's like my baby.
I like to control everything. every details and the look. How i have to look. My hair, my costume, it's like acting, I think. You have to be a personality.
And for example when I do the Tango I really have to be someone very strict and very *french expression here.* Severe? Yes exactly.
So I have to enter in this person, and with this costume also it's like very serious and I have to look at everything and also the choreography has to be in harmony with the person.
And I was always trying, for example, for [Torino] Olympics I had this costume with the zebra *touches chest* and the wings *touches arm*, that was also my idea.
I was listening to The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, and I kept listening to this music and I was hearing horses.
For me horses was not quite similar to what I was feeling inside, and I had this imagination I'm a zebra.
I'm gonna be a zebra, but a very special zebra that can fly, and that can go away in another world.
So that was all my imagination and I was trying to build a character. With the very classical music actually.
Shizuka: *Impressed* That's why it was a zebra. I was wondering all this time why it was a zebra.
Stéphane: You didn't know the story?
Shizuka: Yeah.
[4:05]
Shizuka: There are very few skaters who can control what he/she uses in a competition.
Speaking of myself, I had a coach who choreographed and showed me ideas. That's how I got started.
It was only when I was past 20 years of age that I worked with a [professional] choreographer.
Towards the end of my career as a amateur skater, I started having my own opinions on things, but before that I had so many things offered to me.
Now I make about half of my programs for the shows but I like learning new movements and new [ways of] expression,
so there are two patterns, one is making new stuff by applying other people's ideas on myself, and the other is just skating how I feel.
The latter fells very good to skate, but for me it's lacking the new-ness, because its something I bring out of myself.
It is more interesting for me to see what others bring out of me, so I still like to learn from others.
[4:10]
Shizuka: Is it okay if I speak in Japanese? Because I can't express myself so well in English.
The greatest thing about Stéphane is that, I feel so much passion from him.
It's because Stéphane has the passion when he skates, and it becomes the power that pulls all the people into watching him.
The skaters, the audience, everybody is pulled into him. Even when he was a competitor he was an entertainer.
There are very few skaters in this competition like him, who has this star quality, this presence.
It made me feel disappointed when I heard that he decided to retire from competition.
There is no other skater who can make us forget that it's a competition.
Eveybody has their mind set on what he has to do, first this and next that, and it makes you feel rigid when you watch them.
Stéphane doesn't make us feel that way. It is a very rare thing.
And this quality about him is polished even more in shows. I feel the passion growing in him as an entertainer.
[6:00]
Shizuka: Another thing is that he has the presense of a king. When he's on the ice, he's the king.
He has this aura, but once he's off the ice he's dedicated to his fans. That is what makes us love him even more.
He shows us many different sides to his personality. We like him as a person. He's kind.
(To Stephane) I love you. We love you.
Stéphane: Aishitema-su! (=ILU in Japanese)
See how Shizuka pats Stéphane on the back? She's totally the man in this relationship imo.
By special request from our Zebra-stannin admin pourtant, I translated Shizuka's part (and transcribed some of Stéphane part because I just couldn't resist the PRESHNESS.)
Click to view[0:00]
Narrater: Before the final show of Art on Ice in Lausanne, we had the opportunity to interview Shizuka Arakawa and Stephane Lambiel.
First of all, we asked about the difference between ice shows in Switzerland, which have a mature audience, and ice shows in Japan, which are aimed mainly at children.
[0:25]
Shizuka: The concept is totally different, this show we are having here, Art On Ice, and the ones we have in Japan.
The main focus here is placed on the artists as well as the skaters, while in Japan, most of the shows concentrate on the skaters, so we have everything tailored for each skater.
But I really like the style you have here too. I get the feeling that I'm collaborating with other artists, and there is this sense of unity.
Stéphane: There is no difference if you perform for children or for adults, because I think they love the way we skate, at any age.
They don't have to be adult or children, they just like the way we skate, and we don't have to do a special program for children or special program for adults.
We are just doing what we love and I think that's the most important, we staying like we are.
[1:50]
Narrater: Do you choose your choreography and costume yourself?
Stéphane: I always try to control everything by myself. I really like to be the boss of...It's my baby, when I do a program it's like my baby.
I like to control everything. every details and the look. How i have to look. My hair, my costume, it's like acting, I think. You have to be a personality.
And for example when I do the Tango I really have to be someone very strict and very *french expression here.* Severe? Yes exactly.
So I have to enter in this person, and with this costume also it's like very serious and I have to look at everything and also the choreography has to be in harmony with the person.
And I was always trying, for example, for [Torino] Olympics I had this costume with the zebra *touches chest* and the wings *touches arm*, that was also my idea.
I was listening to The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, and I kept listening to this music and I was hearing horses.
For me horses was not quite similar to what I was feeling inside, and I had this imagination I'm a zebra.
I'm gonna be a zebra, but a very special zebra that can fly, and that can go away in another world.
So that was all my imagination and I was trying to build a character. With the very classical music actually.
Shizuka: *Impressed* That's why it was a zebra. I was wondering all this time why it was a zebra.
Stéphane: You didn't know the story?
Shizuka: Yeah.
[4:05]
Shizuka: There are very few skaters who can control what he/she uses in a competition.
Speaking of myself, I had a coach who choreographed and showed me ideas. That's how I got started.
It was only when I was past 20 years of age that I worked with a [professional] choreographer.
Towards the end of my career as a amateur skater, I started having my own opinions on things, but before that I had so many things offered to me.
Now I make about half of my programs for the shows but I like learning new movements and new [ways of] expression,
so there are two patterns, one is making new stuff by applying other people's ideas on myself, and the other is just skating how I feel.
The latter fells very good to skate, but for me it's lacking the new-ness, because its something I bring out of myself.
It is more interesting for me to see what others bring out of me, so I still like to learn from others.
[4:10]
Shizuka: Is it okay if I speak in Japanese? Because I can't express myself so well in English.
The greatest thing about Stéphane is that, I feel so much passion from him.
It's because Stéphane has the passion when he skates, and it becomes the power that pulls all the people into watching him.
The skaters, the audience, everybody is pulled into him. Even when he was a competitor he was an entertainer.
There are very few skaters in this competition like him, who has this star quality, this presence.
It made me feel disappointed when I heard that he decided to retire from competition.
There is no other skater who can make us forget that it's a competition.
Eveybody has their mind set on what he has to do, first this and next that, and it makes you feel rigid when you watch them.
Stéphane doesn't make us feel that way. It is a very rare thing.
And this quality about him is polished even more in shows. I feel the passion growing in him as an entertainer.
[6:00]
Shizuka: Another thing is that he has the presense of a king. When he's on the ice, he's the king.
He has this aura, but once he's off the ice he's dedicated to his fans. That is what makes us love him even more.
He shows us many different sides to his personality. We like him as a person. He's kind.
(To Stephane) I love you. We love you.
Stéphane: Aishitema-su! (=ILU in Japanese)
See how Shizuka pats Stéphane on the back? She's totally the man in this relationship imo.