Top Five Mao programs (Updated with Results and Tribute )

In honor of Mao's 20th Birthday, I am starting a new survey game. The task is to list your top five Mao programs of all time. It's similar to the polls I did before but this time you can pick five instead of one. In addition, the choices are not limited to only programs she have done on the senior circuit. You can choose programs Mao did as a junior or even as a novice. You are also free to choose exhibitions. The top five most voted programs will get a special tribute at the end.

Okay, so I'll start.

1) Nocturne (this is classic Mao )
2) So Deep is the Night (my favorite exhibtion of hers)
3) Fantasie Impromptu
4) Clair de Lune
5) My Girl (a personal favorite )

1. Ballade
2. Claire de Lune
3. Fantasie imp.
4. Bells
5. Por una cabeza

OMG IS HARD TO CHOOSE JUST 5 FAVORITES :DD

1. Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra (Love Love)
2. Ballade
3. Nocturne
4. Masquerade LP
5. Bells of Moscow

Yeah, I do love the last two ones, though they are very underrated
I also love Caprice, Clair de lune, Csardas, So deep is the night...omg and I forgot Por una cabeza, now I have no more spots

Yes, so hard to choose...but I suppose I'll go with:

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra (it had everything I love about Mao's skating!)
2. Clair de Lune
3. Bells of Moscow
4. Fantasie Impromptu
5. Ballade

But there are so many runners-up!

This is SO HARD. I just rewatched a lot of them yesterday in honor of her birthday, so this should be pretty easy, but..nope.

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra
2. Nocturne
3. Ballade
4. Clair de Lune
5. Caprice

god this is really hard! hmm....

1. Bells of Moscow (music & costume are my all time favorites + 2 triple Axels = epic!)
2. Czardas (it looks so easy, carefree and playfull, I really like it!)
3. Masquerade (I simply love the performance of the SP at the olympics!)
4. Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra (full of passion & the ending pose when she flips her head back is amazing!)
5. Fantaisie-Impromptu (love at first sight ^.-)

but I have to say that all of her programmes are amazing and every programme is brilliant in its own way! For example I hated the Masquerade LP at first but the performance at the NHK Trophy then left me completely speechless and today it's also one of so many favorites

So difficult to say (this remind me when someone ask me about my favorite Michael Jackson disc), ok I’m going to try…..

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra / Por una cabeza / Ballade N. 1
2. Fantasie Impromptu / Bells of Moscow / Czardas
3. So Deep Is The Night / Nocturne N. 2 / Clair de Lune
4. Caprice N. 24 / Masquerade / Over The Rainbow
5. The Nutcracker Suit / Carmen

(Please forgive me; I’m not good with English )

This is way too difficult.

1. Clair de Lune
2. Caprice
3. My Girl
4. Ballade
5. Bells

...and I run out of space just like everyone else.

really diffecult to chose but I will try here is my list

1.ballede (it's classic,light,elegant,mature)
2.nutcracker suit (classic, fairy, soo mao, simply a prima ballerina on ice)
3.bells (soo different, dark, sadness, powerful)
4.scent of a women (tango)
5.fantasy of the violin

itøs pretty hard to describe why I chose those programs, every program of mao is truely something speciel, but these programs are truely speciel to me...

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra
2. Claire de Lune
3. Masquerade Waltz
4. Ballade No.1
5. Fantaisie-Impromptu

I love every program of Mao, just i think this ones are my favorites, although i also LOVE the ballade no.1 bc its the mao's EX I have watched live, well the only one I watched live of mao

1. So Deep is the Night - ( It's one of my all time fav. among Mao's pieces, very magical, soft, and she skated to it with her hair down. love her last pose in here sooo much! )

2. Fantasie Impromptu - ( I could never forget the way she skated to this at Worlds in Sweden 2008, i almost felt that after the slip on her 3A, Mao will not lose, i just know that somehow she would come back and win her 1st World and she did! I also love her jump elements then. her 3F+3L, 3LZ+3T were just amazing! )

3. Ballade - ( Simply Lyrical, Soft, and Fairylike!!! 癒やされる~ )

4. Claire de Lune - ( i bought the Cd and play it everynight, love Mao's circular step sequences here, and her last combination spins, not to forget her lovely spirals. )

5. Por Una Cabeza - ( I was actually in awe and completely speechless when I 1st saw her performed it, i thought then that TAT was really a genius, and I love everything about Mao in this piece. )

A close tie at 5th were her Nocturne and Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra. It was tough trying to come up with my fav. 5

Hmm...so many wonderful programs to choose from! But I guess I'll go with:

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra
2. Clair de Lune
3. Czardas
4. Fantasie Impromptu
5. Por Una Cabeza

WHY MAKE THIS HARD? I'm not sure, because the ranking becomes different when it comes to my mood but right now, it's in this order:

1. Caprice
2. Nocturne
3. Fantasie Impromptu
4. Por Una Cabeza
5. Bells of Moscow

In no particular order:

1. Fantasia for Violin & Orchestra (Currently my fave SP of hers so far. The upcoming tango SP might change that though )

2. Caprice (Playful and passionate. Just fan-tastic! )

3. Por Una Cabeza (I've always loved the tango & having Mao skate to this is just dreamy! )

4. Fantaisie-Impromptu (Mao & Chopin can do no wrong!!)

5. Nocturne (Ditto. )

Ken Himura wrote:

So difficult to say (this remind me when someone ask me about my favorite Michael Jackson disc), ok I’m going to try…..

1. Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra / Por una cabeza / Ballade N. 1
2. Fantasie Impromptu / Bells of Moscow / Czardas
3. So Deep Is The Night / Nocturne N. 2 / Clair de Lune
4. Caprice N. 24 / Masquerade / Over The Rainbow
5. The Nutcracker Suit / Carmen

(Please forgive me; I’m not good with English )

Ken Himura, you're making this hard for me! For the game to work, you can only pick five. It's like picking your five favorite MJ songs. I'll give you another chance to pick out your favorite five out of these choices. Otherwise, I'll have to just pick the first one from each line. I know this is hard guys but that's also part of the fun right?

Just 5? Not 10? This is tough!

In no special order:

Bells of Moscow: I didn't like it at first, but I grew to love and admire it so much.
Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra: Most beautiful sensitive skating with her best artistry.
Czardas: She was totally a natural for this complex music, only Mao can skate to this.
Por una cabeza: I simply love the choreo and the costume.
Clair de Lune: I think Mao looked most beautiful when skating this pro.

I can't believe I had to leave Nocturne out! And I still love the Nutcracker too! And I love Masquerade, even the long version! How can I not? I saw it live at WTT! With that brilliant killer 3A! Even my husband who was with me there got goose-bumps seeing it! I can never forget how dynamic she was in that performance.

Mao has so many great programs but these are my top 5.

1. Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra (I like it so much I even hope she skates to this music again for FS in future. )
2. Nocturne
3. So Deep Is The Night
4. Bells of Moscow
5. La Boutique Fantastique

I think I will reply to this poll after I see her new programs - which will make my decision even harder....

This is sooooo tough!

In no particular order
1.Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra
2.So deep is the night
3.Por una cabeza
4.Ballade#1
5.Clair de Lune

It's really really tough!! I also love Bells, Nocturne, Fantaisie Impromptu, Carmen and more programs..

First place undoubtedly "Bells of Moscow". This program was such original and touching!! I love everything about it: music, interpretation, all those difficult elements and wonderful choreography.

2. Por una Cabeza
3. Masquerade SP
4. Masquerade FS
5. Caprice

I know I wrote Masquerade twice, but for me those program were different.

Masquerade-FS was dark
Masquerade-SP was joyful

Moreover choreographies were different. Anyway I prefer Tarasova than Nichol but I have to admit Mao's new exhibition program is lovely I hope her FS will be such good too

I have tallied up the votes to get the top 5 most voted Mao programs. But since there seems to be a lot of ties for the top places, I will only do a tribute to the top 3 most voted programs. So here are the results!

Number 3 (with 7 votes each) goes to a tie between Nocturne and Caprice.

Number 2 (with 10 votes each) goes to a three-way tie between Bells, Por Una Cabeza, and Clair de Lune.

And.....


Number 1 (with 11 votes each) goes to a tie between Fantastie Impromptu and Ballad.

As part of the tribute, I will post links to my favorite performances of the top 3 voted Mao programs. Thanks everyone for participating in the poll game.

No. 3

Nocturne Skate America 2006
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmyUwtmch9w (Her senior debut remains one of my favorite performances.)

Caprice Nationals 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQDjvTYi7s

No. 2

Bells of Moscow Worlds 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4iBgY13E-M

Por Una Cabeza Worlds 2009 Gala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9921LChDlBc (Again, hard to choose a favorite performance, but this was a lovely and memorable performance after a relatively disappointing worlds.)

Clair de Lune WTT 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9_pEv0eC3k (The best performance of this SP and one of my favorite Mao performances ever!)


No. 1

Fantastie Impromptu 4CC 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-sHFceaGEY (While her Worlds and GPF performances may be more exciting, I feel this one was the most beautifully executed.)

Ballad Ex DOI 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUeT0xCnv2U