Scoreography

We talk about our experience seeing Stars on Ice in Chicago, featuring the farewell tour of legend Kurt Browning. We also look back at the awesome World Team Trophy event, and share our highlights from the 22-23 season.

After such a unique and exciting post-Olympic season, we were beyond hyped to see some skating in real life! This Stars on Ice cast was especially exciting. From Olympic Champion Nathan Chen, to 4-time Japanese National Champion Satoko Miyahara, to a very special goodbye performance from Wendy's all time favorite skater, Kurt Browning, it was a show we could not miss!

Along with our Stars on Ice recap, we reflect on the super fun World Team Trophy event, and discuss why that unusual competition is a perfect jumping on point for new skating fans.

We review the action from the World Figure Skating Championships 2023 in Saitama, Japan — triumphs, surprises, disappointments, and occasionally questionable scoring.

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After a long post-olympic season, the best-currently-competing-skaters from around the globe converged on the World Figure Skating championships in Saitama, Japan. They and gave us a few disappointments, some great surprises, and a lot of gorgeous (even when it wasn't not perfect) skating!

In this super-sized episode, we cover each of the disciplines in a lot of detail — comparing notes on our favorite performances of the competition and talking through everything from the emotional kiss-and-cry's to the questionable-as-ever judging.

Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara's win—in spite of a flawed free skate—brought Japan their first Pair's world title. They are our favs of the season, making us feel our full range of emotions every skate.

Alexa Knierim & Brandon Frazier coming through for silver—in spite of the terrible health crisis their coach and friend, Todd Sand, is going through.

Sara Conti & Niccolò Macii from Italy skated to the moment with two exceptional programs.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps skated strong, if not flawlessly, for 4th place at their first worlds. That, in and of itself, is an incredible feat for the Canadians.

We saw particularly great showings by Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud from Canada (they are ones to watch next year!) and Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe from the US.

Final thought: We need more pairs teams ASAP!

Kaori Sakamoto held on after a phenomenal short, and a not-as-perfect long program, to claim her second world title. The grit she showed completing the second triple in a combo after popping the first shows why she is a champion's champion. That, and her fantastic sportsmanship during the medal ceremony celebration.

An absolutely amazing performance by Haein Lee for the silver caps a breakthrough season for this young talent from South Korea. We expect her to be a THREAT next season.

Loena Hendrickx's resolute fight through both programs to grab bronze was lovely to see, and a nice way to end a rocky season for her.

Isabeau Levito was near-perfect in the short, but an unfortunate fall on the triple lutz and other small mistakes dropped her to 4th overall. Still wildly impressive, even if disappointing for the young American. Now if we could just get the America program and media to stop over-hyping her so she can just concentrate on her skating…

Mai Mihara was a dream in the short, but could not sustain the momentum in the long and dropped to 5th. Still, big season for the Japanese veteran and reigning Grand Prix champion.

What a competition for Germany's Nicole Schott! A Top Ten finish and a personal best is a huge accomplishment this deep into a long career.

Amber Glenn and Bradie Tennell were scored low enough to land outside the top ten — leaving the US with only 2 Women's spots for 2024 Worlds.

Thank goodness Maddie Schizas changed her long program. (We were practically begging her to get rid of that wretched West Side Story free skate.) Redemption is a great way to end her season!

Final thoughts: Not the best overall competition. A lot of little mistakes from nearly everyone except Haein and Nicole. Hoping to see some more personality and variety in next year's programs.

FINALLY, Madison Chock & Evan Bates go from bridesmaid to bride, taking home the World Championship gold — even with a fluke (and largely irrelevant) fall.

Surprise-but-well-deserved silver for the highly technical Italians, Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri — already making their case for the 2026 Olympic podium.

A bronze for Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier with lovely, if a bit tight and sluggish, skates. Not what we expected, really, but great to see them skate well.

Very surprising 4th place finish for the good time dance team of Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. This often mid-tier team lit up the Japanese crowd and, apparently, the international judges.

Deeply underscored (or were others over scored??) Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorensen of Canada unquestionably deserved to be on the podium. Their 5th place finish is our biggest complaint in all of the Worlds judging.

Best moment: Kana Muramoto & Daisuke Takahashi, no contest. Their free skate was an explosion of emotion and pure joy. Though Ice Dance is the least popular discipline in Japan, this performance on home might just change that trend.

Final thoughts: Impressive skates by the top 12 teams, but WTF is up with the scoring?!

Shoma Uno showed up, regardless of ankle injury concerns and weeks of terrible practices, to win his second consecutive world title. The Short King Reigns!

Wow wow wow, Junhwan Cha is The Moment!! Possibly the performance of the competition overall, the South Korean skater nabs silver with two fantastic skates.

Ilia Malinin gave us a great quad axel and a slightly tight performance in the long to earn his first world medal, bronze. Though an extraordinary jumper and technician, the international judges sent a clear message that his artistic elements were not equal to the rest of the top 5 skaters. Its something Ilia clearly took to heart, commenting on it during the press conference, with an intend to focus more on artistry next season.

OMG, what an unexpected competition for Kevin Aymoz — a 4th place Worlds finish for him is gold for us all. Two flawless performances elevated this French artiste well above his own expectations.

WE LOVE YOU KEEGAN MESSING! This short program was a thing of beauty. The free skate saw him drop in the standings, but not in the hearts of the audience and skating fans everywhere. Thank you, Keegs, for all these years on the ice. You're a legend.

Jason Brown lands in 5th on the scoreboard, but first in our hearts. His performances were simply perfect, top to bottom. "Master of the Blade", indeed.

Kazuki Tomono is a force of nature. Wasn't perfect, but a damn delight on the ice. Expect big things for his future.

Lukas Britschgi from Switzerland made his case for one-to-watch status going into next season.

Final thoughts: A stellar competition to end Worlds 2023!

We discuss the favorites, the long shots, and all of the in-betweens leading up to the 2023 World Championships, happening this week in Japan.

This season has been the deepest dive we've personally taken into figure skating in a very long time, and looking back — for all of the post-Olympic year doldrums and troubling political issues that are very real — there's a lot of skaters to be excited about leading into the biggest competition of the year.

After a brief absence, Scoreography returns to take a deep dive into the US Nationals 2023 competition! We celebrate the triumphant return of Jason Brown, and impressive first place performances from Ilia Malinin and Isabeau Levito. We dig into the scoring controvery around Bradie Tennell's 2nd place finish, and lament a rather thin Pairs competition. We talk about the evolution of Chock & Bates's programs this season, and the hurdles ahead of their way to the top of the Worlds podium. And we get excited about some surprising, huge long programs from Josephine Lee, Jimmy Ma, and Andrew Torgashev.

We double up this episode, looking back at two Grand Prix 2022 events: the MK John Wilson Trophy in Sheffield, UK, and the NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan. We discuss a handful of fantastic performances in two otherwise fairly forgettable competitions, and explore why Pairs is a failing discipline—yet also a great medal opportunity for otherwise mid-tier skaters.

Wendy and Adron discuss the highlights from the Skate France 2022 Grand Prix event, including explosive performances from Loena Hendrickx, Guitard & Fabbri, and Adam Siao Him Fa. We also talk about the return of Jason Brown to competition, our desire for skaters to diversify their music choices and move away from the same classic pieces, and why US Skating needs to promote the international camaraderie of skating.

Wendy and Adron breakdown the performances from Skate Canada 2022 — including standout performances from Rinka Watanabe, Shoma Uno, and Miura & Kihara. We also discuss issues watching skating on Peacock, some bizarre scoring during the women's short program, and an often disasterous competition for the men.

In the first episode of Scoreography, hosts Wendy Buske and Adron Buske discuss Skate America 2022, and the Quad Axel heard around the world. We explore the biggest moments and surprises of this figure skating season's first Grand Prix event. And we explain the premise, origin, and intended audience for Scoreography.

We examine the competitive performances of Ilia Malinin, Isabeau Levito, Amber Glenn, Kaori Sakamoto, Chock & Bates, Hawayek & Baker, Knierim & Frazier, Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps, and more.

Wendy and Adron Buske are experienced podcasters whose work includes the long-running show Nerd For A Living, about careers in pop culture entertainment. Adron is also the host of Fictitious, a podcast and YouTube program about the storytelling craft of science fiction and fantasy.

Scoreography views figure skating through the perspective of a lifelong super fan (Wendy) and a fairly recent but enthustiastic convert (Adron). The show is intended for the casual skating fan looking to learn more about the sport, and aims to promote figure skating to a wider audience.