On July 14, 2023, Disney Plus put out the streaming access to Yuzuru Hanyu ICE STORY 2023 GIFT at Tokyo Dome, sparking interest in the eponymous public figure yet again (not that he’d ever been out of the conversation). The aforementioned ice show depicted his life’s journey on ice and essayed his personal anxious struggles in the field. Presenting an eye-opening, fierce and sublime production to the huge gathering at the glorious Tokyo Dome, his sold out one-man-show entirely reworked the purpose of ice skating and its design.
However, even if by a fleeting chance you’ve missed out on his name and work, you need not worry because we’ve got your back. It’s quite likely that you first encountered his name after the Disney Plus presentation changed your life forever, and now it’s probably got you wondering about the artist behind its pomp and success. Hanyu’s existence itself is magical, and in this article we’ll be illuminating light upon his transformative journey.
Who is Yuzuru Hanyu?
He’s a Japanese two-time Olympic figure skating gold medallist, who’s now also ventured into the other side of showbiz and become an ice show producer. His recently streamed show, GIFT at Tokyo Dome was originally performed in February 2023, for which he stepped up as not only the one and only leading act on ice, but also the director and producer for the same. ICE STORY GIFT is not his premier production as he’s come out with several one-band shows previously, Prologue being one of them. However, it’s with the 2023 performance that he’s switched the gear and given the sport a big makeover with lights and all the grandiose paraphernalia that’s put him under the spotlight.
As Japan’s proud representative, Hanyu had retired from the competitive streak of figure skating in July 2022, but nothing has derailed him from telling his side of the story further. Moreover, the Yuzuru Hanyu ICE STORY show is not the only relevant piece he’s put out this year. notte stellata (Starry night) is his following professional ice show that has addressed the catastrophic blow that shook his home prefecture in 2011. It highlights the changes that followed in his life after being displaced from Sendai City by the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster. And by doing so, he’s opened up the horizons of figure skating for once and for all.
Expanding its reach into an artistic expression as a performative art, figure skating is no longer just a sport for Hanyu, rather a means to tell profoundly personal tales of his life and the world, and on other occasions, even a medium of entertainment that pushes the audience into deep thought.
His first autobiography Blue Flames also mentions the traumatic account of the disaster that shook his home town when he was still rehearing at the Sendai Ice Rink, “The feeling of the ice shaking, the shaking of the ground being pushed up, how terrible it was that my legs were shaking from the earthquake.” (Olympics webpage) He even goes on to talk about the painful aftermath and how it nearly made him quit the sport at a young age, but the people around him supported him endlessly, which ultimately got him where he’d always meant to be.
Hanyu hasn’t forgotten his roots and often gives back to his community. More of his sensitive inner thoughts have been reflected in his ICE STORY 2023 delivery as well. While notte stellata puts up a mirror to his extended community, GIFT dives deep into his emotions of loneliness and alienation, first as a sportsperson and now an artist. Despite its narrative speaking directly about his own struggles, a sense of universality pervades through his prose-driven monologues in about a 2-hour long theatrical performance.
He even recreates his old skating set performed at the Beijing Olympics, almost as if he’s turning the clock back to his old days and letting us in on a memory held within dearly. Considering the long duration of the whole set, one can only imagine how physically draining each program may have been, especially since he gives each one of them a good time to speak for themselves. Jumping from a spiritually sombre program, to an explosive entertaining piece, and then another one diving into a majestic iteration of Phantom of the Opera on ice, Yuzuru’s multi-faceted programs seek inspiration from opera, sundry music forms (even rock), the power of poetic lyricism and even Shakespeare’s plays.
Yuzuru has the powerful ability to merge several worlds under one roof, through the one thing he knows best – figure skating – and by doing that he makes the art his own while also liberating it from shackles of monotony and linearity. Even if one just stumbles upon his production on Disney Plus, without knowing who he is, the “Ice King”‘s demonstration of his much-deserved title as the “Greatest of All Time” is bound to win you over. Your interest will automatically be piqued upon seeing how one can turn a disciplined, composed and structured sport into an awe-inspiring work of art.
The Yuzuru Hanyu GIFT documentary is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. You can read more thoughts on the production in our review linked below.
Also read: Yuzuru Hanyu ICE STORY 2023 GIFT at Tokyo Dome Review: New Genre Penned by the Rise of a Phoenix in a Dove’s Guise