Who would you like to skate to Carmen next year?

[Taan]

Rachael Flatt would make a great Carmen!

Patrick Chan would be interesting....to portray the male characters...

pang+tong would do a great Carmen too!!

[Ivana]

No one. I can dream right.

[skatemom1122]

No no. Certainly not Flatt. My #1 choice, although she already has years ago, is Yu-Na Kim. Think she would do really well. If not her, then I would love to see Laura Lepisto. She is a beautiful young woman who could definitely take on Carmen!

[dlgpffps]

No one, please. Not even Yu-na. She and Wilson would probably do a great job, but I want to see her skate to Rondo Capriccioso and Rach Piano Concerto No. 3. Laura would definitely do Carmen justice, but I'd like to see her skate to The Lady Caipih: Nocturne. I tried so hard to match that song with a skater (since I like it so much). The only person who came to mind was Laura after having seen her Olympic LP. Skaters should try out different music. Enough with Carmen!

[Ren]

I really would rather see skaters choose music that has either never been used before, or has been used only a few times before. In my opinion, it's hard to use music that has already been utilized successfully by another. The way I see it, a program's music and choreography is a significant part of a skater's 'branding' strategy. For example, my Carmen benchmark is Katarina Witt. For me at least, Carmen is a calling card for her. If a skater cannot match or surpass a 'definitive' performance, he/she is better off using some other music. I suppose it's easier to choose Carmen because it is instantly familiar to coaches, skaters, judges and audiences, but I think a world-class skater develops 'identity'.

I'm not saying that just because someone else might have used a piece of music already, it shouldn't be used anymore. For example, Sasha Cohen wasn't the first to use Nino Rota's Romeo and Juliet, and she was definitely not the last. But she made that music her own; she became 'Juliet'. Torvill and Dean's names are often mentioned in the same sentence as Ravel's Bolero. Michelle Kwan is frequently linked to Lyra Angelica and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3. But Carmen has been used so often that it gets a little, well, tiring. Doesn't it seem that every year someone is always skating to it? The only way I would want to see skaters use Bizet's music (again) is if he/she/they can present a really innovative program, a vastly different but equally compelling take on the music already immortalized by Witt.

[lavender]

No one...but that's not going to happen.