Maia Usova might have a few words to say about that assessment =POriginally Posted by Olympia
Maia Usova might have a few words to say about that assessment =P
Lots of the Divas have been mentioned. One that is clearly in traiing is Ilynikh. She just has that quality. Also because it is rare for men definitely Tkachenko-male Krylova all the way.
When Shae Lynn Bourne did the whole Pasha makeover they won worlds. Maybe you meant they suffered as they lost themselves but they won their biggest prize. I wasn't really paying attention to non olympic skating at the time but that was so blatant! Seems like everyone just accepted it!
Yeah, it comes from latin divus (masculine form) and diva (feminine form). Then the -us in italian became -o and so we had divo regarding men and diva women.
Who cares?
Can't Figure Skating come up with a better description than "Diva"? whose origin comes from Italian opera. Figure Skating just does not have anything that is original. It relies so much on other forms of established entertainment and sports.
Wash your mouth out with soap, Joe! (I say this with the greatest respect.) Skating has its very own appeal, despite its parallels to dance, sport, flying, and magic. And is was us fans who came up with the term diva. The skaters are busy skating.
If we need an original term, we can say premiere patineuse absolute, which I have paralleled after premiere danseuse and prima donna assoluta. People better versed in French and Italian, feel free to correct and embroider. But for brevity, diva works just fine for me.
Mille apologies, Olympia. I'm just a crotchety old man now and not the vibrant intelligent and handsome divo I used to be.I hope I didn't offend. Anyway, can you define Diva?
In its original opera form it meant a demanding virtuosa.
1. I didn't notice it until you mentioned it now. But yeah, that was both blatant and quite ignored.
2. I think part of the reason was the distance between the two's accomplishments, the fact that 2003 had the first application of the interim system, the fact that the competition wasn't all that great, the fact that B/K rather fluked into their win (random judges got dropped off, but statistically, L/A should've won) and that they were stalwarts finally winning the title. That, and Washington had one of the all time great skates from Shen/Zhao, along with Kwan's last world champsionship title (and her first at home, I believe), so who was in the mood to quibble?
Mille apologies, Olympia. I'm just a crotchety old man now and not the vibrant intelligent and handsome divo I used to be.
No apologies needed, Joe!
As for defining diva, I'm not sure I can. That may be part of the fun. I like your operatic definition. Certainly that describes people like Callas and (as I'm told) Kathleen Battle--and maybe the Oksanas (Gritschuk and Baiul) and Fusar-Poli in the skating world. But with most skaters, until they acquire a little worldly power, they're probably just divas on the ice. In the real world, they take their orders from the coaches, the judges, and their federation. It's a tough life being queen on the ice and worker bee everywhere else!
If we're making a list of divos, I imagine Plushenko gets a whole separate section! Well, if anyone's earned the right, it's this hardworking guy. A ten-year career at the top of the podium earns him a spot in anyone's Hall of Fame.
During the broadcast of ice dance in the 1998 olympics, CBS quipped that three of the coaches that year were the "Three Divas of Ice Dance"-- they were Tarasova, Dubova, and Linichuk. Dubova's team didn't win a medal (she was beaten by Boucher-Zazoui), but those coaches really do come to mind nowadays when I think of ice dance diva. In fact, many of the divas we've listed can trace their beginnings to a line leading to these three. Elena Ilynikh's coach, Sasha Zhulin, was trained by Natalia Dubova.
Thanks Olympia and blue dog. From what you have said, I would say it's the coaches who are divas/divos - not the skaters, and Plushenko did not seem to me to be a demanding skater under Mischin. skaters in whatever division, are just too young to be courted by the royalty and wealthy.
After watching V/M's SD at 4CC, I must conclude, "Yep, Tessa is a Diva!" with a qualifier.
Tess has that elusive "it" factor in abundance - you just can't take your eyes off her. My guess is that Tess is smart enough to know that she can be a Diva, but is secure enough not to take it seriously. And she can plays up the role of a Diva to hilt when her character calls for it as she did with that SD program.
This is the most detailed article I could find on the dance competition that year
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olymp...ce-final_x.htm
It was very pro canadian and "finally they win!! they were SO deserving!!!" and extremely critical of the Russians performance. Not mentioning of any Russian infludence on them which was obvious.
I want to get other opinions on the line of thinking that went something like "the russians did cheap tricks but the canadians did hydroblades"
1. It's only obvious if you want to acknowledge it. Obviously, pointing out they sacrificed every bit of their own unique personalities in order to win doesn't in fact play well with the narrative "they FINALLY WON!!!"
2. Here's another article, that does have Kraatz giving direct tribute to Morosov and Tarasova (who worked with G/P, right?)
3. I do think that of all the top Russian teams over the years, L/A were the worst. The fact is there was good reason to be criticial of their performance.
Lobacheva and Averbukh had some good programs (like A Time For Peace 2002), but their FD in 2003 was not one of them. Adagio wasn't Bourne and Kraatz's best work, IMO, but it was better than what L&A put on the ice that competition (and that year).
Wow! Too many interesting thoughts to quote...
If I should define that rather profane meaning of the word when we use it in everyday speech, I’d say: Diva (oh I need a block letter here!) is an artist, mostly female, who’s trying to get extra attention by pompous, eccentric, or overly demanding behaviour. Having said that: I don’t mind Divas if their Divaishness goes together with genuine creativity and a good sense of humour, but... it can be a very bad word indeed!
The biggest Diva I have seen on the ice? Well, Sergei SakhnovskiIn current ice dancing, it’s Nora Hoffman. You may say they are not the very top dancers but it only proves that being too Diva does no good
Is it all about “the Russian thing” in figure skating? I have to agree that Russian influence has brought a lot of pompousness to figure skating, maybe too much, but has it brought any particular Diva culture? I don’t think so. Diva is about the personality and not the nationality.
Will Divaishness necessarily help to win the ice dance competition? My answer is, having a Diva in your team can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage. I’d suggest to focus on skating
Last edited by Landing; 02-18-2011 at 06:55 AM.
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