What should Chock & Zuerlein skate to next season?

C/Z's Romeo and Juliet exhibition is really beautiful. It's too bad Romeo and Juliet is so overdone, though.

colleen o'neill said:

blue dog..bite your tongue ! Tessa and Scott have far too much taste to ever do anything to do with Twilight... and I hope C/Z would too. Tessa looks like Tessa...

Click to expand...

Well, offtopic, but Scott's looks remind me a bit of Chris Bowman, and Chris actually played a vampire in the movie Lost Boys, so the look would work. (But colleen, I can't see them doing a vampire flick either) BTW, has any memorable music come out of the Twilight soundtracks?

The point is I think to pick big music that can carry the performance. If the audience can get clapping, it's even better.

SeriousBusiness..you have a point.. (and I love Scott in that pic)

But if they ever took on Drac it would have to be the Frank Langella version (So sophisticated , yet deadly ). No teen heart throb vampires for them ...

But back to C/Z...I do think character is the way to go for them , and yes big audience - involving music. I think that Greg is another one of those guys who looks young , so they'll have to give some thought to how to get around that.

dorispulaski said:

BTW, has any memorable music come out of the Twilight soundtracks?

Click to expand...

One of the best things about Twilight are its movie soundtracks. Starting with New Moon, the Twilight soundtracks have been packed full of new songs from critically acclaimed indie hipster bands (first Twilight soundtrack mostly used already released songs). It wouldn't be hard to cut together a skating program full of arena shaking tunes from the soundtracks. I've never seen the Twilight movies or read the books, but I have happily pirated the soundtracks (in fact researching prompted me to go download the soundtrack to Eclipse 'cause it has a few of my fave acts on it).

The problem with doing a skating program to Twilight, though, is that the source material doesn't have a lot of movement vocabulary to fill out a program. For instance, just compare Chock/Zuerlein's current FD. Fosse and Cabaret is full of jazz hands and bent elbows and crazy faces. Or think of other rich source materials for skating programs: various musicals, drunken pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean, the distinctive fight choreography of the Matrix, or one of my faves, Davis/White's Bollywood OD. What does Twilight have to offer in terms of distinctive movement? The movies are mostly angsty stares and a few unmemorable fight sequences. Unless Virtue/Moir plan on miming a bite and then later a messy birth scene, there wouldn't be much to distinguish a Twilight program from any other angsty love story FD.

If we're going to raid popular culture for FD inspiration, something I fully approve of, I would go for something with a more distinctive sense of movement. For instance...

How about Inception? By now the musical cue is pretty much instantly recognizable. Throw in a bit of Édith Piaf and you got the musical cut. It'd be pretty cool to translate the rotating hallway fight scene to a dance lift. And er, I guess Tessa can portray the spinning top at some point. Falling backwards is a repeated motif in the movie, too. Inception isn't as rich and distinctively visually as the oft-compared Matrix, but it could work.

A movie that would almost be a great source for an FD is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It's practically a rock musical with lots of raucous, rousing original songs. Its movement and visual style heavily references video games and comic books. Unfortunately only about 3 people have seen the movie, and also besides the visuals and songs, the movie isn't that great.

But considering the number of male ice dancers who play video games in the Z/S camp ( as mentioned in the L/C article ) ,some of them might be familiar with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World...

colleen o'neill said:

But considering the number of male ice dancers who play video games in the Z/S camp ( as mentioned in the L/C article ) ,some of them might be familiar with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World...

Click to expand...

Sure. But you want to bank on the audience and judges being a little familiar with the source too so they are more likely to get into it. Unfortunately the movie was a massive tank. More people saw Vampires Suck and.. Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore than it. You can find it at the bottom of the 2010 box office results list.

Looking at that list, I bet there will be more Alice in Wonderland programs. If C/Z wants to play more wacky characters, well there they go. Tron Legacy is another possibility. I love the Daft Punk meets orchestral symphony soundtrack to it. Plus the movie has plenty of distinctive movement for ice dancers to hilariously crib from: the lady can ride the guy like he's a lightcycle. They can play jai alai. Fun for all!

dorispulaski said:

Well, offtopic, but Scott's looks remind me a bit of Chris Bowman, and Chris actually played a vampire in the movie Lost Boys, so the look would work. (But colleen, I can't see them doing a vampire flick either) BTW, has any memorable music come out of the Twilight soundtracks?

The point is I think to pick big music that can carry the performance. If the audience can get clapping, it's even better.

Click to expand...

doris, I know more than one person who first heard "Clair de Lune" from the Twilight soundtrack. Kavaguti/Smirnov make explicit reference to the movie at the end of their LP (he bites her).

I loathe Inception's music. Quite enjoyed the movie.

I think How to Train Your Dragon has a great score, but maybe for a singles program? Certainly a better score than Dragonheart, if not as memorable a theme.

Oh, I think a program set to Ragtime would be marvelous (musical, not movie).

Their Cabaret is so good they should try to do something like that again. It has become my favorite free dance by an American team this season.

Madison Chock sure loves to play to the crowd doesn't she? She is one big time flirt. I'm afraid she will always overshadow poor Greg.

Oh, no-o-o-o, Pogue..he does bite her.. I thought it was a kiss and a swoon...

Gods! I hope this doesn't spoil it for me.... I detest the very idea of sparkly vampires - what an abomination !

And how sad if that's some younguns' first awareness of Claire de Lune .. but better than no awareness at all, I suppose ( a spoonful of sugar )...

I'm a bit of an animation fan ,and I must agree How to Train Your Dragon has a really nice score.. ( recently, someone used music from the Triplets of Belleville, and the commentators didn't know what that was )..

In fact, I must say I've been enjoying some of your ( and others') music suggestions. Love the theme from 2046.

I say all the girls in the Z/S camp leave their partners for a season, skate in synchros, and do a program to the Black Swan soundtrack. Tessa can play the "Swan Queen", Meryl can be Lilly. Emily, Charlotte, Maia, and others can portray the various soloists, and Jana Khoklova can be Wynona Ryder's character.

I'd love to see Tessa and Meryl skate a program together!

That would be kinda hot jes sayin. LOL