Should Ashley Wagner Keep Her Swan Lake LP Another Year? | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Should Ashley Wagner Keep Her Swan Lake LP Another Year?

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Tweet from Ashley Wagner ‏@AshWagner2010
"Searching for music..helllppp!!! I need ideas!"
2:33 AM - 18 May 12
Cute. Okay just because I am a big fan of Ashley's Black Swan here are some more OST suggestions

Downton Abbey OST (Require some edit obviously but got great tension for SP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ULKKJ5UpI

The Villiage by Jamese Newton Howard (FS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcgKfY_hvzQ

Lady in lavender by Nigel Hess, Joshua bell and his magic violin (FS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWpWEErcnw

For gala, love this beat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDgAW6QCcKQ


I just want to add I really love Ashley's competitive spirit this year, so much 'fire in her belly' at the same time her self-depreciating attitude. It is the type of dramatic and ambitious program that weirdly remind me of Yuna Kim extravaganza blockbuster programs include her gorgeous costume...sigh... I do miss Yuna like crazy!

On a side note, I personally think a common mistake when appraising any program on its artistic merit is to have a preconceived notion of what defines certain art forms and what these aesthetics criteria should be. Certainly by holding onto one's morale judgement above everything else will prevent a fair assessment of the work. I believe credible art should goes far beyond the aesthetics. Whether something is truthful to the essence of an defined concept, the creative process, the depth and the authenticity of these realization and explorations. A well painted bowl of fruit done by a realism painter that may have exceptional craftsmanship, but they cannot touch on the brusque uncalculated brush strokes of an emotional wrenching authenticity of Edvard Munch's Scream. And just because one is used to the aesthetic of the renaissance, it does not make different interpretation of the same subject or concept irrelevant.

It is precisely why 'originality', 'creativity', 'courage', 'experimentation' and 'concepts' are the important criteria when appraising art. Something IJS does not really reward enough, unless you consider Choreography and Interpretation under PCS sufficient enough of a rewarding system.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Os168, this is a wonderful way to look at skating. In your metaphor, I'd substitute a still life by Cezanne for "The Scream," but that might be because I like Cezanne better than Munch! Your point that art is an important dimension of skating definitely dovetails with what I value in this sport. (Or whatever it is!)

The point that people have made about earlier skaters often repeating music because of the time demands of learning school figures reminds me of a Janet Lynn program I looked up. This is the year she used "Afternoon of a Faun" as a competitive program rather than as an exhibition;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7kTnyOcPy4

This program is considered one of skating's immortal moments. So I expected to witness Lynn's legendary artistic lightness blending with her athletic superiority. I was expecting the program to be an expression of the groundbreaking 20th-century Debussy music. But no--the music changed abruptly several times, once to Liszt (I think it was "Les Preludes") and then again to a mid-nineteenth-century ballet score, possibly Giselle. And then it ended with a bit from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony! My head was spinning. There was no possibility for musical interpretation with four such disparate pieces. These days choreographers are more skillful in blending music, so that if they must use several pieces, the components are more compatible. (For example, the way Lori Nichol grafted Hector Villa-Lobos's "Song of the Black Swan" and Dvorak's "Dumky" Trio together.) So in one important way, skating has actually progressed.

Which is to say that music is a far more important component of skating today, and I don't think Ashley will be using it to its full advantage if she just repeats what she did last year. Especially in the case of Swan Lake, which has been used by so many skaters, she won't be saying to the judges, "Look over here, people! You've never seen this before." There is SO MUCH incredible music out there, some of which has been mentioned by posters on this thread. Why stop at Swan Lake? (And I love Tchaikovsky, mind you.)

I especially like Drivingmissdaisy's two suggestions, the Massenet and the first movement of Mahler's First Symphony. Mahler's First is very different from the Adagietto of the Fifth that has been used so effectively by both Virtue/Moir and Gordeyeva. It's tight, almost narrative, less dark, to my ear. It's got motion built into it, and it's a rather sinewy motion, not princessy, so a strong skater like Ashley would be able to mine a lot from it. I do hope you can convey your ideas to Ashley!
 
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sweetskates1

Medalist
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Ashley should enjoy the challenges and joys that come with performing new programs. She also says that she would be bored if she kept a program for two years.
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Hmm, why not something from one of the classic film noirs of the 40s and 50s? She can still do a character that is both [deceptively] "good" and bad, and those old Hollywood scores can be classically symphonic. Just a thought.
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
I think Sunset Blvd would be too close to the Black Swan--a character teetering over the edge into insanity. I was thinking more along the lines of Double Indemnity or The Maltese Falcon--the femme fatale who appears to be something she really isn't. And there are plenty of moody jazzy/bluesy and/or classical scores from that period. Think Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. Sexy and dangerous. I could see her doing something along those lines.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
No, I wish that Ashley skate to something new

But, in an other way, I wish that Alexandra Najarro keep her black swan program this season : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLlP7vitR0M

I find that Alexandra interpretation is better and more emotional than Ashley :)

it's not bad but nooo where near ashley's. ashley is pretty and graceful when the music is, and intense and dramatic when the music is. she has better cuts of music too.
 
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