Young Artists Showcase (YAS3) Choreography Challenge Videos | Golden Skate

Young Artists Showcase (YAS3) Choreography Challenge Videos

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Note: jenaj just posted a thread titled "YAS-Bebe's Firebird" so I thought I'd start a thread for the competition itself! :)

"Mission: The Young Artists Showcase will foster and encourage young ice skating choreographers by giving them experience through a series of challenges and guidance from an expert panel of Artists, Skaters, and Choreographers."

The 8 current competitors are (listed alphabetically):
Mirielle Chambers
Mark Hanretty
Katherine Hill
Garrett Kling
Bebe Liang
Robert Mauti
Amy Nunn
Sean Rabbitt

The 2nd round of videos are all up and online voting is open: http://youngartistsshowcase.net/

YAS is the brainchild of coach Audrey Weisiger.

ETA all the videos from Challenge #1 - "Word":
Mirielle Chambers (skated by her): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKJiS9G8W2Q
Mark Hanretty (skated by him): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SP3OiIK9g
Katherine Hill (skated by her): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbOWW_R6pck
Garrett Kling (skated by Jason Brown): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9PkQ4wymy4
Bebe Liang (skated by her): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzx8Fq1wiDY
Robert Mauti (skated by him): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adkbvdclxac
Amy Nunn (skated by her): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtvwTQDfelI
Sean Rabbitt (skated by him): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr74g-x5QJk

"YAS Chat with Challenge 1 winner Mark Hanretty": http://www.examiner.com/article/yas-chat-with-challenge-1-winner-mark-hanretty

ETA all the videos from Challenge #2 - "Tribute to the Masters":
Mirielle Chambers (Mark Ballas): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6MtJK382g
Mark Hanretty (The Rambert Dance Company): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfvvh2cGPr8
Katherine Hill (Ohad Naharin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyWvMiFqmpk
Garrett Kling (Jiri Kylian): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Al6ludhmyE
Bebe Liang (George Balanchine): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhusabzV1k
Robert Mauti (Alvin Ailey): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLefuG8LQC4
Amy Nunn (Travis Wall): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm1wwzi7nDE
Sean Rabbitt (Jack Cole): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYbmOmnB7A
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Wow! Thank you Syvia. This should be an Olympic event. :yes:

Here's what's fun. Try to guess the word they are doing before it is revealed at the end. I got Bebe Liang's (obvious :laugh:) and Robert Mauti's. I came close with Garrett Kling (I guessed Daybreak or Youth). I was furthest off with Katherine Hill. I though it was First Love. :laugh:

My favorite was Sean Rabbitt. Great match between the choreography and the music. Garrett Hill had an advantage in the expressive skills of Jason Brown.
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
This is a wonderful concept for these young choreographers. I only guessed one and it was Mark Hanretty which was my favorite.
I also like Sean Rabbitt and Garrett Kling's interpretation. I thought that the flow and movement across the ice went very well with the music.

I only watched Bebe's video so far in the 2nd round. I was impressed very well done.

Thanks for posting Sylvia!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
They should put this on TV in a Dancing With The Stars format.

If they did, I bet a lot of top skaters would be lining up to work with the choreographers and be on TV. :laugh:
 

Trewyn

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
OMG Bebe skated to Doctor Who!!!! My dream of seeing a known skater skate to 'Doomsday' has been fulfilled!!! :D
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
What an excellent idea for a competition!

My favourite was Garrett Kling's 'Springtime,' but all these young choreographers did very well.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
You guys are good. I could only guess Mark's word. But I suppose he had the easiest one too :)

My favorite one was Robert Mauti's caffeinated performance.
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
This was deliriously fun and interesting! Here are my guesses and critiques:

Bebe Liang: The jig was up in the first 3 seconds, literally. Heck, the music alone would've tipped it off. There's some interesting movement. But it's hobbled by the really bland music. And miming the ticking of a clock with one's arms is a huge, gigantic cliché.

Mirielle Chambers: I was guessing... awkward date? But that's two words, how about just awkward, then. Although that seemed likely unintentional. Really awful imitation/demolition of the tango style. I stopped watching halfway through. I'm amazed the word was tension.

Amy Nunn: Now the music to this one actually seems like tension. But halfway through, I found myself drifting away and totally losing interest. The word that kept coming to mind is boredom. The word is actually search, but she's lost my interest and she didn't find it.

Katherine Hill: I was thinking joy or greeting. But then came the awkward interruptions. So I was thinking, disappointment? Or heck, the word interruption? But no, the word is actually stifled. Since she spent most of her performance smiling and moving with radiant joy, she rather contradicts the instructions of the challenge:
A solo that is built around one word and what that word means to you, makes you feel when you hear it, how you might use it in a sentence and what you think that word moves like.

Robert Mauti: I was guessing energy! Pumped! Exclamation mark! It's a fun enough performance, but the style, the music were all over the place even if the basic idea of caffeinated came through. There's nothing too original in the mish mash of movement either.

Garrett Kling: I actually got the word springtime by the end of the performance, because Appalachian Spring kept coming to mind. I'm not normally a fan of attempting literal hoedown moves on the ice, but this piece had so many wonderful and interesting shapes and movement. An inspired piece through and through.

Sean Rabbitt: I got the word lost immediately, because he pretty much mimed it exactly at the start. Once the skating started, however, I revised my guess to something like... exploring? Wandering? By the end of it I had settled on the word wanderlust. But no, it was still just plain ol' lost. What's lost here is the opportunity for a piece that's deeper and more original.

Mark Hanretty: I got the word passion right away. Mark is a wonderful performer and all. However, I found both the choice of the word, the tango music and the tango miming to be incredibly banal and obvious. There's nothing surprising here, except for the roll on the ice and the split. Halfway through, it read less as passion and more as a rote simulacrum of it. So I can't say I'm impressed with Mark as a choreographer.

Conclusion:

To me, Garrett Kling should be the obvious winner, but the vote tally tells another story. I thought Liang and Hill showed lots of promise, too.
 

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Bebe is so cute! I liked the blooper reel. :laugh:

Mirielle Chambers! :laugh: So, did you girls enjoy doing this? "Not really." "Whatever." :laugh:
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
I felt like Garrett Kling had a big advantage because of Jason Brown.

I totally disagree. It's a different, and from what I've seen, more difficult challenge for a choreographer to choreograph for someone else vs. doing it for her/himself. I've seen plenty of dance pieces where sprightly young dancers, while more technically proficient, don't live up to how the originators did it. It takes a lot of time to impart the essence, the concept, the intent of movement from one person to another. And a lot can be lost in translation. Garrett Kling is a capable and a surprisingly young skater himself. I respect him for using another skater as an instrument, and kudos to Brown for picking up the choreography so well.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Still, when a collaboration between choreographer and skater is successful, I feel like the skater has made a contribution to the piece, too.
 
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