- Joined
- Feb 24, 2012
Well it was a huge departure from Pink Floyd or their classical Oly program -so yeah it is a pretty big departure.
... Zueva does not pick different music for any of the teams she choreographs for.
Both teams, actually, try to stretch themselves, performance wise, every year. But not, particularly, with their music.
No. Other than creating a couple of new lifts, which most dancers do every year, how exactly did V&M "stretch themselves" in this typical Foxtrot and Quickstep routine? The storyline was a romance, which they have done many times before, the music was from a 1928 musical and never really memorable. They are excellent technicians, but that's not news, so what was so innovative and noteworthy?
Well it was a huge departure from Pink Floyd or their classical Oly program -so yeah it is a pretty big departure.
That's a really interesting point. And you'd think that ice dancers had a slightly larger range of possibilities in one direction at least, because they can use vocal music. I might suggest one exception, Virtue and Moir's Mahler Adagietto. I know that it was used once before, but that was such an extraordinary circumstance, Katia Gordeyeva's elegy for her husband Sergei Grinkov, that I can hardly call this music choice conventional. (In fact, at first, I was doubtful about anyone else using the Mahler, because of the emotional weight of the music's history in skating. But it was beautifully performed by V/M, and it was a breakthrough for ice dancing. Lately I've realized that since it was Zoueva herself who first used it for Katia, she might have some wishes to pursue the music further, and I've come to respect that choice.)
What's your thought on the selection used by Annissina and Piezerat for their 2002 Olympic program? The fact that it was so programmatic, almost narrative, was not usual, I think. Are you thinking that the heavily theatrical drama of it is a general trend for ice dancing?
One last question. I would like to know who did the choreographies for the Short Dance and the Free Dance, as Paola Mezzadri usually takes care of this aspect, while you have been hired in the first place as a technical coach.
Igor Shpilband: I did the entire choreography for the Free Dance, while Paola choreographed the Short Dance.
I guess I'm looking at this slightly differently than you are. I get the impression that the music itself and perhaps what is has to say are your focus here. When I think of an unusual music choice, I tend to envision something that does not immediately cause you to think of the skater in question performing to it. Like Kwan all of a sudden deciding to skate to a Janis Joplin instrumental arrangement for a competitive LP. It's just not her image, so that choice would be eyebrow-raising. If she pulled it off, it would expand her perceived repertoire. That's what T/D did by using Bolero. They were primarily known before that for skating very entertainingly to Big Band, Broadway, and early Rock and Roll (50s and 60s). Bolero was totally out of the box for them. Wonderful as Mahler was, I don't see it in the same out of the box way. Based on past programs, especially Valse Triste and Cherbourg, it was not a stretch to envision Mahler as a choice. Same for Davis and White with Phantom. Pink Floyd and Rigby were their respective out of the box selections in my opinion.
Having made that set up argument, I felt A/P were actually being consistent. Yes there was the controversial voiceover (overhyped by Hammond and Wilson), but It was still the same narrative, dramatic approach they always used.
For me it's a matter of not just music, but what you do with the music, both in terms of concept and actual skating. T/D totally changed their patterning, holds, pacing, etc for Bolero. It wasn't an organic progression from previous programs. It was more a creative 180. That's really rare, especially once you've reached the top. Am I making any sense here?
Wasn't it reported that C/L had another FD in mind when they went to Igor?
Maybe it was just his way of taking the shine off of V/M's FD and giving D/W a little boost (aka, his sign that he wants them to jump ship). Every little thing....
quiqie at FSU has posted an English translation of a long interview with Shpilband.
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...-what-had-happened-between-Marina-and-me-quot