- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
I wrote some of this early but expanded my impression of Mao's SP program.
I loved Mao's performance. She had a lot more attack this week, her steps and speed were much crisper. Her skating skills were fabulous. Her delivery more mysterious. Her make-up was bewitchingly heavy and her attitude was even slightly angry. I am beginning to sense the ritual element- The exorcism of the ex husband from her mind- as she urgently seeks to break that ties that bind. She was even fierce in the way she attacked the steps and carved her edges throughout the performance but the entire piece is not only about being fierce; the mood it sets is also melancholic, confused and brooding in trying to escape from mourning for her lost husband and Mao brings out this more subtle complexity well. If I look closely there are many moments when it was difficult to even tell which way she was moving. I feel a bit like I have been thrown into a whirlwind with all the rapid 180 degree turns, pirouettes, leaps into the air, zig zag and circular turns which mirror well the foreboding and disorienting tone of the music: a bit like being thrown into a witches' cauldron. This is truly high art combined with stellar skating skills. I think Mao goes far beyond merely giving an intense or fierce expression and rather embodies the mood in her entire bodily movement so that the face is merely subsumed into the whole which if you look at photos is very apt in expressing the haunting mood.I heard Mao's blades aggressively come to a stop at the end of her program with a spray of ice and a menacing look.
I loved Mao's performance. She had a lot more attack this week, her steps and speed were much crisper. Her skating skills were fabulous. Her delivery more mysterious. Her make-up was bewitchingly heavy and her attitude was even slightly angry. I am beginning to sense the ritual element- The exorcism of the ex husband from her mind- as she urgently seeks to break that ties that bind. She was even fierce in the way she attacked the steps and carved her edges throughout the performance but the entire piece is not only about being fierce; the mood it sets is also melancholic, confused and brooding in trying to escape from mourning for her lost husband and Mao brings out this more subtle complexity well. If I look closely there are many moments when it was difficult to even tell which way she was moving. I feel a bit like I have been thrown into a whirlwind with all the rapid 180 degree turns, pirouettes, leaps into the air, zig zag and circular turns which mirror well the foreboding and disorienting tone of the music: a bit like being thrown into a witches' cauldron. This is truly high art combined with stellar skating skills. I think Mao goes far beyond merely giving an intense or fierce expression and rather embodies the mood in her entire bodily movement so that the face is merely subsumed into the whole which if you look at photos is very apt in expressing the haunting mood.I heard Mao's blades aggressively come to a stop at the end of her program with a spray of ice and a menacing look.
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