Mao's music choice for LP isn't any better either.
Mao's music choice for LP isn't any better either.
You think so? I think Swan Lake is a great choice of music for Mao. It is overdone and quite cliched in the competitive skating community but I love what she did with it, the upper-body movements, the hand gestures, the twizzles - little things that help her sell the program. Mao has a light, effortless air to her and the program really brought out her strengths. Can't believe Tatiana Tarasova choreographed both the Bells of Moscow LP - I hated it - and this year's Swan Lake.
I don't mind Swan Lake, but I hate what she doesn't do with the music. I feel that there's nothing to her program that's specifically Swan Lake, and I find her SL passionless.
Perhaps I'm very particular since I really really enjoy Swan Lake the ballet, and have seen multiple performances of it.
British Eurosport 2 now airing the ladies short program. They will be showing the men's live as well right after.
http://www.hahasport.com/v-2/18/180/v-398188.html
LADIES SHORT PROGRAM - VIDEOS & RESULT
1. Mao ASADA (JPN) - 66.96 Short Program, 2nd Copy
2. Ashley WAGNER (USA) - 66.44 Short Program, 2nd Copy
3. Akiko SUZUKI (JPN) - 65.00 Short Program, 2nd Copy
4. Kiira KORPI (FIN) - 63.42 Short Program, 2nd Copy
5. Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA (RUS) - 56.61 Short Program
6. Christina GAO (USA) - 48.56 Short Program, 2nd Copy
They didn't do at COC and NHK, either. Mao's 3F, and even her old friend 3Lo look clearly underrotated these days.As much as I love Mao I must say that the scoring at this competition was really unfair. Her triple floop was CLEARLY underrotated and should've received <. Why didn't the technical specialist give her the < sign? On purpose or just overlooked it? Mao should be behind Ashley and Akiko.
They didn't do at COC and NHK, either. Mao's 3F, and even her old friend 3Lo look clearly underrotated these days.
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Well you can't judge a program by what she doesn't do but by what she does. After all, we are talking hours worth of music and dancing condensed to 4 minutes. I think she is using every note of the music, bringing something different after every music cut and Mao has a lyrical, balletic style to begin with. I do concede that Mao somewhat lacked energy at the NHK trophy after making numerous mistakes on her jumps.
But I understand where you're coming from. I love Swan Lake too =]
IIRC, one of her 3Lo combination (2Lo, I guess) looked UR, but didn't get <. And her 3F in the SP at NHK...They DID marked her 3F as UR in China, 3 out of 3. And while her 3Flip was questionable today, her 3Loop was good
The problem is that she does so little with the music. Yes, I understand she's trying to put the ballet into 4 minutes. But I'm not sure what she's trying to do with the music. Is she trying to tell the story? Is she trying to portray a character from the ballet? Or she just wants to hop around and look pretty in a feather-motifed dress?
Swan Lake is intensely passionate and full of high drama (the curse, love, pledge/vow, betrayal, etc. etc. etc.), yet there's no passion or intensity in her program. She could be skating to any other music, and it won't make a particle of difference to her program. That's what I mean by "what she doesn't do with the music." And that's why I dislike certain skaters who skate over whatever music that happens to be playing in the background.
Maybe they decided that they don't need the jump to win so they all deleted it from their repertoire? Makes sense, esp. for those getting e on 3Lz.
Not every program has to tell a story. Yes, it's skated to Swan Lake and Mao doesn't take complete advantage of the highs and the lows of the Swan Lake ballet but she took the music from the ballet and created a program that is beautiful and quite artistic.
No it doesn't. You're right.
But there's no point in using music that so many are familiar with and does...whatever she does. I don't understand what she is trying to do on the ice. I don't see artistry, but rather lazy interpretation of the program and music. It would've been better if she selected a piece without any well-known story or characters and created a program.
And to make another point -- the music was composed specifically for the ballet. It's not like people decided to grab a bunch of pieces by Tchaikovsky and dance to them (compare this to: Swan by Saint-Saëns, which was never meant to be a dance/ballet piece, or non-narrative Les Sylphides which is danced to a collection of compositions by Chopin, which were never meant to be ballet music). So to me, it's an odd thing to pick Swan Lake, a piece w/ such a strong story & intent to tell the story and yet do none of those things and just skate around aimlessly w/o any attempt at character portrayal or storytelling, while wearing a swan dress. I do not understand what artistic point Mao is trying to make at all, or if she ever had any artistic intent to this particular program. I like it far less than her Vancouver LP or Debussy.
No it doesn't. You're right.
But there's no point in using music that so many are familiar with and does...whatever she does. I don't understand what she is trying to do on the ice. I don't see artistry, but rather lazy interpretation of the program and music. It would've been better if she selected a piece without any well-known story or characters and created a program.
And to make another point -- the music was composed specifically for the ballet. It's not like people decided to grab a bunch of pieces by Tchaikovsky and dance to them (compare this to: Swan by Saint-Saëns, which was never meant to be a dance/ballet piece, or non-narrative Les Sylphides which is danced to a collection of compositions by Chopin, which were never meant to be ballet music). So to me, it's an odd thing to pick Swan Lake, a piece w/ such a strong story & intent to tell the story and yet do none of those things and just skate around aimlessly w/o any attempt at character portrayal or storytelling, while wearing a swan dress. I do not understand what artistic point Mao is trying to make at all, or if she ever had any artistic intent to this particular program. I like it far less than her Vancouver LP or Debussy.
ETA: I should add that this doesn't mean Mao's good skating qualities are not noticeable or gone. They're still there, but again, they don't serve the program because of the weakness in the program from my point of view.
So, just out of curiosity, do you feel the same way about Meryl and Charlie's SD this year?
I don't watch ice dance so I can't comment on it.