The Worst Programs...

Some of the posters who do not like FOG by Kwan probably like very little of Kwan anyway. The recording she used quadrupled in sales because of Kwan so I believe she did a good job of FOG. The record company has acknowledge Kwan's contribution to the increased sales, as well as the singer's family to her estate.

Joe

For the record, I liked Michelle's FOG routine. I though it was fitting for an Olympic exhibition number, elegant and understated.

I liked the music, too; who was the singer again?

The singer is Eva Cassidy

Johar, FD means free dance, and A&P are Anissina and Peizerat, the most recent Olympic Dance gold medalists.

Let me see:

1. Irina Slutskaya's LP from the 96-97 season. That music was
so horrendous and didn't fit her at all. She sparkled with the
broadway showtunes in 95-96, but this music had to be one of
the worst choices possible. It was so heavy and repetitive.
Anyone know the name? (Though, as much as I hated the music
and the program, she did skate it to its fullest potential at the
97 Worlds).
2. Surya Bonaly's LPs from the 90-91 & 94-95 seasons. The music
for her 94-95 LP ranks just behind Irina's mentioned above as
worst ever chosen for a skating program. It sounded like the
theme from a meth circus! Add to that an absolute lack of flow
and any solid choreography....a real disappointment after the
progression she appeared to have made in the 93-94 season.
3. Olga Markova's LP from the 93-94 season. I only saw it once
at the 1994 Goodwill Games, but I remember it being extremely
odd and not in a good or refreshing way. A strange number
with zero appeal. I'm glad she came back and had two solid
programs for the 94-95 season.
4. Chen Lu's professional numbers. She gave us so many
memorable moments as an amateur, I was sort of surprised to
see her not give the professional world her all. Oh well, she is
still one of my all times faves and I wish her the very best!


By the way, Eva Cassidy is wonderful! "Fields of Gold" is featured on her album "Songbird", which is stellar!

BronzeisGolden said:

Irina Slutskaya's LP from the 96-97 season. That music was
so horrendous and didn't fit her at all. She sparkled with the
broadway showtunes in 95-96, but this music had to be one of
the worst choices possible. It was so heavy and repetitive.
Anyone know the name?

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She skated to "Overture(Dance of the Four Muses)" from The Phantom of the Opera On Ice by Roberto Danova.

well, pick a philippe number. I did like his Oly characters, D'artaignan and Godfather- that's it.

Plushy's sex bomb. Ugh, embarassing!
Weiss in is studded leather and no shirt exhibition.
Yagudins current Requiem. Awful choice.
Requiem as done by Pasha Grishuk and partner in 1998. Awful music/costumes/her hair. UGH!
Urmanovs numbers in large part.
Rudy Galindo's Black Swan peice.
Bri Boi's peices at this years Ice Wars.

Worst Ever!!!! Petrenko's nothing number to "who let the dogs out?" in 2002 COI. The doggy hand puppet skated as much as Viktor. Truly nothing but barking.

Thanks, Pairsfan. Wow, I guess I am an uber Weber fan! I love his "Phantom of the Opera" compositions. I just thought this selection was all wrong for Irina, or any skater to be honest. Perhaps it works better in an ice show.

Also, I thought Kwan's FOG was a nice change for her. Sure, it was still a moving, lyrical piece like usual...but it had a different style to it than any exhibition she had done before. I respected that. As for "Fallin", well, that isn't a personal fave. Everything is done beautifully as always, but that one fails to excite me.

skatepixie said:

I liked the ribbon program....the spins were *very* cool looking. Just try dancing around the room with a ribbon...its harder than you think. Then try skating with one....its amazing really...

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Oh, it is not easy, that is why I think Katia's ribbon program was so top notch. BTW, I watched Cohen's ribbon program at COI shortly after Katia skated her program in SOI a few months earlier, there was no comparison. Katia's speed and edges were superb, Cohen was so SLOW. Maybe Cohen had an of night, and she had no speed, no passion, doubled most of her jumps, and almost tripped over the ribbon

Fallin bugged me because her hair just seemed to be distracting her. It was *fallin* (sorry for the pun) in her face, even in her *mouth* at times...sorry....doesnt do a thing for me...

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Ah..skatepixie, Kwan has such BEAUTIFUL hair, thick full of body, I think one of the most amazing part of the fallin program at national was her hair fallin. Since Kwan has a pretty head of hair, she should show off. Most of the time at competitions, she ties it in a bun which is so graceful and elegant, but when she lets it fall, fans are in for a treat. Come to think about it most US lady national medalists in the past few years have beautiful hair except ......
Tara, Kwan, Sarah, Nam, and Kirk have gorgeous hair

thvudragon said:

I don't get the big deal about A&P using MLK's "I have a dream" speech. His family even came out publicly and said that they felt honered that his lyrics were included in their theme of liberty. Also, it's not like the theme of liberty and equality only exists in the US, so please don't say that they don't understand the meaning of the words, because I find that notion simply moronic.

TV

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IMO, the objection arises, because those words have the power to stir up emotions and memories for many people. If it were simply a matter of being reminded of the dream, I don't think many people would object. However, it's not just about the dream. Does anyone hear that without feeling a profound sense of loss? I never have.

Having that emotional response, while watching skaters mug and assume some strange positions seems inappropriate. I felt it to be in poor taste. AP, no doubt, understood the words perfectly. I also believe they were sincerely trying to honor the dream. I just don't think, they fully understood that some people still have scars.

That was a great post, SusanBeth. I think that the reasoning behind choosing such a program was probably too idealistic, but the decision was made with the best intentions. You made a very valid point that MLK's memory still holds too many conflicting and strong emotions for people. I'm not a fan of anyone using such powerful historical material as a performance piece. The events themselves evoke so much passion and emotion, it seems sort of a cop out for skaters to rely on that for crowd reaction.

I think it's hard to do a program based on someone else's history, culture and emotional experiences. European skaters who try the American civil rights movement, or the history of slavery, or the Native American experience, or even just West Side Story are taking a big gamble. Probably the same for North American skaters attempting themes that European skaters feel strongly about, like Schindler's List.

But Irina's Cotton-eyed Joe was cute as the Dickens.

What does "cotton-eyed" mean, anyway?

Mathman

I downloaded Michelle's "Miraculous Mandarin" because I had never seen it. I liked it and thought it had a lot of potential. It was different and interesting. I'm sorry she didn't continue with it. It would be great if she would try it again.

But I didn't care for the "Song of the Black Swan." It is my least favorite of anything Michelle has skated.

I don't care for Michael Weiss's exhibitions and exhibitionism.

I haven't cared for anything Phillipe Candelero has done since "The Three Musketeers."

I'm tired of Oksana's numerous swans, too.

I've seen many, many bad programs, but the absolute worst I have ever seen was Victor Petrenko's "Who Let the Dogs Out" program that he skated at COI during the 2002 Olympic tour. I don't know how many people had the dubious privilege of seeing that, but it was an absolute travesty. As if the music weren't bad enough on its own, Victor's program was even worse. It was so horrible that I've blocked most of it out of my memory, but I do remember that it involved him using a handpuppet of a dog, which he "barked" at himself every time the music said "Woof, woof, woof, woof." He didn't really do very much real skating at all in the program, just a lot of posing around with his stupid puppet. Gah! It was horrible!!

Mathman said:

. Probably the same for North American skaters attempting themes that European skaters feel strongly about, like Schindler's List.

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But, didn't Paul Wylie skate to Schindler's list?
And what about B/A skating to "Sarajevo"? If people felt uncomfortable with L/A skating to something inspired by September 11th, did they feel uncomfortable skating to something inspired by the Balkan wars?

BTW- I loved B/A's version of Sarajevo-MUCH more than that Elvis number they did last year.

lulu said:

But, didn't Paul Wylie skate to Schindler's list?
And what about B/A skating to "Sarajevo"? If people felt uncomfortable with L/A skating to something inspired by September 11th, did they feel uncomfortable skating to something inspired by the Balkan wars?

BTW- I loved B/A's version of Sarajevo-MUCH more than that Elvis number they did last year.

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I love L&A's 9/11 FD. It gives me goosebumps everytime. People don't remember that even though they are Russian they lived close to where it happened and felt very much affected. It was a tribute to all who died and I do not think it wasn't tasteful or that it was offensive either.

Now Sarajevo on the other hand is a disaster, granted it is much better than B&A's horrid Elvis and WSS programs it makes no sense. They had no idea what sarajevo was before they skated the FD and they also have a plane flying around in it which didn't even happen in the Balkan wars... needless to say it wasn't a very good FD.

I was not in awe of Plushnko's Njinsky. In fact, I think it was a mistake.

Joe

I liked A&P's Liberta but didn't like MLK's speech in it. It would have been much better without the words.

Johar said:

Why don't some of you like ["Fields of Gold"]? Just curious and this is not an attack. Our differences make us unique

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"Our differences make us unique"--great reminder Johar. Since I didn't like FOG, I'll answer, though no way would I put it in any "worst program" category. It just didn't float my boat and the reason, perhaps ironically, is the music. This is a lose-lose proposition to answer, which is probably why most haven't said why, because if you say it's Michelle, bad on you for not liking Michelle and if you say it's the music, bad on you for not liking poor sweet Eva Cassidy who died so young. But putting all that aside, I don't like what a character on "Six Feet Under" described as "that Lilith Fair crap." Gabillions of people obviously love it, but my genes just can't handle it. Music like that literally hurts my ears. Nothing against Eva Cassidy, who was obviously a gifted singer; FOG just wasn't the kind of music I like. I didn't much like Sting's version of it either.

I liked a lot of the choreography, especially where Michelle skates acoss the ice as the "waving fields of barley"--great moves--but for me most of it was a tad too precious and mincey.

I know, how can you not be moved by Michelle who herself was moved to tears performing it at the '02 Olympics exhibition? Well, I already felt bad for Michelle who went into two Olympics as the favorite, had one I forget how many National and World titles at that point and yet again lost out to a younger skater who happened to have the skate of her life at the Olympics (first Tara, then Sarah). Plus Michelle fell, she'd gone though the whole leaving Frank storm, she only won the bronze--it was like Michelle's Olympic experiences really were jinxed.

So I felt bad enough for her already. I've almost never been moved by a performer in any medium when they completely let go emotionally. What gets me is a situation of profound emotion and human vulnerability where the feelings come through the movement, music, acting, or whatever, but not through the person. For example, in the movie "The Pianist," when Wladyslaw Szpilman's has been found hiding by a Nazi officer and has to essentially play the piano for his life, the scene is directed so that neither the actor playing Szpilman's nor the actor playing the German officer express any emotion. It all comes out through the music and the situation. If Polanski had directed it to have Szpilman start weeping and the German officer moved to tears, it would have been over the top, untrue, for me. I know Michelle genuinely felt those tears and that millions were deeply moved by that performance, but for me, when I felt it was when Michelle was accepting her bronze medal. She was very gracious as always, smiled and applauded for Irina and Sarah, but you know her heart had to be breaking. It was her restraint during the medal ceremony that moved me. Of course I don't blame her for bursting into tears during her exhibition of FOG after everything she'd been through. For me there's a difference between feeling bad for the person, which I already did, and being moved by the performance. I felt bad for Michelle but I was not moved by FOG at the Olympics nor at other times, although I did like a lot of the choreography.

I hope that answer makes some kind of sense, Johar.

Okay, got my protective gear on in case anybody wants to fire away
Rgirl

KA-BOOM!, R.

But I did like Fallin' better. Happy is better than sad any day.

BTW, that piano-playing scene in The Pianist never happened either in real life or in the book. I thought that the movie mostly threw away the main point of the actual memoires -- the guilt that the protagonist felt afterward because of the two facts that, one, he didn't really care much what happened to the Jews (until the Nazi's came for him) because he was a high class artiste and the Jews who were being picked on at first were working-class nobodies who probably deserved it.

And second, that he never really liked his family (father, mother, two sisters and a brother), to whom he felt superior because of his musical talent. When he was pulled out of the line going off to the cattle cars, because someone recognized him as a famous musician, although the details of the memoire are sketchy here (very full in other parts of the author's remembrances) he seems more relieved at his own rescue than distressed at seeing his parents and brother and sisters taken away.

Needless to say, these feelings destroyed his life (much more that his trials as a fugitive survivor did). In particular he never amounted to much as a pianist after the war.

So I guess I thought about that movie a little of what you felt about Fields of Gold. A little schlocky, missing out on the genuine gut-wrenching that it could have been.

MM