Michelle skating to Bolero - good or bad choice?

[hockeyfan228]

OK, forget what I wrote above. I just watched my tape of The Feeling Begins. It would be like that, right?

MM

Except that The Feeling Begins is a short program, and the LP is 1.5 minutes longer.

[Lucy25]

I find it fascinating that Michelle choose this music. It would be tricky and is someone else's signature piece. I have to trust she knows what she is doing here. She is no dummy. I am sure she knows how people are going to react when they hear her choice. And if it turns out that Christopher Dean did indeed help her with this, it becomes even more fascinating!

[show 42]

How reliable is this source? I don't find any mention to it at MKF........they always seem to be on top of things. 42

[VIETgrlTerifa]

How reliable is this source? I don't find any mention to it at MKF........they always seem to be on top of things. 42

Check out the spoilers section.

[show 42]

Thanks Vietgrl..........didn't think to check there...... :o 42

[Lotta]

"Bolero" is really boring music. Therefore, if Michelle skated to it, it will be boring and that would make me sad. :(

[R.D.]

I didn't know whether or not to make a new thread about this or not (there are enough MK threads all over the place ), but apparently Brenda had a slip over at the USFS board and the Lion King rumour has been "confirmed" false:

http://board.usfigureskating.org/def...ead=6007&fid=3

So much for that. Whether she really is skating to Bolero or not, we'll just have to see. Personally, Bolero is one of the few classical pieces that I like, but I really can't imagine seeing anyone (yes, even MK) skate to music like that and see myself really enjoying it.

[jesslily]

I feel Bolero is very depressing. Hope Michelle find a delightful piece.

[Joesitz]

Mathman - Bolero, for me, does nothing except when dancing or skating to it as an ensemble. Although I have never seen the Fokine ballet (not sure if it was Fokine) I am sure that Ida Rubenstein, who was limited in her technique, did not do much more than a few bars of the music and rest was done by the corps de ballet.

I agree with Ravel, it is music he disliked the most of his compositions. Not unlike Tschaikowsky who hated his ballet music. No composer wants to be told to write for dancers so they can do 8 beats of this and 8 beats of that.

Hopefully the rumor of Bolero is wrong. I can't see Arutunian approving that music after seeing his star pupil Sasha Abt go down the tubes with it.

Joe

[thisthingcalledlove]

I want her to skate to 1492- Conquest of Paradise

[show 42]

I have seen skaters take a really nice piece of music and do "nothing" with it. Perhaps Michelle will take an old, worn piece of music and skate a brilliant program!!! 42

[Joesitz]

I have seen skaters take a really nice piece of music and do "nothing" with it. Perhaps Michelle will take an old, worn piece of music and skate a brilliant program!!! 42

I'll buy that, Show.

Joe

[rain]

I think, if true, this would be a horrible choice of music for Kwan. It doesn't have enough ups and downs for her to skate to well. She is a skater who is very tied to her music - a good thing, IMO - so a really bad piece of music can sink her. Not that Bolero is bad per se, just not right for Kwan - or any singles skater really. It's too blah. Also, using someone's else's signature? Gotta be careful on that one.

[SkateFan4Life]

there are rumors rampant around the net Michelle is skating to Bolero. I just dont think this is a good choice - this music is so cliche in the skating world. Michelle needs to drop Bolero ASAP and go back to skating to unused, original, and beautiful selections of music@@!@!!!!

Michelle Kwan skating to "Bolero"? Heaven forbid. IMHO, nobody under the sun will ever deliver an interpretion of "Bolero" as magical and perfect as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. They took that piece of music and crafted a masterpiece of a long program for the 1984 competitive season - one that was rewarded with a raft of well-deserved 6.0s.

I certainly hope that Michelle Kwan has a sense of the history of figure skating and respects that some music is best left alone. You simply cannot top perfection, plain and simple.

There is so much wonderful music out there, and so much of is has NOT been skated to, ad naseum, by numerous skaters.

[Mathman]

I'm still listening. Now that Joe has put into my head the idea that this music is for all the dancers to come out one by one for their bows, I can't seem to rid myself of that interpretation. Yes, the music starts soft and gets louder, but does it really "build" to anything, besides loudness? If Michelle can make something of it, like Show42 says, my hat is off to her.

Still, I can imagine it happening in my mind's eye. What Michelle has to do is use the music as a backdrop and then give a performance that devours and overwhelms our senses. She has to look good, feel good, smell good, taste good. She has to go out there with the attitude, let the others hop, skip and jump as much as they please, this audience belongs to me.

Mathman