Knock knock, Neo

[pollyls]

I was thrilled to see Brian Joubert come to life at Worlds by returning to his Matrix program. It transformed his skating, and it was as though this past season of mistakes and disappointment had never happened.

But we know he can't just accept being "the One" and skate as Neo forever. Are there any other music or characters you think would suit Brian? The Lord of the Dance, and Christopher Columbus, didn't seem to bring out in him what Neo did. Any thoughts?

James Bond, I thought, worked pretty well for him in his short program.

 

[diver chick]

James Bond worked really well for him in the short - he suited the character. I loved his exhibition program too and thought that really suited him.

I know there are people who think he is a carbon copy of Yagudin, but I don't agree although I do agree that they have the same masculine style of skating, much the same as Stokjo. For me in the exhibition Brian skated more like Brian and I really could see him as a skater in his own right, although with the similarities to Yagudin, but for me that's ok. I would love to see him skate more like he did in the gala.

IMO he needs some sort of off-ice movement training and it doesn't have to be dance, it can be anything like a martial art or fencing, just to try and loosen his skating up a bit and allow him to be a good interpretive skater without losing that masculine edge he seems to cling so tightly too.

 

[antmanb]

James Bond worked really well for him in the short - he suited the character. I loved his exhibition program too and thought that really suited him.

I know there are people who think he is a carbon copy of Yagudin, but I don't agree although I do agree that they have the same masculine style of skating, much the same as Stokjo. For me in the exhibition Brian skated more like Brian and I really could see him as a skater in his own right, although with the similarities to Yagudin, but for me that's ok. I would love to see him skate more like he did in the gala.

IMO he needs some sort of off-ice movement training and it doesn't have to be dance, it can be anything like a martial art or fencing, just to try and loosen his skating up a bit and allow him to be a good interpretive skater without losing that masculine edge he seems to cling so tightly too.

Blasphemy! Blasphemy! You can't put Stojko and Yagudin in the same sentence unless its a direct contrast!!! I've said in another thread that i think the beauty of Yags was that he wasn't scared to sacrifice some "masculinity" for beautiful choreography. I'd compare Yags and Lambiel more, in that they create beautiful lines and shapes with their body in a way that's not "masculine" but without losing any of their "masculinity"...does that make sense? At times they will compromise that masculinity for beauty but you never think - they're skating feminine like i might think about e.g. Weir or Sandhu*. I think Stojko actively made himself look ugly at times just to remind the audience that he was butch and straight. I feel the same about Joubert - i really like his skating but he seems so hung up on making sure the audience know he's butch and straight that he ends up doing some really ugly things and doesn't really let go in a performance.

I appreciate it was all in keeping with the music but the "fight" bit of the James Bond SP makes me laugh every time - but he does it well including the mimicking being punched in the face.

Ant

* Just to footnote that unlike many people, saying they skate feminine is an observation not a judgment. I like both styles of skating and of the 5 skaters i mentioned my order of favourites is:

1. Yags
2. Sandhu
3. Weir
4. Lambiel
5. Stojko

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Figure Skaters' Styles would make a good thread.

Gladiator (aka Cossak, Warrior, Sparticus, Hero styles)

ShowBiz (aka Movie and Broadway themes; Toreador, Swans and other birds; Victim styles)

Lyrical (aka Plotless, One With the Music styles)

the question is: Should we give these styles a particular gender?

Joe

 

[Mathman]

I appreciate it was all in keeping with the music but the "fight" bit of the James Bond SP makes me laugh every time - but he does it well including the mimicking being punched in the face.

Thank you for saying that, LOL. Then he pulls out his six-shooter and plugs a couple of villains, LOL.

IMHO it is better just to skate to the character of the music, rather than to act out a character. I never cared much for Yagudin driving a race car either (although that program -- especially the pro version -- was great anyway.)

 

[pollyls]

IMO he needs some sort of off-ice movement training and it doesn't have to be dance, it can be anything like a martial art or fencing, just to try and loosen his skating up a bit and allow him to be a good interpretive skater without losing that masculine edge he seems to cling so tightly to.

Brian doing martial arts moves would be really interesting. I think you're right about such a discipline giving him more options. I hope no commentators would start whining about him imitating Elvis Stojko or Chengjiang Li, though!

 

[antmanb]

Thank you for saying that, LOL. Then he pulls out his six-shooter and plugs a couple of villains, LOL.

IMHO it is better just to skate to the character of the music, rather than to act out a character. I never cared much for Yagudin driving a race car either (although that program -- especially the pro version -- was great anyway.)

Yeah to be fair i do have Yagudin rose tinted spectacles but some of his programs (dare i say ...all of his programs...maybe not all!) had at least one cringe worthy moment in them - i've said before the toe picky picky bit in winter took me a long time to get over. The great SP (i'm not good with names of music) where he wore an all in one costume with a sprakly treble clef on it had some air instrument actions going on...i fear both the violin and piano. Now nothing screams bad choreography like air instruments...(anyone doing air guitar in a skating routine should immediately be slapped)! Joannie nearly got away with her air paino this year, so perhaps instead of a slap a good stern talking to?!

Ant

 

[attyfan]

Yeah to be fair i do have Yagudin rose tinted spectacles but some of his programs (dare i say ...all of his programs...maybe not all!) had at least one cringe worthy moment in them - i've said before the toe picky picky bit in winter took me a long time to get over. The great SP (i'm not good with names of music) where he wore an all in one costume with a sprakly treble clef on it had some air instrument actions going on...i fear both the violin and piano. Now nothing screams bad choreography like air instruments...(anyone doing air guitar in a skating routine should immediately be slapped)! Joannie nearly got away with her air paino this year, so perhaps instead of a slap a good stern talking to?!

Ant

I think the Yagudin SP you are thinking of is "Nutrocker" -- a jazzed up version of "Nutcracker". Seriously, I think that Brian might do well with the real music from "1492 -- Conquest of Paradise", instead of the techno-monstrosity of a couple of years ago. Look at what both Elvis and Todd (who I do not think of as sharing the same skating style) were able to do with it.

 

[antmanb]

I think the Yagudin SP you are thinking of is "Nutrocker" -- a jazzed up version of "Nutcracker". Seriously, I think that Brian might do well with the real music from "1492 -- Conquest of Paradise", instead of the techno-monstrosity of a couple of years ago. Look at what both Elvis and Todd (who I do not think of as sharing the same skating style) were able to do with it.

Actually i totally agree with you - that's one of my favourite Elvis LPs of all time. I must confess to not finding Todd's skating very intersting...i think partly that was because i was so ignorant of skating technique and presentation at that time that if i went back and looked at his programs now i might love them but i don't know for sure.

As for suggestions for Joubert - movie soundtracks sound like the best bet for him but i still can't think of a character he could portray. Just for giggles maybe he could portray a gay cowboy and skate to music from broke back mountain!!!!!



Ant <who's had too way too much coffee now and needs to calm down!>

 

[diver chick]

You are right that Yagudin and Stojko can't really be compared in terms of artistry as IMO Yags was much better (Yags is one of my fave skaters of all time) but the point I was trying to make is Joubert, much like Yagudin, Stokjo and maybe Candeloro and Plushenko has a distinct style of skating that I can only describe as masculine. At the moment Joubert is more like Stokjo in that his lines and artistry seems to suffer at the hands of the technical aspects so that when the technical doesn't work there is very little left in the program, where what he needs is to be more like the others who had so much more to there programs. I have heard rumours, and they are only rumours so not sure if there is any truth to it, that Brian is reluctant to work on the artistic side and does not want to do anything like dance-training to help his skating because it is 'girly', but he needs to loosen up and open up IMO which is why I suggested martial arts/fencing as a possible way to go.

All that said I can't really think of anything he could do, Lord of the Rings had potential to be a good program and maybe he should have spent some time with Irish male dancers to develop it a bit more. Soundtracks are good but will lead to that inevitable comparison with Yagudin that he wants to be rid of so he would need to pick something other than the warrior type character and maybe move to something different.