How much do you think a skater needs to keep to the source their music comes from? Obviously this only applies if the source is a movie, musical, ballet or opera. Does the skater’s interpretation need to mirror the story of the overall piece or even just the moment the music comes from?
Taking some thoughts from other threads:
[*]
Taking some thoughts from other threads:
[*]
- Does the skater need to portray a specific character? Or is it enough to just go with the emotion (e.g. it’s a sad song, so express sadness)? I think it is okay to portray a character or tell a story, but I don’t think the skater should feel obligated to do so. I also think this can be accomplished without pantomime or “acting out” the story.
- If the skater is not choosing to stick closely to the source material, does he/she/they need to know what the source material is? For example, skating to La La Land even though he/she/they have never seen the movie.
- Some people in another thread voiced disapproval of using Miss Saigon because of how it portrays Asian women. I’ve never seen that show, but my impression was always that it was not an attempt to PROMOTE that behavior, but rather to call attention to how horrible that is. Similarly, South Pacific was mentioned due to the heroine’s initial reaction to the hero having children of mixed race. I think the point is for her to react the way most or many people at the time would have and the audience follows her “journey” to realizing how wrong that initial reaction was. I have no problem with someone using music from a show like this, but a specific song taken out of context of the overall piece might seem to support a different idea. Would/should the skater stay true to that moment in the show, or to the idea/emotions of the whole story? Another example might be Hamilton. The King of England has a couple songs that are snarky and fun, but a skater portraying that character could be construed as unpatriotic or anti-American or something despite the show itself being the opposite. (Not a great example, but the only one I could think of).
- Does a skater needs to adhere to racial/gender? Examples: a man skating to Carmen. Or a non-Asian skating to Miss Saigon.