Nagasu: "I want to go back to my roots"

[MasterB]

Huge thanks to Ted. Bad video/audio and all I still appreciate any skating interview.

I freaking love Mirai and wish her the best of luck this season. It seems like she is in a great place with school and skating. She is doing what she loves and how many of us can say that.

Mirai not having a say in her music selection is nothing new among skaters. When I trained I think I was the only fool who bought every record in the store looking for program music. Some choreographers also have a certain vision for particular skaters.

 

[bevybean]

I thought it was Avatar the movie by James Cameron.

Correction: Tom Z wanted "iconic" not epic.

Correction 2: According to Wikipedia, it was David Wilson who did TWTIA

 

[Mathman]

Correction: Tom Z wanted "iconic" not epic.

Thank you for that correction. I was thinking, what does Tom Z want, the Ten Commandments?

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Last year Icenetwork did that series of articles on Marai developing her long program. She said she wanted to skate to music from Avatar, but Tom Z said it wasn't "epic". That's when Jeff suggested the ABBA song that she went with. Not getting her first choice of music seems to be a thing for Marai.

I thought it was Avatar the movie by James Cameron.

Correction: Tom Z wanted "iconic" not epic.

Correction 2: According to Wikipedia, it was David Wilson who did TWTIA

Correction 3: It's Mirai not 'Marai'.

 

[LiamForeman]

I once saw a fluff piece about Kristi Yamaguchi. She was very involved in choosing the cuts for her Don Quixote Olympics program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7-6BF1W_8I

I never understood this piece on Kristi. Tracy says Kristi went with a 'unique' idea of using the same score throughout. HUH????? The Carmens? And also, Kristi used the same cuts that Caryn Kadavy used in the PREVIOUS OLYMPICS!!! I thought Kristi was very bland and vanilla. You knew she'd skate to a warhorse, why even pretend? It's like when Eldredge said he listened to hundreds of classical CDs and decided to go with the (yet another....) bombastic movie soundtrack to whatever it was that year. Independence Day? Gag. Quel surprise, Todd.

As for skaters choosing/not choosing their music or cuts, well it depends on the musicality of the skater. Kerrigan had none and preferred Vera Wang expensive dresses and holding an edge and looking SEXY (gag). Baiul had more musicality in the callous on her pinky toe than Kerrigan ever had. But it does bother me that an 'older' skater like Nagasu is not putting more input in her brand and her image. She's not a dutiful teenager anymore doing what the coach tells her too, or she shouldn't be. It's a bit discouraging, because it's almost like she still has no depth as a person/adult. She's still a 23 y/o child which is sad. Can you even imagine that you're 23, the Olympics is here and it's your last shot, and you just 'let' someone pick your music and cuts??? That doesn't seem like someone capable of getting to the Olympics, emotionally speaking. I'd have had my perfect Oly program in my head YEARS before unless something new came up that inspired me. Mirai hasn't even seen Saigon??? Someone find somewhere it is playing, STAT. There is so much emotion in that production. And yet she blindly just accepts it all. I'm becoming a non-fan. You can only feel sorry for someone until you realize that they aren't doing their job.

 

[brightphoton]

Ashley alluded to the fact that other choreographers don't work that way. And in 2013 TSL interview, Jenny asked Ashley if she was going to wear any more headpieces and showed a years earlier clip. Ashley said no, and added that the clip showed her coach pinning the headpiece onto Ashley's hair. So when she was younger, Ashley pretty much followed what her coach said to do. That's understandable from the point of view of all skaters: they get good enough to be at the elite level by doing what the coach says! It's why years of experience turn them into much more complete skaters who know themselves and can live that out on the ice.

Okay, Mirai isn't a younger skater anymore. She is coy about maybe this is her last season, maybe she'll stop after Pyeongchang, maybe not hmmm.

Mirai doesn't have much longer to show us that she is a complete skater who knows herself ...

Mirai: We talk amongst each other, as competitive skaters. We all agree that --- we're not --- well, we'll hint that it's our last season, we'll give you a little tease. But when I think about going into a season, thinking it's my last one, that's just way too much pressure. Even thinking about it now, I would put more emphasis on every single jump. That's way too much to handle and to think about. When I'm done, I think I'll know when I'm done.

 

[bevybean]

Correction 3: It's Mirai not 'Marai'.

How embarrassing for me...thank you for the correction!

 

[bevybean]

But it does bother me that an 'older' skater like Nagasu is not putting more input in her brand and her image. She's not a dutiful teenager anymore doing what the coach tells her too, or she shouldn't be. It's a bit discouraging, because it's almost like she still has no depth as a person/adult. She's still a 23 y/o child which is sad. Can you even imagine that you're 23, the Olympics is here and it's your last shot, and you just 'let' someone pick your music and cuts??? That doesn't seem like someone capable of getting to the Olympics, emotionally speaking. I'd have had my perfect Oly program in my head YEARS before unless something new came up that inspired me. Mirai hasn't even seen Saigon??? Someone find somewhere it is playing, STAT. There is so much emotion in that production. And yet she blindly just accepts it all. I'm becoming a non-fan. You can only feel sorry for someone until you realize that they aren't doing their job.

I'm not it speaks to her maturity overall, but maybe it peaks to her grit/determination/etc. I know she works hard and is attempting to add the 3A to her programs, which I would think implies she still has those things. BUT the music is really important. When Ashley did her Moulin Rouge piece, I got chills every time it went to the last section "The show must go on" and that had as much or more to do with the music cut. Having the right music, cut the right way enhances whatever artistry the skater already has. Music is a powerful thing. Maybe the 3A is just because Tom Z. told her to? Hard to judge without knowing her in person.

 

[LRK]

I don't know how much Mirai does or doesn't want to do the 3A - but I can't imagine she'd be landing it if it were ONLY Tom Z who wanted it.

This is what Liza had to say about the 3A in a recent interview:

Elizaveta: To keep and to avoid injuries that prevent you from working. So it turns out that life puts some footrests, but these moments must be overcomed. Now, after the break, I restore the technique, then we will work on triple axel. I hope that in the summer we will start doing it, but first I need to get in shape. If I’m not in shape, then there is fear, because of which it is impossible to do this jump. This is the crux of the problem.

Why does the fear arise, you have already done this jump before, and skated clean programs with axel?


Elizaveta: As I said, everything depends on the physical shape. In childhood, I also jumped triple axel and tried a quad toe loop. But then you grow, change, you need to adapt to the new body. It is not easy. I tried the axel after the break, being an adult, in a conscious state, and this is completely different thinking. You see, I began to try this jump, as if I have never done it before. So everything started from the beginning. Yes, this is a difficult jump. Adult athletes have more fears. Such a jump should be tried when you are in good shape, tonus, when you feel that you can, when you have a desire. Then, go and try. And if you don’t feel confident with triples, then do not risk.

http://fs-gossips.com/elizaveta-tuktamysheva-and-andrei-lazukin-sport-is-an-overcoming/

Obviously Liza and Mirai are two different people, but still I doubt Mirai could land the jump if she had no desire of her own to do so.

 

[Mathman]

I never understood this piece on Kristi. Tracy says Kristi went with a 'unique' idea of using the same score throughout. HUH?????

The idea wasn't "unique," but still the generic program at that time at least had a slow section in the middle that was shoe-horned in from other sources. I remember reading about how Frank Carrol and Lori Nicole had to search for just the right 8 bars somewhere to fit into their conception of Michelle Kwan's Taj Mahal program.

I always thought that for my Olympic music I would find a classical piece that was already exactly four and a half minutes long, so it would not require any cutting or editing at all. :yes:

It's like when Eldredge said he listened to hundreds of classical CDs and decided to go with the (yet another....) bombastic movie soundtrack to whatever it was that year.

I can personally attest that Todd did listen to hundreds of CDs. I would see him once in a while pouring over the offerings at the Birmingham (Michigan) Border's Bookstore. :yes: As for the bombastic scores that he liked, if it's not broke don't fix it. Audiences would have been disappointed if they didn't get their Todd Eldredge fix when they went to the ice show.

Although he did skate to Who Let the Dogs Out once.

For me, I would be comfortable with Todd skating to anything, as long as he wore a cowled shirt. :yes:

As for skaters choosing/not choosing their music or cuts, well it depends on the musicality of the skater.

For me, if I am paying a coach and a choreographer five thousand dollars apiece, I would try to listen to their advice. It's sort of like an accused person who tries to be his own lawyer. Michelle Kwan is a good example. As a teenager, she strictly put herself in the hands of her coach and especially, in terms of music choices, her choreographer. It worked well, and we have early and middle Michelle programs to a lot of interesting music that I had never heard of before.

After Michelle parted ways with Frank and Lori to "take control of my own skating," her musical choices were more standard fare. (She was still Michelle, though.)

Sandra Bezic said of Tara Lipinski's Olympic music, that she (Bezic) tried hard to make Tara skate to something less juvenile. But Tara was adamant about what she liked, and eventually Bezik decided that it was more important that Tara skate to her own musical choice than to force her to attempt something more mature. It worked out well for Tara.

As for Mirai, I don't think that she is an expert musicologist. As long as she rotates her jumps, she will be fine to any music. Go Mirai!

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

It's frustrating because her whole team seems to be in denial about what will make her a top competitor. Every 3A she does in practice is a 3-3 or another triple she isn't practicing. All she needs to do is rotate the jumps in the LP that she can already do. After every SP at Nationals, she is either in position to earn a Worlds spot or within 3-4 points of it. Almost every time she gives that spot away skating a nervy LP.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

The idea wasn't "unique," but still the generic program at that time at least had a slow section in the middle that was shoe-horned in from other sources. I remember reading about how Frank Carrol and Lori Nicole had to search for just the right 8 bars somewhere to fit into their conception of Michelle Kwan's Taj Mahal program.

I always thought that for my Olympic music I would find a classical piece that was already exactly four and a half minutes long, so it would not require any cutting or editing at all. :yes:



I can personally attest that Todd did listen to hundreds of CDs. I would see him once in a while pouring over the offerings at the Birmingham (Michigan) Border's Bookstore. :yes: As for the bombastic scores that he liked, if it's not broke don't fix it. Audiences would have been disappointed if they didn't get their Todd Eldredge fix when they went to the ice show.

Although he did skate to Who Let the Dogs Out once.

For me, I would be comfortable with Todd skating to anything, as long as he wore a cowled shirt. :yes:



For me, if I am paying a coach and a choreographer five thousand dollars apiece, I would try to listen to their advice. It's sort of like an accused person who tries to be his own lawyer. Michelle Kwan is a good example. As a teenager, she strictly put herself in the hands of her coach and especially, in terms of music choices, her choreographer. It worked well, and we have early and middle Michelle programs to a lot of interesting music that I had never heard of before.

After Michelle parted ways with Frank and Lori to "take control of my own skating," her musical choices were more standard fare. (She was still Michelle, though.)

Sandra Bezic said of Tara Lipinski's Olympic music, that she (Bezic) tried hard to make Tara skate to something less juvenile. But Tara was adamant about what she liked, and eventually Bezik decided that it was more important that Tara skate to her own musical choice than to force her to attempt something more mature. It worked out well for Tara.

As for Mirai, I don't think that she is an expert musicologist. As long as she rotates her jumps, she will be fine to any music. Go Mirai!

Most are even more than that (the part that I bolded). Not to mention that some choreographers (Lori Nichol for one example) charge different prices for the SP and LP's respectively.:yes:

 

[noidont]

Mirai doesn't seem to be very musical. So are most American ladies. Mirai in my opinion is better with show tunes. I liked her Gatsby program. Miss Saigon is boring but I can understand the "safety first" approach in OG season. You don't want to cry after a bad skate to upbeat music.

 

[shmay]

I was able to watch the interview until homeboy said something to the effect of 'Mirai, you're such an artist...'

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I would have loved to have seen Mirai take on this Asian female centric [off]-Broadway musical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYm5Gs3TCtY

 

[Weathergal]

Thanks for the interview!

A few thoughts:
I didn't think the sound quality was stellar, but it wasn't that bad (perhaps I got lucky, and it just happened to work well with my computer speakers...?).

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I think Ted Flett is an excellent interviewer. You can tell he's a fan, but he doesn't just "lob softballs;" he also asks more difficult questions. And he can do so without attacking a skater. He had such a nice connection with Mirai in that interview. And he's quite charming!

Speaking of charming, I've seen smaller interviews with Mirai before, but I never realized just how charming she is! She's also very mature and much more poised than I realized.

I happened to have read the thread up to this point before watching the interview so I was wondering how I'd react to some of her comments, based on what some posters said earlier.

I didn't get the feeling AT ALL that Mirai is being railroaded for her program music, music cuts, choreography, etc. It sounded more like Jeff Buttle pushed her for her SP music last season--she's also of course using it this season--but I think that he did so because he believed in her ability to do the program and that it would be a great vehicle for her. And I think it was initially a bit out of her comfort zone. I'm glad to hear that she grew to like it, and I really enjoyed it. I think it's an excellent program for her, and I don't mind that she's keeping it.

I felt like that for her LP this year is that she trusts Jeff--and maybe even more so after the success of the SP--and that she wants him to work his magic. I think she's comfortable with this, and that it is her decision to take a more hands-off approach in the process. I have to admit, I love music so much and have such a connection to it (plus I might be a little bit of a control freak LOL) so that approach wouldn't work for me. But I think I understand where she's coming from, and I respect that.

And ironically enough I don't think that's all that different from Evgenia, who has said more than once that she leaves the music/choreography to Eteri and her team. Eteri has expressed in interviews how much Evgenia trusts her, even for things like costume design. One of the reasons Evgenia doesn't grab me as much is because what she puts on the ice doesn't feel like it's coming from her, but I certainly respect that her team is quite good at packaging her and can't blame her for taking that approach at this point in her career. (I do hope in the future that we'll see a bit more of her in competition, maybe not full-blown "Sailor Moon" but...)

Back to Mirai, even with her letting the experts take the reins for her choreography, music cuts, etc., I think what she puts on the ice is more of a reflection of her. I think part of the difference between the two and my different vibe from each is Mirai's age and maturity coming through more for me.

What Evgenia does much better though is showing emotions. (Sorry didn't mean to get too far OT and turn this into an Evgenia/Mirai comparison, especially since, as Mirai pointed out, their Chopin programs will most likely be very different anyway so it's probably not a huge deal.) Many have said this is one of Mirai's biggest stumbling blocks, and I would agree. She talked in the interview about being bombarded with a lot of thoughts sometimes during competition. I've often wondered if her "stone face" is either from nerves or perhaps just from trying so hard to focus and block out extraneous thoughts. Either way, I hope she can show a bit more of the clearly lovely personality she has on the ice.

Enjoyed the interview and would love to see her do really well this season--and get an Olympic berth!

 

[Mathman]

It's frustrating because her whole team seems to be in denial about what will make her a top competitor. Every 3A she does in practice is a 3-3 or another triple she isn't practicing. All she needs to do is rotate the jumps in the LP that she can already do. After every SP at Nationals, she is either in position to earn a Worlds spot or within 3-4 points of it. Almost every time she gives that spot away skating a nervy LP.

I have to agree with this.I hate to be a downer, but the probability of Miri landing a triple Axel and at the same time holding strong on the rest of the program is slim.

She has a decent shot of making the Olympic team. Gracie may not come back in top form, Ashley is not unbeatable, Karen Chen can be hot or cold. There are some younger (than Mirai) skaters, lead by Mariah Bell, who will challenge, but it wouldn't be out of the question for Mirai to take the national championship with a solid, clean skate. Has anyone ever repeated as U.S. champion ten years after their first victory?

 

[Mathman]

I would have loved to have seen Mirai take on this Asian female centric [off]-Broadway musical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYm5Gs3TCtY

Mirai as Imelda Marcos!

Why not? There have been a lot of Evita Perons. Here's the wonderful and somewhat unappreciated Fumie Siguri's take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms9g1pGauuA

 

[samson]

Well for my two cents into it...

I'm not a skater but I am a choreographer and a director and I find that my relationship with every actor and dancer I work with is different. Some thrive on having creative input and want to feel a part of the creation every step of the way. Others would much prefer I tell them exactly what to do and how to do it. Sure I have my own preference for how I like to work and I certainly seek out artists that jibe with my style (I like to think of finding collaborators like dating. Who do I want to build an intimate relationship over the course of weeks and sometimes months for hours at a time hahah) but I have found that good work is good work.

Also... none of us are in the rink when the programs are made. We've gotten Mirai's perspective on it, and it's fair to expect that to be true, but who knows what Jeff's take on it is.

In also seems like Mirai has really learned to trust Jeff and his vision and that can speak miles for a collaborative partnership regardless of who shares how much of the workload. For a young adult like Mirai who's been the hell and back again with this sport to find an artist she trusts working with is a beautiful thing.

So she's not skating to her first choice. So what? She was telling the story of how she landed on Miss Saigon and from her demeanor and the way she tells it I think we can venture to say she's moved on. In her words "Sun and Moon is me" so that's good enough an endorsement for me.

Every season Mirai keeps skating is a season I'm excited for. Sure, do I want her to have a moment like Vancouver, or her short program in Boston Worlds every time she skates. OF COURSE! But I love hearing her say she want to go back to her ballet roots. In my opinion she's one of the few skaters in the world where you really see the ballet in her skating. It's in her posture, her arms positions, that elan she when she hits an ina bauer.

I'm so excited that in a week we might be able to catch a glimpse of it!!!

 

[bevybean]

I guess my perspective is that if you are going to listen to this music everyday and need to rise to the artistic challenge, you need to at least like it. Most artists would anyway. Mirai says "Sun and Moon is me", but then it seems uncertain if that music will even be used??? My daughter, at 11, likes to pick her music and then we do totally trust her coach to do the editing. However, my daughter picks a song, not a whole musical and let the coach pick from all of those songs.

As I said though, it's hard to judge a person if you don't know them personally --even if you have watch every interview, program, etc. it's not the whole picture.