Evgenia Medvedeva | Page 546 | Golden Skate

Evgenia Medvedeva

Mrs. P said:
So can I toss something at you guys?

What did you guys think of her Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close program from the 2016-2017 season? I had a really hard time with it because I am American and the step sequence with all the voiceovers brought back bad memories of Sept. 11 (I was in college and had to write about how it affected students on campus). I know it was an Averbukh-driven program, but it was hard to watch especially after her exquisite W.E. free skate, which remains one of my favorites from her.

Honestly, the storyline worked and the music was beautiful and I feel like she could have pulled off the story without the voiceovers (though I'm not sure what you would put there instead). I also think that the step sequence was a bit of a crutch from her truly being able to interpret the music the piece.

I'm kind of glad to hear her say that in hindsight she didn't really love it. Anyway, I tried to be open-minded and am curious about other fans opinions. I'll add that I actually had shown the Russian Test Skates/Japan Open version to a few non-skating friends and I got a range of reactions. Some did feel like it was too soon/poor taste, but others had some good opinions that they felt the bigger problem was interpretation of the pain.
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In my honest opinion I think this free skate is outstanding. The music and storytelling is incredible. From the very first sound it draws the audience in and refuses to let go. The way it builds up, changing rapidly around 1/3rd of the way through, transforming into drama with a haunting sadness, yet somehow ending with hope. Every move she makes is mesmeric and in sync with the music. I totally understand if some people aren’t happy with the sound effects, it’s a very sensitive and serious subject matter. To me I feel it adds an extra level of storytelling and drama to the performance. The way she skates through the chaotic sounds works well. Her acting and expressions add weight and substance to the performance. Her outfit is understated and isn’t over the top, which I think fits the performance well.

The fact that she had the guts to perform a program with a difficult theme, which she does so with respect and integrity speaks volumes, and it paid off with another dominant season and multiple WR’s.

All of her free skates are fantastic and choosing a favourite can be very difficult. Though if I had to choose, then my favourite free skate performance of hers might actually be this one.
 
scotsworth said:
Zhenya herself said in a recent interview she didn't really like the program at first, but that it grew on her and she appreciated how much success she had with it.

To me, it really skated (no pun intended) close to a line of artistic versus tacky.... too close for comfort. I think the problem in figure skating is Zhenya was competing under the banner of Russia with a program heavily featuring a national tragedy from another country (not her own). That's why the American ladies in particular (Ashley Wagner I think specifically) really didn't like it. And I can understand that.

Plus, the fact that the main people behind the program were like "it's not about 9/11" actually made it a bit worse for me... because it seems careless to take audio directly from such a huge event and then claim that the message of the program isn't about it. Starts to feel exploitive in a way... like you're using the tragedy for the emotional weight it gives the performance but then saying "yeah but it's not about that"

It was beautiful, and clearly a fantastic program, but not one I think Zhenya would have chosen herself had she had full control. Personally, I'm happy it's in the past.
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Exactly. If they had said that it was a tribute to both 9/11 AND uncertainty in our world, then I wouldn't have batted an eye. But the fact that they went and specifically used 9/11 sound effects, only to dismiss the event itself was in very poor taste. imo. But, it's over with now. I'm glad Evgenia finally has more control now. :laugh:
 
tha said:
I don't know if this was posted but Evgenia's live with subtitles! :biggrin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-GHTlDZeE
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Thank you! OMG, Evgenia is SO wicked funny and in that dry humor/sarcastic way too. Haha, Jason's all nice and like "She's so sweet and wonderful." and she's like "This American can't drink kvass, how does he live?!" and "He cuts watermelon like a victim. His victim."

This completely ups my full-support for this friendship. The contrast is comedy gold! :laugh:
 
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Mrs. P said:
Thank you! OMG, Evgenia is SO wicked funny and in that dry humor/sarcastic way too. Haha, Jason's all nice and like "She's so sweet and wonderful." and she's like "This American can't drink kvass, how does he live?!" and "He cuts watermelon like a victim. His victim."

This completely ups my full-support for this friendship. The contrast is comedy gold! :laugh:
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Yes I watched it too, thanks to the people who subbed this. She has a wickedly dry sense of humour so she'll fit right in here :P Jason seems like the sweetest guy and I'm happy that they've become fast friends.
 
LucyH said:
Yes I watched it too, thanks to the people who subbed this. She has a wickedly dry sense of humour so she'll fit right in here :P Jason seems like the sweetest guy and I'm happy that they've become fast friends.
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Me too obviously. Beneath the jokes and teasing, it's obvious she is glad to have this friendship. It's heartening to see her be happy when she's like "We're just hanging out drinking kvass (which he doesn't like!), eating watermelon and watching soccer."

BUT, I feel this. :laugh:

AND OH MY, this!
 
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Mrs. P said:
Thank you! OMG, Evgenia is SO wicked funny and in that dry humor/sarcastic way too. Haha, Jason's all nice and like "She's so sweet and wonderful." and she's like "This American can't drink kvass, how does he live?!" and "He cuts watermelon like a victim. His victim."

This completely ups my full-support for this friendship. The contrast is comedy gold! :laugh:
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I completely agree! The contrast is completely hilarious! Also the contrast between her angelic face and her sarcasm cracks me up!
 
LucyH said:
She has a wickedly dry sense of humour so she'll fit right in here
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I'm kind of surpise (perhaps it's cuz my english is bad), but this words have negative connotations, no? It's strange for me, because Zhenya, as always, is nice here.
Maybe, it's because of the different (perhaps) intonations in our languages? For example, after Jason dropped the glass,
Zhenya's mom said: "He is dropping everyting"
Zhenya said: "it's all good, now he is gonna wipe everything, he is a houseman"
- with kind and cheering intonation (and Zhenya use endearment diminutive, and for me "houseman" it's wrong translation for "хозяюшка" - house-proud? good contriver?)
But if I turned off the sound and only read sub (and did not know these people) these words might seem to me sarcastic.

Or, maybe you just use slang, and it's all about my poor knowledge of the language :)
 
Orlov said:
I'm kind of surpise (perhaps it's cuz my english is bad), but this words have negative connotations, no? It's strange for me, because Zhenya, as always, is nice here.
Maybe, it's because of the different (perhaps) intonations in our languages? For example, after Jason dropped the glass,
Zhenya's mom said: "He is dropping everyting"
Zhenya said: "it's all good, now he is gonna wipe everything, he is a houseman"
- with kind and cheering intonation (and Zhenya use endearment diminutive, and for me "houseman" it's wrong translation for "хозяюшка" - house-proud? good contriver?)
But if I turned off the sound and only read sub (and did not know these people) these words might seem to me sarcastic.

Or, maybe you just use slang, and it's all about my poor knowledge of the language :)
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In this case it just means that she is quite witty—no one here is insulting her and if anything it is a compliment and just a statement on her sense of humour similar to when she teases Alex in the Shibs video whilst just shows she has quite a sharp sense of humour. However you can see from both of them that they are having fun and there’s no hard feelings and she doesn’t sound in a bad mood but instead like she’s just mucking around with Jason. I do love these two together tho and I’m so glad that Zhenya has Jason to help support her because with some of the stuff that she has said in interviews in sounds as tho she was if not depressed at least very sad since her injury and even after the Olympics whilst now she seems very happy.
 
Orlov said:
I'm kind of surpise (perhaps it's cuz my english is bad), but this words have negative connotations, no? It's strange for me, because Zhenya, as always, is nice here.
Maybe, it's because of the different (perhaps) intonations in our languages? For example, after Jason dropped the glass,
Zhenya's mom said: "He is dropping everyting"
Zhenya said: "it's all good, now he is gonna wipe everything, he is a houseman"
- with kind and cheering intonation (and Zhenya use endearment diminutive, and for me "houseman" it's wrong translation for "хозяюшка" - house-proud? good contriver?)
But if I turned off the sound and only read sub (and did not know these people) these words might seem to me sarcastic.

Or, maybe you just use slang, and it's all about my poor knowledge of the language :)
Click to expand...

You aren‘t necessarily a bad person just because you‘re very sarcastic. Zhenya‘s instantly liked by almost everyone she meets because she‘s nice, polite and fun to be around. And that‘s partly because she has this charming and teasing way of using sarcasm that you know she‘s making a remark at you but never in a bad way. Jason doesn‘t strike me as a very sarcastic person yet he and Evgenia get along perfectly well because he understands and she makes it clear that there are no hard feelings, they‘re just teasing like friends normally do. In this case it was meant that she‘s witty, intelligent and has a sharp sense of humor which we‘ve already seen quite often. :)
 
SkySkater said:
In this case it just means that she is quite witty—no one here is insulting her and if anything it is a compliment and just a statement on her sense of humour similar to when she teases Alex in the Shibs video whilst just shows she has quite a sharp sense of humour.
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Okey. Just Google translating "wickedly sense of humor" so, sooo not good, that i'm kind of shocked. And this words about "sarcastic"... Zhenya never was sarcastic in this video (at least what we call this word in Russia). Maybe it's all about language barrier.
 
Orlov said:
Okey. Just Google translating "wickedly sense of humor" so, sooo not good, that i'm kind of shocked. And this words about "sarcastic"... Zhenya never was sarcastic in this video (at least what we call this word in Russia). Maybe it's all about language barrier.
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It's all about language barrier, i thing.
 
It’s OK Orlov, if anything TCC people will appreciate her even more because based on LucyH’s post her humor is similar to Canadians’

It’s a very good thing.
 
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