- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
I don't find that to be a particularly common pattern regarding tragedy in particular. I mean, I do find that most junior music selections are chosen to teach the athletes how to develop different strengths as performers.
But I think there is a lot more to the tragic performance tradition as a whole. There was quite a good post about the significance of portraying tragedy in Russian culture a couple years ago. Of responding to real-life tragedy via performance. As a form of tribute. I think the post might have been on FSU rather than here or I would try to search for it and try to link it. But it was a very thoughtful post and really easy to see why tragedy is such a significant part of Russian cultural tradition.
And, I would hazard a guess, also a large part of the reason it is such a significant part of skating tradition as well. Though the tragic storytelling tradition is certainly a huge part of many other cultures, as anyone who has been compelled to sit through a Greek Drama or 19th Century Spanish literature class can attest.
The reality is: figure skating is not very attuned to African American cultural tradition and the themes of that song are far beyond the scope of acceptable music for competitive performance in the sport, especially in this case where no African American skater nor choreographer is involved. None of the cultures you referenced nor the sport can retroactively change what the history or tradition of that song is. The medium is just improper on every ground.