Lovers of Ballet: Happy or unhappy when ballet music is used in figure skating?

[morninglight]

Lovers of Ballet: Happy or unhappy when ballet music is used in figure skating?

As a ballet lover, do you like to watch figure skating performances skated to ballet music?

If yes, which skater's program(s) do you like the best?

If no, why?

 

[gio]

If it suits the skater, yes!
Generally I like every kind of music used in FS. I don't like when a certain kind of music is overused, as it is happening now in eligible FS. I'd like more variety.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Only if the skater does something personal with it. Some ballet music screams out for a Pairs number; others make me think of group numbers. It's up to the skaters to prevent me from thinking of those things.

 

[morninglight]

My favorites

I loved Oksana's short program at the Olympics. It was a masterpiece.

I also love Yukina Ota's performance (Swan Lake), (Yes, she's back!) Her moves are very delicate. She has the class of her own and a sense of serenity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU_vc8_HJos

Mai's Swan Lake was very nice, too. She has warm, gentle atmosphere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulHIFeq_6gc

In both programs, I love the steps the best!

 

[nubka]

I don't mind at all, but as other have said, it depends on what the skater/choreographer does with it. Also, some ballet scores are better suited for skating than other (I went to a performance of Giselle last Saturday, and I can't imagine that score working at all for a skater.)

Why do they all seem to pick Swan Lake, Firebird, or that old battle horse Romeo & Juliet?? If you are going to do Romeo & Juliet, at least use the beautiful Prokofiev score!

Two of my favorites ballets are Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Royal Ballet/ABT's The Dream, both of which use the wonderful Mendelssohn score. For such a long time, I have waited for a skater to use that music. It's such a great score, and really has everything!

Also, music from Apres-Midi d'un Faune, Who Cares?, Symphony in C, Concerto Barocco, Jewels, Bugaku, and Apollo would all be divine !!

 

[Spun Silver]

Well, Katy Taylor's use of the Theme and Variations music (Balanchine/Tchaikovsky) and Nakano's Cinderella (Prokofiev) were two of the loveliest music choices of the season, for me.

I always enjoy it when a skater really pulls off one of the "warhorses."

But when they use something familiar from ballet and fall far short, it's dreary.

It's also quite weird when the choreographer is oblivious to the drama which the music was composed to portray. Someone this season DID use R&J-Prokofiev and was flitting romantically during a warlike Capulet-Montague march tune. Huh?

Switching to Carmen, it's also a little odd to see Mao prancing around daintily to the Toreador music or Evan swashbuckling through Carmen's Habanera. (Or something like that.)

In sum, I don't have a fixed position but I can get very critical when skaters use ballet or opera music!

 

[nubka]

It's also quite weird when the choreographer is oblivious to the drama which the music was composed to portray. Someone this season DID use R&J-Prokofiev and was flitting romantically during a warlike Capulet-Montague march tune. Huh?

Who used the R&J? I luuuuved Katy Taylors choice of Theme & Variations...if only we could have Gelsey Kirkland & Misha on ice, lol!!

As for the old warhorses, sure, they are great, but as with Carmen (the score that just WON'T go away,) I sometimes get tired of them...

 

[Spun Silver]

Who used the R&J? .

Can't quite recall, but from a little Googling, I think it was Brubaker & McLaughlin's LP.
http://www.skatetoday.com/articles07/010307.htm

 

[CzarinaAnya]

Happy...I love ballet!

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Who used the R&J? I luuuuved Katy Taylors choice of Theme & Variations...if only we could have Gelsey Kirkland & Misha on ice, lol!!

As for the old warhorses, sure, they are great, but as with Carmen (the score that just WON'T go away,) I sometimes get tired of them...

I watched Gelsey at ABT's Studio Rehearsals yesterday. She is doing Carabosse (wicked fairy) in the revival of Sleeping Beauty. Martine Hamil was there also and I think she will be doing Aurora's mother.

Katy's "Theme" program was quite good. I wish she had skated it better.

The trouble with ballet and opera music is that the story gets in the way of the skater. Can't stand to watch Cio Cio San stab herself on ice or the flapping of arms by Odette on ice. Much prefer them in opera and ballet. But I understand how impressionable young figure skating fans are. I was once impressed way back then. Now I want the real thing - not an ice mimicry.

Joe

 

[chuckm]

I loved Oksana's short program at the Olympics. It was a masterpiece.

I saw that recently on youtube and wasn't in the least impressed. Oksana double-footed the lutz and did a lot of standing around and posing. That performance wouldn't pass muster under CoP.

The best ballet piece I've seen done is Johnny Weir's "The Swan". Now THAT is a masterpiece!

 

[Spun Silver]

Martine Hamil was there also and I think she will be doing Aurora's mother.

Ah, now there was a GLORIOUS dancer. One of my all-time faves. I think she could be a great model for Emily. Van Hamel was oh, so alluring. I adored her in Swan Lake even though one would never have expected someone with her majestic physique to pull off that role.

 

[hockeyfan228]

I love hearing ballet music for skaters, both the music that was written for ballet (Swan Lake, Giselle, Sylvia, etc.) and music that is associated with ballet (A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Theme and Variations" from Tchaikovsky Suite #3, Mozartiana from Tchaikovsky's Suite #4, etc.)

I hate when skaters try to mimic ballerinas by going onto their toe picks, though, and really bad musical cuts (but I hate both regardless of the music).

And YAY for Martine van Hamel. I loved her dancing, and was really bummed when Baryshnikov gave her the boot for being "too old."

 

[nubka]

And YAY for Martine van Hamel. I loved her dancing, and was really bummed when Baryshnikov gave her the boot for being "too old."

He also thought she was too big! Poor Martine. Always Myrtha, but hardly ever Giselle...

 

[nubka]

I watched Gelsey at ABT's Studio Rehearsals yesterday. She is doing Carabosse (wicked fairy) in the revival of Sleeping Beauty. Martine Hamil was there also and I think she will be doing Aurora's mother.Joe

Lucky you! I wish more of Gelsey's performances were available on DVD, and I've often wondered why she hasn't made any instructional type DVD's (ala David Howard.) If they were on the market, I'm sure they would literally fly off the shelves!

 

[Tinymavy15]

i love watching ballet as well as danicing it, and nothing gives me more pleasure than a well-skated progam to ballet music. Shen and Zhao's nutcraker was great, nakano's cinderella, you can't beat sasha's swan lake- on stage or on ice. Oksana was very good too-back in the day. I can't stand skaters who do not have a ballet line or stlye tring ballet music. Like Emily Hughes skating to Sylvia. Also, Mao's nutcraker, while playing up her cuteness and innocene did not really look like a ballet.

 

[morninglight]

I saw that recently on youtube and wasn't in the least impressed. Oksana double-footed the lutz and did a lot of standing around and posing. That performance wouldn't pass muster under CoP.

The best ballet piece I've seen done is Johnny Weir's "The Swan". Now THAT is a masterpiece!

Oh, thank you for mentioning . I love Jonny's Swan, too! His Olympic SP was sooooo beautiful. I loved the costume as well.

I just watched Oksana on YouTube and happened to find her skate to "The Swan" as well. I heard that she was Jonny's idol as a kid. Don't know which program he liked better though.

I myself like her Swan Lake in Olympics better than her Swan. At the Olympic SP, she had great harmony with the music, even at the sacrifice of the elements. The revolution of the last spin didn't seem to be enough. Steps also seem to be relatively simple. But they fit the music very well. That kind of performance may be impossible under the current system (I heard that Shizuka Arakawa counted, "One (scoop of) ice cream, Two (scoops of) ice cream, three (scoops of) ice cream," so that she could hold her leg long enough in the spirals at the Olympics. Oh dear... ).

 

[dancindiva03]

Overall, I don't really like it when skaters try to essentially make their programs "ballet on ice." Using the music is fine but when they start prancing around on their toepicks and throwing in faux ballet moves, it ruins it. Ballet is ballet and skating is skating, the two are NOT the same, don't try to make them so. I do like it when skaters can use the music and properly portray the theme, I loved Gregory & Petukhov's "Romeo & Juliet" from 05/06. It was elegant and graceful and told the story without them going into the "look we are trying to do ballet on ice" mode. Johnny and Tiffany Stiegler had a beautiful Swan Lake waaaaaaaay back I don't know, 11 or 12 years ago perhaps. Absolutely exquisite. I was not a fan of Sasha's toe-prancing in her footwork of her SL program, nor did I get the feeling that she really knew anything about the ballet.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Lucky you! I wish more of Gelsey's performances were available on DVD, and I've often wondered why she hasn't made any instructional type DVD's (ala David Howard.) If they were on the market, I'm sure they would literally fly off the shelves!

This thread is becoming more of a 'fans-of-ballet' thread.

Unfortunately, Mischa was not the best Artistic Director of ABT. He wanted stardom in whatever he did, and he had much to much outside interests. Hamil was an exceptional dancer. It was nice seeing her on the rehearsal floor and Gelsey looked as petite and innocent as before. That tell all book must have made Mischa cringe.

I have a few free tickets of dress rehearsals for May 18 - Prokoviev's R&J. Let me know if you can make it into Lincoln Centre by PM.

Joe

 

[hockeyfan228]

He also thought she was too big! Poor Martine. Always Myrtha, but hardly ever Giselle...

Well, compared to him, nearly everyone is big.

Joe, I hope you have a wonderful time!