Is the Olympic season Rhythm Dance exciting?
- Thread starter Anna K.
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
there're a couple. the problem his the rhythm requirements narrows the pool of songs. that and the teams lack of imagination
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2022
I am not sure. The music gets a person hopping or tapping along or bring back happy memories.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2013
Totally agree. I love Jamiroquai! And some of their songs are high energy is a low key way, if that makes sense?
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2007
On the whole I don’t find the programs very exciting, but I blame the teams’ lack of creativity more than the ISU’s. There is nothing per se wrong with the theme this year.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
i blame both, when they set the theme as high energy dance they meant a specific genre, which is club music (from the 90s so Eurodance mostly), by doing this they narrowed the teams choices. you can't pick, i don't know, Sheryl Crow or Oasis, because her songs don't fit the required rhythm. or you can do it, but you need to add a section the fits the requirement
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2010
I don't mind the dances themselves, but this year's music starts to get boring to me after a couple routines. As long as we can still see a mixture of different music in the free dance I can live with it.
In the end, it wasn't that bad. I'm talking about the Olympic Rhythm Dance event.
This is the first time in history when I am not complaining about Latvian public television starting its RD translation with the second warmup group. Normally, I'd be angry because I'd want to see it all to feel the competition vibe. This time, I was thankful because the first group had the most disgusting music choices that were about to be re-used by other teams later. Not missing that at all, sorry.
Sans the first group, I even watched the event with the music on. It was survivable. I can survive (with minimum cringe) even Ricky Martin if there is only one count of it. There was a moment when the monotonous beat started to get on my nerve because it continued for several programs in a row but at least the melodies in the mix were moderately different. For the most part, music that felt like a cheap eurobeat discotheque got frequently refreshed with some rock music or some creative techno. Noteworthy, Thunderstruck by AC/DC showed surprising ice-friendliness; also On the Run by Yello.
After watching with the music on, I have some new takeaways regarding the dance itself (which is why I decided to return to this thread rather than post in competition/replay threads). I will add this part a bit later because I need to catch another Olympic live stream now
This is the first time in history when I am not complaining about Latvian public television starting its RD translation with the second warmup group. Normally, I'd be angry because I'd want to see it all to feel the competition vibe. This time, I was thankful because the first group had the most disgusting music choices that were about to be re-used by other teams later. Not missing that at all, sorry.
Sans the first group, I even watched the event with the music on. It was survivable. I can survive (with minimum cringe) even Ricky Martin if there is only one count of it. There was a moment when the monotonous beat started to get on my nerve because it continued for several programs in a row but at least the melodies in the mix were moderately different. For the most part, music that felt like a cheap eurobeat discotheque got frequently refreshed with some rock music or some creative techno. Noteworthy, Thunderstruck by AC/DC showed surprising ice-friendliness; also On the Run by Yello.
After watching with the music on, I have some new takeaways regarding the dance itself (which is why I decided to return to this thread rather than post in competition/replay threads). I will add this part a bit later because I need to catch another Olympic live stream now
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- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I agree. For most of the season I thought that the music was little more than ugly noise, but this time around I liked the rhythm dances better than the free.
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2014
I like the rhythm dances this year because they're fun, granted I do think some of the costume choices were questionable at best.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
It wouldn't be ice dance if there weren't some questionable costumes....
I forgot about itAfter watching with the music on, I have some new takeaways regarding the dance itself (which is why I decided to return to this thread rather than post in competition/replay threads). I will add this part a bit later because I need to catch another Olympic live stream now
Anyway, I will do it quick before the season ends and its problems fall into oblivion.
What were IMHO the biggest losses after making such music requirement (you can find all requirements in this post)?
1) Music repetition: too many requirements (big hit + decade + beats per minute) led to limited choice and repeatedly used tracks.
2) Too fast to interpret: at least 120 beats per minute (2 beats per second) is too fast to perform on the beat or even clap on the beat if we talk about the audience. There are of course skating moves that can go faster than 2 bps (spinning to name one) but those are used by singles and even then not thorough the program. As for dancers, you cannot provide a decent curve for your turns at such speed and also other elements (i.e. twizzles) go slower because dancers need to perform them in tandem. Because of that, many teams looked out of sync regardless that they in fact did hit every 6th or every 8th beat and technically stayed within the framework of music.
3) Standard moves not ice friendly: pop music dance moves are created having concert goers in mind (i.e. pogo dance) rather than dance floors. They require little space to move, often done on the spot moving hands not feet, and zero glide (for comparison: see space coverage and glide in ballroom dancing). Extra glide provided by ice skates can add nothing to it; more than that; rather, it looks contrasting and takes the whole performance to "neither this nor that" category.
4) Lack of hold and eye contact: pop music dance moves are designed to be done solo. Even greater loss than the lack of holds here is the lack of eye contact. It is nearly impossible to look into another persons eyes without giving out the feeling towards this person (and not giving it out may be even more telling
). I definitely missed this insight into the team dynamics and it made the whole event a lot more boring for me.5) Too many slow free dances: since the "high energy" RD themes could not be repeated in the FD, most teams chose very slow free dance themes which made the free dance feel repetitive and boring, too.
Goodbye the Olympic season in ice dance, I'm glad you are over!
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
the most exciting thing about this season R&D is that tomorrow is the last time i have to listen to this music
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2017
While I'm glad to see the decade RD's finally go away, I have a differing opinion on a few of these points, respectively.I forgot about it
Anyway, I will do it quick before the season ends and its problems fall into oblivion.
What were IMHO the biggest losses after making such music requirement (you can find all requirements in this post)?
1) Music repetition: too many requirements (big hit + decade + beats per minute) led to limited choice and repeatedly used tracks.
2) Too fast to interpret: at least 120 beats per minute (2 beats per second) is too fast to perform on the beat or even clap on the beat if we talk about the audience. There are of course skating moves that can go faster than 2 bps (spinning to name one) but those are used by singles and even then not thorough the program. As for dancers, you cannot provide a decent curve for your turns at such speed and also other elements (i.e. twizzles) go slower because dancers need to perform them in tandem. Because of that, many teams looked out of sync regardless that they in fact did hit every 6th or every 8th beat and technically stayed within the framework of music.
3) Standard moves not ice friendly: pop music dance moves are created having concert goers in mind (i.e. pogo dance) rather than dance floors. They require little space to move, often done on the spot moving hands not feet, and zero glide (for comparison: see space coverage and glide in ballroom dancing). Extra glide provided by ice skates can add nothing to it; more than that; rather, it looks contrasting and takes the whole performance to "neither this nor that" category.
4) Lack of hold and eye contact: pop music dance moves are designed to be done solo. Even greater loss than the lack of holds here is the lack of eye contact. It is nearly impossible to look into another persons eyes without giving out the feeling towards this person (and not giving it out may be even more telling
5) Too many slow free dances: since the "high energy" RD themes could not be repeated in the FD, most teams chose very slow free dance themes which made the free dance feel repetitive and boring, too.
Goodbye the Olympic season in ice dance, I'm glad you are over!
1) Just like anything in figure skating, there is a super wide range of music that can be used and everyone uses the same music. When there is a creative skater/team and they use something different and unique, you just know it's then going to be used by every discipline for the next decade until we're all sick and tired of it. But anyway, my differing point from what you said about the decade music was--there was plenty of 90's music that would have worked for these RD's but no one wanted to use them and just went for really easy and well known tunes. I'm not a L/B fan but at least they did something unique with their music.
3) I'm just going to say if teams/coaches didn't want to take the easy way out, they could have found ways to use the pop dance movement of the decade in the programs. Many did not. Now I will say that the rules were too constrictive to rightfully do so.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
If only, we actually got almost no Eurodance at all, I think there has been like one 2 Unlimited program I can think of. Instead we got endless amount of Ricky Martins and Spice Girls'.
I'm particularly baffled Reitan/Majorov didn't pick any of the zillion Swedish Eurodance acts.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
being the addict i am i've been watching entire long competitions, i can assure you Eurodance and boys/girls band are absolutely tied, also among those that have eurodance they all skate to the same 5 songs
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
Fair enough, in ECh and Olympics I watched all RD's and remember like 1 or 2 Eurodance programs. Maybe they're more common in other levels.
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