Long long rant... from a frustrated art critic... (once in a blue moon)
First of all, thanks for all the examples, it paints the type of skater Carolina very well. Let me start by saying I have nothing against Carolina and think she is a lovely skater. My problem is this thread was derived from her decision to omit harder elements and
Mao88's (Are you Mashi88?) claim it was to focus on artistry and is the way of the future. It is more likely she has dumbed down her elements to maximise success rate to perform consistently just like Miki Ando's winning strategy last year, therefore has very little to do with artistry.
Re:
doublefluz I don't get what you mean by Carolina is NOT too European, what does that even mean? Carolina is the definitive European Skater for the last couple of years, she is 3 times European Champion! If you mean lack of particular style or signature work that defines her, then clearly this state more about her artistic credibility than I ever could.
While Russia is not officially part of Europe in its governance, it's is a very much a MAJOR part of the European arts and culture scene. Shostakovich music is part of the European music lingua just like the Beatles is European, just like the nursery rhyme' 3 blind mouse' is also European. Infact majority of the skating music used today are of European heritage, that include George Gershwin who has a Russian heritage and who's work is heavily influenced by his time Paris spent under the influence of Ravel etc.. So my definition of Eurocentric is simply the dominated culture and a standard belief, either consciously or subconsciously, certain music are better choices, smarter, clever, superior than other choices outside the boundaries. That include Jazz, R&B, Ethnic Folk, Drums and Base, etc...
I guess for me, the artistic credibility comes in skating to this piece at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3qs5nOGW2E
Here's a description of the song movement:
Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67, is remarkable for a number of reasons. It was written in 1944, just after his Symphony No. 8, with which it shares its overall structure; it is a lamentation for both Shostakovich's close friend, musicologist Ivan Sollertinsky, and the victims of the Holocaust, the news of which horror did not reach the U.S.S.R. until the liberation of the camps began; and it is his first work to employ a "Jewish theme," a musical tribute that used the scales and rhythms of Jewish folk music as Shostakovich knew it.
(there's more stuff...about the other movements...)
This moves immediately into the final Allegretto, again in E minor. Here the Jewish figurations—the Dorian mode with an augmented fourth and the iambic rhythms—are used in a macabre dance that is contrasted against a stern march and five-beat climbs up and down the scale. The strings frequently play pizzicato to add to the sharpness of the dance. The movement ends as the dance gives way to the chorale of the Largo, but this time ending in the more comforting key of E major.
With all due respect
Mrs.P, you just answered the question yourself by your reference. In what artistic sense did Carolina bring justice to the Shostakovich's Piano Trio No.2 which you just outlined with all the information above?
While I agree Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 is an inspired and interesting choice, Carolina's 'package' failed acknowledge the original content other than use it as a fluff background piece of music to complement her often rash and sometimes erratic style. If a mistake is made, the beat is tonal rather than lyrical capable of covering her mistakes where she can pick up the beat again.
Carolina also clearly favour 'fashion du jour' over her 'art'. Yellow or in particular 'Baby Chick Yellow' is the 'IN' colour right now according to all the fashion colour forecasts for 2011/12. It is a colour of joy, happiness, warmth, cheerfulness. So what has that actually got to do with Piano Trio No.2? It is practically the opposite from anything from the Shostakovich repertoire including this piece. (Shostakovich music are usually pensive serious pieces, of sadness and bitterness, poignancy highlighted by his internal conflicted and personal struggles with Russian's own cultural persecution, witness to war and oppression, and through his music he searches and contemplate for meaning and truth on the morale role of art and music in the middle of the bloodiest time of 20th century)
What Carolina did is the equivalent of using Schindler's List in 50 years time to advertise Fabric detergents with Happy Children running around pouring drinks on themselves because it sounds so lovely yet sad... awwww cute little girl ruined her pretty dress, and then ET OST comes on because it is clean again! It is completely hogwash and artistically irrelevant. The producer of the commercial may have created a tear jerker that sold millions of detergents, but he is also butchering the work with little regards to the source. (Re: Buttercup... yeah i noticed Schindler's list is used for her '03 LP.)
And just because a Rich Banker's Wife decide to purchase a Kandinsky painting to match with her wall paper upon a paid consultant's advice that it is high valued art, it certainly does not qualifies her as someone artistic credible or lady of fine taste - especially when she has the Kandinsky painting next to her autographed Justin Beiber poster! Come on...
Too often the name of art is used in vain in this sport like some sort of all purpose first aid bandage to cover something.
To put it simply, most of it is faux art these days. The COP environment simply does not provide the true freedom for artistic expressions, but when 'Skating recitals' like Carolina's shallow meaningless 'pretty package' are touted as the 'type' of artistry - the way of the future, it is seriously depressing AND wrong! It has no artistic credibility what so ever, except that yeah... it won her medals, so what does that say about the quality of judging, the fans and the sport's view on art?
Actually thinking about it, it is typical of the ladies program these days, lazy, meaningless and contrived. Everyone just want pretty background music to skate to without falling over themselves. Some are more successful following the instructions, hitting the beat, especially if you are a matured skater, but choreographed movement shouldn't just be about what appears on paper, and performer just following what they are told to do inorder to score points is not artistic!
This is Carolina's this year Ex to
Carmen Habanera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v_h02b45Zc
While she is a great skater that has matured techniques and polish, what's so Carmen about it compare to her other performance? Is she living the performance, breathing the moments? Does she feel and understanding the music, understand what she is selling? Is she committed to the spirit of Carmen? The beguile seductress, the guilty, the tragedy of Carmen? Or just Carolina skating as herself with yet another patched up theme doing simply she is told to do without filter as per usual? You be the judge.
NB Experiment. What happens when you switch off the music on all the clips you shown me, are the performance still as musical, can you identify the music and what essence is she trying to convey? emote? or do they look all roughly about the same as each other? Unoffensively vanilla devoid of anything authentic, real, original, emotional?
If you can't, then maybe this European Poster 'It' girl's type of "
art" is merely superficial, skin deep, consist of same emotional monotone as she rarely ventures outside her comfort zone and commit beyond a skating routine to her?
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Final rants... okay, I am embarrassed this post has last as long, but I have been meaning to get this off my chest for a while.
The COP was initially established to overthrow the old bourgeoisie sort of excess (cheating through subjective and political judging) in figure skating, to provide supposely a fairer level of universal assessment through numerical values to justify an elementary level of universal understanding in the name of 'good sportsmanship'. But all it did is make the bourgeoisie cleverer at systematically says one thing but doing another.
We even began to see template set up program that takes advantages of the 5% bonus at the expense of balanced, original and risk taking choreography with good ice coverage which the COP is 'suppose' to encourage. At the moment for the ladies at least: play conservative wins medals. Whatever 'selective' new rules and tweaks ISU might have been busy patching things on an annual basis last year failed to identify ways to exploit the system (or may be it has but chose to delay the fix) and failed to protect and nourish both the art AND sport miserably.
If it ends up being a sport where everyone starts dumbs down their programs, take less risks (artistic and technically), just so they can remain on their feet like in Ice Dancing, and patch it all up under these lazy disguise of 'faux art' as a buffer, then I and many might as well abandon the sport all together.
It'll ends up just like the old ways, whoever doesn't fall WINS as long as: Adapting Eurocentric music , follows established and familiar aesthetics or judges's laymen terms and don't do anything too original or risk. Tick the minimum requirements box, have built up reputation which you will protect at all cost using your federation resources, strong backing from a strong federation, you are in with a chance!
A chance not based on sporting and artistic merits alone but by circumstance. With the way GP series recently structured in particular, it mean many interesting and talented youngsters (e.g Hanyu, Liza, Adelina etc.) won't have their proper chance like before and get to experience and establish their reputation to challenge the old guards of the sport. It has became a system that makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer which is pretty much was everything I despised about the old power corrupted system.
in which she was not part of.
