- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Sure that human judgment is necessary but why should it be the judgment of a handful of individuals? If I get it right, the artistry means being creative, entertaining, touching and capable to appeal to us general public. The often conservative taste of judges doesn’t support it at all. Why don’t we leave it to the common sense and taste of skaters? Despite that they wouldn’t be rewarded for that in terms of medals, they know very well that they can be rewarded in terms of show ticket sales if they prove that they can be also great artists.
I think there is a problem here. There aren’t any ice shows any more, to speak of. For the few that remain, what draws audiences is not how artistic they hope the skaters will turn out to be, but “Is there a headliner with an Olympic gold medal?”
In the good old days, in the United States anyway, there were Las Vegas type reviews like Ice Follies and Ice Capades. These were popular and lucrative (at least for the owners). Skaters’ motivation for trying to win some kind of amateur title was strictly the hope of getting a spot in the chorus line.