- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
With the confirmation today that V/M are skating to Carmen it got me thinking :think: - are there any memorable (as in you didn't just youtube it to see how many you could find) Dance programs to Carmen? I can't think of one
Are we going to end up yet again with someone sprawled on the ice....
I always worry when I hear that someone is skating to Carmen, but when you think about it, there's a whole heap of music in this opera that goes untouched in most programs, so the possibilities are there for something fresh and new from the opera. Just as long as they stay away from the Habanera and the Toreador Song!
Would I rather they had chosen something else? You bet. But I love V/M so much that I'm confident they'll come through.
One of the drawbacks of Carmen is that the characters in the opera are actually not very sympathetic. You can't really do love team stuff with this music unless you make new characters. Katarina Witt could carry it off, and Angelika Krylova could. (Angelika Krylova could play Lady Macbeth and make you believe it.) In the opera, she destroys him, and he kills her. Are we going to end up yet again with someone sprawled on the ice....
Here is Bestiamanova and Bukin in 1984 (the Carmen suite, rather than the old warhorse tunes). Note the assisted running at 1:15.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iju_RarH3rk
You don't forget Evan's program:I love it when figure skating tries for more emotionally contentious terrain (Jeff Buttle's Nagoyqaatsi, for example.) I'd love to see them go for something uber-dramatic (why I was hoping for Masquerade Waltz if they went from a dramatic warhorse).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv6ZLSDwbyY
Krylova and Ovsiannakov had my favorite Carmen in 1998 winning their first Worlds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oFAnymw0YU
And less known, and not ice dance, Orser, Boitano & Witt did an Emmy winning production of Carmen on Ice:
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFep6bm8JdA
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf8BDja7ryk
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGv97batpz4
Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RoMxFsGACM
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWLWCgvmA0
Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX1lhU_X0TY
Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxxMfqJf61A
Part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1F_rOTUIK4
Part 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDPWeQBKBo&feature=relmfu
Credits & Interviews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9osfabDWgjo&feature=relmfu
Oddly, I've only seen one Carmen in Pairs:
Canadians from 88: http://youtu.be/6nJ2-U0D4Ck (the male, Lyndon Johnston, actually invented the Natalia spin, made famous by Michkoutienok and Dmitriev)
I think Carmen definitely lends itself more to dance, because of the definitive roles. I like the fact that V/M are trying this music, because they won't necessarily have to play two lovers. Carmen is full of "person a loves person b, but person b loves person c who could care less" (Micaela loves Jose, who loves Carmen, who loves Escamillo, who loves himself).
My favorite, by far. I know in North-America don't like them, but Bestsemionova's passion is unrepeatable.