Compare David Wilson and Lori Nicol's Choreography | Golden Skate

Compare David Wilson and Lori Nicol's Choreography

gettinglow

Match Penalty
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Differences?

Similarities?

Who's been more innovative?

Who's played the best to their respective skaters' strengths?

What are their strengths and weaknesses?

I think it would be interesting to dissect these two because they seem to have choreographed all the big guns' programs over the past two quads. Like, I'm not even kidding.
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
They have their own unique styles. Sadly some of their works fails completely, i.e. Wilson's Yuzuru and Nicol's Dai these season. I'm not talking about the result obviously because I'm sure Yuzuru didn't win OG and World because of his FS's choreo. :p

During the last few years, Nicol seems to adjust to the new rules better with inventive footwork and difficult entrances while Wilson's programs have too many cross over and a long set up for each jumps. But I prefer Wilson's expressive style over Nicol's pretty programs though.
 

jennyanydots

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
I tend to like the pretty lyrical programs and I love what Lori did for Michelle Kwan and Carolina Kostner. Her work for other skaters don't seem as memorable. Overall, I think the creative juices for both Lori and David have kind of dried up. Lori's work this season was all pretty much generic. Yuna's programs for the last couple seasons have been kind of bland although I like Send in the Clowns. Ashley was better with Phillip Mills. David's programs for Patrick were okay but it could also be due to his improved artistry. Wasn't able to recreate the magic of R&J 1.0 for Yuzu. One thing you have to remember though is that choreographers are limited do by what the skaters can do. Like for all we know Yuna's programs this season could have originally been way more complex. However, she needs all those crossovers to gain speed for jumps and her training was limited by injury. Also, you can't accuse Patrick's and Yuzu's LPs this season of not having enough transitions. I also think Carolina could have made a memorable program out of Gracie's Grieg SP.
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
I love Philip Mills. He is very attentive to pretty much a small details. I'm wondering why he fell out of popularity these days.
 

sunnystars

#teamotherskaters
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 14, 2014
I think their choreography also depends with what the skater (and his/her team) is trying to aim for. For instance, Yuzuru's free skate programs were jam-packed with jumps in order to close the gap between his and Patrick's scores. Hence, that left us with lacklustre programs yet with sky high scores. On the other hand, Yuna's Adios program was created to show her artistic growth (agree or disagree :eek:hwell: one of them said it in an article I think) and for her to say goodbye to the crazy world of competitive fs.

Both choreographers did a good job on showcasing the skater's capabilities (even if we disagree with the programs). Again for Yuzuru, it was to shoot his TES to the stars because of he had the technique to do it. PChiddy semi-dominated with his skating skills. Mao showed her usual yet amazing elegance and lightness which can also be said the same to Caro, especially in her Ave Maria.

Also, I think that these choreograpers tend to be bias to certain skaters. Hence, some may seem to have better programs than others. :laugh:

realization: seems like I'm not really comparing the two :laugh: but I just wanted to give my opinion
 

russell30

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Both are very good at what they do!, cannot compare really! but both have contributed massively to the Sport/ Pasquale Camerlengo/Shae Lynn Bourne and Jeffrey Buttle are very hot these days too!!

For innovation and something different Ilia Averbukh seems to be the person. Lance Vipond has contributed well to Kaetlyn Osmonds character and strength. Dubreuil/Lauzon created Hurtado's/Diaz wonderful FD this year!

Use to enjoy Igor Bobrin/Giuseppe Arena/Sandra Bezic/Sarah Kawahara before the COP system!
 

JayW

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
My general impression is,
Lori Nichol: lyrical
David Wilson: dramatic.

I like both of them, but agree that they are pretty much dried up. They need a break for at least one or two seasons, to recharge themselves especially they need to broaden their choices of music.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
I was highly disappointed with Wilson's choreography for Ashley Wagner this year. I thought Yu-Na's SP was very pretty, albeit a little generic in terms of the composition. All of her SPs look the same in terms of the element placement. I think moving the elements around would have freshened it up some, but overall the choreography and music edit were very beautiful. I think David's best work for Yu-Na was Lark Ascending, Danse Macabre, Homage to Korea. I'd add Gershwin not in terms of artistic value, but b/c it was a perfectly tailored program for the judging system. Les Mis and Adios underwhelmed me. Nice programs but not special from a choreography standpoint.

As for Lori, her amazing work goes all the way back to Michelle's masterpieces (of which there are just too many to name). I think her best work these days came from Mao and Carolina. It's obvious they are muses when it comes to her. Both of their SPs this year were stunning, especially Mao's Nocturne which really didn't get enough credit for its complexity. Other than those two, nothing else really stands out for me.


Slightly OT, does anyone think Ashley will go back to Mills this year? I know if I were her I'd be sending fruit baskets and flowers, trying to mend whatever bridge was burned b/w them last summer. His style meshed perfectly with hers and he did a great job at really showcasing her strengths. After that dud she got from Wilson, I think it's clear she should try to get Mills back on her team for this upcoming season.
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
I think David's best work for Yu-Na was Lark Ascending, Danse Macabre, Homage to Korea. I'd add Gershwin not in terms of artistic value, but b/c it was a perfectly tailored program for the judging system. Les Mis and Adios underwhelmed me. Nice programs but not special from a choreography standpoint.

Who did the Bond SP for her? That an Danse Macabre are my fav. programs from Yuna. I prefer her SP's in general to her LP's.

As for Lori, her amazing work goes all the way back to Michelle's masterpieces (of which there are just too many to name). I think her best work these days came from Mao and Carolina. It's obvious they are muses when it comes to her. Both of their SPs this year were stunning, especially Mao's Nocturne which really didn't get enough credit for its complexity. Other than those two, nothing else really stands out for me.

I agree.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Who did the Bond SP for her? That an Danse Macabre are my fav. programs from Yuna. I prefer her SP's in general to her LP's.
David Wilson. Overall it seems he found a style that worked for her leading up to Vancouver and was experimenting since then. I think he created two or three great programs post-Vancouver but none of them really clicked the same way as those two SPs.
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
My favourite of Yuna's SP is Kiss of the Vampire. Her speed was amazing. The choreograph showed her strength to the max.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
Who did the Bond SP for her? That an Danse Macabre are my fav. programs from Yuna. I prefer her SP's in general to her LP's.
.

Wilson did that one too, as Carne already answered. :) I really loved Bond too but, for me, my 2nd favorite SP from Yu-Na was Tango de Roxanne, which David did not choreograph. Tom Dickson did that one.

I too prefer Yu-Na's SPs to her FSs. My two favorite FS are Lark and Homage. The others were nice but those two were the remarkable/masterpiece ones. As far as SPs go I think Danse, Tango, Bond and Die Fledermaus were wonderful and I thought Send in the Clowns was lovely. Giselle was okay; I didn't care for Kiss of the Vampire.
 

UnsaneLily87

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
I think Wilson's R&J for Sasha was quite good as well. Not often talked about as far as good Wilson pieces go, but she was able to truly emote in it (and won an olympic silver medal!).
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Wilson did that one too, as Carne already answered. :) I really loved Bond too but, for me, my 2nd favorite SP from Yu-Na was Tango de Roxanne, which David did not choreograph. Tom Dickson did that one.

Ha. I was going to say that I like very much Roxanne too. In fact I'm watching it right now. :)

I too prefer Yu-Na's SPs to her FSs. My two favorite FS are Lark and Homage. The others were nice but those two were the remarkable/masterpiece ones. As far as SPs go I think Danse, Tango, Bond and Die Fledermaus were wonderful and I thought Send in the Clowns was lovely. Giselle was okay; I didn't care for Kiss of the Vampire.

I like Lark too, didn't care much about the rest of her LP's tbh, except Vancouver (maybe because of her wonderful performance there), but I do prefer Les Mis to Adiós Nonino. Maybe because of the choice of music, I don't know.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
One thing I love about Lori's work (don't know about David regarding this aspect) is how she seems to know music very well and how she tries to make the skaters understand what a specific piece means, what was it composed for etc. and/or she tries to teach them how to "feel" a specific piece, so when they skate to it they can understand what they're doing better.
I remember for example that when she choreographed Evan's 2010 SP he made him spend on day in the forest to win his fear for birds (or something like this); or that Caro said in an interview that for her Mozart FS she studied Mozart's life and she then began to appreciate him as the "Lady Gaga of his age", and this helped her a lot in intepreting the music (other examples here http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2014/05/05/74390706/nichol-remains-the-class-of-choreography-field ). This is what "choreography" should really mean for a top-level skater who wants to be an artist! :yes:

I agree, though, that both Nichol and Wilson don't pack their programs with a lot of transitions recently (maybe it is what the skaters themselves want?), while I find Osmond's choreographer's work very very well done in terms of transitions: her programs are always FULL of transitions! But, again, maybe it depends on the skater... :think:
 

NYscorp6

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Country
United-States
I think Wilson's R&J for Sasha was quite good as well. Not often talked about as far as good Wilson pieces go, but she was able to truly emote in it (and won an olympic silver medal!).

Sasha's Romeo & Juliet was a perfect blend of the original Tatiana/Nikolai choreography fine tuned by David Wilson.
Which brings me to a pet peeve of mine, I wish that the skaters would shake things up a little and work with different choreographers throughout their careers. It would greatly expand the artistry of the sport.
This year Yuna's programs while lovely seemed too safe, while Ashley clearly was out of her safety zone and went backward.
 
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