Michelle vs Irina: 2005-06 SP | Golden Skate

Michelle vs Irina: 2005-06 SP

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Michelle's last skate in "competition."

I have never heard any backstory about Irina and Michelle both choosing the same SP music that year. IIRC Michelle did say once that she admired Irina's Tosca in the 2001-02 seasn, and deliberately wanted to try that music for herself in 2003-04..

I have read that Michelle's plan for the 2006 Olympic year, with choreography by Tatiana Tarasova, was that the SP and LP together would be some sort of statement about life and death. Ironically, the Totentanz was the "life" part and Rachmoaninov's Prelude in C# minor was intended to depict somber contemplation. We never saw the planned LP.

By the way, at that Marshall's cheesefest, MATT SAVOIE WUZROBBED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Me5RwzkG4
 
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edenlover

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Hard to tell... We only saw her perform it once. We saw Irina perform it numerous time. I really was not fond of either as I felt the programs were more about the athleticism, period. I saw little artistry and interpretation of music in either rendition. Smiles during Totentanz? This is supposed to be a Dance of Death. I love the music, and to me it is a piece with a serious focus. That being said, I know Michelle's smiles were more about being back on the ice after a long absence. I have no idea about Irina's. Sasha's short program that year would have beaten these performances as long as she stayed on her feet. I'm a huge Michelle fan, so this is hard for me to write. I miss the details she brought to her earlier programs, especially "Flamenco" short in 1996.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Smiles during Totentanz? This is supposed to be a Dance of Death.

My memory has faded, but what little I recall about the hints that Michelle's camp put out at the time is something like this. Totentanz in a dance of death in the sense of devils dancing frenetically about, tricking mortals into following the path to Hell. Michelle's character was intended to be a club-hopping hedonist blithely dancing her way to Judgement.

Then in the LP, she visits an art gallery and views great masterpieces of religious art which makes her think with greater maturity about where her life path is taking her.

(I hope I am actually remembering, and not just making all this up. ;) )
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I'm a huge Michelle fan, so this is hard for me to write. I miss the details she brought to her earlier programs, especially "Flamenco" short in 1996.

Well, we have to remember that by this time Michelle was so crippled up that she could barely walk, much less skate. She managed to get through the bare bones of this short program with only a pop, but in the long program (she reprised Bolero for this event) her condition could not be denied.

Bizarrely, she won the contest anyway. It was a fan phone-in-the-vote format and everybody was prepared to vote for Michelle no matter what.

This was also the event at which Sasha Cohen fell out of her ending pose as Juliet, then tried to play it off as part of the act by lying flat out on the ice and pretending to stab herself. :rock:

ITA about the Romanza short program of 1996, especially as performed at the 1996 Word Championship. Michelle's finest.
 
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rinkside_user

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Maybe I'm just too much used to Slutskaya's version but I feel 1. this music didn't play to Kwan's strengths 2. she had little connection with the music movement-wise 3. the music cuts were numerous in Kwan's version and not in the best way. However, it would have been fun to see a "Battle of Danse Macabre" in 2006 after the "Battle of Carmens" in 1988.

On another note: please bear in mind this not the original Liszt piece, rather Mrvica's very much pop-flavoured rendition, so I think the smiles owe to the energy of the music rather than its theme.
 
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