2008-2009 Programs by Discipline

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I can remember that clearly!
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=gWt22LMFHvU
Wonderful exhibition, even if I prefer the Silvester Gala version
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=ppfXKhudzdk

For me it was the best Carolina I've seen. She is a lyrical skater which I could not figure out before. Great edging and body language throughout

I hope she forgets about being a bird in Swan Lake and uses the 4th Act music. It has swells like Nessum Dormi and a rocking conclusion. Tschaikowsky at his best. After seeing the 2007 exhibition, i think she can handle it.

 

[lcd]

I wouldn't mind a moratorium... say, a season, WITHOUT ... West Side Story, Nessun Dorma, Phantom of the Opera, Swan Lake ... slay the War Horses.. or at least put them aside for a spell...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I wouldn't mind a moratorium... say, a season, WITHOUT ... West Side Story, Nessun Dorma, Phantom of the Opera, Swan Lake ... slay the War Horses.. or at least put them aside for a spell...

I would agree, but those music pieces have more to them what we see in the ice. For example (my post above), Swan Lake Act 4. Who has used it except Klimkin?

 

[Rich7]

Ando Miki

Is there any news on Ando Miki's programs for next season?

 

[Nigel]

Rachael Flatt's 2008/2009 SP music selection was posted on Ice Network.

Choreographed by Lori Nichol
From the John Bayless CD "Movie Album-Classic Pictures"

"Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mancini / "First Movement of Piano Concerto No. 2" Rachmaninoff

 

[lmarie086]

Alban Preaubert
SP: "Exit Music (for a film)" - Radiohead cover by Brad Mehldau
LP: "Kalinka" & "Les bateliers de la Volga" by Maxime Rodrigez

EDIT: Jeff Buttle (information taken from an icenetwork article)
"His short program is set to a piano and strings composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Buttle describes the piece, entitled "May in the Backyard," as "very avant-garde in its style, yet with a classical feel."'
"The long program is a "very classic, very clean" piece by British composer Gerald Finzi. Buttle said he downloaded it onto his iPod without realizing it, but when he heard it he was immediately attracted to the music. It is entitled "Eclogue," a word which means a literary or musical poetic verse."

 

[Tinymavy15]

Rachael Flatt's 2008/2009 SP music selection was posted on Ice Network.

Choreographed by Lori Nichol
From the John Bayless CD "Movie Album-Classic Pictures"

"Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mancini / "First Movement of Piano Concerto No. 2" Rachmaninoff

so she is not doing debussy?

I have to say her LP choices sound excellent for her.
kind of strange choosing classic movie themes for both her programs. Moon river is from "breakfast at tiffany's" in case anybody forgot.

 

[SusieH]

EDIT: Jeff Buttle (information taken from an icenetwork article)
"His short program is set to a piano and strings composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Buttle describes the piece, entitled "May in the Backyard," as "very avant-garde in its style, yet with a classical feel."'
"The long program is a "very classic, very clean" piece by British composer Gerald Finzi. Buttle said he downloaded it onto his iPod without realizing it, but when he heard it he was immediately attracted to the music. It is entitled "Eclogue," a word which means a literary or musical poetic verse."

Great choices! Jeff has great music taste And I love that he makes efforts to choose new music, not some warhorses.

Never hread of Finzi's work before. This is the link I found on youtube. Sounds promising. But I must say that the music itself, if this is the one, seems to be lacking in variations and transitions that I think are needed for a long program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zKqQS3kzzs

I'm a great fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto so I'm totally thrilled by his choice for the short program! (Go Jeff!) That piece is very vivacious, playful, and interesting, using piano, violin, and cello. I won't characterize myself as the biggest fan of his skating (well, I don't dislike him), but I'm really looking forward to his new programs now.

This is the clip that I found (couldn't find anything from youtube):
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:1996:1921194756

This is the decription of "M.A.Y in the backyard" that I randomly spotted. "This song is about 3 cats (M.A.Y. are the initials of the cats' names)
which used to hang around in the backyard of Ryuichi's house in Tokyo.
Although the house no longer belongs to Ryuichi and the 3 cats have
assumed their next lives, the songs reflect on the playful and
mischievous vicissitudes of the 3 felines. The feline vicissitudes are
also reflected in the use of Olivier Messian's compositional method. The
distinct 'moodments' were composed independently and then later combined."

so she is not doing debussy?
I have to say her LP choices sound excellent for her.
kind of strange choosing classic movie themes for both her programs. Moon river is from "breakfast at tiffany's" in case anybody forgot.

I think she is doing Debussy for her LP, and the movie medley for her SP.

 

[Nigel]

From IceNetwork's athlete page.....to clarify the post above:

Rachael Flatt's short program is a John Bayless medley arrangement of Moon River, from the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Rachmaninoff's 1st movement from the 2nd Piano Concerto.

Flatt's long program is Debussy....La Mer and En Bateau.

 

[aquino1mex]

don't thing so

It's about your choice of words - you said "prodigious wedgie" (I have to admit that didn't know what prodigious means - but my dictionary says that it means "erstaunlich, wunderbar" - so wonderful or astonishing - correct me if my dictionary is wrong about this) and to me that sounds as if you were thinking that Carolina deliberately chooses costumes that showcase certain bodyparts that she, Carolina, considers as "prodigious". And if you do that in a judged subjective sport - you often do it to influence the judges. And I just doubt that Kostner thinks: let's make this skirt even shorter - maybe it will distract them from the shaky lutz if they see most of my butt when I am landing.

I can't believe that I am talking about wedgies here! Perhaps I just misunderstood your comments and interpreted too much. I am not even a fan, I never warmed to her skating - if that's the case with you too (and others here), why not just say that instead of talking about stuff that seems really ridiculous and superficial (long arms, short costumes, "wedgies" - this is the very last time that I will ever mention that word).

There are aspects of her skating that bug me much more, the lack of concentration and consistency, the shakiness on spins (I hate shaky spins...), on the jump landings - the long set-ups for the jumps (that in my opinion reduces her ability to interpret her programs really well), her unability to adapt her speed to the speed/rhythm of the music... And if she is not able to change these aspects for Swan Lake, than I don't think she will be able to do a very good Swan Lake.

You say that Carlolina uses her skirt so short for distraying her problems on the lutz for the judges, well, that's makes me laught. The judges are professionals and can´t distraying for a short skirt; also the skirt is not shirt, the long is normal, like the other skaters, and remember that Carolina's skirts are created by the italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, is for that reason that Carolina always has the best costume.
So, no sexualized the skate; because your opinion are just bad comments.

 

[lmarie086]

Well first, welcome to the board!

You say that Carlolina uses her skirt so short for distraying her problems on the lutz for the judges, well, that's makes me laught. The judges are professionals and can´t distraying for a short skirt;

Medusa was using this as an example to show that the idea (of trying to distract the judges with skirt length) is ridiculous. At least, that's how I interpreted it.

remember that Carolina's skirts are created by the italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, is for that reason that Carolina always has the best costume.

I don't know, she's had some questionable costume choices in the past; her outfit from earlier in the season for the SP was not to my taste at least, and her LP outfit truly did not suit her. But that's my opinion.

your opinion are just bad comments.

That's a little harsh, especially as you just expressed your own opinions.

 

[mskater93]

I have found many of Carolina's costumes to be less than stellar in terms of fit, function, meeting the intent of the program, and basically making Carolina look GOOD in them (her Memoirs of a Geisha costume rating up there as the most hideous of the bunch in my opinion). That is why I made my tongue in cheek comment to begin with about thinking how ugly her Swan Lake costume will be.

If she's getting them from an Italian clothing designer, he needs to go out and watch how it moves on her while she skates to construct something that many people would find less distracting and less distasteful. If he DOES go out and see how the costume behaves on the ice, he needs to do some more research.

Just my $0.02

 

[lmarie086]

Patrick Chan's music for the new season.
SP: "Roxanne" by the Police, choreography by Lori Nichol
LP: "Cello Sonata" by Rachmaninoff', choreography by Lori Nichol

article here: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080716&content_id=49380&vkey=ice_news

 

[chuckm]

Carolina's skating costumes may be designed by a famous FASHION designer, but that doesn't make them good SKATING designs.

Remember, these designers are used to designing clothing worn on runways by tall, skinny models, and the fashions themselves are often too extreme to be worn by normal-sized women in their daily lives.

I believe Cavallo wanted to EMPHASIZE Carolina's long arms and legs, to make her appear even taller than she actually is (for a model, 5'7" is about 3-4 inches too short). That might be fine if she was simply modeling the outfits, but she has to SKATE in them.

And I have to agree that her "Memoirs of a Geisha" costume was particularly bad. The skirt was supposed to resemble a chrysanthemum, but the dress was too pouffy and seemed at odds with the music.

 

[vlaurend]

Re: Caroline Zhang's music choices

Crap. She is so afraid to leave her tiny, itty-bitty, boring little comfort zone, isn't she? Hope she realizes that she can't get by on the bitty baby ballerina image forever.

And why not? It worked for Sasha Cohen. Sure, it might get boring for audiences after a few years, but if it's what she does best, then she'd be stupid to risk her PCS marks by skating in a style that doesn't fit her (kind of like when Yoshie Onda tried to do the pretty ballerina stuff when she should have stuck to "athletic"). In any case, "uniqueness and variety in musical selection" is not included among judges' PCS scoring criteria. If it were, nobody skating to Carmen would ever make it to final round!

 

[Tinymavy15]

I have found many of Carolina's costumes to be less than stellar in terms of fit, function, meeting the intent of the program, and basically making Carolina look GOOD in them (her Memoirs of a Geisha costume rating up there as the most hideous of the bunch in my opinion). That is why I made my tongue in cheek comment to begin with about thinking how ugly her Swan Lake costume will be.

If she's getting them from an Italian clothing designer, he needs to go out and watch how it moves on her while she skates to construct something that many people would find less distracting and less distasteful. If he DOES go out and see how the costume behaves on the ice, he needs to do some more research.

Just my $0.02

agree with your 2 cents. many of her dresses would look good on the red carpet with a few more feet of fabric added to the skirt. but that does not qualify them for the ice. Tania Bass' creations would not nessicarily rock a runway show either!

 

[AwesomeIce]

Re: Caroline Zhang's music choices



And why not? It worked for Sasha Cohen. Sure, it might get boring for audiences after a few years, but if it's what she does best, then she'd be stupid to risk her PCS marks by skating in a style that doesn't fit her (kind of like when Yoshie Onda tried to do the pretty ballerina stuff when she should have stuck to "athletic"). In any case, "uniqueness and variety in musical selection" is not included among judges' PCS scoring criteria. If it were, nobody skating to Carmen would ever make it to final round!

Well to be fair, Sasha bored the heck out of me, too, with her laundry list of much-overused musical choices. But at least she had some contrasting styles, like the more powerful Malaguena, Carmen, and Dark Eyes, vs. the Swan Lake and Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet, slower, balletic pieces. Caroline has not branched out much at all.

 

[lcd]

With Caroline, it seems she believes that she is doing very well thank you very much, playing to her strengths, and has been pretty clear about not being that interested in being challenged to change from what has worked for her. Perhaps a more open-minded approach will be embraced with maturity, and or adversity. Such an exceptional talent,... it takes a certain courage to stretch boundaries once success has been achieved. Clearly, she still has a ways to go and much more to aspire to - hopefully greater diversity of music choices will be a part of that as well.

 

[Mathman]

But at least [Sasha] had some contrasting styles, like the more powerful Malaguena, Carmen, and Dark Eyes, vs. the Swan Lake and Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet, slower, balletic pieces. Caroline has not branched out much at all.

Caroline Zhang is only 15. She has plenty of time to try different styles if she wants to.

Sasha was 20 when she first did Dark Eyes as an SP in 2004-05, and 21 when she did it in 2005-06. (She was 16 when she did it as an LP in 2000-01, and Dark Eyes is also listed on her web site as her intended SP for 2006-07.)

Sasha was 18 the first time she did Maleguena in 2002-03 and 19 when she did it again in 2003-04. She was 19 when she did Romeo and Juliet as an exhibition in 2003-04 and 21 when she did another version for her LP in 2005-06. She did Carmen at 17, Swan Lake at 19, and Nutcracker at 20.

Let's wait and see what Caroline gives us in the next five or six years before rushing to judgement. :yes:

 

[Tinymavy15]

^

agree with Mathman. Caroline is only entering her second season as a senior skater, and the first time she will compete the whole season as a senior. she has a long career ahead of her (crosses fingers!).

Caroline did 'Spanish Gypsy" for her SP last year, a departure from her balletic style which worked very well. I expect her too play to her strengths and work in her comfort zone as she takes on the challenge of seniro lady and 3/3 and flutz.
We should not forget Michelle's first year on the seniro circut... bubblegum pink dress, very simple choreography... other than the jumps she looked like anybody else.