It‘s just that people have seen so many programs with soundeffects from Team Eteri that they‘re starting to get annoyed by it. We‘ve literally had it from Medvedeva‘s first SP in senior level with the “wind“ in the end, to her SP the next season with the camera and the planes and voiceovers in the FS. But all this time it was only her so people only criticized her for this and not whole Team Eteri. But now it‘s like a reaccuring trend for all of them.
It's as if somebody would criticize Sergio Leone that he was directing only (in fact mainly, not only) spaghetti westerns. So what?
It was his field he liked. If Eteri's team likes to work not only with music but with other sounds too, why people could not see it as trying something other, something that others don't do or do rarely. That doesn't mean that it have to be always used wisely, but I don't see it as a reason for criticizing just the fact itself. I could say in the same way "why everybody just use pure music without anything else, they are copying themselves" or something like that.
I can see how people could get annoyed by this even though personally, I don‘t feel this way. I never minded Medvedeva‘s sound effects, I don‘t mind them now. The only ones I was a bit critical off in the beginning were Alena‘s Leo voiceovers because... well, I still hear Rose calling “Jaaaack!“ during Elena‘s otherwise so beautiful layback spin. It was likely still the trauma of that Titanic program still haunting my brain.
But they‘re by far not as atrocious as Titanic‘s were so it‘s okay. I‘m not a fan of them but I don‘t mind them that much either. And about the general use of soundeffects... well, people, that might be the future. First we got music with lyrics for skating, now it‘s sound effects. I don’t mind it, I think it gives a nice touch and I actually like that Team Eteri somehow has something that makes them unique. These small things that people call “gimmicks“... well, it makes them stand out from the rest. That, combined with their phenomenal skating leads to them becoming stars at a very young age. People remember them. They always remember people who are different and outstanding. Whether you find it good or not is another thing.
About Elena, if I'm right, it was her who wanted to skate to Titanic theme and probably had some influence on the result. Sometimes I see that people criticize that skaters, in Eteri's team particularly, don't have the influence on the creation of the program. Well, it can be said that Elena's program could be the detergent example
, although if she felt comfortable with it, why to criticize it.
That being said, this of course does not mean that I enjoy every program for the simple fact that there are sound effects included. That would be... well. Pretty stupid to say it mildly. I‘m not completely sold on Alena‘s FS yet and Alina‘s SP is a huge questionmark right now but - and there‘s a big but:
This was Alena‘s FIRST official competition of the season and she‘s skating a very difficult program with ridiculous transitions + having loads of pressure on her to deliver. How can anyone expect a perfect skate including passionate interpretation of the music? She was nervous, she didn‘t skate her new FS yet at a competition. She needs to get used to it, grow into it, improve it and continue to work. Same with Anna‘s FS. I don‘t particularly love it either but it‘s already a lot better than it was during Dreams on Ice.
And that's why I stay aside from the wave of criticism. Even some ratial objections are completely flooded with at least exaggerated expectations, to say it politely. People (if I do not speak about pure haters) probably expected that Anna and Alëna will just fly to the sky and when that's what they didn't get, they turned into holy anger with preparing the crucifiction party for poor Daniil. Even if someone doesn't like some particular choreos from him, that doesn't mean that somebody is right when is screaming "fire Daniil" or similar BS. E. g. There is no writer who wouldn't have written some book weaker than others, if he had written more of them. But is that a reason why stop reading his books completely?
And we haven‘t even seen Alina‘s SP yet apart from a performance in a show. I don‘t like POTO in general so I didn‘t expect too much and I still find the music cuts to be extremely weird but it might grow on me as a program as the season goes on and she improves. I was never a particular fan of DQ. Only after watching it multiple time and especially the one performance at the Olympics - I grew to appreciate and love it. Same with Black Swan. That‘s why I‘m a bit careful with saying that I don‘t “like“ a program for now. Because even though a program isn‘t good now, doesn‘t mean it can‘t ever be. And just because I don‘t like it now doesn‘t mean I can‘t grow to appreciate it in the future.
And I‘m feeling a bit sorry for Daniil to be honest. Last year‘s program were masterpieces because they each managed to catch the spirit of the skater performing it perfectly - Alena‘s, Sasha‘s, Nastya‘s, Alina‘s. I didn‘t love all of them equally but I can say that they suited each of their personality really, really well. And if you get compared to something outstanding like that, the result likely will be worse. It‘s simply not possible to produce constantly and solely good programs. There have to be weak links. It‘s not like he‘s not trying. I bet he‘s probably trying too much. Team Eteri should really go and get a second choreographer to help Daniil out and split the work. Medvedeva has had her SP program choreographed by Alexander Zhulin in her early senior days, why isn‘t he choreographing for Team Eteri anymore? Or somebody else? Cause I really feel like that could help solve the problem.
I've also said several times I'm not a big fan of musicals and that Carmen isn't my favorite opera, but personal preferences of one spectator are not anything that could be decesive anyhow. We say "100 men, 100 tastes", you can never satisfy all of them, but somehow many people argue just from the position I don'tlike this music therefore it is bad completely. At such conditions I could never watch most of the programs at all
About the comparison with the last years programs, it is exactly what I wrote about writers, not every book can be equally good (but which one is worse is again the matter of personal taste). But again, I live with the awareness of this natural fact, therefore I don't tend to immediate bashing of the program jus t because "I liked the lasone more".
I also agree that team should have more choreographers, because it is natural that there is a need of change, but it is not only the matter of what should be. There isn't unlimited number of choreographers (at least on proper level) to choose from, there are many obsatcles - time, work for another teams, money etc.
