The article about Alyona's SP (music, choreography, dress etc.)
On the sky midnight an angel flew
https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/artinsport/2606014.html
Here is my take at:
An angel flew through a midnight sky
“People are so used to living in an atmosphere of ugliness and disharmony, naturally, a person is by nature drawn to beauty in all its manifestations. It calms the soul and helps people find inner stability, which they often don’t have.” (C) V. Wulf
When it became known at the beginning of last season that in Alena Kostornaya's program would appear the image of an angel, her fans in different parts of the world unanimously expressed their approval: indeed, who else can portray an unearthly creature on ice with her beauty and skating, to which the epithet "divine" is so often applied?
What is divine skating? How can it be described what distinguishes it from “earthly” skating? You can pick up a lot of specialized terms, but the essence boils down to two things. The first is skating itself. Alyona's skating is perhaps the best illustration of what stretched feet and soft knees are. Her blades move over the ice with the same smoothness with which a sharp knife cuts warm butter. Secondly, amazing clarity. In Alyona's skating there are no disturbances, there are no awkward positions: every second of her programs can be cut into separate pictures, and there will not be any unsuccessful ones.
It is also striking that Alyona has demonstrated such an extraordinary level of skating skills not for the first season, since she only makes her debut in senior skating. Few manage to achieve such perfection in adulthood, while to her as early as 14 years old it has manifested itself.
I think, in many ways, this is her innate gift, thanks to which everything that Alyona does on ice seems graceful and aesthetic, even if she just crosses the ice rink, like in warm-ups. However, such mastery due to natural grace alone is impossible - this requires daily work on posture, on the work of each muscle, each phalanx of the fingers. So talent turns into genius.
The 'Angel' program was kept for a second season by the decision of the coaching staff, and this decision is quite justified. The performance was very successful, and after a difficult offseason, when Alyona was recovering from an injury that did not allow her to compete in the World Junior Championships. For the same reason, last season it was not possible to put down this fat “dot” by demonstrating programs at the main competition of the year. And of course, the contrast “ angel / demon” in short and free programs is a great opportunity to demonstrate the artistry and versatility of the skater.
A new dress was sewn for the program: the colour scheme and some elements were left unchanged, but the style has changed. I personally like this version: I like the fact that Alyona shows her shoulders and back, the embroidery on the back is also very good. The only thing I would change are the gloves - I really liked the translucent gloves for the custom programs of Alina Zagitova and Anna Shcherbakova, and here you could create the same with the same silver feathers like on the back of the dress. Although long white gloves emphasize the work of the hands very beautifully.
Since the production is not new, the libretto to it is already known:
"I am an angel who descended from heaven and lived some time on earth. At the end of the program, I was finally able to return to heaven."
To display this story, Daniil Gleikhengauz selected the music for the series "Leftovers" by Max Richter, a British film composer and pianist. Perhaps the idea of using this particular soundtrack for the program about the angel rose in the director because of this poster, where the crumbling stucco looks like wings:
link to picture
“Leftovers” is a dramatic supernatural series, and the musical accompaniment for it is written accordingly: tense and anxious, perfectly suitable for displaying the internal state of a resident of heaven, who, by the will of fate, ended up in a strange land for him. The first part of the program is staged to a solitary piano: this is the story of the tragic fall of an angel from heaven and his acquaintance with the world of mere mortals:
links to clips with Alyona performing what is implied by the author
In this part Alyona shows her magnificent Axel, triple Lutz and completes it with a combination spin. For her execution of the Axel, two members of the judging panel rated Alyona 5 out of 5 possible GoE points: in fact, the ideal recipe for a double Axel is to enter from an Ina Bauer, span of flight, altitude (such that it’s a sin not to put another turn there), but leaving through an elegant jump "falling leaf", you can't imagine anything better.
The beginning of a new part: in this beautiful choreographic composition, the angel spreads its wings. The music changes, the strings come in and a high, tense whistle sounds in the background.
In this part, the angel is fighting to return to heaven, here we see several elements and movements symbolising his attempts to break away from the earth:
And the final pose, take off, catharsis. By the way, it is noteworthy that the composition of the program is like mirror: at the beginning of the program we see the Carrigan spiral backwards, and here - forwards:
lots of links to clips and photos
Angel Alyona Kostornaya is not a frivolous cupid. This is a severe creation, detached, "not of this world." The skater copes with this role perfectly - let's pay attention to her facial expression, half-closed eyes:
It will be incredibly interesting to watch how this program will be finalized and transformed during the season, and I think that the changes will affect not only the jumping part, but also the choreographic elements. For Alyona, this is a challenge, for the audience - the opportunity to take a fresh look at the already known production and enjoy
beauty and harmony. Indeed, for this we are probably watching figure skating.
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Another great piece by Leica, also author of Art in Sports blog with excellent analysis of Shcherbakova, Trusova and Zagitova's programs.
