Hip Hop and Figure Skating

[silver.blades]

This has been touched on before in other threads, but I thought that it deserved it's own. Just curious what people think of the hip hop style being integrated into figure skating culture, especially in ice dance. WIth Takahashi's SP he proved that hip hop can be a ligitamite style on the ice, but i have yet to see an ice dance team do hip hop justice. At the same time I think that it is good for the sport to broaden it's horizens and incorperate more contemporary dance styles. This also includes more modern style movement and moving away from the ballet influenced programs, especially in the womens competitions, some variety would be nice and the judges need to allow for more variety. I'm not suggesting that hip hop become an OD rhythm yet, but I think that it would be a good thing for the sport to work towards.
Any thoughts?

 

[Tinymavy15]

I think that if you want to be original and you can sell it, go ahead. But if it is an enguraged style, then it will loose the present originality and intrest and will turn into another cookie-cutter porgram. I cannot say that I would like to see it become in ice dance disciplne either. R&B or Jazz...yeah. not Rap/Hip-hop.

 

[Bennett]

Yes, I really enjoy watching it!

It looks really challenging to skate to because hip-hop movements have quick ups and downs using the whole body whereas ice skating doesn't usually have that. But Takahashi does a great job! I heard that he took dance lessons everyday during the whole summer.

I feel that hip-hop moves may have some potential to be incorporated into variations in spin, in addition to steps. The skater can use arm/hand moves to hit the beat while doing spins. Does Takahashi already do so? I need to check.

 

[Wrlmy]

Although I enjoyed Stephanie Rosenthal's hip-hop program, to be honest, I am no big fan of hip-hop. But, routines from "save the last dance" or "step up" seemed very legit, showing hip-hop + ballet can be very refreshing. So, I will be happy to see an ice dancing team go for hip-hop, but only if it's well done. Nothing looks more awkward on the ice than badly-choreagraphed/executed hip-hop.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I'm not a fan of hip hop but anything is better than that sturm und drang approach.

Joe

 

[decker]

I don't want to see everyone and his housecat doing hip-hop. But I also don't want to see everyone and his housecat doing Carmen. Or anything else. But if a skater really likes the genre and can do the moves well, s/he should go for it.

Susan

 

[Mafke]

Hip hop and ice go together like sardines and chocolate .... no wait, make that ... they go together like spaghetti and horseradish! Like hmmmm mayonaise and chicken curry?

Really now, do we actually want to see skating to 'my humps' (my lovely lady lumps!)? or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TaAceHgyFE ?????

The thought of skaters gettin' "jiggy wi' it" makes me wake up screaming in a cold sweat.

Skating and hip hop, honestly!

 

[Kwanford Wife]

As a hip hop fan - let me throw this out there... if you can't dance off the ice, don't attempt it on the ice... At best it looks silly at worst its almost insulting to us who appreciate the genre of music and dance style.

And no, B&A's expo was not hip hop, it was pop... regardless of who produces his album, Justin Timberlake is NOT a hip hop artist.
(neither is Fergi... Gettin' Jiggie with It is also questionable...)

I've only seen on skater whose pulled it off and that's Stephanie R. Worse example: Debbie Thomas who skated to Push It at COI in '86/'87 (???) Proving once & for all that just because you are African-American, doesn't mean you have rhythem...

I do think, however that the best true hip hop group that skaters might be able to pull off is probably The Roots... but even this is more of a hip hop band then it is a hip hop record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBBBhQUl99w

And for the last time: the difference between hip hop & rap is the difference between cashmere and cotton... from a distance, its all the same, but up close... its no contest.

 

[Mafke]

I've only seen on skater whose pulled it off and that's Stephanie R. Worse example: Debbie Thomas who skated to Push It at COI in '86/'87 (???)

IIRC Push it (push it reeeeeaal good!) was released in1987. It may have taken Thomas some time to really translate the song to the ice, I saw a broadcast of her skating to it at some youth athletic event circa 88-89 and she rocked the house. Authentic hip hop? No way. Entertaining as all get out? Oh yeah.

Just to show how ancient and decrepit I've become, I remember when 'push it' was considered too racy for broadcast radio. It's probably as respectable as Cole Porter now.

 

[conga]

Kriengkrairut/Giulietti-Schmitt's FD at Junior Worlds had a mix from the Take the Lead soundtrack. It seems that the choreography must not have hit the mark because IIRC no one mentioned it as hip-hop.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

IIRC Push it (push it reeeeeaal good!) was released in1987. It may have taken Thomas some time to really translate the song to the ice, I saw a broadcast of her skating to it at some youth athletic event circa 88-89 and she rocked the house. Authentic hip hop? No way. Entertaining as all get out? Oh yeah.

Just to show how ancient and decrepit I've become, I remember when 'push it' was considered too racy for broadcast radio. It's probably as respectable as Cole Porter now.

Glad to hear that she worked out this program out, because when I saw it I was like: is she seriously, serious?? It was bad... real bad...

It doesn't make you old to remember when Salt n' Pepa were considered to racy for radio... I remember when Baby Got Back was only played after 10 on MTV and Metallica was the cause of teenage suicide...

Society is strange: have a daughter with low self esteem? scared to ask your son why he's so depressed and obsessed with guns? don't want to teach your children properly and be a good parent who knows what's going on with your kid? Blame it on the radio.

Not sure what this has to do with hip hop & ice skating, but I never miss a chance to climb up on my soapbox...

 

[DragonPhoenix]

It seems like that's all the media ever shows anymore is Hip Hop and Rap.
I find it exceedingly boring, in my opinion. I don't feel it mixes well with figure skating.
However, Takahashi is an exception for me. He is a great skater and a great dancer, and I like his programs. His Swan Lake is good. He's versatile.

 

[heyang]

Just want to add that hip hop is not just about grabbing one's crotch. There are many styles of hip hop. It can be very soft and sensuous, too. Gangsta style is not definitive hip hop.

 

[OldSkaterMom]

I am not much into the modern music styles being an "older person." Most rap and hip hop sounds all the same to me and hurts my ears.

What Takahashi did in his SP did have some style, however having hip hop recorded over Swan Lake was like scraping fingernails across a chalk board to me. It really hurt me ears. Sorry, but the two just don't mix.

The dance steps he put into his footwork worked fine. I don't know if everyone could do it, but if taught, possibly. I would not want to hear ten hip hop programs the same way I do not want to hear Carmen dragged out every year or Romeo and Juliet or even Tosca (although I am an Evan fan and he is doing it very well). There has to be more skateable music out there than what is being done.

 

[Antilles]

I think hip hop is fine, but it would depend on the skater using it. Too many skaters just skate through their music. While this works with a lot of slow, classical pieces, it really would not work with hip hop.

I agree the skater would have to have rhythm, and good choreography that could integrate the up-and-down movements of hip hop.

 

[OldSkaterMom]

I think hip hop is fine, but it would depend on the skater using it. Too many skaters just skate through their music. While this works with a lot of slow, classical pieces, it really would not work with hip hop.

I agree the skater would have to have rhythm, and good choreography that could integrate the up-and-down movements of hip hop.

You have made a good point. For some skaters it would be way to difficult to incorporate the hip hop rhythm.

 

[Tenorguy]

Hip Hop and Skating

Hip Hop culture is here to stay - and just like in the 1950s, the birth of the rock era made people cringe, just like Bobby Soxers before rock, and Flappers before Big Band and so on and so on. Culture, especially pop culture, moves on; that's just human development.

Skating will continue to wither away quietly if it doesn't incorporate the way most young people like to move. Its that simple.

Skating is skating, and I'm sure Joesitz agrees with me that the relationship between Ballet movement and skating is tenuous at best; they are two totally different styles of movement. Ballet can give line to a skater's legs, but that's about where the similarities end. So, Ballet (as much as I love it) does not inform skating to the extent that most people think it does.

Why not have a pioneer like Takahashi blend hip hop into skating? I guess I would also have to say, hip hop is NOTHING like what Michael Weiss used to do. Heaven forbid! Shaking your can is NOT hip hop and neither is stripping to the waist (like Candeloro). True hip hop is about attitude, and bravado and muscle isolation; Michael Weiss just wanted to prove how sexy he was.....

Hip Hop is not going away - hopefully Figure Skating won't either.

Tenorguy

 

[NJSk8Fan]

To state it simply...I'm not a fan of it...on ice or off ice.

 

[silver.blades]

It seems like that's all the media ever shows anymore is Hip Hop and Rap.
I find it exceedingly boring, in my opinion. I don't feel it mixes well with figure skating.
However, Takahashi is an exception for me. He is a great skater and a great dancer, and I like his programs. His Swan Lake is good. He's versatile.

Most of what's shown on tv isn't really hip hop, I'm not sure what it is, but it's not hip hop. I'm talking about good hip hop coreography being incorperated on the ice. It's just as ligitamite style as other dance forms and it would add interest and a little more diversity than what is seen currently on the ice. Again stress on acual hip hop, not something tasteless and painful like B/A exabition program, that one makes me want to cry.

 

[Sylvia]

Since this performance has already been referenced earlier in this thread... here's Stephanie Rosenthal's "hip-hop" short program to Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" at 2006 U.S. Nationals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2GYXP023zw