Holocaust: Controversial ice dance routine

[Skater Boy]

The challenge with programs and tributes is that well they often come off cheesey, commercialized, over the top, insincere or all of the above plus they are about winning and maybe trying to market the program as something more than it is - an attempt to win. That is why I thought Nagasu's 2010 freeskate in Vancouver was poorly done in that she just did the normal American princess smile throughout. I found something off about Witt's costume to her 1994 attempt to regain the limelight. In a way picking such music and programs or tributes is an attempt to say to the judges "I am artisitic" and work on heart strings. I am not sure doing a Holocaust program with a non ice dancer is really likely to work - they have enough problems trying to stay vertical.

 

[Skater Boy]

I think figure skating is a really tricky medium. In 2002, I think some American commentators thought Anissina Peizerat "Liberty" program was disrespectful. Figure skating is often thisclose to being tacky. Come on. "Something something ON ICE." I often feel figure skating is more suited to an abstract interpretation of a serious theme than a literal take, although it seems to me many Russian figure skaters see it differently i.e. the more literal the better. The best "literal" skate to music expressing feelings about a serious event remains Ekaterina Gordeeva's "Celebration of a Life." On paper, it is very tricky - a widow skating/acting out choreography that comes close to portraying the death of her husband. However, just enough choreography was symbolic - she reaches for his hand and it's not there. She's skating and realizes his absence. It would have been a disaster if the choreography had her miming the moment he collapsed on the ice and then the choreography had running around the rink enacting a call to 911. So if you're going to do something on a Holocaust theme, it has to be symbolic/abstract, not skaters in prison style costumes on skates. Costumes that SUGGEST it or evoke it, yes, but not "Concentration Camp Prisoners - ON ICE!" Anissina Peizerat were a bit literal with her actually skating the statue of liberty.

To go on a bit of a tangent, I still die over Ilia Kulik's costume from 1998, and the explanation for its design. THAT is overliteral.

It didn't help that Anissina was the poor man's Bestmianova even down to the hair.

 

[Ares]

What makes you think that? They have a lot of movies about Stalin's repressions and other parts of some of the controversial parts of their history. Even the one which got the Oscar in the '90s. 'Burned by the Sun' or smth like that. What's wrong with you? Why so aggressive?

I just meant literally interpreted themes used in shows or figure skating not movies. I don't see anything aggressive in my post. There is also big difference between casual entertainment and movie concerning serious topic.

 

[Meoima]

I agree that overliteral style makes the program looks cheesy and bad. But that's all I can see from this fiasco.

There hasn't been a day when Western and US media do not find anything offensive.

 

[stella luna]

Well, I initially didn't want to watch it; the concept sounded tacky. When I did, it almost seemed like a sick joke, in a "Springtime for Hitler" (from "The Producers") kind of way. I know the premise of "Life is Beautiful," but somehow I don't see all of that dancing and smiling occurring in a concentration camp. Also, from what I have read, people in concentration camps were often deprived of clothes and bathing facilities. The program seemed to make light of the gruesome conditions. I am not suggesting it should not have been performed or should have been censored, but some subjects require sensitivity when being handled artistically. Too me, that sensitivity contributes to the success of a work of art.

Anyway, obviously I have a pretty strong reaction to what I saw. I'm curious how other skating fans feel about the work?

 

[meem]

Thank you. What you said is exactly what I felt. The lack of cultural sensitivity amongst many Russian skaters is mindboggling (ex., not only this program but the Russian skaters performing in African "savage" attire and make-up). I wonder what their reaction would be to skaters performing programs about Stalin's brutality to his own people. I think there needs to be a line drawn as to what is appropriate and what is not and someone early on in the competitive season ought to have the power to stop some of these ill advised programs.

Well, I initially didn't want to watch it; the concept sounded tacky. When I did, it almost seemed like a sick joke, in a "Springtime for Hitler" (from "The Producers") kind of way. I know the premise of "Life is Beautiful," but somehow I don't see all of that dancing and smiling occurring in a concentration camp. Also, from what I have read, people in concentration camps were often deprived of clothes and bathing facilities. The program seemed to make light of the gruesome conditions. I am not suggesting it should not have been performed or should have been censored, but some subjects require sensitivity when being handled artistically. Too me, that sensitivity contributes to the success of a work of art.

 

[stella luna]

You can't really "outlaw" bad taste, though. The public reaction is the judge when it comes to art.

Thank you. What you said is exactly what I felt. The lack of cultural sensitivity amongst many Russian skaters is mindboggling (ex., not only this program but the Russian skaters performing in African "savage" attire and make-up). I wonder what their reaction would be to skaters performing programs about Stalin's brutality to his own people. I think there needs to be a line drawn as to what is appropriate and what is not and someone early on in the competitive season ought to have the power to stop some of these ill advised programs.