- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
^^^^
Ballet and Figure Skating are not comparable!!!! Aside from the vastly difference in techniques, there is only the line of the body in skating that approximates ballet or even other dances. Once the metal plates are put on the feet, the skating becomes acrobatic. That is not the same as ballet slippers.
The figure skater, in order to get speed, requires a lot of cross rolls which approximate glisades in Ballet, and with the necessary speed executes a trick(jump). Ballet dancers do not jump - they leap from one move to the next. The entire program of a dancer is to continually dance around the procenium stage in time with the music.
The goal of the figure skater is to present tricks for judging that will lead him to a gold medal.
The goal of the ballet dancer is to please the audience. It is judged only by the critics.
Figure skating does nothing original but borrows from other sources of dance to make a musical program. Some figure skating choreographers have a knack for making the program look more artistic, but it is not ballet. And there is nothing wrong with using Flamenco, Folk, Character music in a program. It doesn't have to be ballet-like.
Healy probably came closest to making figure skating look like a ballet.
Ballet and Figure Skating are not comparable!!!! Aside from the vastly difference in techniques, there is only the line of the body in skating that approximates ballet or even other dances. Once the metal plates are put on the feet, the skating becomes acrobatic. That is not the same as ballet slippers.
The figure skater, in order to get speed, requires a lot of cross rolls which approximate glisades in Ballet, and with the necessary speed executes a trick(jump). Ballet dancers do not jump - they leap from one move to the next. The entire program of a dancer is to continually dance around the procenium stage in time with the music.
The goal of the figure skater is to present tricks for judging that will lead him to a gold medal.
The goal of the ballet dancer is to please the audience. It is judged only by the critics.
Figure skating does nothing original but borrows from other sources of dance to make a musical program. Some figure skating choreographers have a knack for making the program look more artistic, but it is not ballet. And there is nothing wrong with using Flamenco, Folk, Character music in a program. It doesn't have to be ballet-like.
Healy probably came closest to making figure skating look like a ballet.
), but the way that these fundamental and universally shared human concerns are considered, interpreted and expressed are always filtered through the sieve of his own irreducible complexities of thought, feeling and manner. (I feel obliged to emphasize something I've said before: this is not to say that an artist (whether painter or skater) is actually feeling the emotion that is being portrayed as they are portraying it, but that they are demonstrating that they understand the emotion and its application to themselves. Otherwise the fellow playing Othello, or Otello, in pairs would be strangling his partner for real 
). What separates them from many other skaters, again IMHO, is the degree and self-awareness of this individuation, and their success in applying these qualities to a wide range of expressive themes. (I also refrain from critique of other skaters on these qualities, to avoid yet more verbal brawls 
). So in a sense, Hernando, I both agree and disagree with you; I agree as to the persistence of a highly individuated style, while I disagree that the performances are "the same", because the theme that they are expressing is different each time.
