Here is the clearest and best copy of Mao's SOchi LP I have yet seen on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_fp6aPtS1k
Almost no talking at all during the performance which is the way I like best. As time goes by, I realize that Mao's Madame Butterfly at Worlds to me was one of her best LP performances along with her Sochi LP and Bells of Moscow at Worlds 2010. The first two especially bring me to tears, but all the performances seem related as an evolution in developing a tragic but inspirational style that brings catharsis to the audience. These performances really move me deeply with subtle, complex and intricate movement that tells a story in a wavelike flow from element to element, like her flexibility that is a rhythmic ebb and flow like waves dancing and drifting in natural fluidity that is not jerky, challenging jumps like the triple axel (or two triple axels), triple flip and loop and the triple flip double double loop and her wonderful ability to capture tragedy and hope all at the same moment with classical ballet and grace in contrasting moods that so many people naturally feel. Though I love Mao's earlier programs too, Mao's ability to do all this seamlessly first showed to me with Bells of Moscow: the subtle head shakes and intricate extension and dramatic gestures with her arms and hands like the face slaps, slicking her hair back or holding a halo over her head during her I spin. Then, there were her passionate facial expressions like the snarling look during her the peek a boo mask manuevers in her arabesque and in the middle of her siding dance move in her step sequence, in which she also showed a beautiful abandon in her illusion spins and whipsaw twizzles. Then, there was her portrayal of Modernist ballet in the prima ballerina positions she attained in her spirals and spins which remind me of a Cubist painting by Picasso because she hits so many picturesque angles. Contrary to those who criticized Mao for doing this piece, I found it fit her perfectly because she skated to Bells of Moscow at the same age that Rachmaninoff composed the piece. They were both 19. I also think of Mao's brilliant performance of Bells at Worlds 2010 as an inspirational tribute to the composer on the eve of the 67th anniversary of his passing away in a composition about impending death as he tried to capture the feeling and mood of being buried alive in a coffin. Besides the age similarities, I also think Mao captured the spirit of the piece to a T by combining youthful innocence and vitality with the subtle complexity and maturity required to display tragedy and desperation. Like a well played part in a drama, Mao builds the tension slowly like a dormant volcano through the performance until it explodes with passion in the step sequence and the spectacular one handed Biellmann at the end and the result is a great work of artistic symbolism that is a vast departure and risky expansion in Mao's form of expression that many didn't understand, but for those who did the rewards are limitless.
T.S. Eliot a great poet who wrote in an innovative modernist style with extensive use of symbolism said something that reminds me of Mao's Bells of Moscow performance: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.” — T.S. Eliot
Or as former US president Jimmy Carter said in a more home spun southern American style, "Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”
Or as the Chinese proverb says about taking risks “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it.”
Or as Pablo Picasso said about learning new artistic styles and challenging and reworking new difficult elements as Mao did, l“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
Here is the best copy of Mao's Bells of Moscow I can find on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCwC...=youtu.be&t=42
And here is the best copy of Mao's Madame Butterfly at Worlds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLHt8fsEwG4
Liebestraum could probably be added to this list in terms of similarities in style, but Liebestraum seems a bit more optimistic and light, though the tragic side is still there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTTxA6MkGIo
In addition to Mao's impeccably smooth and beautiful skating skills, these performances to me show how incredibly expressive she is with her intricate arm and back movements and how she has refined this through time. This is one of the main reasons she is my favorite.
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