Popular ethnic music in Figure Skating? | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Popular ethnic music in Figure Skating?

Mathematician

Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 / KJV
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Aug 8, 2023
To me, Medvedeva’s program replayed the famous scene from Gone With The Wind (1939 movie). All the young men were off in distant places fighting the U.S. Civil War, and every day at a certain hour the ladies, old people and children would huddle around the telegraph office to receive the news of who had lost his life that day and who had been spared for tomorrow. (“Tomorrow is another day” was the author’s original working title for the novel).

Not that any of this was in the minds of Evgenia's coaches and choreographers, but I do think that it is sort of a universal theme, struggling forward through this vale of tears, etc. Of course a competitive figure skating program is not a thousand page novel or a four hour movie. A well-turned triple Lutz must stand in for 900 pages or so. ;)
Gone With The Wind is my favourite movie. She should've done a program on that instead of plane hitting tower mid skate.
 

Andrina

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 26, 2023
Like it just has me wondering why and how someone came up with it.
Back in 2014, when the Olympic gold medal was urgently needed, one shrewd coach got a girl who was young and slim enough to rotate triple jumps without falling. But there was a little problem - the girl should be scroing zero in the components note. That's why a smart trick was done - put all the money on the "human" component of the program. So simple ! Let's choose a popular Russian song (the Games are in Russia) for the short program. And something that would not leave anyone (even beyond Russia) indifferent like a girl in the red coat from one of the most moving pictures in world's history. Et voilà ! Everyone focuses on the music and the story behind and none pays attention to the non-existing skating skills. The trick worked. The gold medal is around the girl's neck.

Next was Medvedeva's turn. She was even slimmer than the first girl and had even more stamina (enough to do 3-3-3). But! Again, her components score should be approaching zero. From a negative side. Thus, the same choreographer came up with another moving story that he had already tried in the past himself - the 9/11. And to make it even more soulful, they then tied it up to deafness as the coach's daugther had auditory problems. They used cheap pantomime and other people's hardships to divert attention from a simple fact - the skater was not able to skate.
 

Mathematician

Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 / KJV
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 8, 2023
Back in 2014, when the Olympic gold medal was urgently needed, one shrewd coach got a girl who was young and slim enough to rotate triple jumps without falling. But there was a little problem - the girl should be scroing zero in the components note. That's why a smart trick was done - put all the money on the "human" component of the program. So simple ! Let's choose a popular Russian song (the Games are in Russia) for the short program. And something that would not leave anyone (even beyond Russia) indifferent like a girl in the red coat from one of the most moving pictures in world's history. Et voilà ! Everyone focuses on the music and the story behind and none pays attention to the non-existing skating skills. The trick worked. The gold medal is around the girl's neck.

Next was Medvedeva's turn. She was even slimmer than the first girl and had even more stamina (enough to do 3-3-3). But! Again, her components score should be approaching zero. From a negative side. Thus, the same choreographer came up with another moving story that he had already tried in the past himself - the 9/11. And to make it even more soulful, they then tied it up to deafness as the coach's daugther had auditory problems. They used cheap pantomime and other people's hardships to divert attention from a simple fact - the skater was not able to skate.
What do you think about Leona Hendrix's programs last season?
 

Mathematician

Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 / KJV
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 8, 2023
Cheap and tasteless. She should stop working with Solya.
Which skaters do you like? Which programs?

I actually was never a huge Medvedeva or Lipnitskaya fan either. Lipnitskaya was just ok, though she had an amazing spin. I agree that the music and image carried the program. Medvedeva was kind of pretentious with her expressions, it wasn't genuine or sophisticated. You're being a little harsh though she wasn't below average by any means. She could skate just fine. But overrated.
 

Andrina

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 26, 2023
Which skaters do you like? Which programs?

I actually was never a huge Medvedeva or Lipnitskaya fan either. Lipnitskaya was just ok, though she had an amazing spin. I agree that the music and image carried the program. Medvedeva was kind of pretentious with her expressions, it wasn't genuine or sophisticated. You're being a little harsh though she wasn't below average by any means. She could skate just fine. But overrated.
Long time ago, I had an eye on Kostornaia. But I do not like any skater in the current Ladies section. And I think my tastes would be off-topic here.

As for Medvedeva, I think she was quite bad in terms of skating skills. But she was, of course, awesome when it came to physical stamina and, crucially, will power.

I also think that comparing to the average is not fair here. The average lady in the circuit is training half a day twice a week. Given what Medvedeva was having as a training load, she should be compared to the top tier.
 

elbkup

If you’re going through hell, keep going
Medalist
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Mar 3, 2015
Country
United-States
slavik hayrapetyan

One of my favorite skaters..
He was coached by his father, I believe. Is he still skating? Probably not.. I loved this and his FS also .. thanks for posting
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
the girl should be scroing zero in the components note

Again, her components score should be approaching zero.
Remember, the 0 to 10 scale covers the entire range of skating skills, from beginners/not skating at all up to elite.

0 for components would be equivalent to not skating at all -- standing still or maybe pulling oneself along the boards.

I say this as a low-level adult skater who might earn scores in the 1s or on a good day maybe 2s.

The elite skaters you're talking about would show much better skills on their worst day than I could show on my best. Unless for some reason they literally just stood on the ice and did not skate at all.

Try watching some low-level skating, and some average/less elite senior level skating, to get a better sense of what skating looks like in the lower and middle scoring ranges. If you're only comparing to other elite skaters, what looks bad to you is still far from 0 in the larger scheme of things.
 

CaroLiza_fan

MINIOL ALATMI REKRIS · EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
One of my favorite skaters..
He was coached by his father, I believe. Is he still skating? Probably not.. I loved this and his FS also .. thanks for posting

Yep, Slavik was coached by his Dad, Samvel.

I'm most familiar with Samvel because he was coach at the Skate Cyprus club for quite a few years. And because of that, I have always kept an eye out for his sons (Slavik and his older brother Sarkis), and his other students.

As far as I know, Slavik hasn't competed since the 2022 European Championships, while Sarkis hasn't competed since the 2014 European Championships.

If you want to compare the brothers, here they are doing programmes that include the same piece of music. This piece may not be ethnic music, but it just happens to be my favourite skating music, "Lux Aeterna"! ;)

Slavik Hayrapetyan - 2015 Mordovian Ornament FS
Sarkis Hayrapetyan - 2013 Ice Challenge FS (Yes, it's an archived livestream, but the video starts just before Sarkis is about to skate!)

CaroLiza_fan
 

elbkup

If you’re going through hell, keep going
Medalist
Joined
Mar 3, 2015
Country
United-States
Yep, Slavik was coached by his Dad, Samvel.

I'm most familiar with Samvel because he was coach at the Skate Cyprus club for quite a few years. And because of that, I have always kept an eye out for his sons (Slavik and his older brother Sarkis), and his other students.

As far as I know, Slavik hasn't competed since the 2022 European Championships, while Sarkis hasn't competed since the 2014 European Championships.

If you want to compare the brothers, here they are doing programmes that include the same piece of music. This piece may not be ethnic music, but it just happens to be my favourite skating music, "Lux Aeterna"! ;)

Slavik Hayrapetyan - 2015 Mordovian Ornament FS
Sarkis Hayrapetyan - 2013 Ice Challenge FS (Yes, it's an archived livestream, but the video starts just before Sarkis is about to skate!)

CaroLiza_fan
Interesting.. I liked his style. Curious whether they continue to be involved in skating, one would hope. Many thanks. I bookmarked YouTube videos a while back but they were taken down😑.
 

lilimum

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Country
Germany
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov are my all time favorite Russians ...
My second could be Elizaveta Tuktamysheva...
here is the gypsy routine

Gypsy routine ? First of all what is gypsy ? Second please see the desciption of the music on the website of the artist ;"The piece was created for the Japanese dancer May Nagahisa. That is why a traditional Japanese theme of the Kabuki Theater was chosen. In this work, Bhima used a combination of Japanese melodies and rhythms of his own composition and industrial trip-hop sound".
 
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sadya

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Country
Netherlands
One of my all time favourite programs is the 2007 Nationals version of the Ararat FS by Jeffrey Buttle:

Jeff Buttle 2007 Canadian Nats LP​


It is a soundtrack of course, I'm not familiar with Armenian music and don't know how ethnic this soundtrack is. But it certainly is Armenian music.

My family is South-Asian. I grew up in the Netherlands (born and raised here). I've kept the nice aspects of both cultures in my personal life. Part of that is music I'd love to hear in skating programs one day.

There is more in South Asia than just Slum Dog Millionaire soundtrack or Devdas, that one Indian movie most people seem to remember and nothing else. And there are more bands than just Junoon. There are many languages, cultures and music styles. People want original music? I'd say: explore, talk to someone from that area who can guide you to the music and dance style that fits your taste and abilities.

The Netherlands has different styles of music too. There is more than just 'dance music', or what we used to call: house music, or gabber music, etc. And no, not all of it involves dancing on wooden shoes, though I personally like that type of dancing as well.

Every country has something the rest of the world doesn't know. It could make FS more fascinating and mark the end of the same music over and over. I like hearing ethnic music
 
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