- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
You addressed this to me and I would love to take up your challenge, but it would take more time than I have right now. It occurs to me, though, that skating as an art has never had an Arlene Croce - the New Yorker's remarkable dance critic who was able to see and describe Balanchine, Fred and Ginger, and many more in greater depth than anyone had ever done before. She was a literary and fearfully intelligent writer and the New Yorker gave her as much space as she wanted to develop her ideas, so that her work was far above that of the average newspaper dance critic. She could speak expertly and profoundly about technique, the essence of the specific art form, the dancers' individual styles, choreography, music, and social contexts. Skating commentators, who come mainly from the world of sports, tend to be far less global in their expertise, and thus so far they haven't much helped us grasp the full scope of the genre. The community of fans is actually doing that job in a fragmented way.I see no qualms with comparing artists across genres, I'll stick to actors/performers and skaters for the purpose of this debate. Compare Michelle Kwan to Meryl Streep. In terms of numbers, both have had an unusually long streak of domination: world medals/oscar nominations etc. Meryl Streep is perhaps the most acclaimed actress ever, with classical training and a broad range of roles (and breathtaking beauty and box office numbers nowadays). Does Lyra Angelica, The Red Violin, East of Eden, Scherezade (pick four of your own) match up against Sophie's Choice, A Cry in the Dark, Adapation and Angels in America (ditto)? To me, artistically, it categorically doesn't. Does it for you? If so, how?
Also, I'd like to note a special dimension of skating vs. film (since you've focused on Streep's movies) -- it takes place in one moment of time (like dance and other performing arts) but a much more condensed one -- just a few minutes. Length-wise it's more like a haiku than a feature film. You can certainly compare apples and oranges, but it has to be done with care. Also (unlike the performing arts except for shows like DWTS) figure skating exists in the high-stakes environment of competition. (Like you, I'm almost exclusively interested in competitive skating.) I think this high-stakes, on-the-edge quality is part of the unique essence of figure skating that the genre's future Arlene Croce will develop.
More when I get my kitchen and bath remodel under control!