Then I'm not sure what you meant by the below when you were commenting that I should forgive the crookedness of her arms because of how busy her program is.
I did dance for 14 years. Not just ballet. I also did contemporary, jazz, hip hop and ballroom. My 2 sisters were professional dancers. I went waaaay past Ballet 101 and I trained in the Vaganova method so I can speak to Russian ballet arms and the Russian ballet style. Alina's arm movements are definitely not in the Russian ballet style. I don't know of any school of ballet (Balanchine included as modern as he pushed his own style) that would teach such angular, blocky arm movements without any softness to the elbows, wrists and fingers or without articulation in the hands which she flaps around as an afterthought rather than controlling the movement from the wrist to palm to fingers. Even flamenco dance requires these characteristics to the arm movements. Softness, delicacy, ease of movement...there are many different ballet schools but these qualities are always present as they are the overall aesthetic of ballet and Alina's arms were anything but.
If I had to characterize her arm movements, I would say they are some combination of cheerleading and angular Bob Fosse jazz arms and they don't fit her programs at all.
I guess I'm completely puzzled by your comments about skating being similar to ballet "plie-ing" - it's not, because of the use of very different muscle groups in ballet and in skating due to the different types of movements for both.
I don't know anyone's background here, we all just post based on the best of our knowledge, and we should let our points speak for themselves without the "backup" of CVs.
You claim to be trained in the Vaganova method thus you have the authority to judge that Alina isn't performing to Russian ballet.
This surprised me, as the Russian arms, hands, wrists are famous among the ballet community for being different from other schools, being much more expressive.
You don't have to take my word/CV for it, you can go to their website.
However, Alina's choreographer is a REAL former Bolshoi ballerina, the team is all Russian, they deliberately choreographed her programs this way, performed this way in front of millions of Russians who know Russian ballet. I, plus many many others, see the Russian method in her artistry.
Logic would suggest that after 2 years of performing/watching the program, any genuine mistakes/faux pas would have been conveyed to ALina's team.
So perhaps we should consider giving some credit to a Russian gold medalist team for KNOWING their Russian-origin stuff.
I am not trained in the Balanchine style though I understand and performed Balanchine pieces. Even if I don't, I would never critique say, American Balanchine-school choreographers for not knowing their Balanchine style. I'd do a bit more research on their style if what I see isn't what I thought I'd learned before making a conclusion.
Another point is these movements are obviously not taught as the standard in RADs but rather *choreographed* according to Alina's programs. Neither you nor I learned these in ballet school but that doesn't mean that they are not balletic. Her SP is modern abstract, her LP is Spanish in flavor. In dance/ballet, the prima ballerina doesn't perform standard studio arm movements either. One choreographs arm movements according to the TYPE of program, eg a Stravinsky is different from a Malageuna is different from a Swan Lake. DQ Kitri variations show a lot of crooked elbows, in front of the chest and with hands on the hips, as it has a flamenco influence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUuT9pipZ_I
Maybe if Alina is allowed to hold a fan it will be more obvious.
Not to mention hers isn't a ballet performance but a FS program, therefore there is even greater room for choreography.
I'm also surprised that you think flamenco's arms, hands, wrists show... soft, delicate ease of movement??? They are anything but...they are strong, angular ("blocky"
) and staccato.
Go to 6:35 for a good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbMDH3-lBqM
There were a few moments in Alina's skate when she lapsed in ability to hold her limbs forth, but so did every other skater. Many droop or flail. This is due to the fact that they are in constant motion, and the act of balancing supersedes everything else.
I'm annoyed that commentators aren't asking the skaters to explain better their programs, their artistic intentions, their moves, so they can share interesting facts about the skater and program with viewers during the performance than make stupid talk about toilet breaks.
They can explain that the Russian ballet DQ is not really the literature DQ, but a Spanish themed romance and ALina is portraying Kitri, the lead ingenue.
I still don't know for example, if and how Alina's SP dress changed colors?
This kind of lacking in furthering knowledge about the programs, or worse, spreading misinformation (eg nothing to see in 1st half) really doesn't help to spike interest in the sport and does a disservice to the skaters and the audience alike.
Was just trying to avoid that.
as this is unfair to Alina and the efforts put into her arms and hands choreography, her artistry.
