Which program makes you feel more fabulously tacky and wonderful inside? Unlike Peter Carruthers, you know you love it. Frankly, you live for the fact that Florent's program pissed off Peter.
Long multi-post on my opinion. Because I already wrote this and can copy + paste!
I kind of LOVE Amodio's program. His music and movements were the most interesting to me at 2010 NHK. I found the program to be a very modern take on the emotions someone experiences during and after a difficult breakup.
We begin with haunting thunder sounds. This is the pain felt in the moment a relationship ends. A soft piano takes over the melody as the sound of a barren, wind-swept wasteland bridges these two sections of music. We are now experiencing the regret that is felt as you struggle to come to terms with what is happening. How can I apologize, how can I hang on to this?
Then we move into pure anger (look at Florent's facial expression!). Screw them for doing this to me! After a step sequence we hit a musical transition that I find to be amazing. The moment Florent lands a Flying Sit Spin, the music moves into any almost video-game like quality. It's such an unexpected moment. Within the framework of the story being told, this is the person no longer being so angry and realizing they need to look towards the future.
The next musical transition represents our character, now past the initial sadness and anger of the breakup, trying to improve himself and put himself back out there in the World to date around and show his previous partner what a fool they were by leaving him. He is driven and outgoing and making it a point to display what an awesome individual he is. He is going out to bars and showing himself up, especially if he happens to bump into the ex.
The final part of the program represents the character now feeling secure and confident and "over" the relationship. He just wants to have fun and enjoy life!
Is the program perfect? No. Does the program have too much stationary movement? Yes. Some amount of "stepping" is fine but the program does use it a bit too much. The sequence of choreography near the halfway point of the program stays on the center of the ice too long - after those first series of kicks Amodio should be skating as he does the rest of the movements. I also think the crotch-grab is misplaced during this part of the program (but NOT during the later part of the program, it's appropriate there!). I also feel the end of his circular footwork sequence should not stop for a "pose" as it currently does (he already does that earlier in the sequence). The pose itself is really good, it should just be incorporated while moving!
The other problems with the program are the standard CoP issues that plague the current rules - some useless spin positions, too many jumps back-to-back-to-back directly after the halfway point of the program. Ideally the opening parts of the music would be extended out a bit more - the program spends more time on the later concepts I talked about since it is worthwhile under the current CoP rules (in terms of technical points) to cram all of your jumps in like that right after the half-way point.
You know what, though? Amodio sells his movements BRILLIANTLY. The amount of "stepping" in his program may not be ideal but how many other skaters can move their bodies like that? An extremely small amount. For me his LP was the most successful out of any we saw at NHK. Give Takahashi and Abbott the higher marks for Skating Skills and Transitions and maybe even Choreography (since their choreography can be considered more difficult and complex, despite not working with the music as well) but Amodio was the best in terms of PERFORMANCE and INTERPRETATION.
Sometimes art is created by mistake or without preconception. Morozov is often not a great choreographer and has to a tendency to create programs that rely on superficial arm movements. However, look at the music selections that have gone into Amodio's program:
"Broken" by Lisa Gerrard, "Apologize" by One Republic, "Imma Be" by Black Eyed Peas, "Don't Stop til' You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson.
The meaning of those songs and the fact that they are all very contemporary fits exactly into my interpretation of the program. Perhaps Morozov did not intend the program to have the depth I've assigned to it but, regardless, I felt those emotions from Amodio's performance, so accidental or not they are there (for me anyway).
I love the second program. I think that there are things about it that can be improved upon and should be fixed/tweaked but it was fun to watch and he seemed to be enjoying it which makes it so much better to watch. I hate CoP for taking the interpretive joy out of programs.
I love both, but I think the 2nd one brings out the spirit of Eurotrash a bit more.
ReplyDeleteGod, his jumps are pretty.
ReplyDeleteLong multi-post on my opinion. Because I already wrote this and can copy + paste!
ReplyDeleteI kind of LOVE Amodio's program. His music and movements were the most interesting to me at 2010 NHK. I found the program to be a very modern take on the emotions someone experiences during and after a difficult breakup.
We begin with haunting thunder sounds. This is the pain felt in the moment a relationship ends. A soft piano takes over the melody as the sound of a barren, wind-swept wasteland bridges these two sections of music. We are now experiencing the regret that is felt as you struggle to come to terms with what is happening. How can I apologize, how can I hang on to this?
Then we move into pure anger (look at Florent's facial expression!). Screw them for doing this to me! After a step sequence we hit a musical transition that I find to be amazing. The moment Florent lands a Flying Sit Spin, the music moves into any almost video-game like quality. It's such an unexpected moment. Within the framework of the story being told, this is the person no longer being so angry and realizing they need to look towards the future.
The next musical transition represents our character, now past the initial sadness and anger of the breakup, trying to improve himself and put himself back out there in the World to date around and show his previous partner what a fool they were by leaving him. He is driven and outgoing and making it a point to display what an awesome individual he is. He is going out to bars and showing himself up, especially if he happens to bump into the ex.
The final part of the program represents the character now feeling secure and confident and "over" the relationship. He just wants to have fun and enjoy life!
Is the program perfect? No. Does the program have too much stationary movement? Yes. Some amount of "stepping" is fine but the program does use it a bit too much. The sequence of choreography near the halfway point of the program stays on the center of the ice too long - after those first series of kicks Amodio should be skating as he does the rest of the movements. I also think the crotch-grab is misplaced during this part of the program (but NOT during the later part of the program, it's appropriate there!). I also feel the end of his circular footwork sequence should not stop for a "pose" as it currently does (he already does that earlier in the sequence). The pose itself is really good, it should just be incorporated while moving!
ReplyDeleteThe other problems with the program are the standard CoP issues that plague the current rules - some useless spin positions, too many jumps back-to-back-to-back directly after the halfway point of the program. Ideally the opening parts of the music would be extended out a bit more - the program spends more time on the later concepts I talked about since it is worthwhile under the current CoP rules (in terms of technical points) to cram all of your jumps in like that right after the half-way point.
You know what, though? Amodio sells his movements BRILLIANTLY. The amount of "stepping" in his program may not be ideal but how many other skaters can move their bodies like that? An extremely small amount. For me his LP was the most successful out of any we saw at NHK. Give Takahashi and Abbott the higher marks for Skating Skills and Transitions and maybe even Choreography (since their choreography can be considered more difficult and complex, despite not working with the music as well) but Amodio was the best in terms of PERFORMANCE and INTERPRETATION.
Sometimes art is created by mistake or without preconception. Morozov is often not a great choreographer and has to a tendency to create programs that rely on superficial arm movements. However, look at the music selections that have gone into Amodio's program:
"Broken" by Lisa Gerrard, "Apologize" by One Republic, "Imma Be" by Black Eyed Peas, "Don't Stop til' You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson.
The meaning of those songs and the fact that they are all very contemporary fits exactly into my interpretation of the program. Perhaps Morozov did not intend the program to have the depth I've assigned to it but, regardless, I felt those emotions from Amodio's performance, so accidental or not they are there (for me anyway).
I love the second program. I think that there are things about it that can be improved upon and should be fixed/tweaked but it was fun to watch and he seemed to be enjoying it which makes it so much better to watch. I hate CoP for taking the interpretive joy out of programs.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the Rudy Gallindo-style kitsch over the Brian Joubert-style kitsch.
ReplyDelete