Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Dante's Prayer
Which performance was your favorite? I can spend hours, days, years watching this program and it never gets old. This was Michelle at her absolute peak. Which move is your favorite? The running on the toe picks gets me every time, but the Frank Carroll edges and Lori Nichol oozing blends with the music and Michelle's interpretation to create a magical and truly winning combination. It makes up for the butch haircut that will never be forgotten or lived down.
I will take her loss at the 1999 Worlds, as frustrating and unfortunate as it may be, to have seen this program the millions of times ABC, NBC and FOX chose to bring it to us.
Perhaps the best performance of it, but the audio is annoyingly buzzing and off.
A focus group-tested type fluff piece, but we learn that Michelle and I have the same favorite colors. If you can make it past her Harrison Ford and fashion comments, the program is amazing. Just one shaky landing, but there is something touching, haunting and wonderfully heartbreaking about this program. The loss of the '98 Olympics adds to the beauty of this program, as it appeared to reaffirm her love for skating. The Jef Billings dress was certainly an upgrade. Oh, I love when Michelle skates to music that only a Prozac Nation could love. Her Alicia Keys programs never worked for that very reason, they just didn't make you want to reach for the box of razors.
You're not imagining it, MK attempted a Triple Flip in an exhibition. In retrospect, going for her trickier jumps in exhibitions may have helped with their consistency when she decided to outdo her rash haircut decision and fire her support staff.
We'll rise above these earthly cares...
Still skating this program...
A creepy veteran sportscaster loves Michelle in all shades of blue.
Maybe the general public got bored of seeing the same programs all the time, but this one never got old!
When the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone
I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and the fire
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars
Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me...
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"The loss of the '98 Olympics adds to the beauty of this program, as it appeared to reaffirm her love for skating."
ReplyDeleteI agree. I also feel this way about her program On My Own, which she skated to at the Olympic exhibition the day after taking silver. At the climax of the song as she spins holding one leg high, both arms and her face lifted up, we hear ringing out "the world is full of happiness that I have never known." The strength-and-beauty-in-anguish of this moment, this private, lonely, and prophetic moment that we somehow get to share in, kills me every time. She truly is 'on her own' - set a world apart, even from the one who got the glory. ESPECIALLY from the one who got the glory.
Thank you for reminding us of the wonder that is Dante's Prayer. For me, other Michelle wonders include the aforementioned On My Own, Winter, Hands, and . . . shoot, even her Pocahontas was brilliant.