Friday, April 6, 2012

Favorite Things Friday



The disco king.



A work in progress.



The definitive Scheherezade was not a program by Yu-Na Kim or a hot mess choreographed by Kawahara, it is a masterpiece performed by Sir John Curry.






"Butterfly"



La vita e bella



Expression: Beautiful, Sensitive and Divine.




The girl who was supposed to rival Nastia Liukin.




A masterful Ukrainian.




Peter Vidmar was getting a mouthy!



Baby Viktor



Baller status.

6 comments:

  1. I am familiar enough with your blog to know to trust your insights wholeheartedly as they are remarkably, sensationally spot-on. So I am interested to hear your insights into why Sarah Kawahara's "Scheherazade" can be deemed a "hot mess." I never would have thought to describe the program as that - I just knew it never moved me like many of Michelle's programs - the ones that break my heart as they simultaneously make my spirit soar. I had only considered "Scheherazade" to be a lackluster program - is there more to it than that? What in your no-need-to-be-humble opinion qualifies it as a hot mess? You've earned my trust and I'm eager to take you at your word . . . and then watch the program with new eyes!

    Also, do you think Lori Nichol could have given Michelle a better program that year or were Lori's talents already on the slide(past hope)?

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  2. If you watch the original choreography at Goodwill Games, Sarah had her doing weird things like a death drop/butterfly that didn't compliment Michelle's style. It highlighted a lack of flexibility and looked extremely awkward on her. I was always of the opinion that Kawahara was a tad trashy in the '90s. She worked well for an unusual skater like Bebe (not a classic body) and did interesting work for Keauna and Rockne during the Olympic year. She was not a good match for Kwan. It was as though she tried to reinvent Kwan (which there was some pressure to do, because the judges and other countries were politicking and labeling her as boring), so they went in a direction that didn't make Michelle look much better. MK wound up taking out much of the choreography, but it was never nuanced or wonderful. The problems stemmed from a horrible music edit done by Frank Carroll. Since MK fired Lori, she didn't get to use the masterful Lenore Kay as her music edit. What resulted was one of the worst Scheherezade edits of all time. The music for her Triple Flip totally has the quality of sounding like a mistake is waiting to happen. I do think Lori would've given a better program, but I would've sent Kwan to Philip Mills based on his 'Hands' program or someone like Sandra Bezic who always makes her skaters look strong and confident for the Olympics.

    Kawahara's original version had some good ideas, but it was not something for Kwan. The program was very sloppy and unfinished. Neither the music or the choreography successfully created grand movements or took you on a journey.

    The hops Sarah put in during the footwork WERE cool, but Michelle took them out and made a watered down Lori program without any of the nuance, sophistication or interesting movements. It wound up being Lori-lite... very 5.8
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tean7L7oGk

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  3. I'm debating whether to comment, if y'all are gonna be M.I.A. for months at a time. jk, wb!

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  4. For some reason, I don't like John Curry's arms here,
    too stiff.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Wow, if the above entry doesn't encourage you to post more often, I don't know what will!

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