I think Scott Hamilton deserved to lose his left nut for ever convincing our eight year old selves that Elvis Stojko was any good. And Tracy Wilson suporting River Dance... I'm going to chalk that up to her being an ice dancer and supporting anyone who could sort of compete with the Russians. The Canadians get on the Yu-Na Crack about some seriously tacky skaters. They always suck. Liz Manley, Josee, Joannie imploding at Worlds eighteen years in a row...(even in 09 really)
Riverdance should not be in this post. Anyone who knows anything about ice dance (which your posts show you clearly DO NOT) knows it was a solid program, especially compared to nonsense like A&P's FD that year, which was 50% posing and 40% two-foot skating.
As for Moceanu's routine, yeah, it was tacky/cheesy as hell, but for a 14-year-old competing in a state that clearly embraces that kind of cheese, it was smart choreography. It wasn't randomly tacky; it was coherently designed to embrace that kind of cheese and coherence is exactly what has been lacking in floor choreo for the past fifteen years or so. She put it across extremely well.
Riverdance was a completely contrived, cheesey program that was somewhat lacking in difficulty and had no business competing amongst the top two Russian teams.
Again, showing your ignorance of ice dance. Contrived in what manner? Colin Dunn himself (head dancer of the Riverdance troupe) verified that the program was authentic in terms of presenting Irish folk dance. What kind of dance was Pasha authentically presenting, writhing around on the ice in angst?
My ignorance? What wonderful changes of hold in that Riverdance...oh wait there were none. None of the medalists presented a traditional type of dance. By contrived...I mean, Riverdance was extremely popular at the time and they come out with some gimmicky program with all of Shae Lynn's cheesy expressions. Riverdance was not a big smile fest. It just came across as hokey...at least to the European judges. It wasn't going to sell to the other judges based on what was winning at the time.
hahahaha. I still think Nancy should have won even though it goes against all sense of style whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI think Scott Hamilton deserved to lose his left nut for ever convincing our eight year old selves that Elvis Stojko was any good. And Tracy Wilson suporting River Dance... I'm going to chalk that up to her being an ice dancer and supporting anyone who could sort of compete with the Russians. The Canadians get on the Yu-Na Crack about some seriously tacky skaters. They always suck. Liz Manley, Josee, Joannie imploding at Worlds eighteen years in a row...(even in 09 really)
ReplyDeleteoh yeah we were all about river dance in 98', memories....:) even though now i can totally see it was way out of its league
ReplyDeleteYour shame is my shame Dave. And to add to it I used to hate on 1996 era Boginskaya and say she was too old.
ReplyDeleteOK, OK, you can say what you want about Dominique, but that routine was pure genius. The crowd went insane.
ReplyDeletesorry, but the only thing I could think of during Riverdance was Andreea Raducan's Floor routine from Sydney...
ReplyDeleteOh, the shame. I was one of those who loved the Riverdance routine back then.
ReplyDeleteLOOOOOOL. Definitely guilty of loving Riverdance and Elvis back in the day. It's not my fault! I was young and patriotic!!!
ReplyDeleteI still like that Moceanu routine. I can't help it.
ReplyDeleteRiverdance should not be in this post. Anyone who knows anything about ice dance (which your posts show you clearly DO NOT) knows it was a solid program, especially compared to nonsense like A&P's FD that year, which was 50% posing and 40% two-foot skating.
ReplyDeleteAs for Moceanu's routine, yeah, it was tacky/cheesy as hell, but for a 14-year-old competing in a state that clearly embraces that kind of cheese, it was smart choreography. It wasn't randomly tacky; it was coherently designed to embrace that kind of cheese and coherence is exactly what has been lacking in floor choreo for the past fifteen years or so. She put it across extremely well.
ReplyDeleteRiverdance was a completely contrived, cheesey program that was somewhat lacking in difficulty and had no business competing amongst the top two Russian teams.
ReplyDeleteAgain, showing your ignorance of ice dance. Contrived in what manner? Colin Dunn himself (head dancer of the Riverdance troupe) verified that the program was authentic in terms of presenting Irish folk dance. What kind of dance was Pasha authentically presenting, writhing around on the ice in angst?
ReplyDeleteMy ignorance? What wonderful changes of hold in that Riverdance...oh wait there were none. None of the medalists presented a traditional type of dance. By contrived...I mean, Riverdance was extremely popular at the time and they come out with some gimmicky program with all of Shae Lynn's cheesy expressions. Riverdance was not a big smile fest. It just came across as hokey...at least to the European judges. It wasn't going to sell to the other judges based on what was winning at the time.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say I was never a Moceanu fan. I always found her overrated and phony.
ReplyDeleteoh fuck yeah. I loved 'em all.
ReplyDeleteYes, your ignorance. I've been coaching high-level ice dance for thirteen years. What are YOUR credentials, "Aunt Joyce"??
ReplyDelete