Michelle Kwan's Dream of Desdemona and use of music

[Mayra]

Dante's Prayer from Hershey's in 1998


The spins in both directions, the COE Spiral and the general run of her blade are all so "Winter" is another early Kwan favorite of mine, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I can't get over how many exhibitions Michelle had.

Ahh... the golden age of skating. I know a lot of people weren't fond of them, but I have to say I miss these cheesefests and pro-ams. There just isn't enough skating on TV anymore.

[Marco]

Absolutely loved the promise of Miraculous Mandarin. Too bad she didn't trust it enough.

The two programs she dumped that season, Rush and Miraculous Mandarin, were both masterpieces and showed off her best, IMO.

[pollyanna]

"Winter" is another early Kwan favorite of mine, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

The music for "Winter" has not been cleared by WMG, so if someone uploads it to youtube, the audio is automatically disabled.

[skatesindreams]

Thanks, pollyanna.
"Beautiful World" is a treasure.
The way that Michelle interprets and conveys the emotion/message of the song through her performance is magnificent.

I'd like to mention another program: "Fate of Carmen" from 1999.
The precision and dramatic intensity she brought to it took her skating to a new level.

Two of her best performances were at the 1999 Keri Lotion Classic and 1999 COI.
Unfortunately, neither seem to be on YouTube.

[floskate]

Here is Beautiful World from the 2000 Keri Lotion Classic. Lovely. Michelle skates with such freedom.

Thank you for this. Here's the 2000/01 GPF exhibition version which I also adore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4Ip...eature=related

There's such expanse and fluidity of movement in this program and it's designed to showcase her lovely running edges and spirals. I think this is one of the programs that really makes Michelle look as though she's floating out there. Absolutely glorious artistic skating which most competing today couldn't hold a candle to. I particularly love the opening of the left hand as she turns the corner into that rink length spiral on a flat towards the end. So simple, but oh so effective.

[taf2002]

Someone uploaded this video of Winter, but the music is different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsBzD...feature=fvwrel

[pollyanna]

There's such expanse and fluidity of movement in this program and it's designed to showcase her lovely running edges and spirals. I think this is one of the programs that really makes Michelle look as though she's floating out there. Absolutely glorious artistic skating which most competing today couldn't hold a candle to.

Yes, yes that's it exactly! Thank you for putting into words what I was thinking.

I am so loving this thread. I haven't watched many of these programs in years and it's so nice to re-visit them. It really brings home to me once again what an incredible artist Michelle was/is and how lucky I am to have been around when she was competing.

[Marco]

Beautiful World was wonderful even though the vocal was a little annoying for my taste. I had to watch it again this morning just to soak in the wonderful skating.

[skfan]

Beautiful World was wonderful even though the vocal was a little annoying for my taste. I had to watch it again this morning just to soak in the wonderful skating.

yes, but the important question is (LOL), which beautiful world costume was the best? the pink lace negligee one? the grey-black powerful and classy one? the gold long sleeve one?

[Triple Butz]

...even though the vocal was a little annoying for my taste.

Really? How so?

[skatemomaz]

Thanks for starting this thread, I am enjoying all of the great memories. It made me realize how much I miss the Kween and how great a program could be without eleventy billion spin positions, and frantic skating from jump to jump to jump.

[aftershocks]

Absolutely loved the promise of Miraculous Mandarin. Too bad she didn't trust it enough.

The two programs she dumped that season, Rush and Miraculous Mandarin, were both masterpieces and showed off her best, IMO.

I'm not sure that it was Michelle not trusting it enough, just that commentators, probably even some viewers, and perhaps her coach, Frank (as suggested by a youtube poster), were not partial to the program. Thus, from some of the negative reactions, she was likely encouraged to drop it. I'm sure she trusted herself and her choreographer, Peter, but the unfortunate rushed timing of the program's debut and the negative reception may have convinced her to let it go -- she may have intended to revisit it, but never had the opportunity.

BTW 2000 Masters Rush sp (has problems loading on my computer tho')

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPvFn_vwBk

[Kelvster]

some food for thought after watching that masterpiece of a programme (short programme at worlds 97)

if michelle could take a deep breath and relax a little bit going into that triple lutz

she wouldn't have leaned backwards and stepped out

she wouldn't have ended up in 4th place (that programme was a masterpiece, as i said)

she wouldn't have lost the world title to tara lipinski

as a 2-time world champion going into olys, she (most likely) wouldn't have lost the gold in 1998. At least two / three more judges would say, give the gold to the 2-time world champion. (I know this is another thread ... me reckons that tara probably deserved to win, because her skate embodied more the "olympik spirit" ... but michelle's lyra angelica was so much more mature, and it was well-executed)

then we probably wouldn't have seen michelle performing all those magnificient programmes thereafter ... most notably Ariane in 1999, and Fields of Gold in 2002. To me, Michelle's jumping abilities began to decline when she took out much of the choreography for her red violin programme in 2000

and we wouldn't have seen the watered down programmes after 2002 ... i still rooted for michelle after 2002, but in all honesty, her programmes became more and more empty

....

the list goes on ...

[Marco]

Really? How so?

I am sure she is amazing, but her vocals were almost too loud. It's just a personal preference.

[Marco]

I'm not sure that it was Michelle not trusting it enough, just that commentators, probably even some viewers, and perhaps her coach, Frank (as suggested by a youtube poster), were not partial to the program. Thus, from some of the negative reactions, she was likely encouraged to drop it. I'm sure she trusted herself and her choreographer, Peter, but the unfortunate rushed timing of the program's debut and the negative reception may have convinced her to let it go -- she may have intended to revisit it, but never had the opportunity.

BTW 2000 Masters Rush sp (has problems loading on my computer tho')

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPvFn_vwBk

I am sure commentators and viewers feedback don't matter nearly as much as international judges feedback. In my mind she kept losing to Slutskaya within that period NOT because of those programs, but because judges were somehow on crack or were politiked into thinking Slutskaya ever deserved a 5.7 or above on the second mark.

She ultimately won 2001 Worlds so I can't say if she or her team made the wrong choice, but it's sad to not be able to see Miraculous Mandarin in its full glory. (Rush was already phenominal at Masters and Skate Canada)

[walei]

I was actually sad that Michelle ditched the Rush SP because it was constantly marked behind Slute and went with EoE. Although I enjoyed MM, I prefer SotBS more.

Anyone know what Michelle's plan for MM was? Replace SotBS in 2001? Use it as an Olympic program in 2002 instead of Scheherazade?

[FunnyBut]

I In my mind she kept losing to Slutskaya within that period NOT because of those programs, but because judges were somehow on crack or were politiked into thinking Slutskaya ever deserved a 5.7 or above on the second mark.

Yes, I felt that they gave credit to Irina for her tech superiority, but totally ignored that Michelle's presentation was so much better.

[giselle23]

Beautiful World was wonderful even though the vocal was a little annoying for my taste. I had to watch it again this morning just to soak in the wonderful skating.

Beautiful World is sung by the Korean soprano Sumi Jo. She is brilliant (but concededly, not a pop singer). As an interesting aside, her voice was used as the voice of the opera singing daughter in the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce. It was so beautiful that I made a point of watching the credits to see who the singer was.

Another brilliant Kwan exhibition is One More Time. I have seen it on Youtube in the past, but it seems to have disappeared. If anyone finds it, please post a link!

[pollyanna]

One More Time from the 1999 Hershey Kisses Figure Skating Challenge.

[mrinalini]

One More Time from the 1999 Hershey Kisses Figure Skating Challenge.

Thanks for this! This might be her most mature and complete exhibition ever alongside Kissing You. I watched her Pocahontas exhibition skate from the 1997 Hershey's Kisses Figure Skating Challenge (both programs have been put up by the same user) and it's amazing how different she looked in just two years at the same event. One skate just exudes youthful exuberance and the other is so dramatic and sophisticated.