Michelle Kwan's Dream of Desdemona and use of music

[floskate]

I uploaded it for our collective enjoyment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBBTs-GgdDI

Thank you so much!

[BaileyCatts]

Since this is a Michelle thread, random question for video hunters please.

I remember a performance, I think it was to Mulan (I remember a somewhat purplish-colored dress?), where at the beginning of that performance, before she even skated, she got a standing O and got so choked up she had to pull out of her opening pose and skate around to compose herself again before starting? Am I imagining that, or did that happen?

[Triple Butz]

Since this is a Michelle thread, random question for video hunters please.

I remember a performance, I think it was to Mulan (I remember a somewhat purplish-colored dress?), where at the beginning of that performance, before she even skated, she got a standing O and got so choked up she had to pull out of her opening pose and skate around to compose herself again before starting? Am I imagining that, or did that happen?

Could it be this performance of "A Song for You" after the Torino Games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4MbfKSX10I

[Kelvster]

Oh ... michelle

there won't be another skater quite like her

DOD is a magical piece ... i remember watching that change of edge spiral when i was a kid ... i was mesmerized !!!!!!!!

[Marco]

What a masterpiece. And she absolutely did it justice.

Even when she botched the combo at Worlds, she skated it with such speed and intensity that she deserved 5.9s across the board on the second mark. I think it was poor judging to not have it above Lipinski (strangely I was OK with it below Gusmeroli and Butyrskaya). She so deserved to win Worlds that year just on programs and maturity alone.

[skatesindreams]

I uploaded it for our collective enjoyment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBBTs-GgdDI

This "sparkles".
The quality of her skating; and the committment she gave the performance were wonderful.
Just magical; and rarely seen now.

[skatingfan5]

This "sparkles".
The quality of her skating; and the committment she gave the performance were wonderful.
Just magical; and rarely seen now.

That "full commitment" in her skating is one thing that really set her apart from other skaters, even those with great technical skills. I remember being completely mesmerized by her performance of Dante's Prayer during a COI show in 1998, which was the first time I saw Michelle skate in person. And it was still quite evident even last fall at All That Skate LA, where her jumps were only 3T and 2A. Thanks for the trip down MK memory lane with those clips!

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Watching this routine made me wish Phillip Mills did more work with Michelle Kwan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqVXK8xdpV0&NR=1

I think he understood her "look" very well and gave her the discipline and control over her movement that she had with Lori but also allowed her to have more freedom and abandon that she would have in her later years.

[StonewshMullet]

FINALLY!!! DOD was my all time favorite MK program.

[kwanette]

This "sparkles".
The quality of her skating; and the committment she gave the performance were wonderful.
Just magical; and rarely seen now.

Consider this a rep..


Thanks to those who posted all of these great links..

Lovin' this thread..

[skatesindreams]

Thanks - and the same to you!
I love this thread, also.

It's become "fashionable" in some quarters, to "belittle" Michelle's skating and her contribution to the sport.
What other skater could equal her sustained excellence, in many styles, over a long career?
Her work will continue to awe and inspire, after most others have been forgotten.

Brava, Michelle!

[skatingfan5]

It's become "fashionable" in some quarters, to "belittle" Michelle's skating and her contribution to the sport. What other skater could equal her sustained excellence, in many styles, over a long career? Her work will continue to awe and inspire, after most others have been forgotten.

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness;

~ John Keats

[OliviaPug]

It's become "fashionable" in some quarters, to "belittle" Michelle's skating and her contribution to the sport.
What other skater could equal her sustained excellence, in many styles, over a long career?
Her work will continue to awe and inspire, after most others have been forgotten.

Well, fashion is fashion after all. It comes and goes with the change of the seasons.

Classic style is forever appreciated and indeed lives on forever.

Kwan.

O-

[Bryan]

Thanks for this thread. What a joy to relive some of Michelle's most magical programs and moments.

I have said it for years, and will say it again: her 1997 programs to DoD and Taj Mahal are absolute masterpieces.

Hooray for the REAL Kween!

[RunnersHigh]

I uploaded it for our collective enjoyment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBBTs-GgdDI

Wow! Enjoyed it very much.

[giselle23]

I love this performance by Michelle at age 14. A star was born.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHsorCH-690

[belladella]

Could it be this performance of "A Song for You" after the Torino Games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4MbfKSX10I

This is the tribute by Jim McKay that moved Michelle so much at Marshall's that she had to leave the ice to compose herself. Beautiful tribute and so well deserved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9cMW...1337286DE69746

[shan]

Could it be this performance of "A Song for You" after the Torino Games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4MbfKSX10I

Who choreographed this program?

[Coco]

All of these are great, but Kissing You is one of my faves. Nothing compares to "Winter", though. Too bad that can't be on youtube!

[aftershocks]

BellaDella, thanks! I was going to mention that too. I'm glad you found and posted the Jim McKay tribute clip!

This is a great thread. Thanks so much for starting it BigB08822, and to everyone for their contributions.

Hugs, kwanette -- and thanks!

Also, thanks for responding to my query about the music for DoD, Pollyanna and Mr.Fan. So interesting that those different music choices were put together and it became such a seamless whole in that program. I looked at the performance again to try and determine where the cuts were, and it is hard to distinguish. Truly, what a masterpiece. I wish someone would write a book with Kwan someday focusing mainly on her career on the ice and how the decisions came about for her music choices and choreography. Sigh ... A really definitive biography should happen too sometime in the future.

Thanks asdf334 for mentioning we should read the story behind the music for The Miraculous Mandarin! I researched it, and here are three links. The first provides fascinating details, along with an audio clip that further discusses Bela Bartok and the story behind how he was inspired to compose the music.

http://content.carnegiehall.org/arti..._mandarin.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miraculous_Mandarin

http://www.bartokrecords.com/index.p...d=66&Itemid=85

Soooo, it wasn’t just Peter Carruthers who hated the music and couldn’t be bothered to understand it – historically, it was difficult for many people to wrap their ears and their intellect around. Such a shame. The story is more of an allegory, isn't it? The music is very challenging too, but inspired, and I mean sometimes the most difficult and painful of experiences brings growth and something powerful and beautiful beyond words. Ahhhh, yes, isn't it kind of amazing that Michelle has shown us that too with her life and her career -- that's kind of what she was showing us in her 2002 Olympic exhibition to Fields of Gold ... and it didn't end there. Her life wasn't over ... she has continued to push herself. Like the lyrics from A Song for You:
“I’ve lived my life in stages with 10,000 people watching …The image you have of me, is what I hope to be.”

Here’s the youtube clip again of The Miraculous Mandarin …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWarys9kuzM

Wow, there is a lot going on in that performance that people just miss because they dismissed the program and the music immediately. I’m glad the horrible commentary was stripped out of this clip, so we can just view the performance. Don’t you guys think it might be interesting if Peter O. reworked this for Yu Na or Caroline Z?

ETA: Oh, wow, Coco -- I didn't know the actual music to Winter had been stripped from the youtube clip. It was up there for awhile -- what a shame that youtube is being corrupted by copyright issues Anyways, here is Winter Song from 2009 (kind of helps a little... sniff)

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

And let's not forget the strong, intense Red Violin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P06NF...B98936A2CB701A This was her first performance of Red Violin (and she had a bad cold that week!!!) She later reworked it for her 2000 lp, right? Yeah, one of the commentators gives her credit for putting together this complex exhibition: "...It's very difficult to maintain that type of focus and composure throughout the entire week through the exhibition. At some point, you just have to let up. She's not there yet." Nope, Michelle has never been there... she's never let up.