Valova & Vasiliev- underrated or not?

[lulu]

Ohh, and I just noticed the video page still works!

I love that site! It's a wonderful tribute to V&V's partnership and I'm glad it's still available through the internet archive. So happy to finally see the full version of Shurale as well. I saw a clip on youtube, and was immediately intrigued. Fantastic program. I could also see the SelMaks doing a great job with that music/program concept as well. There's also this great page on V&V's contributions to pairs skating: http://web.archive.org/web/201002170.../EnglStyle.htm. Looking at the programs page, the scarf number (professional routine 1996-1997) sounds voidy as well.

[Vash01]

Good points. It makes me sad that Moskvina hit it out of the park with her music selections for M&D and B&S, but V&V always got such strange combinations. I liked the version of Fur Elise they used in 84 (have never heard any other skaters use it), but putting it with pop music didn't work, and The Final Countdown and Snowstorm in 1988 were each individually good portions of programs, but not together! When they skate a program like Shurale, then you really get to see how artistic they were. I think a lot of people remember them for having weird 80s music and costumes, compared to the sleek elegant look of G&G, but don't remember how interesting V&V's choreo was.



This is a great question. The music is Shurale by Yarrulin. This website lists all their music: http://web.archive.org/web/201002170...glPrograms.htm (it's no longer available, so you have to view it through the "wayback machine" website). I would like to see the "Demon" program from 1980!

Here is a description of Shurale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9E%C3%BCr%C3%A4le According to legends, Şüräle lives in forests. He has long fingers, a horn on its forehead, and a woolly body. He lures victims to a thicket and tickles them to death.

Also of interest to this thread is the page which lists their achievements and talks about their style. One thing that I've always wondered about is V&V being called the first Soviet pair to turn "pro." That's not the first time I've heard that. Rodnina didn't afaik but the Protopopovs skated in many professional shows before V&V. Is the difference that the Protopopovs defected, while V&V were the first ones who actually had permission from the Soviet Union?

Ohh, and I just noticed the video page still works!

Thanks for the link to Shurale! I really enjoyed that performance, despite two mistakes. It was a more interesting and mature performance than G&G's clean one (they were still just kids then).

About Moskvina not selecting good music for V&V, I think Tamara too was learning at that point, by trial and error. Even M&D's 1989 worlds LP music was not at all suitable for them. The following year she hit the jackpot with Liebestraum for M&D, and produced many masterpieces for her skaters. Bechke & Petrov also benefitted from that, at the 92 Olympics, because the Nutcracker was perfect music for them. By the time she got B&S, she had mastered it all. Sadly, after B&S she just could not get a pair that could skate at that high level. She tried with Julia & Sergei, but although Julia was very talented she did not have the mental makeup of a champion. Kawaguti Smirnov are OK, and even good at times, but B&S music is not going to work for them. I think she finally found the right music for them, with Claire de Lune, but K&S have their limitations. They can be good but not great.

To get back on topic, IMO V&V may have dealt with a lot of 'new' things of their time, including their coach.

[lulu]

Another point about V&V's music, weren't disjointed music selections and heavy reliance on synthetic music (I'm thinking of R&Z's discotheque version of "Flight of the Bumble Bees" here) more the rule than the exception in the 1980s?

[sadya]

When you watch the other skating disciplines of that era you find many athletes skating programs with similar kinds of music cuts, music that doesn't seem to fit together, too sudden changes in style or rythm sometimes, too many selections, so you're right.

[Cherub721]

You guys are right, but G&G seem to have been mostly immune to the 80s thing. Their costumes were simple and elegant and their music choices were not bizarre. I wonder if this helped form an impression of them being fresh and artistic.

[lulu]

Good points. It makes me sad that Moskvina hit it out of the park with her music selections for M&D and B&S, but V&V always got such strange combinations.

On the flip side, I would have loved to have seen M&D skate to Shurale, they would have done such a fabulous job with that music! (By the same token, after seeing Selezneva & Makarov's "Night on Bald Mountain", I would have loved to have seen M&D skate to that piece as well).

Likewise, I think the music for the 1987 LP would have fit B&S. I could see B&S skate to V&V's Strauss medley (they did skate to Radetzky's March in 1999-2000)

[Vash01]

Likewise, I think the music for the 1987 LP would have fit B&S. I could see B&S skate to V&V's Strauss medley (they did skate to Radetzky's March in 1999-2000)

B&S also skated to You Million waltz (or something close to it) as their 1997 SP.

[manleywoman]

I'm a big fan of V&V. Oleg especially. One of my favorite (and earliest . . . #3) podcasts at http://www.manleywoman.com was with Oleg.

[lulu]

I'm a big fan of V&V. Oleg especially. One of my favorite (and earliest . . . #3) podcasts at http://www.manleywoman.com was with Oleg.

I really enjoyed that podcast as well.