Programs that make you feel uncomfortable

[MRani]

I find it almost impossible to enjoy any Bollywood themed program. The only one that felt authentic to me was the D/W OD. The rest kind of feel like they’re making fun of my culture, even though I know that isn’t the intention.

 

[dramagrrl]

The Hartsell siblings skated an exhib to Jewel's "Foolish Games" (a total angst love song that could not possibly be interpreted otherwise) back in the late 90s or early 2000s. It was so many different kinds of wrong.

 

[UMBS Go Blue]

What was even more bizarre was at Worlds directly in front of me was Barbara Fuser- Poli directly in front of me bopping her head up and down to the beat of the music with a stop watch while Guignard and Fabri performed.

It was kinda cute, though, to see her bob up and down even more excitedly every time she stopped and started that watch to confirm to herself that those lifts were indeed well-timed.

 

[Marco]

Sotnikova's squealing program in 2013

Medvedeva's 911 program, in fact, make that all Averbukh programs for Eteri girls

 

[MRani]

Sotnikova's squealing program in 2013

Medvedeva's 911 program, in fact, make that all Averbukh programs for Eteri girls

I’d somehow completely exorcised Med’s 9/11 program from my memory. Omg, I did not need to remember that was a thing.

 

[MAXSwagg]

Domnina and Shabalin Aboriginal dance was and is amazing.

 

[IceAlisa]

A 13 year old girl skating to Big Spender in this dress and in that manner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnc3UwCiIBU
Sexualization of a child makes me uncomfortable.

 

[Vagabond]

What on earth is Tutberidze thinking?

 

[chapis]

What on earth is Tutberidze thinking?

Probably she was not thinking, maybe she is simply ignorant and lazy. I don´t know that song and my english is bad, so just reading the lyrics something sexual is not the first thing that comes to my mind, I get that is a woman wanting to have fun with a man but sex is not the only way to have fun, maybe she wants watch movies . Maybe Eteri is not good in english. Although there is no justification for not investigating or asking about exactly what the song is about.

 

[IceAlisa]

I think Eteri knew exactly what the song is about--look at the dress.

 

[misskarne]

Domnina and Shabalin Aboriginal dance was and is amazing.

It says a lot about you that you think it was acceptable, and nothing good.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I haven't gone through the posts here yet but I give it to 2....

1. Totmianina & Marinin Skate America 2004, I had front row seat to that... I only watched it on TV once and never after that.

2. Dube & Davison, I dont remember where that was.

BONUS:

1. Pogo, worlds Free 2017

2. Pogo Skate Canada Free 2017

Side note: doesn't make me uncomfortable but angry.... TOO MANY BLOWING KISSES AS CHOREOGRAPHY.... Lifetime achievement award... Valentina Marchei... Both programs this year, and 90% of programs past. Surely, you can think of other choreography..... But love you girl. Ti voglio bene!!!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

"My heart belongs to Daddy" is cringeworthy.

LOLLLLLLLLL Now that I think of it.. When I watched this last week I felt VERYYYYYY uncomfortable watching Laurine...... VERY....

What is she thinking.....

and like @IceAlisa says any program where they sexualize someone too young. In fact I don't want to see any skater sexualized (unless your name is Paul Poirier, call me.)

 

[dramagrrl]

2. Dube & Davison, I dont remember where that was.

Do you mean at 2007 (I think?) 4CC where her head got sliced by his blade during the SBS spins? Ouch. Yeah, I would definitely never watch that again.

 

[mysticchic]

Virtue and Moir's face in her crotch lift

The Muff Muncher

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

The Muff Muncher

Or, checking to see if the carpet matches the curtains.

 

[caseyedwards]

It says a lot about you that you think it was acceptable, and nothing good.

It was literally acceptable! People disputed the statement that Australia had the right to ban the Russians from performing it and didn’t take it but based on reporting at the time Australia could have filed a protest with the isu saying it wasn’t an od and they could have then banned d/s from doing it and forced a new OD. Then because of the extreme knee problems d/s would have been forced to do something recognizable horribly or just withdrew from Vancouver Olympics.

 

[MsZem]

Dominina and Shabalin should have been kicked out of the Olympics for their unapologetically racist disgrace. The fact that the ISU REWARDED that blatant racism by giving them a medal makes me more than a little uncomfortable.

Offensive as that program was, I don't see how the Olympics should be about policing program content, let alone kicking people out of the games for it. I mean, who gets to decide? If I decided as a Jewish person that nobody should be doing Schindler's List because it offends me to see the Holocaust trivialized, do I get to ban that? If D/W had struck a wrong note with the Bollywood program - and they took a risk there - should that have gotten them in trouble?

Claiming that the ISU rewarded blatant racism is a stretch. The competition did have three segments, and for all their limitations (mainly due to his knee issues) DomShabs were good skaters and World Champions. They could have skated to anything and gotten good marks, which is why it was so disappointing that they chose to do the so-called Aboriginal dance.

They did drop after the OD, of course. And while no other folk OD was that bad, there were certainly quite a few that were less than faithful representations of the culture they purported to represent.

I haven't gone through the posts here yet but I give it to 2....

1. Totmianina & Marinin Skate America 2004, I had front row seat to that... I only watched it on TV once and never after that.

2. Dube & Davison, I dont remember where that was.

Those aren't programs, they're accidents. Presumably nobody on FSU enjoys watching skaters get injured.

 

[MAXSwagg]

It says a lot about you that you think it was acceptable, and nothing good.

What do you think, I'm white? Are you a WHITE Australian? As a minority myself in the US, people have gotten way too hypersensitive and politically correct. Do you think Domnina and Shabalin are racist? Will it be considered blackface by your standards if a 5 year old white girl wants to dress up as the BLACK princess from Princess and the Frog (would be a weird costume and be comfortable with all that makeup but whatever)? Are you one of those people who scream "CULTURAL APPROPRIATION" because there's a TexMex or Chinese place in a food court? What about all the Bollywood dances? Or Scheherazade? Are composers, librettists, lyricists, painters, choreographers, etc. racist for creating art that reflect cultures other than their own? It's about intent and that program was not meant to offend. Unless you think they are racist, which I do not believe.

 

[nuge]

An exhibition Medvedeva did a couple of years ago.Can't remember what music it was but I remember thinking is this the same girl that won?She was dressed all in black and looked vampy and I thought it was trashy
Also the lift that Guinard/Fabbri do where he lifts her in between her legs I think C/L and the Legacs have done it too.

 

[misskarne]

What do you think, I'm white? Are you a WHITE Australian?

What does it matter? The Indigenous people of my country were offended and upset, and I was offended and upset with them. I could never be offended on the same level because I am not of their culture, but I was still offended. It was a disgusting piece, completely vile.

Do you think Domnina and Shabalin are racist?

Yes, I do think they're racist. And extremely arrogant for defending their revolting program instead of accepting that there were issues and making legitimate changes. And I think their choreographer is racist and arrogant, and I think any who defend what they did and how they did it are racist.

Will it be considered blackface by your standards if a 5 year old white girl wants to dress up as the BLACK princess from Princess and the Frog (would be a weird costume and be comfortable with all that makeup but whatever)?

Of course that is blackface, if they paint her face black. And it is not okay. She can dress up in Tiana's dress, that's fine. But why paint her skin? But the blame in that situation is on her parents, not on the five year old who at that age, does not know color or race unless she is being told so.

Are you one of those people who scream "CULTURAL APPROPRIATION" because there's a TexMex or Chinese place in a food court?

That is idiocy. There is such a thing as multiculturalism, you know. Here, we have a lot of Chinese restaurants. And Turkish, and Japanese, and Indian, and Thai, and Vietnamese, and so on. We share our food with each other.

What about all the Bollywood dances? Or Scheherazade?

The dances that are done of another culture should be carefully researched and consultation made with that culture. That was how Davis and White did it, was it not? And that was certainly, absolutely, how O'Brien and Merriman did it - over a year's worth of careful consultation with Indigenous elders to ensure that their Aboriginal program, that their costumes, were not offensive.

It's about intent and that program was not meant to offend. Unless you think they are racist, which I do not believe.

I do think they are racist. And the second they were told the program was offensive and they went into defense mode, the intent of the program absolutely became to offend. And seriously? No intention? He dragged her by her hair. Come on.

 

[rhapsody]

The Muff Muncher

Cunniliftus.

 

[mysticchic]

Cunniliftus.

Hahaha! Good 1
It's not the program,but Madison Chock's SD dress has Janet Jackson moment written all over it.

 

[skategal]

Anyone who skates to a clown program....or as I like to call it "Creepy Clown" programs.

There have been quite a few over the years.

And while I'm at it, I'll add Mime programs too or as I say "Creepy Mime Programs."

 

[sk9tingfan]

The Muff Muncher

I find that lift offensive and I believe that they have used it before. Wondering whoever decided to use that lift; V&M or the choreography team?

Although I really like the French, not sure if I like their choice of music for the SD. They probably wanted to appear current but there are so many other options.

 

[Areski]

Cunniliftus.

I can't cope with your avatar That French sulkiness.

This coined term for this lift is also amusing.

 

[nimi]

They did drop after the OD, of course. And while no other folk OD was that bad, there were certainly quite a few that were less than faithful representations of the culture they purported to represent.

Uh... D/S were skating an "Aboriginal" program to music that featured vocal parts by Sheila Chandra. She's a British musician with Indian heritage and her "Speaking In Tongues" pieces (that I'm pretty sure D/S were using in their music cut) are inspired by a traditional Indian technique of calculation for drummers. So, she's doing her own avantgarde thing based on old Indian traditions and D/S are skating to that. What on earth that has to do with Aboriginal traditions?!

I don' t remember all the ODs in that comp but I'm just saying, I don't recall any teams doing e.g. a supposedly Russian folk dance program skating to some Moroccan-inspired "World Music" or something... If there indeed were "less faithful representations of the culture they purported to represent" I'd be REALLY interested to check them out myself so names/links, please!

Unless, of course, you think "Aboriginal" simply equals "primitive" and any program that uses cartoonish "primitive" costuming and movements is therefore "faithful representation"...

 

[Areski]

Uh... D/S were skating an "Aboriginal" program to music that featured vocal parts by Sheila Chandra. She's a British musician with Indian heritage and her "Speaking In Tongues" pieces (that I'm pretty sure D/S were using in their music cut) are inspired by a traditional Indian technique of calculation for drummers. So, she's doing her own avantgarde thing based on old Indian traditions and D/S are skating to that. What on earth that has to do with Aboriginal traditions?!

I don' t remember all the ODs in that comp but I'm just saying, I don't recall any teams doing e.g. a supposedly Russian folk dance program skating to some Moroccan-inspired "World Music" or something... If there indeed were "less faithful representations of the culture they purported to represent" I'd be REALLY interested to check them out myself so names/links, please!

Unless, of course, you think "Aboriginal" simply equals "primitive" and any program that uses cartoonish "primitive" costuming and movements is therefore "faithful representation"...

Well there are people who are called Aboriginal in India too, they're also called ''primitive people'' but it's not meant to be pejorative term. I mean tribal or semi-tribal people who live in India. They're the pure descendants of people who inhabited this region before Indo-European people arrived. Btw. many tribes look pretty similar to Australian Aborigines, their culture though is different though. They still maintain their tribal social arrangement, independent of caste system.

 

[nimi]

Well there are people who are called Aboriginal in India too, they're called ''primitive people'' but it's not meant to be pejorative term. I mean tribal or semi-tribal people who live in India. They're the pure descendants of people who inhabited this region before Indo-European people arrived. Btw. they look pretty similar to Australian Aborigines, their culture though is different.

So you would have been fine with a "folk dance" combining stereotypical hillbilly aesthetic with vaguely Russian folk dance gestures and Irish neo-folk music? After all, all those 3 cultures can be classified as "White" and/or "Indo-European" and the people look pretty similar, although their cultures are different.

 

[MsZem]

Uh... D/S were skating an "Aboriginal" program to music that featured vocal parts by Sheila Chandra. She's a British musician with Indian heritage and her "Speaking In Tongues" pieces (that I'm pretty sure D/S were using in their music cut) are inspired by a traditional Indian technique of calculation for drummers. So, she's doing her own avantgarde thing based on old Indian traditions and D/S are skating to that. What on earth that has to do with Aboriginal traditions?!

Nothing. But music is not the only way in which a folk dance can lack authenticity (or sensitivity).