VGThuy
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I thought it'd be fun to try to rate programs from some of our favorite skaters. I tried to rate the programs on the basis of the choreography/character (I don't care whether it's a literal or abstract or disassociated interpretation from original intent of the piece but am trying to rate the "character" that the skater is attempting to portray for that specific program)/musical phrasing but you also can't take away the context of the program actually being skated to by the skater at that particular time and competition. My grading system is from a A+ to F grading scale, but you guys can come up with your own.
Anyway, I'll start with Michelle Kwan who I think is the perfect skater to start out with as her competitive programs really were a showcase of where she was at that particular point of time in her career.
*This is not meant to be a statement of whether she should have placed higher or lower in that particular competition of the videos I've shown. Just what I think of the programs. Some times I may give a middling grade and still think she should have placed higher and maybe vice versa (who am I kidding? I'm a kwanatic).
*Also, some of you might think I'm giving a lot of "B" grades or higher, but honestly, with a skater like Michelle Kwan who won medals and titles for like ten seasons straight with those presentation scores, you aren't going to get a lot of C level or below stuff. Without further ado:
1993-1994
"Song of India":
"Yellow River Piano Concerto"
"Rondo Capriccioso"
1995-1996
"Romanza"
"Salome":
"Dream of Desdemona"
"Taj Mahal"
1997-1998
"Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3"
"Lyra Angelica"
1998-1999
"Fate of Carmen"
"Lamente d'Ariane"
1999-2000
"A Day in the Life"
"The Red Violin"
Skate America:
Worlds:
2000-2001
"Rush"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXQiSkJgtno
"East of Eden"
"Song of the Black Swan"
2001-2002
"Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2"
https://youtu.be/6r5Tw5fMw8w?t=185
"Scheherezade"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44JXNGSID1s
2002-2003
"The Feeling Begins"
"Aranjuez"
2003-2004
"Tosca"
2004-2005
"Spartacus"
"Bolero" (oh boy)
Bolero 1:
Bolero 2:
Bolero 3:
Bolero 4:
I'm not going to grade her "Totentaz" because it just wasn't a complete or ready program nor was Kwan in any real competitive shape to show it off.
Anyway, I'll start with Michelle Kwan who I think is the perfect skater to start out with as her competitive programs really were a showcase of where she was at that particular point of time in her career.
*This is not meant to be a statement of whether she should have placed higher or lower in that particular competition of the videos I've shown. Just what I think of the programs. Some times I may give a middling grade and still think she should have placed higher and maybe vice versa (who am I kidding? I'm a kwanatic).
*Also, some of you might think I'm giving a lot of "B" grades or higher, but honestly, with a skater like Michelle Kwan who won medals and titles for like ten seasons straight with those presentation scores, you aren't going to get a lot of C level or below stuff. Without further ado:
1993-1994
"Song of India":
Kwan's opening moves and that double axel were pure skating heaven and there are some admirable choreographed moves to the splashes of the music moments, but most of the program is just there with some silly "Indian" arms.
C+
"East of Eden"/Other
This is clearly a program just meant to show what this 12 going on 13-year-old legend in the making can do with the random changes of tempo in the music. I think it works.
B+
1994-1995"Yellow River Piano Concerto"
Energetic vehicle that hit its stride at Worlds. This program showed her off at this particular time perfectly.
A-
"Rondo Capriccioso"
Good program to show her off her technical consistency. Some good transitions. Doesn't quite have the ability yet to match the speed or intensity of the music.
B -
1995-1996
"Romanza"
Perfection. Lori would recycle this a few times for other ladies. The most notable for me was Fumie Suguri's wonderful 2005-2006 SP. Showed ladies skaters should try flamenco.
A+
"Salome":
Perfect vehicle to make her a world champion. Made every skater's coach (and even Frank and Lori) think all they had to do was give their skater an "artistic" makeover to take them to the next level. We know there's much more to it than that. See Timothy Goebel. Made every American (and non-American) ladies skater from the age of 8-16 for the past twenty-two years put on make-up and put their hair in a bun.
A
1996-1997"Dream of Desdemona"
This program was beyond the 8-element short program. A fully integrated program. The music would be used twenty years later in the form of cobra boobs.
A+
"Taj Mahal"
Better than "Salome" in almost every way and yet less effective somehow. That long fluff piece with The Wallflowers music was so 90s and adds to my experience watching this program.
A-
1997-1998
"Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3"
No words. People will probably think I have the inability to be objective with her with three "A+" grades in a row for her SPs, but they were really that good.
A+
"Lyra Angelica"
One of the best and most distinct ladies programs at the time and some consider this her best program ever. However, some times it feels like Lori gave Kwan a Janet Lynn program and Kwan isn't Janet Lynn. She's not quite in "the void" the way she was with Rachmaninoff.
A
1998-1999
"Fate of Carmen"
I appreciate her newfound sexuality in this program (coded as "maturity") and lots of interesting bits. Underrated only because nobody talks about it, but limited anyway. That footwork sequence was out of style even in 1999. Probably the first "abstract" Carmen I've seen in skating. Lori will do a spiritual sequel to this of sorts for Fumie Suguri in 2004-2005 (Fumie's best program by far and my personal favorite ladies Carmen program). This all-black abstract Carmen would also find its way to Virtue/Moir though I'm sure it's all unrelated.
B- maybe C+
"Lamente d'Ariane"
See paragraph for "Fate of Carmen" but much better choreography and Kwan was more convincing here. I chose Nationals over her clean World Pros performance because I think there was more fire in this one even though she fell. She discovered her ooze here.
B+ maybe A-.
1999-2000
"A Day in the Life"
Interesting program. Introduced "A Day in the Life" to figure skating by Lori adding it to her collection that she rotates for all of her skaters. I like the footwork the best out of the rest of the ladies at this competition and miss footwork like this but what can you do when the judges at the time didn't think footwork really mattered that much in ladies skating. Spins went with the music very effectively. Her back cross-foot spin never looked better before or since. Some Tara fans at the time said Kwan looked like a fish out of water while saying Tara could have done this program better. Maybe, but this program really is a Kwan program at its heart and those who think otherwise missed the point.
B
"The Red Violin"
Skate America:
Worlds:
Skate America had a fall but one of the most musical performances ever and probably the last time she had near unanimous 5.9s from judges from the Eastern Bloc. Worlds had much more speed/attack and more importantly, much better hair. But the front-loading seriously bothered me to the point of distraction and I think Skate America simply had a lot more nuances going on, but what can you do when the judges thought garnering speed on two feet was more important than anything else? Introduced The Red Violin to skating canon.
Skate America: A/Worlds: B+
2000-2001
"Rush"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXQiSkJgtno
I understand why she dropped it. I just wish she had a crystal ball to show that it didn't matter as she was going to place second in the SP at Worlds anyway. Maybe she was afraid of dropping to like 3rd or lower like Butyrskaya. Either way, this was Kwan's best SP in a long time with excellent choreography and transitions and a new point-of-view choreography-wise thanks to Chris Dean. Third SP in a row where Kwan went for sexy and this is her most successful attempt. Least effective spiral sequence though I appreciate that kick on the beat on the third spiral and the program lost a bit of steam from the flying spin on.
A-
"East of Eden"
Despite all the calls for her to do something different, classic Kwan is the best Kwan. Just pure skating. I docked some points after seeing it all throughout the 2001-2002 Fall season and thinking this program really does require Kwan to be on her A game to have the impact it needs which makes me wonder about the program itself or maybe Kwan was too bored by it by Fall 2001.That said this program was good enough that at Skate Canada 2001 when she and Irina both made major errors in the SP, Kwan was still able to place 2nd above a clean Suguri while Slutskaya was placed 4th with her attempt at lyricism. That says a lot to me at that point in time. Still think East of Eden should have been saved for the 2001-2002 season and she should have done this for the Olympics and Worlds, but it really doesn't matter since she placed first at the Olympics with Rach redux anyway.
A-
"Song of the Black Swan"
Skate America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QJYGiq7VpY
Not a completed program at all. It looks like it was still looking for a point-of-view. Lots of nuances and choreography hitting the music. But this was not ready to be shown to anybody. That footwork looks like Lori/Michelle/Frank missed the deadline to complete their school project.
C-
One of the few times where streamlining a program and taking out subtlety works in the program's favor. Footwork a bit simple but it's perfect anyway. Still the best ending of a ladies LP ever. Introduced Dvorak to skating canon.
A+
"Miraculous Mandarin"
Messy and miraculous. Forget "Bells of Moscow", this is the real "lost" program. Those back kicks she did made much more sense here than in "Fields of Gold".
A
2001-2002
"Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2"
https://youtu.be/6r5Tw5fMw8w?t=185
Not as good as 1998. A bit outdated by 2002 as skaters were constructing simpler programs to show off speed, but it was nice to see the solo triple be the fifth element instead of the third as was the norm in ladies in 2002 or second if you're Irina Slutskaya. I do live for that air punch on the combo spin and her hands in the flying spin showed Kwan wasn't just copying and pasting.
No grade.
"Scheherezade"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44JXNGSID1s
A program I only pretended to like at the time when campaigning for Kwan. The GWG version was much fuller before it became a program with no point-of-view and messily put together just to be serviceable to garner Kwan her elusive OGM that seemed to be hers so long as she didn't fall (whoops) while Irina was gonna get Worlds. And it actually was. I think Sotnikova and Zagitova took that serviceable enough thing to justify a OGM that has your name on it a new level though. Only Fumie Suguri had a better LP among the top 12 though sadly. Sarah Hughes' LP doesn't really count because Robin Wagner just cut from Kwan's best hits and put together a program...though I appreciated that Hughes had a program that seemed like it was fully choreographed. Somehow this inspired Yuna Kim enough to do a Kwan tribute program that was almost identical. I hope David Wilson didn't charge her too much for it...same goes to Kim's costume designer.
Yuna Kim/Kwan:
Kim's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KANREB7q0-8
Kwan's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbID_ZTk9x4
C
2002-2003
"The Feeling Begins"
Not the most choreographed program, but nobody else makes minimalism look as good. Clean movement and she makes Morosov footwork her own and with actual edges instead of toe picks. I forgive the FW all in one direction.
A-
"Aranjuez"
Again, minimalism looks good. I think this is what the ISU had in mind when they wrote in the IJS that yes even crossovers can be choreography and transitions. When you do it as well as Kwan does, how can you debate that?
B+
2003-2004
"Tosca"
She's lucky that she skates like Michelle Kwan because this program wasn't a program. It was "Aranjuez" remixed. You forgive "Aranjuez" because it was a rebuilding year and she was working on those basics again and rebuilding her confidence. No excuse here really. Still would have given her a 6.0 for that performance.
C-
2004-2005
"Spartacus"
A Morosovian program but because Kwan skates like Kwan, it goes from serviceable program to a remarkable one. That spiral sequence to footwork to layback is figure skating. Probably the best footwork sequence she's ever done.
B+
"Bolero" (oh boy)
Bolero 1:
Ok program with lots of potential. Never meets the potential of the opening moves. Made some of us excited again. Chris Dean for some reason picked the most strident and tinny drums version of the piece. Still seemed like a child of "Aranjuez" and "Tosca" but with Kwan looking more inspired.
C+
Bolero 2:
The most complex and difficult version of the program. Lots going on, and at the time I thought she had a very long footwork sequence here but if only I knew of things to come after 2007. I appreciate her attempting to add substance though she sacrificed flow and comfort. First time I saw a ladies program end on the footwork sequence.
C
Bolero 3:
Erased a lot of the development from Version 2.0. Not very memorable though the footwork had energy and stuff going on.
C
Bolero 4:
Well, at least it looked like she was having some fun. Made me excited to rush into next season. At least she got the highest score for the footwork element (with Alissa Dyrt).
C-
I'm not going to grade her "Totentaz" because it just wasn't a complete or ready program nor was Kwan in any real competitive shape to show it off.
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To me, it's one of the best scores, if not the best, scores ever. I saw it on Broadway this past year after seeing a bunch of shows and my gosh it was so glorious and reminded me that they really don't write music and lyrics (and the book) on Broadway in this quality anymore.
.
It won't prevent them from coming back if they want to.
