Russian figure skating news in 2024

How well known are Jane Eyre and Ebenezer Scrooge among those whose mother tongue isn't English? How many English speakers have read Jane Eyre or A Christmas Carol? I haven't read Eugene Onegin, but I have read both of those and Perfume and believe all three to be classics, with Perfume probably the greatest work of literature of the three.
 
But we’ve seen the plays/movies/ballets/operas based on those books. Onegin is extremely well known through the latter two.

I’ve never read Onegin in translation, but I remember hearing an opera discussion about how Tchaikovsky Disneyfied the story, which the speaker said was much more cynical and dark about most of the characters, and the Onegin was less of an outlier. Most of the cynicism in the opera is centered on Onegin, with the rest distilled in Prince Gremin’s aria (“High society sucks, and I love Tatiana for not being like it”). The ballets tend to have lots of :drama: pas de deux.
 
I was getting something like Chopin vibes from Gumennik with the broody good looks and the flowy hair on the podium! ✨🥇✨ Speaking of hair, I hope he doesn't cut off the ponytail. I still miss Jason's. I used to follow a Jason's Ponytail account on old Twitter. Wonder if it's still there lol!
 
I was getting something like Chopin vibes from Gumennik with the broody good looks and the flowy hair on the podium! ✨🥇✨ Speaking of hair, I hope he doesn't cut off the ponytail. I still miss Jason's. I used to follow a Jason's Ponytail account on old Twitter. Wonder if it's still there lol!
I didn't know that Jason ever had a Ponytail account! Gummenik is striking with the long hair and it suits his dramatic presentation style. I watched some of his old programs and almost didn't recognize him with shorter hair.
 
Yup, you can never be thin enough for Russian coaches.

I just re-read my copy of Adam Rippon's memoir, Beautiful on the Outside. I pretty much laughed on every page; it's a very fun read, and he's funny, but not mean to anyone.

One of his running jokes throughout the book is tallying up how many Russian coaches have called him fat. Starting when he was a 9 or 10 year old kid, and his mother was making him wear extra clothing on the ice, so presumably that's why ... at least that's why it happened the first time!
 
I just re-read my copy of Adam Rippon's memoir, Beautiful on the Outside. I pretty much laughed on every page; it's a very fun read, and he's funny, but not mean to anyone.

One of his running jokes throughout the book is tallying up how many Russian coaches have called him fat. Starting when he was a 9 or 10 year old kid, and his mother was making him wear extra clothing on the ice, so presumably that's why ... at least that's why it happened the first time!
Yup, that sounds about right!😢
 
I didn't know that Jason ever had a Ponytail account! Gummenik is striking with the long hair and it suits his dramatic presentation style. I watched some of his old programs and almost didn't recognize him with shorter hair.
I'll have to look up those older videos!

It's been years so not sure about the Jason's Ponytail account. I refuse to go back on what is now called X to see if it's still there!

ETA: Ok, I broke down and borrowed my nephew's X account (with his permission) to take a peak. The Jason's Ponytail account is still there!

 
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But we’ve seen the plays/movies/ballets/operas based on those books. Onegin is extremely well known through the latter two.

I’ve never read Onegin in translation, but I remember hearing an opera discussion about how Tchaikovsky Disneyfied the story, which the speaker said was much more cynical and dark about most of the characters, and the Onegin was less of an outlier. Most of the cynicism in the opera is centered on Onegin, with the rest distilled in Prince Gremin’s aria (“High society sucks, and I love Tatiana for not being like it”). The ballets tend to have lots of :drama: pas de deux.
I was baffled who on earth is Prince Gremin when went to Paris ballet to see Onegin. There is no such character in the book. And really Cranko should had called the ballet what it was - Tatiana. Not Onegin.
 
How well known are Jane Eyre and Ebenezer Scrooge among those whose mother tongue isn't English? How many English speakers have read Jane Eyre or A Christmas Carol? I haven't read Eugene Onegin, but I have read both of those and Perfume and believe all three to be classics, with Perfume probably the greatest work of literature of the three.
Huh???

The respective works of Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë (as well as the respective works of her sisters Emily and Anne) have been published in multiple languages throughout Europe, the Americas and throughout the rest of the world for over 170+ years through the 19th, 20th, and now 21st century! The earliest publications were in German, French, Spanish, and so it went on as the decades progressed! These authors are known and have been published in literally hundreds of languages and dialects! Dickens was first published in a non-English language iirc in Europe in 1837, Brontë around a decade later! Famous outstanding works have a way of making their way around the world in the native language of readers, and this has been a fact for centuries! Shakespeare was published in several languages long before either Dickens or Brontë were even born!
 
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Not to mention that Dickens and the Brontes are assigned reading in high school English and college literature courses. I had to read both Bleak House and Wuthering Heights for school.

I never heard of Perfume until CarPon skated to it. It’s got a long way to go to be considered even well-known modern literature.
 
I was baffled who on earth is Prince Gremin when went to Paris ballet to see Onegin. There is no such character in the book.
That’s typical when creating operas, ballets, or even movies: multiple characters are combined into one or a character is added to represent a kind of person or to embody a theme, like Prince Gremin. It’s a combination of the time constraint, and to not confuse the audience with too many characters to track, when you can’t go back to remind yourself or open up the page with the family tree.

Ballet is usually skewed to ballerinas because they have a much greater range, between what they can do solo and what their partner can do with them. Even Nureyev couldn’t outdo the ballerina in his versions of the classics, no matter how many solos he gave himself.

If you know a book, it’s often like fingernails on a chalkboard to see it made into something else. It’s like listening to music you know used for figure skating, as you hear it being butchered by edits or misinterpreted.

 
Not to mention that Dickens and the Brontes are assigned reading in high school English and college literature courses. I had to read both Bleak House and Wuthering Heights for school.

I never heard of Perfume until CarPon skated to it. It’s got a long way to go to be considered even well-known modern literature.
Perfume was a big deal when it came out and widely read, but it's far from being considered a literary classic even 40 years later. Most of us would have read Dickens and the Brontes both in school and on our own, so I agree that it's not an accurate comparison.
 
Not to mention that Dickens and the Brontes are assigned reading in high school English and college literature courses. I had to read both Bleak House and Wuthering Heights for school.

I never heard of Perfume until CarPon skated to it. It’s got a long way to go to be considered even well-known modern literature.
I had never heard of the novel nor the film until Petr skated to the music from the film. Now I'll have to seek both out to learn more!

German actress Emilia Schüle, who starred in the series "Marie Antoinette", (as the ill-fated Queen) also starred in a film about a killer trying to find the perfect scent. It's called "The Perfumier" in English. In German it's called "Der Parfumeur". When I heard the story behind what Petr was skating to, I thought about this film. Now I find out that Petr's SP is based on a completely different film! However, I did find out that Schüle's film is a different version of the novel! It seems rather similar, except that it's in a more modern setting, 21st century instead of in the 18th century. From the reviews it's also a much more mediocre version lol! I only watched it because I liked Schüle as Antoinette.
 
:lol: I just expressed my own simple opinion on Gumennik's programs and never had the intention to start a discussion about literature.
But if you are not familiar with "Perfume", please get in touch with it. Just a humble recommendation from me.

Anyway, Gumennik and Petrosian rock and I hope that they will do well at the Olympics.
 
Petrosian is obviously talented and has many fine qualities, but she has worse knee bend than Kristy Wirtz and Marie Butyrskaya.

However, her programs are the biggest issue for me -- it's like a self-parody of Gleikhengauz's worst choreography. Atrocious. I've never been much a fan of Eteri skaters, but at least Lipnitskaya and Medvedeva had cohesive programs that played to their strengths and hid their weaknesses.
 
Russian test skates are happening this week

Videos can be found here:

Haven't watched anyone myself yet, so can't comment on the programs
 

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