The Dance Hall 7: Tripping the Light Fantastic 2019-2020

[heartyxo]

I liked some of the Hip Hop SDs- e.g V/M, Shibs, C/B. There was a mixed bag through, some were pretty cringy.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

The typical Olympic crowd is far more sophisticated than expecting something simply showy to clap at like accommodating seals (no offense to seals) Hip-hop is a required taste and some may feel slightly embarrassed sitting through an awkward attempt at it. I’ve experienced that, people suddenly excusing themselves to go use the restroom. Kind of like the refrigerator break. And, no, it wasn’t Dick Button!

Is there a deduction for failing to have it?

 

[Bellanca]

Is there a deduction for failing to have it?

Congrats, you win the gold star for catching my play on words. !!

Yes, major deduction for not possessing the “required” taste - don’t give them any ideas . Now, an acquired taste, it depends on the hip-hop. There’s some rough stuff out there.

I do like some hip-hop - just not a fan of seeing it used in ice dancing. Oh well...

 

[VGThuy]

For a genre that is considered an acquired taste, it sure has been a huge part of almost every top charting song for the past two decades or so. Hip Hop is pretty much the dominant genre of music these days and even other countries copy it. Look at K-Pop and that fluff piece of Plushenko rapping along to some Russian rap song in his car in the early-to-mid 2000s.

My anecdotal evidence was that when I showed non-skating fans V/M’s and the Shibs’ hip hop SDs they loved it. They really impressed with how V/M were translating the dance on the ice and I think they liked that they were really dancing, doing a lot of moves to the beat. For the Shibs, they really loved the music edit, their attitude, and that straightline sequence. They aren’t skating fans so they didn’t look for difficulty or things like that.

My sister who is part of a hip hop dance crew thought the Shibs had a very authentic music edit since she sees crews doing that sort of thing, which makes since since Ryannimay from Quest Crew did the edit with them. When I showed her a bunch of programs, her one critique generally was that she enjoyed programs that didn’t have obvious stops where the skaters just stopped and stood still for a prolonged period of time to dance. She liked it when teams integrated the hip hop moves with movement across the ice.

 

[mjb52]

I like hip hop, I think it's more one of those things where maybe people are worried it doesn't transfer well to ice or that some of the skaters themselves aren't able to do it without it being awkward. But I heard really good things about the last time they did it (I wasn't watching skating at the time, so I haven't seen the programs personally) so I wonder if that's what encouraged them to try it again. Is it going to be a hip-hop/blues option? I thought I remembered that's what they did last time but again I'm not super sure.

 

[RoseRed]

I like hip hop, I think it's more one of those things where maybe people are worried it doesn't transfer well to ice or that some of the skaters themselves aren't able to do it without it being awkward. But I heard really good things about the last time they did it (I wasn't watching skating at the time, so I haven't seen the programs personally) so I wonder if that's what encouraged them to try it again. Is it going to be a hip-hop/blues option? I thought I remembered that's what they did last time but again I'm not super sure.

Last time, it was blues (midnight blues pattern) combined with either hip hop or swing. I think it's meant to be midnight blues with hip hop again for the Olympics, I have no idea if there will be a choice between hip hop and swing again if that's the case.

 

[VGThuy]

I like hip hop, I think it's more one of those things where maybe people are worried it doesn't transfer well to ice or that some of the skaters themselves aren't able to do it without it being awkward. But I heard really good things about the last time they did it (I wasn't watching skating at the time, so I haven't seen the programs personally) so I wonder if that's what encouraged them to try it again. Is it going to be a hip-hop/blues option? I thought I remembered that's what they did last time but again I'm not super sure.

It actually proved to be popular and the ISU probably sees hip hop as something much more relevant for audiences compared to something like the golden waltz. They also want something fun and dancey, which is why we tended to get Latin or Spanish during the Olympic seasons of late. The motivation for choosing folk for the 2010 Olympics was for a similar reason. People really enjoyed it during the 2007-08 season and the ISU wanted to replicate that. The programs for the 2010 Olympics weren’t nearly as good with some exceptions but it was only two seasons after they first did it. For hip hop, it’d be 5 seasons and possibly a new slate of contenders except the holdovers from 2016-17.

 

[clairecloutier]

I look back with fondness on the 2016-17 hip-hop season. I remember there was this endless debate all season about what blues/hip-hop actually was and how none of the dances were really reflective of the genre and how maybe it was, in fact, impossible to adequately put the genre on ice. And the whole time this was going on, I was just enjoying the dances.

Some highlights from that season:

V/M, of course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCE1ThwfUIU

Shibs (amazing)

Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani SD ― US Nationals 2017

82.42 2017 U.S Figure Skating Championships

www.youtube.com

Hubbell/Donohue

2017 Worlds Dance SD Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue Feeling Good, Hip Hop medley

www.youtube.com

Weaver/Poje

2017 Worlds Dance SD Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje Music by Michael Jackson

www.youtube.com

 

[mjb52]

So long as it isn't polka I'm happy (sorry polka lovers lol).

 

[Bellanca]

So long as it isn't polka I'm happy (sorry polka lovers lol).

Ooo, true. I might have to seriously reconsider hip-hop.

 

[VGThuy]

Yeah, I wonder why the ISU tech committee thought polka would be a good dance to have for the Olympic season back in 1992. I guess they thought it’d be fun and dancey and maybe get into the Olympic spirit, but those dances that we got...

 

[Peepsquick]

Last time, it was blues (midnight blues pattern) combined with either hip hop or swing. I think it's meant to be midnight blues with hip hop again for the Olympics, I have no idea if there will be a choice between hip hop and swing again if that's the case.

It is going to be at bit jarring, if they have to combine Midnight Blues with Hip Hop!

 

[VGThuy]

It is going to be at bit jarring, if they have to combine Midnight Blues with Hip Hop!

They did it in 2016-17. It helps that the ISU has been very lenient with the music choices.

 

[Dobre]

I'm good with the blues/hip hop/swing or blues/hip hop. I think we worried a lot about it in 2016-17, but that overall the rhythm dances were well received and the audiences were involved. Also it was very apparent in Korea that the more modern music selections drew attention to the discipline from a non-ice dance fanbase. (There was lots of social media love for Min & Gamelin's Despacito RD music after the team event, promptly then lost when all three Despacitos were held during the same warm-up group of the actual dance event). But ultimately this is something we want. More people following the sport and more young people following the sport.

Having said all of this, we don't have a formal announcement about this, correct? Because two seasons now I've read that such-and-such was rumored to be the upcoming RD selection, and twice those predictions were wrong. Prior to the last Olympics, people said it was going to be the tango; but that was put on the back burner until the post-Olympic season.

The typical Olympic crowd is far more sophisticated

 

[Bigbird]

Spepanova and Bukin should smash hip hop if they eva, eva choose the right MUSIC!! Arghh....

 

[Bigbird]

Stepanova not Spepanova..LOL.

 

[Peepsquick]

Spepanova and Bukin should smash hip hop if they eva, eva choose the right MUSIC!! Arghh....

Yes, they would and probably will !

 

[cocotaffy]

I don't get why giving a choice though, why not go all the way and just impose hip hop as RD. What I can't stand more than this type or that type of dance is the fact that it is very jarring to have to compare swing with hip hop.
I wasn't thrilled by hip hop as RD before seeing any of the dances but it turned out all right and now I'd like to see all the teams trying to adapt that style, especially P/C.

 

[SidelineSkater]

What's funny is that people were skeptical about the Hip-hop/R&B short dance a few years ago, and we ended up with some great programs. Then there was a lot of excitement about the Musical-themed RD's for this past season, and most of them were underwhelming.

 

[mjb52]

What's funny is that people were skeptical about the Hip-hop/R&B short dance a few years ago, and we ended up with some great programs. Then there was a lot of excitement about the Musical-themed RD's for this past season, and most of them were underwhelming.

I wasn't excited . Ironically, my faves ended up with a good program. So I'll just stay unexcited about hip hop/R & B for the time being and maybe that will work out too!

 

[casken]

What's funny is that people were skeptical about the Hip-hop/R&B short dance a few years ago, and we ended up with some great programs.

We did? I honestly don't remember any of them, save V&M.

 

[VGThuy]

What's funny is that people were skeptical about the Hip-hop/R&B short dance a few years ago, and we ended up with some great programs. Then there was a lot of excitement about the Musical-themed RD's for this past season, and most of them were underwhelming.

This musical fan/nerd didn’t remember much excitement about musical-themes programs. In fact I remember posts stating the opposite. My biggest fear is that people harshly judge musicals or the score based on the ice dancers’ inability to perform up to the standard of the song/show.

 

[Wyliefan]

Or else judge them harshly just because it's a different kind of sound than they're used to.

 

[SidelineSkater]

Oh - my mistake. I guess you were the only one excited based on your post from the first page of this thread.

This musical fan/nerd didn’t remember much excitement about musical-themes programs. In fact I remember posts stating the opposite. My biggest fear is that people harshly judge musicals or the score based on the ice dancers’ inability to perform up to the standard of the song/show.

I for one am excited. The songs “Put on your Sunday’s Clothes” and “Dancing” are perfect for this rhythm.

https://youtu.be/RyTiDEf4Fxc

https://youtu.be/NKoB4U1-Zpo

 

[VGThuy]

Oh - my mistake. I guess you were the only one excited based on your post from the first page of this thread.

It really did feel like that for a time. I mean there may have been a few others but I remember reading tons of pushback and mocking of the entire musical art form as if it was this monolith.

 

[mjb52]

I don't mind musicals, I wonder if people just anticipated exactly what happened, that we'd get a pretty narrow range of selections. But that applies to pretty much everything. It's just not a form that highlights the things I personally like best about ice dance but it worked out ok. Most years, you will have a few great programs, a few bad programs, and the rest will be fine - I think that was true this year as it has been in the others I've watched.

 

[heartyxo]

I found most of the RDs this year acceptable, there wasn't many I disliked. There just wasn't many I loved.

 

[muffinplus]

Davis/Smolkin FD for next season will be Moulin Rouge

 

[SidelineSkater]

Perhaps because there have been many uses of musicals in all the disciplines, some teams wanted to stay away from the more commonly used songs, which is why we got a few more of the obscure musical selections. I do think many posters have already supplied a lot of great unused choices throughout this thread.

 

[mjb52]

One thing that I am growing to understand better is why teams use "iconic" but overused choices like Swan Lake, Carmen, etc... I think it's the way actors want to perform in Shakespeare's plays (I'm not saying it's the same, just that thinking about the comparison helps me organize my thoughts about it). The very fact that other well known figures have done it makes it more desirable not less. Just b/c someone else got to play Carmen, it doesn't make the desire to try it yourself go away, it could actually make you want to do it more. And toxic fan culture plays a part too, I don't blame skaters for playing it safe when the criticism when they do something that doesn't work can get so extreme.