Hello everyone, we are here again to our black hole figure skating class.
Today, I will talk to you about the relationship between figure skaters and choreographers.
can become a classic figure skating program. In addition to the wonderful performances and interpretations of contestants, the choreographer who initially shaped it also contributed to it. If movies are used to compare figure skating programs, then the choreographer's responsibility will probably be the screenwriter? A good choreographer will extract the theme of the music in just a few minutes, "storytelling" and "visualizing" it, using various figure skating movements to fill and realize the story core of the music, and show a unique overall look.
Who can be a choreographer?
Most of the choreographers who are active on the front line are former figure skaters. Many people, after leaving the active service, have a love for figure skating and continue to stay on this ice rink by being a choreographer. For example, the ones we are most familiar with now, David Wilson, Jeffrey Buttle, Shae Lynn Bourne, etc., were once excellent figure skaters. In the past two years, including Gomisha, who has just retired after Pyeongchang and is very familiar with us, has also joined the ranks of professional figure skaters.
Feel the beauty of my brother-in-law Jeff during his current service
. Some well-known choreography are also the head coach or coach of the contestants. For example, Lori Nichol, who is very familiar to Chinese audiences, has almost contracted the choreography of more than half of the Chinese flower team's players; Japanese Mihoko Higuchi, etc. are also representatives of choreographers and coaches.
In addition, there is also a very special case, which is a real professional dancer who switches to figure skating choreography. This is too rare. The most well-known figure skating dances are Samuel Choinard, a choreographer at the Ice Academy of Montreal, Canada. As a professional dancer, he did not know how to skate at first. After being recommended by the dance teacher in Mengcun, he began to choreograph for figure skaters. The characteristics of land dance were integrated into figure skating, which also became his choreography feature.
Good choreographers should become contestants Soul mate
I am not saying that contestants should talk about feelings with choreographers. Soul mate mentioned here refers to becoming a person who "knows each other". In fact, in the field of figure skating, there has never been a shortage of such soul cooperation.
The good contestants and choreographers are mutually fulfilling. David Wilson, who has now become a "god-level" choreographer, actually achieved his position in the field of choreography through his cooperation with figure skating queen Kim Yoon-ah.
As a choreographer, he keenly explored Kim Yoona's personality traits, allowing mature, beautiful, mysterious and agile traits to be revealed from Kim Yoona, the early "iceberg beauty". At the same time, DW's atmospheric, mature and open-minded choreography style has also created almost all the works that were born after the adult group for Kim Yoon-ah. The two of them have also become close friends through close cooperation.
and even said that Kim Yoona switched to the Canadian BO uncle and gained the most was DW's choreography.
Nowadays, when we want to mention figure skating dance, we have to mention such a pair of combinations - Yuzuru Hanyu and Shae Lynn Bourne. Shae-Lynn, who was formerly the ice dance champion and later became a professional choreographer, can be said to be one of the hottest choreographers in the figure skating choreography circle in recent years. After Pyeongchang, as she fought for "SEIMEI" choreographed by Yuzuru Hanyu, she received more than 20 choreography orders in one season.
If you want to explore the reasons for Shae-Lynn's success, I think it's mainly this point - she understood Yuzuru Hanyu, and gave this understanding to Yuzuru Hanyu in a full and special form. In order to choreograph Yuzuru Hanyu, Shae-Lynn, as a Westerner, also learned a lot of Eastern culture. Whether it is the previous "SEIMEI" or the later "Origin", the oriental charm in the program has become the most outstanding part through Yuzuru Hanyu's interpretation. What does the choreography of
have to do?
answer is actually relative.
First of all, let’s talk about the habits of choreographers. Some top choreographers do not like to modify their own choreography. For example, DW is famous for "not providing after-sales service".
There are also some choreographers who are coaches themselves. If the corresponding contestants are some "little" contestants, the contestants themselves "dare not" or do not have the qualifications to challenge the choreographers.
Speaking of which, the choreography and contestants are a process of mutual adjustment and mutual adaptation. Some choreographers, when facing some contestants, have to give up some of their original designs - because the contestants really can't do it; while some choreographers will get exciting works if they "meet the opponent".
Jeffrey Butt, Yuzuru Hanyu's short programs in recent years have almost all been written by Jeff. When he first arrived at the Cricket Club, Jeff compiled the "Paris Walking Trail", which "to show masculine chicness". But when he first got this "Quiet" song, Yuzuru Hanyu was confused.
"This is Jeff's own song! Can I slide well? Can I act right?" Yuzuru Hanyu, who was only 18 years old at the time, was actually skeptical about whether he could complete the qualities and difficulties in Jeff's choreography. But even if he "doubts himself", he will adapt to what he does and try his best to adapt to it.
"It's the feeling of constantly climbing the ladder." Yuzuru Hanyu said this when he recalled the choreography of this song later. "Although it was a show from Jeff, it was also a medium for the choreographer to see his growth. And is it because Jeff believed that I could evolve to that level that he added those difficult choreography. So even today, when he first started to play the show that Jeff wrote for himself, there were still opportunities that he could not do well, or could not grasp any of it, but even so, he would not give up all of them because he could not finish beautifully, but he felt that 'it was because he believed that I could do that he would choreography like this' and tried to complete them."
similar situation also happened in the later "Chopin No. 1 Narrative Song". The dazzling steps in the second half of "Shi Shen" are a choreography that made Yuzuru Hanyu feel "crazy" in Pyeongchang even the queen, but Jeff smiled and said, "I believe you can do it!"
" Figure skating often adds new technical elements, and these are not something that can be mastered immediately. It takes a lot of time and sometimes requires patience. The same is true for choreography. Reasonable, if a certain action is not a natural and handy action for the contestant, then the body will not remember it without spending time. But Hanyu has strong motivation no matter what. "As Jeff said, when some contestants face the choreography of the choreography, the first thing they say is "I can't do" and "I can't do it", there are also contestants like Yuzuru Hanyu who will work 200% on anything related to figure skating to "adapt upward".
Excellent choreographer, what kind of contestants they like and what kind of contestants they are willing to give all their talents, is self-evident.
choreography is more important or the contestants’ performance is more important?
Then there is another problem. For the success of a program, is choreography more important? Or is the player's completion more important?
In fact, this also depends on what kind of resonance can arise between the choreographer and the contestant, or how far the contestant can complete the choreographer's design.
2018 season, Shae-Lynn choreographed the free skating program "origin" for Yuzuru Hanyu. When the program was announced, a reporter asked her: As a choreographer, you considered Japanese mythology, but can he reach a common sense with you about this story as a skater? Or are you going to let Skater create his own story? Shae-Lynn's answer was: "It is necessary for them to think about it themselves. Because what they show on the ice rink in the end must be their own heart, voice and soul. If it is not what they show themselves, it is not real. It is impossible to catch the heart of the audience if they have a look, and it is not possible to pretend. It must be honest. This is the same as the actor."
"As his choreographer, I hope to show his superb level and extraordinary abilities.From the opening moves, I hope to be unique, original, and special, just like him. So really, I was very patient in observing the evolution of every detail of the show and discovering new qualities in him for his audience, not only in emotional expression, but also in technical aspects. I want this show to be a completely different version of the same music. Want to let people feel something new from it. ”
So, just like the screenwriter of the ace will write a super awesome script, but if you can’t meet a good actor or a good director, and without a good performance, everything can only be talked about on paper. If you have a good choreography but no good performer interpretation, then classic programs are not available.
