{"id":7806,"date":"2013-12-04T02:20:19","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T06:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=7806"},"modified":"2013-12-04T02:20:19","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T06:20:19","slug":"in-which-our-heroine-attends-a-truly-fantastic-skating-choreography-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/in-which-our-heroine-attends-a-truly-fantastic-skating-choreography-competition.html","title":{"rendered":"In Which Our Heroine Attends a Truly Fantastic Skating Choreography Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What do you mean, Sunday was the first day of Advent? It felt just like Christmas to me!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because I got to attend the MK Young Artist Showcase 4<\/a> at the Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Choreographers from otherworldly locales such as Salt Lake City and Austria competed, plus there were exhibitions by local synchro skaters and also 2011 national champion Ryan Bradley, seen here<\/a> in his \u201cDoublet Your Pleasure, Doublet Your Fun\u201d program and here<\/a> in his winning short program.<\/p>\n

I really had no idea what to expect. We started with the \u201cgrassroots\u201d competition, between two young choreographers, Izzi Gorowsky and Allison Merges. (We didn\u2019t know who\u2019d choreographed what.) First we saw a program for two skaters, a meet-cute piece with a light, elegant touch\u2013a poodle skirt of a program, very fun. I enjoyed it immensely. Then we saw a different choreographer\u2019s program for the same skaters, to the same music. Interestingly, the story\/characterization of the piece was more or less the same\u2013both choreographers really drew out the guy\u2019s floundering attempts to win the girl\u2019s heart. The second piece was much more slapsticky and overall more extreme. (Argh, I wish I\u2019d taken notes! I\u2019d love to tell you more about these pieces. There should be video soon though.) I liked this second, brasher program even better than the first!<\/p>\n

After each program we heard from three judges. The judging was as fascinating as the skating itself for me. The judges assessed whether the programs expressed the music well, whether they incorporated enough skating elements (like lifts, jumps etc), and also whether the footwork was difficult or just kind of skating around.<\/p>\n

The second part of the competition was the \u201cchampions\u201d division, between Eliot Halvorsen and Zabato Bebe. Again, we didn\u2019t know who\u2019d done which program. These programs were for a group of skaters, three women and a man.<\/p>\n

So okay, it seems really hard to choreograph for a group of skaters without a) leaving some of them just standing around on the ice for a while or b) looking like modern dance, like, why is this on ice? What does the ice add? There are some amazing<\/a> group programs I love<\/a>, but it\u2019s really hard to manage the audience\u2019s focus on different parts of the rink, so many different people and points of interest. I\u2019m not sure either choreographer handled that task terrifically, although both programs were thoughtful and definitely expressed the music.<\/p>\n

The first program had the man bringing the women to life, I think, and ultimately they turn on him to (maybe? I WISH I\u2019D TAKEN NOTES) gain their freedom. The storyline was really clear but it did mean that all or most of the women spent more time than I\u2019d like just standing in a pose rather than skating. The second program did a bit more to intertwine the skaters\u2019 bodies and was more melodramatic in its choreography. I personally preferred the first program as a thing to watch, but I can see where there was more use of the group and of skating as an art form in the second one.<\/p>\n

Then we had the awesome judges again. Loved them. Clear, and upbeat without being sugar-coated.<\/p>\n

I think the audience then voted, and after we\u2019d picked our favorites, we got to find out who\u2019d choreographed what. The charming first grassroots program was by Merges, and the more vaudeville one by Gorowsky. The first champions program was by Halverson and the second by Bebe.<\/p>\n

Intermission and stuff. Exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Final part of competition: Each choreographer performs their own work! This was ridiculously fun. You really saw how the programs we\u2019d already seen were expressions of the choreographers\u2019 personalities. This time they got to pick their own music and just go all-out.<\/p>\n

Merges was again totally charming (she\u2019s fourteen<\/em>, I was barely functional at fourteen) with a Fosse-esque program to \u201cAll That Jazz,\u201d and she did a develope\u2019 spiral with a hat on her foot! Cute, fun, pleasing. Gorowsky, who is twelve (!!), went for megadrama<\/em>. Angular pulling and curving body postures, carving up the air, just yanking meaning up out from the music in handfuls. Fantastic timing, and while yeah, \u201cthat\u2019s a lot of look\u201d as Tim Gunn says, if you can\u2019t be melodramatic when you\u2019re a twelve-year-old figure skater, when on earth can you? Loved it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Halverson did an appropriately hunchy and spooky program to \u201cI Put a Spell on You,\u201d although I agreed with the judges that we didn\u2019t get enough spookiness, enough connection to the music; it just needed to be bigger. Bebe (skating with his shirt all unbuttoned, as hearts around the rink went pit-a-pat) did this giant, grabby program, just wringing the music for all it was worth, every beat super-emphasized. I admit it was a little much for me, but again, if you can\u2019t go OTT on Ice where can you?<\/p>\n

So yes: Gorowsky and Bebe won their divisions. Sorry for the lack of technical content here\u2013this is, again, where notes would really help me, and also not waiting two days to write up the event\u2013but this was a gloriously fun show. Exceeded my already-high expectations.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you mean, Sunday was the first day of Advent? It felt just like Christmas to me! That\u2019s because I got to attend the MK Young Artist Showcase 4 at the Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Choreographers from otherworldly locales such as Salt Lake City and Austria competed, plus there were exhibitions by local synchro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[35,153,333],"class_list":["post-7806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-district-of-chaos","tag-kiss-and-cry","tag-ryan-bradley"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Which Our Heroine Attends a Truly Fantastic Skating Choreography Competition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What do you mean, Sunday was the first day of Advent? It felt just like Christmas to me! 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