Skating to Stravinsky

Posted at 2:58 PM on February 18, 2010 by Alison Young (1 Comments)
Filed under: In the media

I'm an Olympics junkie - and maybe even more - a skating junkie.

So I was blown away by American skater Evan Lysacek's short program accompanied by a highly-condensed version of Stravinsky's "Firebird."

The video is here - it's AMAZING!

It's true the music was written to dance to - but what was required by this athlete was to communicate that he understood the music - its structure, its surprise, its depth.

The music might threaten to be too big and overwhelming and Evan's triple lutz and triple toe loop combinations would end up being like so much baggage attached to something more meaningful than merely a sport.

Lysacek's ability to "get" the music and internalize it physically enhanced his performance for me - it was truly a wonder and I can't wait to see what he'll do tonight.

He's currently in second place by a just a smidgen.

Comments (1)

And wasn't it amazing how he won? He well deserved it. He was truly incredible. I love how he gives such passion and fire to his artistry and how he interprets every beat of the music instead of just skating to it. One of the all-time greats.

Posted by Christy | March 2, 2010 2:43 PM