Programs that reference gold/winning | Golden Skate

Programs that reference gold/winning

Joined
Mar 29, 2016
I'm curious to know what you guys think about this... What's your reaction when a skater performs a program that references winning, losing, and/or gold? Here are some examples I can think of, off the top of my head:

Michelle Kwan's EX to "Fields of Gold" at the 2002 Olympics: The song is about something different, but Kwan chose to emphasize the "gold" element of it by wearing a metallic gold dress. I actually still think this is one of the most beautiful and expressive exhibition skates I have ever watched, but it took me awhile to appreciate it because I was initially so distracted by that constant reminder of the gold medal she had failed to win.

Gracie Gold's EX to "Maybe This Time," from Worlds last season: Oh, Gracie... This EX was painful for me to watch. It worked beautifully at Nationals when she actually did win, but at Worlds the words of that song (and, if I remember correctly, the choreographed fist-pumps!) just further emphasized what she didn't win and twisted the knife for all her fans and sympathizers. I think this was an unfortunate choice for her.

And now this year, Mirai Nagasu's free program will apparently be to "The Winner Takes it All." I think this is a much more nuanced choice than the other two; in some ways, for her, I can see it as a protest song. But I still think it is a risky choice because it could draw the audience's attention back to the fairness or unfairness of the competition, rather than allowing them to become absorbed in her performance.

Does anyone else feel strongly about this, or is it just me? :rolleye:
 

Vanshilar

On the Ice
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Feb 24, 2014
Michelle Kwan's EX to "Fields of Gold" at the 2002 Olympics: The song is about something different, but Kwan chose to emphasize the "gold" element of it by wearing a metallic gold dress. I actually still think this is one of the most beautiful and expressive exhibition skates I have ever watched, but it took me awhile to appreciate it because I was initially so distracted by that constant reminder of the gold medal she had failed to win.

To me that is still the most emotional skate I have ever seen to date. It was originally supposed to be Michelle Kwan's valedictory skate, her final skate in the Olympics after winning a gold medal, to cap off her career. Instead it became an aspirational skate, one showing what she could achieve, yet that the gold medal was still out of reach.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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And now this year, Mirai Nagasu's free program will apparently be to "The Winner Takes it All." I think this is a much more nuanced choice than the other two; in some ways, for her, I can see it as a protest song. But I still think it is a risky choice because it could draw the audience's attention back to the fairness or unfairness of the competition, rather than allowing them to become absorbed in her performance.

Does anyone else feel strongly about this, or is it just me? :rolleye:

Not just you. Michelle's Olympic and Gracie's Worlds exhibitions were painful. I don't know why any coach or choreographer would encourage those musical choices. They were hard on audiences and fans, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for the skaters. But on the other hand, maybe doing those programs in those moments helped them work through their feelings? I don't know.

I also agree with you about Mirai's new free program. I love that vocal version, but I feel the lyrics call attention to Mirai's history and all the things her fans have been angry and unforgiving about for years now. Now, maybe she herself doesn't think of it that way. But if she wanted to convey a message that maybe winning isn't the only thing in figure skating and that her motivation is something different, I think other choices might have been better.
 

moriel

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
I'm curious to know what you guys think about this... What's your reaction when a skater performs a program that references winning, losing, and/or gold? Here are some examples I can think of, off the top of my head:

Michelle Kwan's EX to "Fields of Gold" at the 2002 Olympics: The song is about something different, but Kwan chose to emphasize the "gold" element of it by wearing a metallic gold dress. I actually still think this is one of the most beautiful and expressive exhibition skates I have ever watched, but it took me awhile to appreciate it because I was initially so distracted by that constant reminder of the gold medal she had failed to win.

Gracie Gold's EX to "Maybe This Time," from Worlds last season: Oh, Gracie... This EX was painful for me to watch. It worked beautifully at Nationals when she actually did win, but at Worlds the words of that song (and, if I remember correctly, the choreographed fist-pumps!) just further emphasized what she didn't win and twisted the knife for all her fans and sympathizers. I think this was an unfortunate choice for her.

And now this year, Mirai Nagasu's free program will apparently be to "The Winner Takes it All." I think this is a much more nuanced choice than the other two; in some ways, for her, I can see it as a protest song. But I still think it is a risky choice because it could draw the audience's attention back to the fairness or unfairness of the competition, rather than allowing them to become absorbed in her performance.

Does anyone else feel strongly about this, or is it just me? :rolleye:

I agree it can be risky. Dont see problem with referencing gold etc, but well... Gracie Gold's exibition choice was painful at Worlds. And I suspect it was painful for her too, not only for the fans.
 

Alex D

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Sep 23, 2013
I actually think, that Gracie´s EX was amazing to watch. Painful, maybe and definately very dramatic, but she was speaking with her heart there. It just suits her so well to perform to this song, the lyrics protrait her whole figure skating career if you ask me.

People only like her when she is winning, else they trash her and she just want´s to live a normal life, but it seems to be forbidden. Figure skaters are artists, just like musicians, writers or actors - someone must have a painful life or experience, to portrait this stuff and that is why Gracie did so well. I don´t think that any other skater could portrait it like she did and even if it´s sad, it shows her strong character and that she is a great performer who is not afraid to show what´s beyond the surface.

For me, it showed greatness and charme, by a lady who many of us only know as the glamour girl, but in reality this is just whats on the surface, inside her it looks different.
 

skateluvr

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Kristi Yamaguchi also skated to Gold in 01-02 if we're counting pros https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lx5YkzZBc

I love Linda Eder. I wonder did anyone ever skate to her Man of La Mancha on the same CD? What a fabulous huge Broadway star she was. And I think Kristi skated that program in the opening ceremony of an Olympics? Was it 2002? She was the it girl for SOI. As a pro I loved her. SOI took champions and let them develop. It is so sad the sport let pro skating just die.
 

Ophelia

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Dec 6, 2013
Not just you. Michelle's Olympic and Gracie's Worlds exhibitions were painful. I don't know why any coach or choreographer would encourage those musical choices. They were hard on audiences and fans, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for the skaters. But on the other hand, maybe doing those programs in those moments helped them work through their feelings? I don't know.

Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch.
 

mrrice

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Jul 9, 2014
I love Linda Eder. I wonder did anyone ever skate to her Man of La Mancha on the same CD? What a fabulous huge Broadway star she was. And I think Kristi skated that program in the opening ceremony of an Olympics? Was it 2002? She was the it girl for SOI. As a pro I loved her. SOI took champions and let them develop. It is so sad the sport let pro skating just die.

Alissa Czisny Skated to Man of La Mancha. Not quite as strong as her performance at Nationals but, still a good performance:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOGnsk0JSWs

I'm still hoping one of Veteran's of the sport will use Linda's version of "Don't Rain On My Parade" It's spectacular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egdlXI24a8
 
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karne

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I sat through Gracie's ex at Worlds listening to the words of the song and after seeing her self-flagellating interview, and it was almost painful. "Everybody loves a winner...that's why nobody loves me." (Particularly after I had also sat through the ladies' programs with a pair of teen girls behind me who were brutally nasty about Gracie the whole time for no actual reason that I could discern.) At Nationals, that ex worked. But someone should have rapidly rifled through the CD case and yanked out "Shake it Off" or even "Let it Go" in a hurry after that FS.

As for Mirai's music, the only thing I could think when I saw the title of the song was "Great, this is gonna be just great when the URs start racking up, the TES starts dropping, and she gets that baffled look on her face."
 

mrrice

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Jul 9, 2014
Love Stevie Wonder, and love the song. Isn't it from a Langston Hughes poem?

I'll have to check. In the movie "Pony Boy" reads the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" which I think is from Frost. Here's the information I found regarding the writers of the song.

The song "Stay Gold" was Written by: Carmine Coppola, Stevie Wonder
 
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samm22

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Feb 22, 2015
I sat through Gracie's ex at Worlds listening to the words of the song and after seeing her self-flagellating interview, and it was almost painful. "Everybody loves a winner...that's why nobody loves me." (Particularly after I had also sat through the ladies' programs with a pair of teen girls behind me who were brutally nasty about Gracie the whole time for no actual reason that I could discern.) At Nationals, that ex worked. But someone should have rapidly rifled through the CD case and yanked out "Shake it Off" or even "Let it Go" in a hurry after that FS.

As for Mirai's music, the only thing I could think when I saw the title of the song was "Great, this is gonna be just great when the URs start racking up, the TES starts dropping, and she gets that baffled look on her face."

Gracie's EX at worlds was particularly sad considering the circumstances. It's a shame you had to sit near people who were rude about her during worlds. She works so hard and I want her to be satisfied with her herself.

About Mirai, if I recall correctly, she cried the first time she heard the music. To me at least, in this piece: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2016/07/05/188049996/creating-the-program-from-avatar-to-abba, Mirai and Wilson both seemed to be viewing the song as something Mirai could relate to and inspire her to move on and continue. Mirai even says "It's about persevering." As for her underrotations, I'm not sure how she was at champs camp, but in the early season at skate detroit she underrotated several jumps, and was upset with herself according to the third installment of icenetwork's series: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2016/07/28/192249610/creating-the-program-nagasu-hits-competition-ice It seems as though she's aware of the technical issues that she needs to work on heading into the season, and it also seems like this program has the abiltity to carry her and motivate her through the season. Hopefully her jumps have improved from July, but skate detroit was very early and she only competed there to get her program out before she left for The Ice in Japan. She's skating at Lombardia in a couple of weeks so we'll see what she can do once she gets back to competition training. Hopefully she and David made the right music choice!
 
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el henry

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This song hasn't been used by a skater yet, but I used it once for a solo. I love this song by Stevie Wonder. It's called "Stay Gold" and it's from the movie "The Outsiders" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAdlVRn1xYc

Cool! But if we're going to offer up golden Stevie Wonder songs to skaters,

Golden Lady

Although I can't imagine doing a skating or dancing routine to the song, I do love it.;)

And I've been trying to think of old timers who did "Gold" or "Winners", but that wasn't the deal back then......
 

mrrice

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Jul 9, 2014
Cool! But if we're going to offer up golden Stevie Wonder songs to skaters,

Golden Lady

Although I can't imagine doing a skating or dancing routine to the song, I do love it.;)

And I've been trying to think of old timers who did "Gold" or "Winners", but that wasn't the deal back then......

KABOOM!!!!! That is definitely the Winner. Bravo:cheer2:
 
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TheGrandSophy

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Apr 14, 2014
Choosing a song about definitely winning or gold can be, as has been said, counting your chickens. On the other hand, Mirai's choice seems very emotionally engaging with her history and I can see how it could work- after all, the 'winner' is not the singer. If she has a very bad season though it could get awkward. She needs to continue solid or even better for it to work well. Gracie's ex made me cringe from start to finish when at the gala at Worlds. Either it was meant to be prepared for, "Here this was my time and I won! which is not what the song is about and so felt tone deaf and inappropriate after all as she lost OR it was meant to be mournful. The thing is though the, 'Everybody loves a winner but nobody loves me' line seemed self-pitying and also inappropriate when the entire venue at worlds seemed full of American teenage girls who were Gracie fans.
 
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