Best use of ballet on ice

[GGFan]

Another one of my favourite ballet inspired program is the Giselle LP from the Stieglers from 1998. Watching Tiffany Stiegler you kind of realize maybe we shoudln't be calling Sasha Cohen balletic. I also consider Oksana Baiul much more balletic than Sasha. IMO Sasha had the lines and extension and was beautiful to watch in her own right, but she didn't have the balletic way of moving, where movement oozes from one into another.

Yukina Ota was another truly balletic skater. The way she moved.

I loved her back!! That was a gorgeous program.

 

[GrandmaCC]

Well, if u ask Tatiana Tarasova, ballet on ice is definitely not Kaetlyn Osmond. Wow, she really didn’t like her swan lake. A lot of people are harping on her swan lake. I admit I dislike it too.

This isn’t about kaetlyn ‘s body type, is it? The reason for the dislike?

I was going to say “no”, but in a way it kind of is, because Katelyn just looks so much the epitome of a Broadway Babe, and to me anything approaching ballet seems a waste of a program on her - she could, and should in my opinion, be using those minutes to sell an exquisite jazzy number beautifully.

Why I dislike the program - it just seems so anti-“her”. So much of her sass comes through in her SP that to see her long devoid of her talents makes it a million times worse than it just not being suited to her physicality.
Because, for arguments sake - we’ll leave aside talk of classic ballet bodies, proportions etc - these girls all have bodies fit and trained enough to at least pass for the characters we’re discussing.

So - Even if a non-balletic skater were determined to do a balletic piece without wishing to work on their ballet training or deciding “hey, I’m going to this with ZERO dance practice whatsoever!!” (Which seems silly, but let’s just go with it...) - I would like to think that the innate grace and flexibility a top skater like Katelyn has - combined with costuming and hairstyling - would be enough for to get them “over the line” PROVIDED they REALLY embodied the emotional aspect of the character and sold it to death. Would it be picked apart from a ballet perspective? Absolutely. Would they have likely done better in a role suited to their strengths? Sure! But surely it would also make for an undeniably entertaining and compelling program. Given that the judges are marking not on ballet technique but on on skate technique, I truly don’t think it’d be too hard to leave them or the “average Joe” with the impression that “X” was the PERFECT Odile, Coppelia etc.

Katelyn to me doesn’t seem to enjoy the program at all, doesn’t have any connection with the character...it’s almost as if she’s filling in for someone else.
Hopefully this will change as the season progresses, because she so deserves a program that plays to her strengths and does her justice.