The Skaters' Walze

Yesterday afternoon I watched the men's Figure Skating Championship battle for the national prize. I must say that overall, the men's level of performance was more consistently higher than the women's the day before. I have no idea why this should be true- and what do I know about figure skating? I have an eye for the combination of technique and emotion, whether it's on the operatic stage or the ice rink. Maybe that's my criterion. 

The first three young men who skated were each amazing. I don't think any of them made a mistake. I will never understand the grading system for figure skating. The 27 year old man that won did not complete either of his Quads in good shape. Each time he had to put down a hand to steady himself. Other than that he skated very well. I hated the music he chose to skate to, however.

The thing that really impressed me is that while I have been comparing figure skating to singing viv-a-vis technique and artistry, it is obviously more closely allied to ballet. In both cases someone is writing a choreography for the skater or the dancer to perform to some kind of music. I think that perhaps the reason it doesn't work as well in skating as in ballet, is that in ballet the choreographer fits the dance steps to a pre-ordained score, while in skating, with its obligatory figures that must be performed, the choreographer starts with the choreography and then tries to find music to fit.


This seems to result in having a mishmash of music from the same composer, or even different composers, fitted to a series of jumps and twirls. Once in a while this works, but often, in what I've seen in the past two days, it becomes disjointed and annoying musically.

I remember seeing ballets choreographed by the great George Ballanchine, where the dancer and the music were one from beginning to end. The ballerina went on point at exactly the moment that the music called for this to happen. The great dance choreographers were also great musicians and understood how dance and music must step together. Not always on the beat, which for a long time was the watchword of Mark Morris, but in line with the musical energy.

Years ago, when I was a church organist, I established in my church in Red Bank, New Jersey, a Sacred Dance Group which performed in church. Dance in church goes very far back in history. The altar boys in the cathedral in Seville danced a ritual on certain high holidays. The remarkable woman who was my choreographer, Winifred Widener, had danced under Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, and Doris Huymphrey, the three great originators of the modern dance movement. She choreographed works like Messiaen's Les Anges from his great organ suite La Nativité. The combination of great music and great choreography in my local church set people on their ear! Winifred often would say to her young dancers (these were teen-agers) 'move against the music, not always with it'. She produced magical results and our dance group performed in Barbados, Trinidad, and Tobago.

I seldom see this kind of greatness on the ice rink. Perhaps the skaters should just do all their jumps and leave the music to the dancers.