Olympic Figure Skating
{.imagelink}Watching the ladies’ figure skating competition from the olympics, I am amazed by the total lack of connection between gestures and music. To start off with, I am not very impressed by the music accompanying the programmes, most being massively layered, romantic orchestral music, but the fact that it is also recorded by a microphone in front of a moderate PA system in the skating hall does not call for a good listening experience.
It is clear that there is some kind of relationship between the programmes and the music, since most skaters finish more or less at the same time as the music stops playing, but I have still to see any close relationship between the movements they are doing and the qualities of the music.
My biggest question is perhaps why noone is using new music? Why don’t they work with a composer to create a tight programme with a good connection between movements and music? As it is now, I get more out of the performances when turning off the music.