Light Entertainment Programs

Having finally recovered from a cold that just about knocked me off my feet for a week, I attended and announced at a Showcase competition. This competition USED to be an adult competition called The Winter Classic. It was, to my knowledge, a financial success but was changed to this Showcase competition because (and are you sitting down for this?) the host club was upset that not enough club members participated or volunteered for the event. Please tell me you are just as confused as I am... Be that as it may, I announced for most of the Showcase competition. And I was shocked and disappointed at what some skaters consider "Light Entertainment". Back in the day, when I did so many ISI competitions that they knew me by face, a "Light Entertainment" program was fun, had some technical elements, and conveyed either a bit of sexy or silliness. Yesterday, I watched a group of girls basically do their Intermediate short program. All technical, no "light entertainment". Evita has a wonderful score. Is it light entertainment? No. Les Miserables, beautiful score. There is one "light" number in the entire show and that's Master of the House. No one skated to that and yet 3 girls skated to Les Miz. Phantom of the Opera... not light entertainment. Jekyll and Hyde; Civil War; The Scarlet Pimpernell and any other Frank Wildhorn show... they are NOT light entertainment musicals. Please do some research first. Yes, you like the music and good for you for appreciating a good score, but skate to that music either as a technical program (in a technical competition or in a Dramatic Entertainment event) but NOT as light entertainment I firmly believe that if you skate your short program for a showcase event, you should be marked down because you did not adhere to the rules. But I'm not a judge and for that, everyone involved should be happy. As for the "Improv" events (which in ISI ran extremely smoothly and were called Interpretive) all I can say is after hearing Taylor Swift screech out a song that reminded me of those screaming goats (even with auto-tune), I volunteered to pick the music next year. I actually begged to pick the music next year. One judge asked if we had to hear that song for three events. I think we heard it for two events, four girls each. It was torture. Remember when people had to be able to sing LIVE to have a music career? Gone are the days... Schools are closed this week so there's no point in trying to get to the rink. So until next time, as we are currently saying in the east coast... Stay Warm.