Comments on: FX – Tweddle v Mitchell

By: PERTO

PERTO — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Camelia Voinea was not slim but she had artistry.

When a gymnast dances, and I feel something from it, or I see nice lines and a rhythm and it goes WITH the music, I feel it is the beginning of art.

And I for one never said Nastia was artistic. She is posey, and waves her arms and breaks her wrists a lot.

Pavlova is moreso, and with less of those acrobatic twisty “dance” requirements, could probably show us something akin to the old Soviet Style if she really wanted to.

By: shergymrag

shergymrag — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:50:40 +0000

They were probably smiling on the medal stand. Was that riveting enough for you?

By: nic

nic — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:01:51 +0000

Artistry to me is keeping the audience entertained. Both of these girls have amazing gymnastics, clean tumbles and leaps. But they do not perform. Svetlana Khorkina is an example of someone who could keep the crowd entertained through her facial expressions. And even though they have tacky dance, the college gymnasts keep the crowd draw the audience in and really perform. Artistry is making people say wow I want to see more! Beth and Lauren are amazing gymnasts and well deserving of their medals, but I would like to see them perform more, or at least smile.

By: shergymrag

shergymrag — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:53:39 +0000

“They are artistic because they are extremly slim and do some stuff looking la little bit like ballet and use classical music? There has to be more about “artistry” than that.”

There IS more to artistry than that. Even “extremely slim” gymnasts wouldn’t be artistic if they didn’t put any effort into it. Artistry is not about body type.

By: coach Rick

coach Rick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:48:47 +0000

I’m simply comparing those 2 routines. Of the two, I prefer Beth. … But I’m not a judge.

By: George N

George N — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:48:40 +0000

Artistry is so hard to define at the best of times and I too am having difficulty wrapping my head around all of this stuff. How can we bemoan the loss of artistry while at the same time bastardizing every beautiful dance element by adding a full twist or something equally offensive to it just to make it worth more? If such dance was indeed beautiful we would see it performed by ballet dancers etc. We do not! Most of the most beautiful dance elements are worth nothing in the code and are therefore not worth performing for our athletes. Big surprise there…

Furthermore, I’m really getting sick of every judge in the world criticising lack of “artistry” and choreography in general. Each and every one of the world class gymnasts has the very best in form of choreographers and coaching available, are we to believe that all of these choreographers do NOT know how to choreograph a routine and/or every current gymnast is totally useless at being able to dance and interpret the music that they have? How insulting!

Perhaps we need more of those self proclaimed judging choreography experts out there get off their ass and into our national programs so they can put together a routine that will make our hearts jump when we see it. Why do we have the best sitting behind tables with a pen instead of trying to improve our sport if they do indeed posess the knowledge and the ability?

By: M.L.

M.L. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:43:33 +0000

It’s interesting with all your writing about how gymnastics lacks artistry that you supported Beth’s gold medal for the reason that she had more difficulty.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:07:27 +0000

My judging

Beth
double arabian – legs -0.1
dos santos – bent knees -0.3; legs apart -0.3; step -0.3
Gogean – precision -0.1; uncontrolled step -0.1
2-1/2 – loose legs -0.1
front 1/1 – bent knees -0.1

6.1 + 8.6 = 14.7

I think her Dos Santos is DANGEROUSLY close to downgrading

Lauren
double arabian – legs -0.3
full-in – legs -0.1; chest -0.1; hop forward -0.1
wolf turn – precision -0.1
tour jete 1/2 – precision -0.1
switch leap 1/2 – precision -0.1
double pike – hop forward -0.1

5.8 + 9.0 = 14.8

By: AM

AM — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:33:23 +0000

Neither had choreography that turned me on. Still, Tweedle’s tumbling was impressive and she deserved the win.

By: BB

BB — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:03:44 +0000

I agree with Josh… there are different ideas to artistry. While I don’t agree that Rap or techno are music, somebody might. So if a girl wants to use Techno for her floor routine, and she performs in the style of the music how can we not claim that wasn’t artistry? When I watched this year’s worlds, I didn’t get American commentators for some reason and I got British ones and the women was saying that the choreography needed to fit the style of music. I think that’s the most important. If it fits then it should be rewarded as artistry. Now if it doesn’t fit, that’s a whole other story…