2020 Women's Artistic All Around Final (Thursday, July 29, 2021)

[Kittentoes]

Recycled choreography usually highlights the worst. And we get a lot of that. We’re not going to get whole compositions anymore. We are going to get some TikTok dance influencer who comes in for an afternoon and teaches some flappy poses, emails some screechy music later, and coach fills everything up with tumbles and wolf turns. The End

 

[JusticeMom]

just meant to tell you some people are incredibly unmusical, right down to the most basic beat issues.

Thank you for saying this! While very accomplished athletically, I lack any musicality. I really empathize with these gymnasts for whom it does not come easy! Because of this, I always notice which gymnasts hide it, and can tell which ones have more natural musicality.

 

[onodian]

I still think these things can be taught to anybody, but it’s good to acknowledge it is so much harder for some.

 

[onodian]

I think you misunderstand me a bit. The example i posted from jordyn is pretty damn perfect in following the beat, but if you look at, e.g., London ef, if i remember correctly there she is constantly rushed because all these spaces are choreographed and she is just running behind. That’s the risk to this approach.

Aly, on the other hand, does have parts that should really look like jordyn, but instead look like she’s going crazy live on the podium. Most notably, pet peeve of mine, after the second pass where the choreo is obviously mickeymousing the music, yet she is dancing to her own beat because she almost never could wait as long as required after that pass.



Which, incidentally, is the same thing bogi did, but with massively better movement.

Finally, a lovely choreography that is very beat-heavy (by which i mean lots of strong accented beats picked up by the gymnast) without it being too posey or simple, which certain parts of jordyn are to me, even though i also really mostly enjoyed that routine.

 

[onodian]

But I’d argue this could work there’s quite a lot of time for her after the tumble to catch up. It’s just you need to rehearse these things a lot, leave things out if you’re late vs wait more if you’re early… and frankly these things are very hard to do when your heart is racing a mile a minute and (i imagine) you’re trying to rely on your body just doing what it knows mechanically. Very hard to have all those different mindsets together.

I also love the audience clapping at the beginning of the first vid, then realising there’s an accelerando and they are fucked

 

[ruby]

I have a gymnast who is an incredible musician…in addition to being great with an Instrument she is a conductur. Dancing is a problem for her though. Doing the movements requires so much focus from her that she has the hardest time to hit a beat.
So…Just to throw that out…

 

[onodian]

Surely this would get better once the movements are more automatic? When she doesn’t have to focus so hard on the movement itself? But yeah you’re right, hearing and moving are two different things.

 

[RAFIKI]

Aly is the perfect counter example. Couldn’t find a beat to save her life like you say… I literally always thought it was because there was a slight delay in the sound between what we hear on a broadcast and what they hear in person,

This. When people were complaining about her missing the beats I could never work out if she was ahead or behind and I also wondered about sound delay. I did see the London floor final live but repeatedly watching things overwrites impressions from the day.

I was also really surprised to see Skinner’s choreography being created with so little reference to the music. I tried to be charitable given it was edited and he could have spent the evening (they picked the music on day one from a selection) listening to it intensively while choreographing, but it was still shocking. Despite my shock I will say that the floor routine vlog was fascinating. It was interesting to see Skinner trying things and the development of passages. It was also notable that several passages degraded by the time she got to competition. One even looked unrecognisable because I remember thinking “I wish she’d kept that”, turns out she did but it just didn’t stick in my memory.

 

[dweiss324]

Now that we’re full on fleshing this out… gymnasts that choose music that speeds up and slows down constantly (like Aly), or gymnasts that splice 1800 songs together, make it almost impossible to dance to in any cohesive style or recognizable beat. Just pick 1 damn song and don’t make it so hard for yourself. Popa’s routine was lovely. After the slow intro, the song establishes a nice working rhythm and she doesn’t mess with it, and it really enhances her performance. Same with Jordyn, she’d done herself a lot of favors by choosing one song with one tempo. It doesn’t mean there can’t be a change of pace, but it shouldn’t be too disruptive (a la Shawn’s traffic noise middle section )

 

[irichluck21]

Sacramone is another that was not a natural dancer but had some arm waves, shimmies, and poses that went with the beat.
This wasn’t the best choreography but she sol it well, even the twisting cat leaps (which I hate all of) were in time to the music.

 

[Stacey]

Was it Ohashi that had someone stood on the sidelines clapping so that when she did a clap in her choreography she did it on beat because she couldn’t do it by herself

 

[Doug1233]

This completely reinforces the fact that the choreography isn’t actually designed according to the BEAT. At some points in the first half (before the choreo is even changed mind you), she’s literally nearly a full second off from herself. Can you imagine any other dance in the entire world where two people are doing the same dance and are a full second off from each other, and calling that acceptable?? It’s all just vaguely fluid posing, nothing to do with hitting the beat. Can you imagine a rhythmic team routine where the dancers are a full second off?

Maybe this is just general knowledge to some of you, but I literally can’t believe it. Is there no coach at the elite level clapping along and shouting “1, 2 and 3 and 4 and” at their gymnasts!?!?!?!

I thought the amended 3-pass routine was better suited to the music.

IMO they squidged the 4 pass routine into the choreo that was probably built for 3 passes.

 

[Doug1233]

Of course most egregious is something like aly who had this style of routine yet couldn’t hit a beat to save her life

OMG those two beats of “arms in the air” that were NEVER IN TIME will haunt me forever.

 

[Doug1233]

Most notably, pet peeve of mine, after the second pass where the choreo is obviously mickeymousing the music, yet she is dancing to her own beat because she almost never could wait as long as required after that pass.

The bit from 0:50 to 0:57 is the bit that gets me the most.

The choreography was CLEARLY INTENDED to hit those beats. But she was always a half step ahead of it.

I think maybe once (2012 prelims) she actually hit it and I was like Jesus has saved us but then alas it was not replicated.

 

[glamafonic]

I remember when Aly was on Dancing With the Stars her partner was shocked that she literally didn’t know how to count beats in music.

 

[onodian]

He must have seen that one routine where she was in time

 

[onodian]

I think maybe once (2012 prelims) she actually hit it and I was like Jesus has saved us but then alas it was not replicated

It’s funny because even though the movements are relatively ok in time, you can tell It’s PURE COINCIDENCE because she’s all the time on the verge of being too early or too late. I hope the choreographer got paid well cause it can’t have been fun looking at this all the time. I’d jump onto the podium and go “no! NO! THIS ISN’T WHAT WE REHEARSED!!”

 

[RedBirdie]

Aly’s floor will haunt me for the rest of my life. Awful.

I always had dance instruction from dance instructors, even as a little pre-teamer. We learned how to count music, understand phrasing, etc. Blows my mind that so many gymnasts never got that.

 

[tsarinajen]

I don’t think she understands yet how famous she is (at least right now)…. And who was cutting onions

 

[Denn]

As a musician, I agree with @onodian that it’s totally painful to watch most floor exercises from a musical/timing standpoint.