Juliet, oh Juliet

The Cold War currently being waged between Eteri Tutberidze of Sambo-70 and Evgeni Plushenko of the Angels of Plushenko has provided much fodder for figure skating-related discussion in a season notable for its paucity of skating, and the coaches' dueling Romeo and Juliet programs is certainly no exception to this state of affairs.  Both Ms. Tutberidze and Mr. Plushenko have selected not only a Romeo and Juliet long program for Daria Usacheva and Alexandra Trusova respectively, but both long programs use exactly the same music cuts, in the exact same order, and in roughly the same proportions: first, Craig Armstrong's O Verona from the Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet film, second, Abel Korzeniowski's Come, Gentle Night from the 2013 Romeo and Juliet film starring Hailee Steinfeld, and finally, Sergei Prokofiev's famous Dance of the Knights from his Romeo and Juliet ballet. Coincidence? I think not!  

While Romeo and Juliet programs are a dime a dozen in the figure skating world--for example, note this post written by yours truly in 2012 discussing the Romeo and Juliet programs of the top three Japanese men at the time--the surfeit of similarities between the two programs, combined with the animosity between the two coaching teams, strongly indicates that Ms. Tutberidze and Mr. Plushenko's choice of Romeo and Juliet is far from coincidental.  Further adding intrigue into the mix is the fact that Alena Kostornaia--formerly of Sambo-70 and now currently among the ranks of the Angels of Plushenko camp--recently skated her own Romeo and Juliet long program during the 2018-2019 season, albeit with different music cuts.  Let's take a look at all three programs . . . 

Alexandra Trusova is first and foremost known for her quadruple jumps, and her Romeo and Juliet program does nothing to dispel that reputation.  The bulk of Ms. Trusova's Romeo and Juliet is comprised of her obviously setting up for her (admittedly extremely difficult) jumping passes: Ms. Trusova--particularly in the first third of the program--mostly skates with intense concentration into her jumping passes, as evidenced by the considerable amount of time Ms. Trusova spends staring down into the ice while hunching her shoulders with her arms ready to snap into rotation.  There are some vague nods to choreography scattered throughout the program that intermittently hit a musical cue, as if by accident.  However, none of the choreography is internalized--watching Ms. Trusova, one senses that Ms. Trusova constantly ticking off the boxes ("lift arm, lift leg, cross roll, stroke face . . .") before setting up for the inevitable next jumping pass around the corner. 

Unsurprisingly, despite the significant variance in music between the lyrical Come Gentle Night middle part of the program and the much more dramatic Prokofiev/Armstrong bits, Ms. Trusova demonstrates little to no variation in carriage, expression, or body movement between the first two music cuts.  Indeed, it is not until the jumps are finally out of the way--i.e., during the Prokofiev part--that Ms. Trusova remembers to perform.  Except for the jarringly out-of-place hip swiveling at the beginning, the step sequence is actually not too bad, particularly if Ms. Trusova is able to skate it with more attack and speed.  Overall, the last third is clearly the best part of this Romeo and Juliet--Ms. Trusova is far more convincing as a warring Montague/Capulet partisan biting her thumb and battling it out on the streets of Verona to the driving beat of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights than she is as a lovelorn Juliet swooning over Douglas Booth or Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Like many of her delicate, waif-like predecessors from Sambo-70, Daria Usacheva shines during the airy, lyrical Come, Gentle Night middle section of her Romeo and Juliet long program, but seems a little too underpowered to pull off the more dramatic O Verona or Dance of the Knights parts.  That said, however, Ms. Usacheva demonstrates an understanding of the music by varying her expression and body movement between the different pieces of music somewhat (at least, more so than Ms. Trusova) but the cluttered choreography, however, just doesn't give Ms. Usacheva time to breathe and create a moment for the audience.  For example, the spread eagle transition into the 3Lo with the dramatic arm movements could have been a powerful moment if it was held out longer.  Instead, as is typical for the Eteri Tutberidze method, none of Ms. Usacheva's transitions and choreography have much of an impact, even when they occasionally hit the appropriate musical cues.  It's unfortunate that this Romeo and Juliet is so superficial, because Ms. Usacheva is clearly capable of more.   

Overall, Ms. Usacheva's Romeo and Juliet long program is the quintessential distillation of an Eteri Tutberidze program, just as Ms. Usacheva herself is the quintessential distillation of an Eteri Tutberidze skater among the lines the Tutberidze Waif model.  There is nothing Romeo or Juliet about this program; there is only Eteri Tutberidze.  

While Alena Kostornaia's Romeo and Juliet long program from the 2018-2019 season used three music cuts like Ms. Trusova's and Ms. Usacheva's programs, Ms. Kostornaia's program was set to three different pieces: Kissing You from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet film, the Forbidden Love theme from the 2013 Romeo and Juliet film, and finally, Nino Rota's famous Love Theme from the classic Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet.  Moreover, the mood and theme of Ms. Kostornaia's was also markedly different, insofar as her program stayed relatively one-note throughout, with three romantic/lyrical pieces of music instead of the an introspective middle bookended by two dynamic, passionate pieces.  

Ms. Kostornaia's extraordinary ease and natural flow over the ice, as well as her impeccable carriage and positions, almost makes one overlook her Romeo and Juliet's lazy program construction, the generic choreography, as well as the three choppy music cuts that are clumsily lumped together like potatoes in a sack.  But almost isn't enough, especially when it comes to Romeo and Juliet--just ask Romeo himself.