Ice and music from the movies. Brilliant performances in women’s singles skating

Figure skating is a kind of art on ice. And when the skaters’ brilliant technique is complemented by legendary hits from movies, TV series or cartoons, it becomes much more interesting to watch the skating.

The day before yesterday, the Grand Prix series finals took place in Turin, where young Russian figure skaters took the entire podium in women’s singles. And some of them skated their programs to music from movies, which is not uncommon this season. Let’s recall the brightest performances of athletes to popular movie soundtracks of the last decade.

Evgenia Medvedeva: “Sailor Moon” and “Memoirs of a Geisha”

A two-time silver medalist at the 2018 Olympic Games, Evgenia Medvedeva is a big fan of Japanese anime, especially the character Sailor Moon from the work of the same name. In the program for the demonstration performance at the 2017 World Team Championships in Tokyo, the girl, inspired by the cartoon, danced in the image of her favorite heroine. She conquered the local audience and once again surprised fans. The figure skater’s number was thought out to the smallest detail, starting from the music and ending with the movements. Evgenia performed to a mix of anime songs, which included the melody of Moonlight Densetu – the main soundtrack of “Sailor Moon”.

Medvedeva took to the ice in a Japanese schoolgirl uniform, and then, as in the anime, turned into a warrior in a sailor suit. The girl’s image was complemented by an odango hairdo. The former pupil of Eteri Tutberidze repeated the actions of the heroine, right down to her facial expressions.

This season Evgenia Medvedeva performs her free skating program to the theme song from the film “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Rob Marshall. One of the most famous choreographers in the world, She-Lynn Burn, worked on the new image of the figure skater. The soundtrack fully reveals the athlete’s character and her mood. From a technical point of view, Medvedeva’s number is extremely difficult: she jumps triple jumps in the second half of the program and complicates her performance with a triple salchow in conjunction with a triple rittberger. But the main thing is the atmosphere Evgeniya creates on the ice.

Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya also used the title theme of the Oscar-winning film for her demonstration number at the Grand Prix in Tokyo in the 2000-01 season. However, then the girl preferred a light white-silver dress, and in it she seemed to float above the ice. The emotional content of the skating and its brilliant performance did not leave the audience indifferent.

Irina Slutskaya, 2000

Alina Zagitova as Lara Croft

The youngest Olympic champion in the history of women’s singles skating, Alina Zagitova has always been able to surprise the audience not only with the most complex technique, but also with the beauty and energy of the numbers. In 2018, Alina skated as Lara Croft at the showcase. The skater’s number attracts attention from the first seconds: it is driving and incendiary. Leather tights, a kosukha, which the girl takes off at the beginning of the performance, bright red lipstick and Zagitova’s flirtation with the audience are complemented by a powerful soundtrack – a reworking of the hit of the noughties Survivor.

Lara Croft is the heroine of the computer game Tomb Raider, which was invented by graphic artist Toby Gard in 1996. According to the author’s idea, it is a beautiful woman-archaeologist, intelligent and athletic. She risks her life in the ancient ruins, where at every step she faces traps and dangers, as well as many enemies: rival archaeologists, gangsters, dinosaurs and mythical characters. Based on the computer game were made three movies. In 2001 came out “Tomb Raider”, and two years later – “Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life”, where the main role played by Angelina Jolie.