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The pairs figure skating began this evening, and the first American team that skated was Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett.  Most figure skaters wear terrible outfits, and, while theirs were flamboyant, they weren’t awful.  In fact, his shirt had a phoenix figure on the back, and her leotard was red, like she was a firebird herself.  Before they began skating I said, “they had better skate to The Firebird“.  The music began, and, indeed, it was Stravinsky’s Firebird.  The announcers didn’t point out the connection, but if I were a judge I would give them extra points for that.

UPDATE: I found the great picture on the left at this website.  If that goes down, there is another.  It’s number ten of the twelve pictures in this gallery.

UPDATE: Later in the program, two Russian skaters, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, performed wearing outfits with bird designs in sequins – his white, hers black.  Before they began I wondered what other bird-themed music they could skate to.  It turned out to be, appropriately enough, “Le cygne” from Saint-Saëns’ Le carnaval des animaux!

Filed under: Current Events, Music, Sports on February 14th, 2010