Skip to main content

Artistry and Music in Gymnastics: what do you think?

A press release from the FIG. 
FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE

PRESS RELEASE

(for immediate distribution)




+++ 

Artistry and Music in Gymnastics
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF EUTERPE!

Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, March 05, 2013: At its recent meeting in February 2013, the Executive Committee decided to organise two workshops on artistic and musical content, which are part of the judging criteria in Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics exercises. The workshops will be held this year at the World Championships in Antwerp (BEL) for Artistic and in Kiev (UKR) for Rhythmic. They will be led by the 1st Vice-President of the FIG, Ms Slava Corn, and target choreographers and coaches primarily, with access for judges.

A panel of internationally recognized experts will be appointed under the technical leaders of both disciplines, particularly Ms Lyn Heward (CAN), Creative Director with Cirque du Soleil, Montreal, Mr Lasse Nettum (NOR), expert and specialist in music and Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Mr Hardy Fink (CAN), FIG Education and Gymnastic Academies Director.

Music and artistry are two major elements in exercise composition and judging. For this reason, FIG President, Prof. Bruno Grandi (ITA) was clear when addressing his authorities: "Artistic content and a gymnast's immersion in the music are crucial; when translated through body expression, these are the heart of an exercise. Not only do athletes need to grasp this concept, but so do choreographers and coaches. When music is properly integrated into an exercise, a sense of artistry can truly evolve," emphasized the President.

The workshops will spur the creation of an educational programme targeting coaches, a concept to be developed in cooperation with the Cirque du Soleil.
+++


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the FIG: The International Gymnastics Federation is the governing body for gymnastics worldwide. It is the oldest established international sports federation and has participated in the Olympic Games since their revival in 1896. The FIG governs seven disciplines: Gymnastics for All, Men's Artistic, Women's Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline, Aerobic and Acrobatic. It counts 133 national member federations and boasts a 27-person staff at its international seat in Lausanne (SUI), host city of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you think?  Comments please!

Comments

  1. music and artisty haven't been major (or even significant) elements in exercise composition or judging for the last several Codes.....expect the usual FIG blather resulting from these workshops but do NOT expect any perceptible change....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am all for it, but to me tha FIG is playing with a double edge sword. for example the women are unfairly being push to try 4 hard difficult passes, insert all the requirements in the COP, come up with a good choreagraphy, and they have to stick their landing like the men and now with no pauses in the corners, that is a recipe to bring more injuries. but the men floor exercise is nothing but tumbling passes from one corner to the next. the men no longer have to do scales, or 2 different kinds of planches and handstand, and absolutely no flairs or show flexibility. something is got to give.
    to me they should allow the women to return to lunges, only penalize them if they stand more than 3 seconds in the corners, and increase the time to a minute and forty five or fifty seconds per exercise in order to have them to work on choreagrophy while incorporating all the requirements in the COP and the 4 tumbling passes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gymnasts are not initially selected for their artistic abilities, but rather their athletic , and they might or might not have an artistic bone in their body. The code is not conducive to artistic endeavour and has not been for quite awhile. You cannot quantify artistry.
    Possibly the choreographers have adapted to the scoring reality and have a few dynamic poses on the way to a multitude of counting skills.
    I still think the Russians are the best in the world artistically

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Updates on Russia, and Russian gymnastics

  Kartsev: FX, PB, HB; Suedin: PH, PB, HB; Roschina : V, UB Kalmykova: V, FX; Vassilieva: BB, FX; Kaiumova: UB, BB At times, I have been at a loss as to what to say; I still am.  I don’t think that politics and sport make good bedfellows, but we live in a time of global confusion and sadness.  It has been more than twelve years since Russia has competed under its own flag at the Olympics, and for all I know it could be another twelve or more before things revert entirely to ‘normal’.  I don’t know how seriously to take any of the announcements being made recently, about junior athletes being allowed to compete as Russian, about athletes in the Winter Paralympics being allowed to compete under the Russian flag.  I’d like to see the athletes back and able to live their lives, for them to be able to show off a bit and feel pride in their accomplishments.  But I can’t ignore the bigger picture of death and destruction.  People are lucky if they can live in...

Artistry versus acrobatics???

Watching videos of this weekend's competitions - the qualification and all around rounds of the Russian championships, medal winners from the American Cup - I am struck, more and more, by the huge difference between the American and Russian schools of gymnastics. It led me to ask the question : do artistry and acrobatics have to be mutually exclusive? (I am afraid that I think naming 'American' gymnastics a 'school' is perhaps lending an undeserved dignity to work which has become excessively obsessed with the difficult and the consistent, but I am using the word here so as not to label unfairly those individual gymnasts who are blameless in the direction of their training.) The FIG's vision for gymnastics is said to embrace more artistry; at least the publicity it has put about on the subject of its new Code makes that fairly plain.  So perhaps the Russians, with their inconsistent brilliance and superior body carriage (Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasy...

Russian teams' departure from Moscow - video

The teams have, in fact, arrived safely in London, and I hope they are resting and not too distracted by all the Olympic hype here.  This morning I went and watched the Olympic torch relay at Woolwich, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south east London.  There was a big turn out in the early morning sunshine, and lots of smiling faces.  Let these be happy Games. The gymnastics team has caught the attention of the Russian media and a number of news videos have appeared showing them during check in this morning.  They are worth a viewing for sight of a very healthy looking Grishina, Mustafina in full command of herself on the TV screen, all the team there resplendent in their outfits.  There are some interviews with Mustafina and Garibov. Russia 1 news coverage Sportsbox 1TV RU Russia 1 news coverage embedded below

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more