Oona Brown and Gage Brown skating their Junior rhythm dance (to music from The Boy from Oz) at the 2021 US Nationals, and skating their free dance (to Bloodstream by Tokio Myers and Air by J.S. Bach) at the 2020 Junior Worlds.
my exhibition submission for NMA's "Evolving Canvases: Art of Transformation". I chose to depict the myth of Apollo and Daphne; the original pose is inspired by Oona & Gage Brown's pair figure skating, and revised by referencing Bernini's sculpture.
Artist notes, close ups and sketches below cut
I learned a lot about composition and silhouetting from this piece. Of course, human anatomy is still a huge challenge for me. I really have to stop trying to paint human anatomy from imagination, it's hubris i tell you x'D
look at my creepy little chuerbs lol xD i swear i used to be better at drawing babies x'D
this was good- the tent story is at 33:20 the campground they chose was 50 km west of the rink and traffic could be brutal. a budget decision for July and September. they like camping. 3 weeks was a bit long. camped in Lake Placid the week after the summer competition, hiked - they're outdoorsy. it wasn't a curveball for them. a good area to save a bit of money for when they need it the most. she feels more refreshed sleeping on a harder surface, he didn't have any problems
in New York, they train alone, no other teams around, so going to Montreal, with 20 other teams is a good balance - they learn a lot from watching the other teams, and it lights a fire to be around them, to have other teams watching them
at Junior Worlds, Oona got food poisoning. he heard her throwing up at 1 am but didn't know how bad it was until they went to the rink, and he said let's jog like they usually do, and she said ...i can't...😥and curled into a ball. she pushed through, had no energy to be nervous, and they won
for the OnIcePerspectives video of their Metallica program that went viral during the lockdown - they trained for that the same way they'd train for a competition
their RD: Oona listened to a lot, they had I'm Still Standing as a top choice, so they decided to do all Elton - a coincidence that it comes from an album called Ice on Fire. they took it to Montreal, Romain would suggest let's put this here, let's put this there, and Gage would cut the music every day. their other coaches had input about other songs, they have a group text with the IAM coaches and went back and forth to shape the program
FD: wanted to skate to All by Myself for a long time, especially Oona, but felt like they weren't ready for it last season. threw a lot of pieces as suggestions to IAM, and this was the one they also responded most strongly to. the first month working on that program, he would stay up really late cutting the music as they shaped it. Hugo Chouinard helped for the final product. they started the process of looking for program music 2 weeks after Nationals, were making the programs by March
costumes: reused previous costumes for the RD because the new ones weren't ready- they needed to be altered, and they didn't have time before Finlandia, then they went almost straight into their GPs. she says they're getting sick of these, they'll have the new ones for Nationals
training for back to back GPs after Finlandia: started off lighter in between, had faith in their endurance and training. didn't go down in intensity between the GPs. was worried about how at competitions you skate much less, and how that would affect their fatigue levels
next up is Nationals. goals- more focused on total scores and points. may shift to thinking more about placement. want top 5-6 at Nationals. there are so many - 4-5 teams- right there with them. anybody's game. a goal to show up and have solid skates and see what happens. details, more speed, more flow - going to Montreal after Thanksgiving for 3 weeks. a bunch of Xmas shows in the city that help performing in front of an audience
what sets them apart from everyone else- Oona: we're small 😂
Gage- have gotten the compliment before that they're fiery. sometimes it's not a compliment, like they're always go go go go, too much, need to take a deep breath. so, having the fire but also want to show they can take a deep breath too. but other teams are good at that as well. this season can be a time to set ourselves apart and find out what does
another skater's style they take inspiration from? not really - not trying to be like them. be unique, be themselves. take inspiration from Tessa and Scott, but our skating styles aren't similar. a lot of skaters at Monreal that we'll watch. not modeling our skating but our mentality. they motivate you in a way because they're there and skating so well, it makes you push harder
styles they like to skate: tango. he prefers that to Latin because they can look stern and look at each other stern😅 they like doing hip hop and blues and 80s. they like older music, 70s 80s.
how are they similar or different from each other-- he's more outspoken and social. their humor is similar at times (she says not all the time) their dedication and passion towards what they're doing are similar. both musical - they play in a bagpipe band. are doing the interview from South Carolina at a bagpipe competition. their older brother is a drummer in an Irish marching band. Gage wanted to play a loud instrument. found a competitive Irish pipe and drum band
like being busy- they sightsee at competitions, get requests to bring back magnets, shirts, mugs for their 5 siblings and parents
favorite program of the past 4 seasons from any discipline: VM Moulin Rouge. Gage: it made me feel some kind of way. Nathan's Nemesis. HD's last free dance. Kaitlin and Jean-Luc's programs. their last year's made him teary eyed- they move me. i want our programs to be that way- make tears happen. but Moulin Rouge is #1