openkwongdore.com
16 February 2016
Podcast Episode 1
by Pj Kwong
Inside Edge
When I was trying to come up with who would be a terrific first official guest for the @skatingPj Podcast, I thought of this man. All the tricks are important in skating, but they are nothing without an inspired musical backdrop. Hugo Chouinard is someone that I have known for a very long time and respect tremendously. Hugo’s professional life is music in general with a huge chunk of it being devoted to editing and creating the music for skaters. I am not saying that it didn’t take some persuading, because it did; Hugo is a very self-effacing and humble man who was not sure at all that he wanted to be interviewed. Thankfully, he finally said yes.
Our conversation wanders all over skating from Hugo’s own competitive career as an ice dancer to when he was first asked to put together music for a skater’s program. The list of choreographers reads like a who’s who of contemporary skating from David Wilson, Julie Marcotte, Jeff Buttle, Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer and that’s just the list in Canada – there are of course many more.
We talk about 2010 Olympic Champion Yu-Na Kim’s music. We explore the way that Hugo recently added four seconds to Patrick Chan’s music in order to make Chan more comfortable in his short program. He admits to not being able to do all of this alone and that his collaboration with composer and musician Karl Hugo has been invaluable.
As with everything else in skating – it’s all about the relationships. This is a fascinating podcast with Hugo Chouinard.