Crystal Skate

After more than 150 years since its official appearance, figure skating finally caught up with modern times last season when the International Skating Union (ISU) decided to allow all disciplines to skate to music with lyrics. This decision was seen by many as the perfect opportunity to bring modern music into the equation. After all, it's been ignored for far too long in competitions, always kept at bay by how much of an impact the lyrics have over it. Joshua Farris took the Four Continents Championships by storm last season with his Ed Sheeran routine. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images Asia The assumption that the new rule - which kind of translates into 'there are no rules' when it comes to the choice of routine - would encourage more skaters to turn to contemporary tunes was right. There has been a noticeable increase in this type of programmes last season. Some feared that this would take something away from the lyricism of the sport, but anyone who has

From the beginning of times, mankind has enjoyed two things when it comes to entertainment: stories and music. People used to gather around the fire and sing or tell tales long before the first theatre opened its doors or the first musical instrument was invented. So it was only a matter of time before someone, allegedly Jacopo Peri, an Italian composer, combined the two and created the first opera. The opera evolved as a genre throughout four centuries, but as the music scene changed, a new form of entertainment emerged: a hybrid between opera and theatre - the musical. There is a lot of debate over the debut of the musical as a genre. Charles M. Barras' The Black Crook  is still widely considered the first musical despite critics saying that it was just a play with songs and dance. Some say Charles M. Barras was the creator of the musical. Photograph: www.wikipedia.com In figure skating, operas and musicals are both under-used and over-used at the same time. There are s