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Germany's Nicole Schott dances to 'Schindler's List' music

Casey Gutting
·3 min read

Germany’s Nicole Schott took to the ice Friday, putting forth a beautiful figure skating performance with just one point of contention, the chosen music was the John Williams’ classic score from the film “Schindler’s List.” It’s a touchy subject to say the least, a German skate-dancing to “Schindler’s List”?

The song from the film carries such a crippling weight of mass-genocidal-Nazi tones, that it’s very hard for most viewers to get past such a graphic and horrible visual when it’s played.

But this is not the first time this has happened in figure skating competition, in fact it’s not even the first time a German has skated to the music. John Williams’ soundtrack of violin music (played by the Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman) has actually been popular with skaters since the film’s release in 1994. Paul Wylie performed a routine to the music THAT YEAR, as did the German champion Katarina Witt (who also wore red and made headlines). Yulia Lipnitskaya also danced to the music in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics.

From purely a musical stand-point, it’s not hard to see why dancers love the score – the melancholy and romantic tones match the sadness of the film with a tempo that perfectly lends itself to the dramatics of an ice dance.

Having said that, it’s a German dancing to “Schindler’s List” so social media immediately erupted.

Leslie Jones was confused, about a lot of things:

Here’s a viewer who actually enjoyed the musical choice, which for some reason feels icky and wrong:

And here’s a figure skating legend coming to Schott’s defense:

The music’s dramatic tone is perfect for figure skating but there’s something uncomfortable about it when it’s a German skater. Maybe it shouldn’t feel uncomfortable, but it just kinda does.

At least she didn’t pull a Jerry Seinfeld and make out with somebody during the entire performance.

Nicole Schott performing at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. (Getty Images)
Nicole Schott performing at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. (Getty Images)

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