Alizee's physical coordination: a major part of her x-factor

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

I haven't yet watched the LE videos...

I highly recommend. You get to see Alizee singing, dancing and even acting in a variety of settings. It also exposes you to a variety of French performers, many of who comprise the "core team" that are in Les Enfoires year after year. Names and faces start taking on more meaning. Pascal Obispo and Zazie were major contributors to Alizee's Blonde album, which would be nothing more than some names unless I got exposure to Les Enfoires where I see them perform. LE in general is highly entertaining a and a good portion of the songs are sung in English. Of the years Alizee was in them, I like 2008, 2011, and 2013 the best because she has the most appearances.

[bebert057]

she moves like an angel

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by bebert057

she moves like an angel

This is one great GIF!

[bebert057]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

This is one great GIF!

we see it on the video elsewhere, that when she is in front of others, men have their eyes riveted on her (and I think especially on her buttocks)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kIroYgeVK8

[Mr Coucou]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

To mimic every facet of Alizee or any other person would take an extraordinary amount of work and study, but replication would not even comes close because of physical differences like height, weight, flexibility, coordination, muscle tone, etc. on top of personality and all the other "nuances" that make Alizee unique.

I just cannot see how this would be possible.

I'm not trying to re-create Alizee per se--- I just want to analyze the individual elements of Alizee's x-factor.

One element is Alizee's facial expressions--- we talk about it alot on the forum. In another thread from a few months ago, you (CleverCowboy) wrote:

Maybe part of the appeal is that Alizee has so much personality, it shows up on her face in various expressions that might only last a second, but they are so charming that it just hooks you.

In the same thread, Scruffydog wrote:

Look at the beginning of this clip here, there is something in her expression, something in the way she moves her eyebrows that Cindy [Cindy Crawford] and Julia could never have achieved. It is so soft and beautiful, because the feeling that is being portrayed is something that is genuine inside this woman...
http://youtu.be/jU-aPr6xFSU?t=125

And so I pose the following question: how difficult would it be for another woman to reproduce Alizee's facial expressions?

How difficult, for instance, would it be for Julia to imitate these expressions? For example, show a brief (1 second or so) video clip of one of Alizee's expressions to Julia, and ask Julia to imitate it.

I predict that Julia will have significant difficulty doing the kinds of facial expressions that Alizee does. I would predict that most women would have difficulty reproducing many of Alizee's facial expressions.

My theory is that Alizee was born with superior physical coordination--- and that this physical coordination registers not only in Alizee's dancing ability, but also in Alizee's ability to make facial expressions. According to my theory, its neurological.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Julia would find it very easy to mimic Alizee's expressions. What do you think? Do you think Julia would find it easy to mimc Alizee's facial expressions, or do you think Julia would find it hard? (And if you think that Julia would find it hard, what do you think would be the underlying cause of the difficulty?)

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

And so I pose the following question: how difficult would it be for another woman to reproduce Alizee's facial expressions?

How difficult, for instance, would it be for Julia to imitate these expressions? For example, show a brief (1 second or so) video clip of one of Alizee's expressions to Julia, and ask Julia to imitate it.

I predict that Julia will have significant difficulty doing the kinds of facial expressions that Alizee does. I would predict that most women would have difficulty reproducing many of Alizee's facial expressions.

My theory is that Alizee was born with superior physical coordination--- and that this physical coordination registers not only in Alizee's dancing ability, but also in Alizee's ability to make facial expressions. According to my theory, its neurological.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Julia would find it very easy to mimic Alizee's expressions. What do you think? Do you think Julia would find it easy to mimc Alizee's facial expressions, or do you think Julia would find it hard? (And if you think that Julia would find it hard, what do you think would be the underlying cause of the difficulty?)

To answer your question, yes. I think Julia (or any woman) can recreate most all of Alizee's facial expressions very closely if not exactly. Alizee is not a contortionist and she doesn't make any expression that use a set of muscles that don't exist on everybody. It's the person behind the expressions that determine how we perceive them.

How do you perceive Alizee now compared to the first few times you saw her? The first time I saw her face scrunch, I thought it was maybe a nervous tic. Then I saw it elsewhere and I found it very endearing. The more I saw her and got to know her better through interviews and off stage photos and videos, the more I realized her facial expressions are an extension of her personality. Julia could mimic the expressions and it wouldn't have the same impact because it is not who she is.

An analogy is a really good stand-up comic. You can usually tell in the first 10 seconds who is going to be funny, because something about their being emits funniness. Most of the others shouldn't quit their day job because they just "don't have it".

Does any of this make sense?

[Shepherd]

Originally Posted by bebert057

we see it on the video elsewhere, that when she is in front of others, men have their eyes riveted on her (and I think especially on her buttocks)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kIroYgeVK8

You watch Alizee here. She is obviously having fun, and there is something charming in that, but she is not very tall, not especially voluptuous, just a skinny girl. Apparently, nothing special, but she is special. So, we are again confounded by the X-factor. I'm tempted to think it's in the mind of the beholder, but there are so many beholders having the same mind that it's got to be in the girl herself, but what is it? Banging my head against a brick wall.

[Mr Coucou]

Originally Posted by Shepherd

You watch Alizee here. She is obviously having fun, and there is something charming in that, but she is not very tall, not especially voluptuous, just a skinny girl. Apparently, nothing special, but she is special. So, we are again confounded by the X-factor. I'm tempted to think it's in the mind of the beholder, but there are so many beholders having the same mind that it's got to be in the girl herself, but what is it? Banging my head against a brick wall.

In this video clip, it is the dancing which makes Alizee special.

Bebert057 was right when he said "she moves like an angel."

It is her physical coordination. I suspect that Alizee's physical coordination is in the top 1%--- and that Alizee was born that way. That's why Alizee "moves like an angel."

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

In this video clip, it is the dancing which makes Alizee special.

Bebert057 was right when he said "she moves like an angel."

It is her physical coordination. I suspect that Alizee's physical coordination is in the top 1%--- and that Alizee was born that way. That's why Alizee "moves like an angel."

I agree that Alizee is the cream of the crop as far as the way she moves. But even in the top 1%, there is still an awful lot of women that fit in that 1% besides her.

This summer I will be a fan of Alizee for 13 years. Of course at first we all get hit on the head as we try to process what we have just discovered. But as the years roll on, I find myself enjoying seeing her sing, dance, talk, walk, and basically just seeing her face as much as ever, if not more now. Everybody else might pique my interest for a short while until I lose interest, but somehow Alizee persists. That is the x-factor that unique only to her and I cannot figure it out.

Edit:

It is quite remarkable that Alizee continues to have a very large following just living her life the way she wants it. Too many performers, once they start falling from the pinnacle of their fame, will resort to doing something outlandish or having a risqué photo shoot or trashing up their stage act to stay in the news. She obviously keeps her priorities right - family first, and doesn't seem to waver from her convictions and is content with whatever life brings her.

[Shepherd]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

It is quite remarkable that Alizee continues to have a very large following just living her life the way she wants it. Too many performers, once they start falling from the pinnacle of their fame, will resort to doing something outlandish or having a risqué photo shoot or trashing up their stage act to stay in the news. She obviously keeps her priorities right - family first, and doesn't seem to waver from her convictions and is content with whatever life brings her.

Once an artist is out of the spotlight, they are quickly forgotten. Alizee, however, continues to carry her fan base even though she is living pretty much a private life.