What's going on in ice-dancing??????? | Golden Skate

What's going on in ice-dancing???????

NatachaHatawa

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Yesterday I watched the Cup of China FD on tv, and I couldn't help feeling disappointed. There were soooooooooo many great couples there, but most of the programs weren't all that good.

D/S are usually entertaining, spectacular and esthetic, and their last two FDs were great to watch, but this year's one just bored me.

B/A. I usualy find B/A have got a spark, but have serious interpretation problems. With this program it's the opposite: They've finaly started to do some real interpretation but have lost their spark.

K/N. What a difference! they used to be entertaining, excentric and creative, but this FD just isn't worthy of them. I can understand why they did it though - they hace to woo more conservative judges.

Z/Z. Last year's program was great but this year's program is soooo déjà-vu!!

C/L: Aaah, finaly a couple whose program is up to my expectations!!!

I don't know if it's just me, but I realy feel that this year's FDs aren't half as good as last year's. It's as if all the couple simultaniously decided to, after finding themselves an inidividual style last season, do very classical programs.

Does it have anything to do with the fact that the olys are next season?
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
I skipped the ice dance - none of my favorite teams were at CoC, and Eurosport didn't show it live. Specifically as to the Zaretskis, I'd guess that their off-ice situation with the lawsuit couldn't have helped; regardless of its merits, they must have had less ice team and the whole thing would be a real distraction.
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I still haven't seen CoC, but I really liked some of the FDs I saw from SC and SA. I love D&W's FD, and enjoyed Del&Shoe's.

I would think teams would be more likely to pick classical selections in the Olympic year, but maybe they're trying to get a jump start on making themselves contenders.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Free Dances

Yes, it's a pre Olympic year, and a lot of skaters are making changes to fix what they perceive as problems with their skating. It's no surprise that it's taking a while for FD's to be 'soup' yet.

Americans

Belbin & Agosto, I really enjoyed their Tosca as performed at Skate America, (choreo by Linichuk). The twizzle sequence at the midpoint of the program is key to the program though. When Tanith blew that at Coc, it just took the steam out of the whole performance. Were they trying to add difficulty at CoC and it hasn't gelled yet? Whatever. This is the best FD they've had since Shadritsa, and it's better than Shadritsa. And I really like it. It's amazing since they spent a huge part of their prep time learning to skate again and learning new lifts, a process that is still not complete.

Davis & White, Samson and Delilah, choreo Zoueva, Just love it. Especially the flying Meryl lift, the gorgeous pair spin and the synchro twizzles. The transition to the Bacchanale needs work, and the exit from the twizzles. And whatever downlevelled the final lift, they need to fix it. However, the instant standing O response of the Canadian audience, with a Canadian team lying in 1st prior to D&W's performance is very telling. This program is a huge step for them. They are trying to look more seniorish and relate more to each other. They've achieved it. This is definitely one of the top 3 FD's of the year for me.

Samuelson & Bates, Amazonic, choreo Juri Tchesnitchenko, Jaroslava Netchaeva - S&B're very smooth and very technical, but I would rather hit the mute button while they're skating-this is dreadful music. It repeats the same droning phrase endlessly. I'd rather have my teeth drilled than listen to it again.

NavBoms, Fat Boy Slim, choreo Barry Lather -some interesting rhythmic basic body movement but this needs lots more work. And a lot more difficulty. The Rockefeller Skank part of it was quite good (funk soul brother), but they seem to me behind the pace they set the last couple years. Does anyone know whether there is a reason their preparation is behind this year?

Summersett & Gilles La Strada, choreo by Chris Dean/Tom Dickson. It's very clever choreo. Could we give this choreo & music to Samuelson & Bates or Capellini & Lanotte or Carron & Jost?

Jennifer Wester of Wester and Barantsev had pneumonia at Skate Canada. We'll have to wait to discuss what their FD is like when skated by healthy skaters.

Russians

Domnina & Shabalin, Spartacus, choreo Linichuk --Maxim's skating is so eroded from last year, due to his recovery from knee surgery not being complete, that I am totally unable to judge this dance. He can't seem to fully extend his knee or foot without a mammoth effort of will. I hope he heals up soon.Their lifts are boring so far though. And her hair is really distractingly dyed while his looks like a bad black dye job. They were lucky to win CoC.

Khokhlova & Novitski, Variations on a theme by Paganini, choreo byZhuk/Svinin- I expect to like this later in the season. Please no more scrubbie skirts though Jana. it's just kind of rough now, and they're not totally in sync with each other or the music yet. But they will be. However, I wish they would not use that handbag lift they used last year. It's a wonderful lift, but exactly because it's so unique, it's impact is lessened because I remember it so clearly from last year. They are trying to upgrade their artistic content and be less acrobatic. Any time you make changes, it takes a while for everything to gel.

Yes we have seen 3 other Russian teams, but they were all fairly forgettable for me.

French

Delobel & Schoenfelder - The Great Gig in the Sky, choreo Zazoui
Their skating is smooth, the ending is very lovely, but the whole program is way too on one level of intensity, and that level is rather like elevator music. They describe the program as being about them deciding to keep skating rather than retire. It shows, IMO.

Pechalat and Bourzat, La Notte di Favola, The March of the Gladiators, Jonglage, choreo J. Cottereau . They need to lose the Gladiators music entirely. I am not a fan of clown programs. The wake up part is totally charming. The clowning not so much. Their execution at Skate Canada was not good either. Let us hope it looks better later in the season.

Carron & Jost, Muse, choreo Zazoui-this cut of Muse sounds like Ferrante and Teicher with a drum machine overlay. The music is so foul, I can't concentrate on the dancing. At all.

British

The Kerrs-now Ruled by Secrecy is a much better Muse cut to skate to. The first minute of this program is very, very good. Their OD is crazy good. The last three minutes are a work in progress. They are much farther ahead this year in their prep than any previous year, AFAIR. Give this program time to develop.

Canadian Teams

Crone &Poirier, Yo Yo Ma, choreo by Carol Lane & , Juris Razguliaevs .
I'm not getting the love. They have relatively high difficulty, loud edges, a mildly juniorish look, mildly annoying cello music, and a silver medal. They were the second best of the night on a night of mostly really subpar FD's at Skate Canada, IMO.

I preferred Weaver & Poje, Dr Zhivago, choreo by Shae Lynn Bourne at CoC. They have a gorgeous first lift, and a lovely waltz feeling!

Come to think of it, if they had skated a little better, I would prefer Hann-McCurdy Coreno's Finnish piano piece, as skated at Skate America-and I'm not a big fan of piano FD's. The other 2 Canadian teams had the misfortune to be skating against much stronger competition that C/P did.

Italians

Capellini/Lanotte, Love Story, choreo by Vlasova,- I hated the movie & the music and can't get past that. However, there is a lot of difficulty in this program, and most of it is very smoothly performed. I like this programa lot better than...

Faiella & Scali whose concept this year is Clowns skating to Moonlight Sonata, choreo by Vlasova. This program seems to have a level of difficulty more similar to the NavBoms than to DomShabs, DelSchoes or Belbin/Agosto. And they should lose the clown suits. Or just take the clown collars off the costumes. (other than the collar, Federica's costume is, as always, lovely. If it weren't a pre-Olympic year, I could see them losing their Italian championship to C&L, if this program doesn't develop more and become more difficult.

Random comments by me

Yu & Wang Romeo & Juliet, choreo Shpilband/Zoueva, (the best of the 3 Chinese teams in the FD at CoC) - there were some startlingly lovely moments in this program. By going to Shpilband for choreo, it looks like the Chinese are getting serious about having an ice dance program. Those who might sneer at these skaters now should remember how long and hard Shen and Zhao worked to achieve a World Championship.

Zadorozhniuk and Verbillo. Carmen. Choreo Morozov. The world does not need another Carmen, but this was quite good. She appears to die twice though. Very puzzling. They've upped their difficulty at the expense of their speed.

Copely & Stagniunas, Evita, choreo Shpilband/Zoueva. There's a great stationary lift in this program. Now that B&A have left, (and part of their problems as they saw it was the pedestrian quality of the lifts they were doing) and V&M went to Cirque de Soleil for their lifts last year, are Marina and Igor suddenly paying attention to lifts?
 
Last edited:

MissIzzy

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Yu & Wang went to Shilband? Did Huang & Zheng go to Shilband as well? Or is there another reason their free dance music is the exact same cut of Notre Dame de Paris that Shilband choreographed a free to for Tiffany Stiegler & Sergei Magarovsky three years ago?
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Yes, they did too. The 3rd Chinese couple is still with Genrikh Sretenski. (Guo & Meng I believe)
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
We have not seen Virtue/Moir's program yet due to her injury. So I would not form a final opinion yet. Besides, the season is just beginning. The programs ago through a bit of "fine tuning" at the start.
 

NatachaHatawa

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
We have not seen Virtue/Moir's program yet due to her injury. So I would not form a final opinion yet. Besides, the season is just beginning. The programs ago through a bit of "fine tuning" at the start.

I really hope you're right.
 
Top