I watched some ice-dance :yes: I know nothing about ice-dance, but I still want to give my five cents!
I think the new coaches made Belbin a better skater. This new program is miles better than last year's Tosca, which I loathed with passion.
But - I don't think it's the right choice for an Olympic year. They look good, the skating is fluid, I love their lifts so much more than D/W's and V/M's. It's just that in a non-Olympic year, this would have been a good program for them, branching out, going dramatic. But I think they should have done something more upbeat this year, something that suits their personalities better.
We already got one top ice-dance team that does fluid, lyrical and weepy skating to dramatic-lyrical music best - Virtue/Moir. I don't know, they should have done something voidy, something like e.g. the Circus program P/B had last year. She is so beautiful, in a bright happy way, he looks like a guy everyone would like to hang out with and have fun. Maybe their coaches got the couples mixed up. Those two are a perky Canadian lass with her hot Latino partner, not some uber-dramatic Russian lion and his temperamental lady. Sigh.
ITA. I like this program from B/A better than last year, but I'm still not crazy about it. I have liked their od's better in the past so I thought to myself, why do I like those and not their free's? I think it's because they are Tanith and Ben in their original dances. They show who they are in their od's but not their free dances. I thought this performance seemed a little rough around the edges, and I thought the first part/step sequence seemed exceptionally slow.
Anyone notice how they are in white for their cd and od? I don't mind when the girl is in white, and the guy in white top and black pants but all white is not a good look. And Ben's top in the free? He looked like he was wearing a hoody. I'd take V/M's all black over all white any day.