I enjoyed this competition a lot more than the Skate America dance group.
Daubreuil and Lauzon: Wow that new judging system....They pulled up to third with an exceptionally difficult free dance, which I think will be great by the end of the season - even a fall and a low rank in world placements wasn't enough to discount all the difficulty they were performing. I always love this couple's lifts. I think this year's tango/flamenco music is much better for them than last year's awful one-note dirge.
Chait and Sakhnovsky: Their costumes were hideous, and more than that they were very distracting. Good speed, as usual, and very polished for early in the season, but even to my relatively untrained eye the lack of detail and difficulty was fairly obvious. Quite an entertainly program, however, and something to build on.
Denkova/Stavisky: I like this pair a lot. And I really like this FD. Their speed and softness over the ice was beautiful to watch and something a lot of other teams can aspire to IMO. His costume needs a change, obviously, as it kept blowing up over his face, and that one lift where his head is between her legs is really, um, ugly.
Navka/Kostomorov: Really enjoyed this FD as well. The pink panther is not something I would have expected from this classical-looking team, but it really suited them. Very fun. They did slow down towards the end of the performance quite significantly, so conditioning will be something they'll have to improve for the rest of the season. For a firt time out it looked very polished.
Daubreuil and Lauzon: Wow that new judging system....They pulled up to third with an exceptionally difficult free dance, which I think will be great by the end of the season - even a fall and a low rank in world placements wasn't enough to discount all the difficulty they were performing. I always love this couple's lifts. I think this year's tango/flamenco music is much better for them than last year's awful one-note dirge.
Chait and Sakhnovsky: Their costumes were hideous, and more than that they were very distracting. Good speed, as usual, and very polished for early in the season, but even to my relatively untrained eye the lack of detail and difficulty was fairly obvious. Quite an entertainly program, however, and something to build on.
Denkova/Stavisky: I like this pair a lot. And I really like this FD. Their speed and softness over the ice was beautiful to watch and something a lot of other teams can aspire to IMO. His costume needs a change, obviously, as it kept blowing up over his face, and that one lift where his head is between her legs is really, um, ugly.
Navka/Kostomorov: Really enjoyed this FD as well. The pink panther is not something I would have expected from this classical-looking team, but it really suited them. Very fun. They did slow down towards the end of the performance quite significantly, so conditioning will be something they'll have to improve for the rest of the season. For a firt time out it looked very polished.
