2010 Olympic Preview to Ice Dance
The Ice Dance competition could be the most delicious of all of the contested events in Vancouver. Not only are the competitors well matched in terms of difficulty and scoring potential, but there is also the omnipresent power of politics, scandal, and judging alliances that often plague ice dance competitions.
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Last edited by dorispulaski; 02-09-2010 at 09:26 AM.
Nice preview, and fair to all 5 couples, I thought.
I always enjoy reading the Golden Skate previews and reviews and usually find them fair and an interesting read. However, this time around I don't feel the dance preview was completely on point.
I have to disagree about some of the comments made regarding B&A. A Vegas and Jesus mishmash? I thought the article wasn't completely fair to Tanith and Ben and is just playing along with the B&A are past their prime and shouldn't be contending for top medals along with the rest of the skaters train of thought. The article made it sound as if B&A are the worst of the top five contenders and even with fair juding would only be able to barely snatch the bronze.
It may be true that B&A will have a difficult time getting on the podium but IMO it's not because of anything lacking on their parts this season. B&A are suffering more because the judges from various federations are jockeying for position to score medals for their skaters than they are from bad programs or lack of talent.
IMO it's true that B&A seemed to be on a down swing after 2008 Worlds but before this season began, I would say they were on the upswing. Winning a portion of the dance event at Worlds for the first time and ending a season that many (myself included) thought would be more of a transitional one in which Tanith and Ben would be lucky to win bronze with a silver medal.
Whether or not people end up liking a program or not is purely subjective but I love B&A's FD and don't find it to be a mishmash of anything (well except for the latest costumes). Artisically I find it the best of the top teams. However I also love V&M's Mahler and really like DomShabs' FD.
I realize most people on this board dislike B&A or at the very least are dimissive of them but I find them underrated this season while other teams might be overrated.
Okay enough from me as I realize most will not agree.
^^Thank you and I agree.
The top dance couples are all senior skaters, so I do not want to read about deep edges which all couples have.
It's the one comp, I can never be satisfied without a decent explanation afterwards. and I do mean decent explanation, and not to reread the criteria. We need a spokesman from the Judges as to why one team danced closer than another. and how much that mattered in the scoring.
For me it's just which team comes closest to Fred and Ginger or Gene and Cyd.
I think B&A have to be considered as a top medal contender. One of the things that is going to be key this Olympics as who skates the Tango Romantica well, and how that skating is scored. Like DelSchoes, B&A have skated the TR quite a few times in competitions, but not recently. OTOH, they have always done well with Latin dances (except for falling on the Argentine Tango at Worlds in 2008), and Linichuk surely knows how the TR is supposed to be done. I would be surprised if they are not very close to the top in the CD.
So not all of us here are totally dismissive of B&A. However, their FD costumes at Nationals were so bad that they did make the dance look Elvis in Las Vegas. Mishmash is a bit harsh. The Cup of China costumes worked much much better IMO. And I see that Ben was out of the plastic Elvis suit in the Ice Works Olympic sendoff show, so I hope thye are going back to that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBCFJ8WJzUOriginally Posted by Dyan
potentially new costumes? i love taniths similar to domnina's very rodarte....WAIT is this one of those rodarte designs (i.e. johnny weir's hideous jumpsuit?)
Has everyone else really gotten so much better than B/A? Have they really slipped? Or are judges saying "You had your time, now it's time to show fresh faces on the podium?" I've been really wondering about this.
no idea why Tanith and Ben are getting somewhat shafted by the judges. they've improved technically with their move
I think it's because they lost themselves with the move. I don't get Tanith or Ben in any of their programs... and that's what made them special
impossible to guess, evrth depends on the judges' sympathy... All top skaters are relatively of the same level.
Dyan, Please don't wave the white flag entirely. I really like B&A as well as D&W and V&M and a lot of other teams. I just think that so far this year, D&W have gotten their correct grades, and so have B&A. Yes, it stinks that B&A didn't read the rule communications themselves, and understand what those rules reward, and what those rules do not reward. And it's possible that everything will be different at the Olympics for the two teams. For one thing, B&A have competed under Olympic pressure, done well, and come away with a medal in the past and D&W never have.
I am reminded of an interview Marina gave about B&A, V&M and D&W, back when all were Shpilband students. She said something nice about all the students. At the time, D&W were definitely their 3rd place team, so of course that is tricky. What she chose to say was, D&W were the smartest ice dancers she had ever taught. And I think they are. It's no wonder that they help their coaches pick programs that suit them and that are set up to score well under COP as it is today, rather than working on things that were more important in previous years.
And as to the things that B&A were critiqued by skating fans for? Go look at the line and extension of Grishuk and Platov and Torville and Dean. They were not particularly balletic toe-pointy dancers. Now Navka had balletic lines so in the 2002 to 2006 quad, balletic lines were a big deal. Not so much in the 1994 to 1998 quads. Even when B&A rose to prominence the team they eventually took over from as US champions, Lang & Tchernyshev had absolutely gorgeous balletic posture and extension, and internationally they never went anywhere really. That stuff is not all that & a bag of chips despite what the balletomanes among us say. For one thing there are a lot of dance styles where they are totally inappropriate. Charleston, jive, most folk dance & so forth, for some examples. For another, it's importance has been a matter of come and go fashion in ice dance rather than a requirement. Deep edges, for example, have always been a requirement.
But I think you should reconsider what Dick Button said. This is a guy who gave the OD to B&A, and he goes nuts positively about D&W's FD. He also really like Eleanor Rigby and Samson and Delilah from D&W. (where B&A won at US Nationals back then & they were the number one team). Dick calls them like he sees them. D&W are a team that are better seen live.
Last edited by dorispulaski; 02-16-2010 at 09:27 PM.
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