OD May Be Dead

[KKonas]

Am hearing that the OD as we know it may be dead. In the Ice Dance meeting at Worlds, the Tech committee is looking at doing some elements of a CD with some elements of the OD like lifts, twizzles, etc. into a "Short Dance" to music of skaters' choice. If passed, this would take place this season for senior dancers - but maybe not Juniors until next season. CD for seniors this season is Finnstep, so likely everyone would be doing a quickstep of some sort to include elements of the Finnstep plus a Free Dance.

[Mafke]

Sounds pretty craptacular!

[wallylutz]

Am hearing that the OD as we know it may be dead. In the Ice Dance meeting at Worlds, the Tech committee is looking at doing some elements of a CD with some elements of the OD like lifts, twizzles, etc. into a "Short Dance" to music of skaters' choice. If passed, this would take place this season for senior dancers - but maybe not Juniors until next season. CD for seniors this season is Finnstep, so likely everyone would be doing a quickstep of some sort to include elements of the Finnstep plus a Free Dance.

This was proposed in response to the IOC's request that Ice Dance become a 2 event competition like other figure skating disciplines by 2014. It should pass the ISU Congress, I don't see another way. But the devil is in the details...

[colleen o'neill]

I've been reading a bit about this elsewhere ( admittedly, a lot is speculation ).. Still , it could be pretty scary, no ?..OTOH, I don't think the proposals have been formally posted yet have they ? Sounds very confusing so far..

[Wicked]

I'm trying to imagine what this would look like, but I'm really having trouble figuring it out.

[wallylutz]

I'm trying to imagine what this would look like, but I'm really having trouble figuring it out.

What I have heard so far, and this is subject to change, is to have the team performed one full pattern of the prescribed CD, whatever that is, say Finnstep. Right now, they repeat the pattern twice so the proposal would strike that down to just once, without repetition. After that, they will do a 1 minute 50 seconds duration of dance of their creation, similar to what OD looks like now. I imagine you can easily combine Finnstep CD followed by a smilar theme OD combined as one. But how do you do that with a theme say, music set to the 50s, 60s and 70s which is going to be the prescribed OD rythm in the upcoming year? I think this will be challenging to do...

[wallylutz]

To be honest, I think the final proposal that will pass is the elimination of CD for Senior Dance, period. The whole thing about combining part CD and part OD together is a little non-sensical and I imagine will be met with quite a bit of opposition from the skaters themselves. But I can see the CD being kept for the Junior Dance teams and they should since Junior Dance teams don't have to worry about Olympic format so they can continue a 3 phase event format as they are. It would be easiest to just eliminate the CD for Senior Dance team and move on. Or they could also make the Olympic a 2 event format, similar to GPF, while keeping the CD for other ISU competitions such as the World. I am fine either way, though would be sad to see the CD gone if they choose to eliminate that.

[SamuraiKike]

To be honest, I think the final proposal that will pass is the elimination of CD for Senior Dance, period. The whole thing about combining part CD and part OD together is a little non-sensical and I imagine will be met with quite a bit of opposition from the skaters themselves. But I can see the CD being kept for the Junior Dance teams and they should since Junior Dance teams don't have to worry about Olympic format so they can continue a 3 phase event format as they are. It would be easiest to just eliminate the CD for Senior Dance team and move on. Or they could also make the Olympic a 2 event format, similar to GPF, while keeping the CD for other ISU competitions such as the World. I am fine either way, though would be sad to see the CD gone if they choose to eliminate that.

The skater themselves dont take part in the ISU congress, only federation representatives.. so the notion can pass. It will probably be received negatively by the skaters/coaches (like this year's stupid 1st group break in the LP) but it wont be changed until the next meeting in 2011-2012 season or even later. It's a sad scenario.

And judging from all the interviews at Worlds, pretty much all the top skaters have already accepted the CD will be no more.

[KKonas]

What I have heard so far, and this is subject to change, is to have the team performed one full pattern of the prescribed CD, whatever that is, say Finnstep. Right now, they repeat the pattern twice so the proposal would strike that down to just once, without repetition. After that, they will do a 1 minute 50 seconds duration of dance of their creation, similar to what OD looks like now. I imagine you can easily combine Finnstep CD followed by a smilar theme OD combined as one. But how do you do that with a theme say, music set to the 50s, 60s and 70s which is going to be the prescribed OD rythm in the upcoming year? I think this will be challenging to do...

Current plans for OD for Seniors would be scrapped as new rule, if passed, would take effect this season. so no 50s 60s or 70s OD for Seniors. Juniors begin too early in the season to make the change until next season. Of course the proposal has not been finished yet so many things could change between now and when proposal is sent to ISU. Courtney Jones is pushing for this in an effort to keep some form of the CD alive.

[wallylutz]

Current plans for OD for Seniors would be scrapped as new rule, if passed, would take effect this season. so no 50s 60s or 70s OD for Seniors. Juniors begin too early in the season to make the change until next season. Of course the proposal has not been finished yet so many things could change between now and when proposal is sent to ISU. Courtney Jones is pushing for this in an effort to keep some form of the CD alive.

I am in favor of keeping the CD alive but the proposed solution seems to be a non-starter from the skaters' point of view. It will still require them to train for the CD, which means they won't get any breaks from having to practice two sets of CD + their OD and FD, which many of them feel it's too time consuming and time not well spent (having to work on their CD all the time). Assuming the change means there will be only one CD rythm per year, no more draws, it still isn't that much better. Plus, it just looks odd and could severely limit the kinds of rythm that follow the CD pattern unless people are fine with Golden Waltz followed by Rock n' Roll from the 1960's - that just makes no sense. Whatever they agree on, I hope it's something that makes logical sense.