Teaming Up the Single Skaters into Pas de Deux Performances

[Joesitz]

On another thread, I suggested that it would be nice if Sasha and Evan teamed up for a pas de deux. I did not mean Competitive Pairs, but a show piece for their off-seasons. While single skating can be quite exciting, I think it would be interesting to see if they could relate to the opposite sex as they do in ballroom and all other forms of Dance. (I would not like to see them do acrobatic lifts as done in Pairs, but beautiful lifts as in Dance.}

I also suggested Nagasu and Brezina.

Who would you like to see teamed up for a pas de deux?

[PolymerBob]

I saw that at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut. They had several couples who either were not part of a pair, or did not skate together do some fairly easy routines. The weirdest thing was seeing Elena Berezhnaya and David Pelletier, opposite sides in the 2002 judging scandal, skating together.

[heyang]

I saw that at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut. They had several couples who either were not part of a pair, or did not skate together do some fairly easy routines. The weirdest thing was seeing Elena Berezhnaya and David Pelletier, opposite sides in the 2002 judging scandal, skating together.

I think that was Thin Ice(?). Other skaters were Shae Lyn with John Z, Marie-France with Mike W, Patrice Lauzon with Jamie Sale, Shizuka with ?? Kristi, Dick and Katerina were the judges. I recall disagreeing the results.

[princess9]

Elena and David skated together as a foursome in SOI. They should have been the best, but I thought they were the weakest, at least how they came across on TV. Elena seemed very out of condition and it was like watching a far different woman. I know her focus has been on two babies so that is understandable.

I don't see where it says it must be male /female but I've seen clips on youtube of johnny and rudy and johnny and lambiel doing some pairs throws. I'd like to see Lanbiel and Weir do a duel like Sasha and Alissa.

[Tinymavy15]

Sasha and Evan together would be a match made in skating heaven. Dark haired stunners, with her petite stature and his height they would be a great team. I would also love to see see Brian Joubert and Elena G. I just think they would be so cute together!

[silverlake22]

Nagasu and Chan
Zhang and Kozuka
Murakami and Oda
Makarova and Brezina
Kim and Joubert
Leonova and Verner
Korpi and Rippon

[janetfan]

I thought "Thin Ice" was a bit disappointing - particularly two of my favorites - Stephane and Shizuka. They looked like they had a very limited concept (maybe it was limited rehearsal time) of how to skate together.

Here is what can happen when two great singles skaters perform together:

http://www.frogsonice.com/video/snow-queen/

Check out the Adagio, which is movement 9.

It is easy to see that John and Janet in addition to being splendid singles skaters could just as easily have made a huge impact had they been Pairs skaters.

Such great expression and wonderful lines and edges would show through in any discipline and in any era. And the lifts are pretty good too!

[Ren]

I want to see Kozuka skate with Mao, if he hasn't done so already in one of the Japanese ice shows.

Also, I'd like to see Daisuke do a Spanish/Latin American dance program with Akiko (with appropriately awesome footwork). I want to see him make a try of it with Yu-Na to "El Tango de Roxanne", too. They've both skated to it before and I think it might be interesting how different it would be because they'll be skating as a pair.

[Olympia]

What a great idea for a thread!

I remember a Skates of Gold years ago that had several gold medal pairs skating together, and after a while they changed partners. Watching, for example, Gordeyeva skating with Artur Dmitriev was such a treat.

And on another thread we talked about Peggy Fleming and John Curry skating together. They did a lift as well. Though they didn't do any really big jumps, they had beautiful unison in all their moves. Plainly they took their rehearsals seriously and didn't just show up and skate as individuals.

Later edit: ooh, what a great idea--Daisuke and Akiko!

[PolymerBob]

I thought "Thin Ice" was a bit disappointing - particularly two of my favorites - Stephane and Shizuka. They looked like they had a very limited concept (maybe it was limited rehearsal time) of how to skate together.

I saw them at Foxwoods. I think the problem is that Shizuka a so large that Stephane cannot easily lift her up. Their routine conformed to neither pairs skating nor ice dance. They spent most of their ice time separated by some distance.

[Joesitz]

I saw them at Foxwoods. I think the problem is that Shizuka a so large that Stephane cannot easily lift her up. Their routine conformed to neither pairs skating nor ice dance. They spent most of their ice time separated by some distance.

Agreed. I was hoping that Comp would show some real dance style, but so much in figure skating is, just for fun. as it was on the 90's Sunday afternoon comps. Nothing serious.

It was DWTS that showed the transformation of Evan into a stylist, and not just a technician that I thought he and Sasha would make a serious performing team. height and weight would work easily for them, so the proof of the puddin would be in seeing the performance.
My other suggestion was Mirai and Michal both of whom are size perfect and very musical. I've listed artists, not favorites only.

btw, Shae Lynne was the best in that 'pro' comp. That woman knows how to dance with a partner.

[janetfan]

Agreed. I was hoping that Comp would show some real dance style, but so much in figure skating is, just for fun. as it was on the 90's Sunday afternoon comps. Nothing serious.

It was DWTS that showed the transformation of Evan into a stylist, and not just a technician that I thought he and Sasha would make a serious performing team. height and weight would work easily for them, so the proof of the puddin would be in seeing the performance.
My other suggestion was Mirai and Michal both of whom are size perfect and very musical. I've listed artists, not favorites only.

btw, Shae Lynne was the best in that 'pro' comp. That woman knows how to dance with a partner.

It was obvious right away that Shae Lynne could command the ice as a Dancer in a way most of the others couldn't - although Michael Weiss showed good ice presence.

I think seeing Evan with a dancer of Shae's quality and experience might be fun.
Pairs style would be great for Evan and Sasha but for a more "dancey" routine I don't like such a big size difference.

I think of one Pairs team that was world class and did not have the huge size difference and that ws Randy and Tai. They used to show a line and some moves that no one else in the World did , all made visually more pleasing because unlike most teams it did not look like "Mutt and Jeff" skating together.

Brezina and Mirai - they could be very entertaining and show some real spark with good choreo.

And what about Rippon and Caroline - I could see them doing something more classical with an elegant line.

ETA: Here is something that is fun - it is Jeffrey Buttle and such a lovely, glowing Mao skating together. What a nice pair they make!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSwYxe1xhmQ

[PolymerBob]

Actually, I thought of Mao and Jeff. But I was thinking of the famous kiss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IkFx2gAdAg

[Ptichka]

Well, it's been a common practice for singles training together:
Baiul & Petrenko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KS3Db4ekIk
Kerrigan & Wylie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmVeptZzzH8

[Olympia]

Ptichka, thanks so much for reminding me about the pair program that Kerrigan and Wylie skated. It was lovely. I believe Wylie actually trained and competed as a pair earlier on--probably his height encouraged him to devote himself to singles. He and Kerrigan are about the same height, 5 foot 4. They meshed together well--both had that lovely Scotvold-trained limb extension to their moves.

I had forgotten that Baiul and Petrenko did a routine a deux. Does anyone remember that fun Disney Beauty and the Beast TV program? At the end of it, Petrenko, as the Beast, did a pair routine to the theme song. It was probably the first time Katia had skated with a partner since Sergei's death. The moment when Viktor did the overhead lift, I teared up.

I think a lot of skaters don't have the opportunity to train together when they skate an ensemble routine, and it's too bad. Even without lifts, there's the matter of unison, which really makes a couple look like a pair. That's one of the great things about Stars on Ice--they take the time to rehearse those details. The marvelous unison was the thing that surprised me about the Curry-Fleming pair, though it shouldn't have. Certainly Curry would have been a stickler for such things.