What will the 2010/2011 Season bring the pairs skaters?

Blades of Passion said:

You should score the performances that are given at the competition and nothing else. No outside factors of who the coach is, or what country they come from, or which skaters had the best season, or if they are reigning World Champion, or anything else except the actual skating and performing.

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Correct. So it is too early to put V/M and D/W on pedestal for next four years as many already did.
New seasons will come and we will see new pairs developing their skills.
I personally beleive in Russian ice-skating, the traditions, the history, the talented coaches and choreographers, the great will to return the leadership.

P.S. This reply should be moved to the thread about ICE-DANCING, but not sure how to do it.

Say nothing against Moskvina! She's done too much for pairs skating, and continues to do so. She certainly is a star, but so are her skaters, when they are good. I don't think she "standardizes" her skaters at all. Look at Dmitriev and his two partners against Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze. Long may she thrive!

And Ellen, we have that saying too in English: shoemakers' children go unshod. I don't agree with your reasoning in this area, though. Whoever skates best should get the highest marks. But I don't think you have to worry for the future. Russian skating will return to its former excellence, I'm sure. When I was watching those videos from "Ice Age," I was struck anew with the depth and quality of Russian skating. The combination of innovative technique and artistic profundity, especially in pairs and ice dance, is a part of the Russian character.

Olympia said:

. Russian skating will return to its former excellence, I'm sure. When I was watching those videos from "Ice Age," I was struck anew with the depth and quality of Russian skating. The combination of innovative technique and artistic profundity, especially in pairs and ice dance, is a part of the Russian character.

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Thank you, Olympia! By the way, the choreographer who helped Alexander Zhulin to stage his dances for 'Ice Age' is also working with his ice-dance pairs. Not sure what will be the outcome, we'll see that on GP stages.

Ellen said:

When nine of first ten dance pairs were trained by Russian coaches, is it fair that Russian pair would be left without a medal? We have a saying that in English translation sounds like 'The shoemaker's wife is the worst shod'.

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Back during the Cold War, there was a joke that explained why the Americans walked on the moon while the Soviets could not.
"Our German scientists were better than their German scientists."

I don't care if the coaches are all russian or not,we can't judge a couple's talent by who their coaches are.Same goes for pairs.I just want to see good pairs, I don't care if they're russian, chinese,or even swedish.Should a good Swedish pair comes along, I wouldn't say, "oh they're Swedish, they don't have skating history, give their medal to their coaches country instead".(I didn't think that D/S were better in the compulsory though, but that's another thread)
I have high hopes for V/T because I think we haven't seen the best of them with their former partners.They're classical, lyrical skaters,she's the best of her generation for me and she obviously couldn't do better with Stanislav's injuries and jumps.
I also like very much Bazarova/Larionov and I hope somebody spends some time to help this pair get more polish, more exposure,better costumes and choreography.She's like a ballerina mixed with a fairy and he's a good contrast.
Ι want to see Gerboldt/Enbert as well , I expect some good jumping for them and Moskvina's new pairs.
I like the russian pair skating style and I really miss it...The clean lines, no gimmics and everything.

Ballerina mixed with a fairy is a pretty good and funny description of Bazarova because I can see it. You can add more consistent jumps for her to the list of things that can be improved with that team. They are top 10 but can be a lot better.

Speaking of young Russian pairs, I'm rather fond of Iliushechkina/Maisuradze--despite their use of Edvin Marton--and am surprised nobody has mentioned them yet! Although with the potentially formidable V/T, with K/S, B/L and the completely unknown variable of Mukhortova/Blanchard (any news on them?), I suppose they might have a rather difficult time breaking into the top of the Russian crop....

Here is P/T's new SP, which was one of the numbers they skated to at S/Z's wedding:
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/pdAzXzIwtss/

It's one of my favorite violin pieces! I think (hope) they will improve on the footwork sequence. They had great sequences in last year's programs, and I heard in interviews that they are still working on this program.

Hao Zhang fractured a middle finger badly in practice, from a bad exit from a lift. Z/Z are likely to sit out the entire GP season.

Upsetting news about Hao..I was so hoping they'd have a good year !

P/T..I love this piece of music. This looks to be shaping up to be a lovely program. It's so early now,..could be a real knockout later on.

Latest video of Volosozhar/Trankov SP. They look really strong already! Maxim stopped falling on jumps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLY0q7udUU

And here is the LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAN9fB_FT9g

I think they will compete at Worlds 2011, and have enough time to improve before the Worlds.

^Thanks for the link! They do look good, and I really like the colour of their costumes. I'm looking forward to seeing them in competitions!