Free Dance Preview and Virtual Program Nov.6 2:00 am

[herios]

I know! I hope Federica has shorter skirts by Rostelecom Cup. Long skirts do not work well in figure skating.

They work well, if you know how to work them. In Flamenco there is actually a manual technique how to wokr the skirt, part of the choreo, but obviously in skating is that much harder.
I never saw Marina Annisian tangled in hers in 2001-2002 and her dress it was a lot longer, but they had the choreo done that way, to avoid the disaster. Of course, back than, thye had less risky elements.

[dorispulaski]

Yes, and Tessa Virtue's skirts were long all last season, and especially in the flamenco OD, she managed them very expertly and without tripping. Clearly Linichuk should take lessons from Shpilband & Zoueva (and of course, Tessa) on skirt management on ice.

Pl. Name Nation TSS
= TES
+ PCS
+ SS TR PE CC IT Ded.
- StN.
1 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 95.47 46.92 48.55 8.11 7.79 8.21 8.25 8.32 0.00 #10
2 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 89.54 44.71 44.83 7.43 7.14 7.61 7.79 7.64 0.00 #8
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 82.31 37.86 46.45 7.82 7.50 7.61 7.93 8.00 2.00 #9
4 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 78.13 37.28 40.85 6.89 6.61 6.75 6.96 6.96 0.00 #7
5 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA 76.48 38.64 37.84 6.39 6.04 6.46 6.46 6.36 0.00 #3
6 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 74.90 38.14 36.76 6.25 5.93 6.14 6.32 6.11 0.00 #6
7 Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL CAN 71.41 36.44 34.97 5.75 5.57 5.96 6.07 6.00 0.00 #5
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 69.13 37.78 31.35 5.39 5.04 5.29 5.36 5.14 0.00 #4
9 Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG CHN 65.72 35.96 29.76 5.07 4.79 5.07 5.11 4.86 0.00 #2
10 Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLO USA 63.49 34.43 29.06 4.79 4.57 4.93 5.14 5.00 0.00 #1

The travesty in this competition is the PCS scores of Bobrova/Soloviev in the FD. That bore of a program should not be that close to F&S. And Soloviev's total inability to handle a twizzle sequence (both SD and FD) shows a definite weakness in skating skills, IMO. And the performance was a huge yawner.

[BigJohn]

A Russian team getting really undeserved high marks in ice dance? That would be a first...

[MikiAndoFan#1]

The travesty in this competition is the PCS scores of Bobrova/Soloviev in the FD. That bore of a program should not be that close to F&S. And Soloviev's total inability to handle a twizzle sequence (both SD and FD) shows a definite weakness in skating skills, IMO. And the performance was a huge yawner.

I agree.



Wow, Doris, you know so much about Ice Dance! I really enjoy reading your posts!

[beep_beep]

Pechalat/Bourzat FD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqrbsxVdeU0

Thank you! That FD was really nice.

It usually takes me until Euros to start liking P/B's FDs (except last season, I didn't get that one at all), but this one has me hooked already. Big improvement since Nebelhorn.

[dorispulaski]

They seem really focussed on winning Euros and medalling at Worlds this year, and I think they will do it!

[elif]

Yes, and Tessa Virtue's skirts were long all last season, and especially in the flamenco OD, she managed them very expertly and without tripping. Clearly Linichuk should take lessons from Shpilband & Zoueva (and of course, Tessa) on skirt management on ice.

i remember they had a fall for that skirt at skate canada 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUmg87mkuKs

[Tonichelle]

Yes, and Tessa Virtue's skirts were long all last season, and especially in the flamenco OD, she managed them very expertly and without tripping. Clearly Linichuk should take lessons from Shpilband & Zoueva (and of course, Tessa) on skirt management on ice.

If you recall, though, Tanith and Ben had issues with several costumes' skirts... one was in the OD at the olympics in 2006!

[missysays]

Good job for P/B. I've noticed how focused and intent they are this year. I can feel the drive to win. I think in many ways out of all the couples on the ice dance circuit today they are the best at portraying different characters. V/M and D/W have something to learn from them in that respect.

But my favorite programs- even with the disasters- were F/S's. I've been so impressed with their choices over the past few years. They pick music and concepts that are recognizable and accessible such as Godfather or Flamenco or Moonlight Sonata but then they add an interesting twist to the interpretation with original choreographic moves and highlights. I've been so engaged in their storytelling on the ice. Even this Flamenco/ Bull Fight, while they definitely don't have their feet under them technically, they have some of the most interesting movement that is original and fitting to the music. Those swirling lifts even with the skirt problems were beautiful. I hope that they're able to get their costume issues under control and spend the time to really work on getting more comfortable with the technical part so that this year's set of programs can really sing for them.

You know there's practice footage up on their personal website that shows them practicing the flamenco with a long skirt but I think it looks even longer than this competition skirt but it's heavier and maybe the material doesn't spread out in quite the same way. I quite liked both sets of costuming- even the bright blue matador and gold braid worked for me. The red dress except for the treacherous skirt was a gorgeous simple costume.

[bigsisjiejie]

From the live view in the arena: IMO, the tech panel/judges got the competition placements right. From above comments, I know some of you watching the screen disagree on the Russians, but I assure you, it was darn obvious in real-time they deserved 2nd place over F/S....

P/B were simply wonderful, light on their feet, effortless skating, and extremely enjoyable to watch. They looked like they’d been doing this dance forever, and were having fun doing it. Well deserved first place. I’m appreciating them a lot more than I did the past two years.

B/S were clearly next best and deserved second. Except for a little issue with the first twizzles, their elements and their general skating were obviously high quality. They also worked their skating to interpret the music climax well in that excellently Russian way. Good music for their style, and good choreography. I'm the first to look for skullduggery and sneaky backroom deals when it comes to judging Russians, and I couldn't make a case for it in this competition.

F/S—oh that fall where she slipped off his legs was just weird and I think it surprised them too. However, even without that mistake, I don’t think they would have passed the Russians and definitely not the French. They do have great skating skills and edgework. Though they look good out there , this dance just didn’t do anything for me. Maybe the program looked great on-screen, but there was something very Not Right about it. I don't know how to express it in words. But I completely and absolutely disagree with the above poster--and I usually count F/S as one of my favorites. Maybe we’re back to the knotty problem of how to effectively present/interpret Spanish/Latin dances on the ice. BTW, her dress was gorgeous but the length of the skirt had me going after what happened in the SD.

Hoff/Zav actually did a pretty good job, but that music was too weird and overpowering. Fortunately, H/Z attacked it pretty well with power and speed, plus with her dramatic flair, it kind of worked out. The first half was OK, but then the program eventually got repetitive and boring, they slowed down a bit during the second half, then had a lame ending. I didn’t care for it, and wonder why they didn’t pick a better vehicle to show off their skills. If this had been a stronger field of dancers, they would have been lucky to hold on to 4th place.

H/Zheng were pleasantly forgettable. This program seemed very simple in lift elements and basic skating. I’m not seeing improvements in this team yet, and I liked their last year’s programs better.

Hubbells might have ended up in 5th except for that SD disaster. The jazzy upbeat number had some pretty good tricks in it, but the interstitial basic skating was sloppy. They are what I call “heavy on their feet” (both programs) and this makes them seem slow. I’m not sure at this stage in their career, this is cureable. If they can’t fix this and soon, I think they’re not likely to move up the ranks of US dancers, much less international. I’m hard pressed to remember another recent team from anywhere, whose boots seemed to be made of lead.

Ralph/Hill—Very interesting vocal version of “Summertime”. I liked it. They weren’t fast and seemed a little cautious, but the languid pace of the music covered this pretty well. They did have a few technical troubles here and there but it was a pleasant performance. The costumes were simple (he looked like he was in street clothes, lol) but it works for this number. The dynamic and pacing is too even throughout, I wish they could work in a section with a faster tempo. They could improve and do more with this program. Nice team, I want to see more.

Other: Yu/Wang’s program is a big improvement over last years CATS. I like the program itself better than Huang/Zheng. Guan/Wang are pleasant to watch but need lots more time to develop. Unfortunately, I arrived at the rink just after Cannuscio/Lorello skated so I did not see their Free Dance

[L'amour]

If you recall, though, Tanith and Ben had issues with several costumes' skirts... one was in the OD at the olympics in 2006!

they ahd a problem with 2007's OD skirt, in 2006 latin OD Tanith's skir was pretty short.

[Tonichelle]

they ahd a problem with 2007's OD skirt, in 2006 latin OD Tanith's skir was pretty short.

was it their FD skirt at teh Olys that she got caught in the skirt in the twizzles?

[oleada]

Thanks for your impressions, bigisjijie.

[L'amour]

was it their FD skirt at teh Olys that she got caught in the skirt in the twizzles?

nope...it was during the 07 Tango OD from nationals (Im not sure wich exact comp it was)

[Tonichelle]

nope...it was during the 07 Tango OD from nationals (Im not sure wich exact comp it was)

Hmmm, maybe that's it then, but I remember them having issue with her twizzles and skirt in Torino, not at nationals. oh well.