Ice Dance, Short Dance

[alithia]

I also don't get I/K, it's not that they're not good skaters, but I find them overrated and not that much big of a deal yet.They actually remind me of some 90's team, which is not bad but I can't see why everyone is so crazy about them yet.
I liked R/T, although he wasn't as sharp as he was at Russian Nationals.This is a beautiful waltz.
F/S made me really sad...They were slow and tentative and looked strange even without the fall skating after B/S
I like B/S, I liked it more than Delilah although I was singing Delilah along it.It was sharper and it actually had some shadows which Delilah absolutely lacked.I'm afraid he's gonna strangle her for real at Worlds if he gets so emotional again Again, I can't get why the hate around the net, they're great technicians,they are very elegant..I guess people that hate D/W and V/M probably hate these two as well.
The Kerrs were great,they were solid,and I enjoyed them a lot.
P/B bore me, I like them but they bore me, but they deserve a medal and I hope they get it at last.

[viv]

You are not the only one. I dislike big time their waltz music and perhaps that is why I do not like their SD. ....

The music - and the idea - of I&Ks waltz was Vals Cruzado, which is related to french musette waltz and part of the traditional Tango Argentino "universe".
Of course no one is obliged to like it, but it is as traditional as - for example - Viennese waltz.

[dorispulaski]

Yes, but when you are assigned a "Viennese Waltz" (light and happy) and you do a "Vals Cruzado", IMO it is a classic fail. The GW is a Viennese. Now it might have been interesting to do the GW to appropriate music and segue into a Vals Cruzado, given that tango & waltz are allowed as a secondary choices. Otherwise it just looks like superficial "cleverness" by a coach attempting to make a new team look interesting, and to cover up their flaws in doing the GW correctly, to the beat.

[colleen o'neill]

I like I/K's look and potential a lot..I just don't think their programs do the most for them. Zhulin can have his moments, choreographically, but he's inclined to let gimmicks and posing creep in , and I think that's what can give a bit of a dated look.

I'm not a fan of their FD , either. Although she's lovely in a tutu , I don't think tutus work well for Ice Dance . I think they encourage distance between the partners and look too crunchy in the lifts. They also have too many cuts in the music.( and pauses inthe dance )

OTOh, P/B's programs are great for them this year..( I don't know if he's the sole choreographer there, though )

** Just saw doris' post, so I came back to add..Right on ! ( that dates me ). And I don't find much tango in their tango section, either.

[herios]

IOTOh, P/B's programs are great for them this year..( I don't know if he's the sole choreographer there, though )

.

No, their programs have 3 different choregraphers listed: Sasha Zhulin, A. Najarro and Julien Cottereau. There was a IN article, where they mentioned Cottereau ( a french clown) working with them on their Chaplin program, so that was most likely a co-production. Najarro was definitely the author of their first SD which they dropped (Amelie + Piazolla) and here is something very interesting from an article on Absoluteskating:

Najarro inetreviewed at TEB "In this competition we ended up seeing only two of your programs instead of three. What happened to the short dance you created for Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat?
They were not sure about the music, they chose it but in the end they changed it. So they arranged the short dance themselves and I will work with them in January to improve it and add to the choreography".
This is in reference to their second SD, Dr Zhivago. .

[oleada]

Yes, but when you are assigned a "Viennese Waltz" (light and happy) and you do a "Vals Cruzado", IMO it is a classic fail. The GW is a Viennese. Now it might have been interesting to do the GW to appropriate music and segue into a Vals Cruzado, given that tango & waltz are allowed as a secondary choices. Otherwise it just looks like superficial "cleverness" by a coach attempting to make a new team look interesting, and to cover up their flaws in doing the GW correctly, to the beat.

I don't know anything about this at all, but isn't this the same as using music that isn't a waltz at all, like Fallin', for example? That is hardly "light and happy".

Watching US Nats, Euros, Canadians, etc. I've realized that I much more enjoy SDs where the music used is a waltz - for example, programs like R/T's waltz over C/P's Fallin' or some other Canadian junior couple that used some pop song - because it's hard for me to relate the pattern dance part to the pop music. I don't know enough about waltzes to see anything about I/K; I quite like the program.

I am glad though, that not all skaters are upbeat because frankly I prefer the drama.

[Lucky Star]

I don't know anything about this at all, but isn't this the same as using music that isn't a waltz at all, like Fallin', for example? That is hardly "light and happy".

Watching US Nats, Euros, Canadians, etc. I've realized that I much more enjoy SDs where the music used is a waltz - for example, programs like R/T's waltz over C/P's Fallin' or some other Canadian junior couple that used some pop song - because it's hard for me to relate the pattern dance part to the pop music. I don't know enough about waltzes to see anything about I/K; I quite like the program.

I am glad though, that not all skaters are upbeat because frankly I prefer the drama.

ITA. I remember the young Canadians Paul/Islam skated their pattern dance to the tango's music. That was weird, really.
As for I/K, I liked how the pattern dance looks in this music, it makes them original. And first of all this dark waltz IS waltz, not tango or a pop song

[ImaginaryPogue]

doris hates both P/I and C/P's SDs too.