Free Dance Cup of China

2:30 AM November 5th, Eastern Time

Start Order


WARMUP GROUP 1

1 Charlotte LICHTMAN / Dean COPELY USA

They are coached by Shpilband & Zoueva & Johnny Johns. S&Z do their choreography.
SD Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega; Cha Cha: Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps performed by The Pussycat Dolls; Mambo
FD Austin Powers soundtrack


2 Emily SAMUELSON / Todd GILLES USA

They are currently coached by Netchaeva & Tchesnitchenko
SD Samba; Mambo; Samba, choreographed by Tom Dickson

FD Stairway to Heaven, choreographed by Christopher Dean

3 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN

They are coached by Hongyan Xi. Their choreography is by Linichuk.

SD Mambo; Rhumba; Samba
FD Libertango by Astor Piazzolla


4 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN

They are coached by Hongyan Xi. Their choreography is by Linichuk.

SD Cha Cha; Mambo; Rhumba
FD Howl's Moving Castle (soundtrack) by Joe Hisaishi


WARM UP GROUP 2


5 Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES FRA

They are coached by Linichuk & Karponosov. Their choreography is by Linichuk.
SD Mambo; Rhumba; Mambo
FD Jazz Night

6 Penny COOMES / Nicholas BUCKLAND GBR

They are coached by Evgeni Platov & Philip Askew.
Their choreography is by Askew
SD El Bess del Findl by Christina Aguilera; Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez
FD Viva Elvis Medley (Elvis Presley/Cirque du Soleil)


7 Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI USA

They are coached by Shpilband & Zoueva, who also do their choreography.

SD Samba: Batuca by DJ Dero; Samba: Skip to the Bip by Club des Belugas; amba: Jazz Machine by Black Machine
FD In the Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo & n the Mood (again) all by Glenn Miller and all from Sun Valley Serenade soundtrack

8 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS

They are coached by Elena Kustarova, Svetlana Alexeeva, & Olga Riabinina. Their choreography is done by Kustarova.

SD Samba; Rhumba; Samba
FD Walpurgis Night (from the opera "Faust") by Charles Gounod

I'll be doing a live play by play at http://icemusings.blogspot.com/2011/11/cup-of-china-free-dance.html for anyone without a live feed. Can the Shibutanis close the gap and catch Bobrova and Soloviev?

Unlikely, unless B&S fall on the twizzles again, something that they (and others) have done before.

I'll be LIVE BLOGGING the event for anyone who doesn't have a video feed http://backstagebarbie.blogspot.com/2011/11/2011-isu-grand-prix-of-figure-skating_05.html

The first warmup group is on the ice so we'll be starting shortly.

GOOOOOOOOOOO EMILY & TODD!!!!!

When I first heard you both were skating to Led Zeppelin I had to laugh b/c all last week I was re-watching Todd&Jane's "Led Zeppelin Medley" over & over & over ad infinitum on IN's on-demand from the 2010 US Nationals, and the whole time I kept imagining Emily skating it in a red or gold dress, no lie. Thus you can imagine my joy when I found out you guys are skating to Led Zeppelin! YESSSSSSS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcL---4xQYA

ALL RIGHT, EMILY'S WEARING THAT STUNNING GOLD DRESS (reminiscent of the one Oksana Baiul wore and Michelle Kwan)!!!! *two thumbs way up*

What a difference packaging makes ~ Todd & Emily look stunning! Todd's wearing the outfit he wore for his "Led Zeppelin Medley" at 2010 US Nationals, and Emily looks F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S in that gold dress.

They truly look like a *pair* now ~ perfect height difference between the two ~ and their ginger/red hair looks gorgeous!

As regards Lichtman & Copely, I'm not into this Austin Powers routine, don't like the bright pink neon go-go outfit she's wearing, cute though, something good for juniors.

The arena is less empty than yesterday.

WARMUP GROUP 1

1 Charlotte LICHTMAN / Dean COPELY USA

They are coached by Shpilband & Zoueva & Johnny Johns. S&Z do their choreography.
FD Austin Powers soundtrack
He's got the blue velvet suit with the ascot from the movie. She's got a great 70's minidress look in bright orange with a light orange belt, with orange faux knee high boots boots.
Mime with guns
off they dance.
step
standard lift with the guy in a crouch and girl laid out
3 sets twizzles, no speed, but not bad
miming sneaking, to sneaking music
standard z/s circular step.
pull through
lift up and over his shoulders s
cantilever spread lift
pull through into pair spin
doing The Bird
step sequence
rotational lift=he crouches down and back up while rotating.
more guns to end.
Need more speed, and not terribly tidy, but fun.

Score 69.35

Are there any streams available? The Russian one isn't working for me.

Lichtman/Copely

69.35, total 109.61 and into 1st

My feed's choppy, but of what I see, L/C don't yet have the charisma and ability to sell a fun concept. And her dress looks cheaply made.

Emily Samuelson is lovely, her lines and positions are great - but Todd looks clumsy next to her, and they don't look ready; no surprise considering they partnered less than three months ago and have been practicing the programs for about a month. Her dress is gorgeous.

ETA: for the streamless - this one works for me: http://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta...ran-pri-Tanci-na-lidu-Proizvolinaya-programma. Found it in time for S/G.

I don't know..I'm on IN.


2 Emily SAMUELSON / Todd GILLES USA

They are currently coached by Netchaeva & Tchesnitchenko
FD Stairway to Heaven, choreographed by Christopher Dean

Emily is in the gold dress shown in the practice photos. It looks a lot like Tessa's World FD dress. Todd is in the black V neck jumpsuit, so often used in ice dance for the men.
Into position
interesting set up poses and skating.
pair spin ok
diagonal step
lots of Emily lying back poses in this
complex lift with a leg kick up in time to high point of music
circular step-edges not there yet
lift rotational.
todd is into in shaking his booty
twizzles 3 sets. not bad unison
that lift emily & evan used to do with him in a cantilever spread and her legs clasped around his waist
to end
much better than the SD
This is recognizably Chris Dean choreo but doesn't remind me of any particular dance he and Jayne or the Duchesnays did.

63.10, but 3 deductions for overlong lifts

I have 3 sites that won't stream. CCTV5 is showing something else.

Which one works for you?

Ice Network

Samuelson/Gilles

63.10, deduction -3.00, total 106.74 and into 2nd

I LOVE this FD!!!! My God you can tell it was Chris Dean that choreographed it ~ the beautiful shapes they make on the ice ~ saw a couple of T&D moves, as well as Todd&Jane and Emily&Evan.

Can just imagine this routine skated to its full potential, hopefully at Nationals, with better audio, sound, and speed.

But what I've seen thus far is a keeper, now this routine I can watch again & again & again on IN and youtube.

Madison and Bates should easily get bronze at nationals. These two teams are no challenge whatsoever.. not even close.

3 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN

They are coached by Hongyan Xi. Their choreography is by Linichuk.

FD Libertango by Astor Piazzolla
black v neck jump suit
very complex beading pattern on red top, kind of low cut with faux elbow gloves with black skirt
nice 3 set twizzles
better speed in this couple than the last two
she's running on skates, why I can't say
lift, extended rotational with 2 times around his back.
step sequence
she rotates cartwheel like slowly in front of him in a lift. Kind of cool
pair spin, nothing much
standard lift, her foot to her head, rotational
lots of flying snow in circular step. very wide holds. Parts he can't reach her with one of his hands
rotational lift to end.
Should score above last 2 teams. Wasn't very tango-y, which might be a plus...

Score 75.04

Huang/Zheng

Score: 75.04, total 120.11 and into 1st