News of Igor Shpilband's new school | Page 2 | Golden Skate

News of Igor Shpilband's new school

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Wow, I did not expect such a prompt reply! Mattieu, thank you so much for letting me know about skaters who currently work with her. :)

(though I guess I only recognize Walden/Edwards (from the recent Euro in UK which I saw on J-Sport TV) and Emi/Marien (because they did compete at the recent J Nats!)... sorry, I am not so knowledgeable as other GS members when it comes to ice dance and junior/novice skaters. :eek::)

A lot of skating fans in Japan DO appreciate Madame Zazoui and her team in Lyons for accepting Japanese ice dancers over the years, such as Rie Arikawa/Kenji Miyamoto and Emi Hirai, and also for helping Daisuke Takahashi to relearn his skating skill last summer! :yes:

They have so many young and promising ice dancers, don't they? I am sure we will be seeing Muriel and Romain in the K&C on the seinor circuit soon!

I wish Madame Zazoui, Messieurs Haguenauer et Schoenfelder and other coaches in Lyons the very best for seasons to come! :yay::party:
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
The most notable current teams of Muriel:-
Senior: Walden/Edwards (GBR), Myseliveckova/Brown (CZE), Silna/Kurakin (AUT), Zahorski/Miart (FRA), Emi Hirai/Marien de la Asuncion (JPN)
Junior: Papadakis/Cizeron (FRA), Elizabeth/LeGac (FRA), Rudenko/Reggiano (FRA), Robledo/Fenero (ESP) Demid ROKACHEV/Katelouise BAGNALL (GBR) (New team)
Novice: Sarah-Marinne ROUFFANCHE / Geoffroy BRISSAUD (FRA), Angelique Abachkina/Louis Thauron (FRA) New and very promising Franco/Russian alliance.
Overall the French team of Muriel is very young, there are lots of other novice/junior level teams in addition to the teams mentioned above, she looks to be in the process of rebuilding for a strong future.

Wow, what a fall from grace so to speak. Used to have some contenders - well we can hope the future looks bright but ice is slippery (oh and not too many build for a weak future - this is all speculation right now as no one has shown a lot of promise. It will be interesting:)
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Wow, what a fall from grace so to speak. Used to have some contenders - well we can hope the future looks bright but ice is slippery (oh and not too many build for a weak future - this is all speculation right now as no one has shown a lot of promise. It will be interesting:)

Every school has a rebuilding period. Between 1991 and 1996, Frank Carroll didn't have a national champion.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Sylvia, that's why I'm thinking that Adrienne & Katia might be at Novi soon, if not already.

FWIW:
The Arctic Figure Skating Club website finally has removed Shpilband from its page about coaches. His name and photo had remained on the AFSC page for weeks after he already had moved to Novi. (No new coach has been added to the page.)
The AFSC page still shows Adrienne Lenda's name and photo.
http://arcticfsc.com/Coaches.htm
 

nylynnr

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Sorry, Sylvia, I myself am nowhere near Michigan. :no:
I posted the information about Novi's exhibition in case someone nearby is interested ... and can share any good scoop afterward!

Chock and Bates did their short dance to Cirque de Soleil, Igor said it went even better than it did at Lake Placid. I believe the only other of Igor's couples to skate was Marina Barova and Alan Stoll.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Thanks for the eyewitness report on Novi's figure skating exhibition today, nylynnr. How nice that Chock/Bates performed and that you were able to see them!
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Today IN has posted a new article by Lynn Rutherford. Title:

"Fresh ice: Shpilband teams don't miss a beat
Displaced dance coach brings in wide array of coaches, specialists to assist him in new rink"

 
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dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
The article had several interesting items:

Barbara Fusar-Poli is helping Chock & Bates with facial expressions and arm movements for their programs.

Gorshkov (Riazanova & Tkachenko's coach) has been working with all the teams on the Yankee Polka. C&B were the only team at LPIDC who got Level 3 on the first section of the YP.

Capellini & Lanotte plan to take trips to Igor's school before major competitions during this next.

Igor has put together an amazing school in an amazingly short time! I find myself wishing that D&W and V&M had gone along with him rather than with Marina.
 

heyhey

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Major name dropping in the article, LOL...Although I don't doubt that Igor's teams will do fine this year - but the name dropping is really overkill...As for the Canton teams, I think they will do fine.
 

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Heyhey, couldn't agree with you more. It is so overtly a marketing campaign - a deft one I will grant but one designed to show how everything is so quickly so incredibly wonderful. It is not at all surprising that we would be seeing campaigning and "PR" from the Shpilband camp - arguably (and this is of course a matter of opinion) one which had more uncertainties surrounding it because of the need for a new location, etc. amongst other things. So, good for them for all of the progress. I would bet it is safe to assume there is plenty of exciting progress occurring in Canton as well. We simply have not had the same PR effort.

However, it seems completely premature to draw conclusions about the relative merits of one "camp" versus another after only getting the PR update from one, unless one routinely draws conclusions based on very incomplete information. I would never underestimate either Shpilband or Zueva's ability to bring in exciting new perspectives to strengthen their businesses. Both have been successful strategists for many years. It seems that we are simply hearing more, for now, about one than the other.

Overall, I think it is a good thing that Shpilband has landed on his feet. I honestly never questioned whether he would. Glad to see it as I think it will ultimately raise the level of every "school's" game, and this will ultimately be (hopefully) good for the sport.
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Go Igor! This is good for ice dance, where some more rivalries between rinks push the great teams. Given that Sochi gold and silver might already be with V/M and D/W, The 2018 olympics will be likely dominated by igor's dancers. Whoever sacked Igor may have done all a huge favor. We'll see.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Was just looking back at Novi Ice Arena's Facebook and Twitter pages.
Turns out that on Aug 31 and Sep 7, it had held free ice dancing exhibitions (an hour each) to which the public was invited.

One of the Facebook announcements:
This Friday, August 31st from 4:00-5:00pm, Novi Ice Arena is having a FREE Ice Dancing exhibition, showcasing eight teams from six countries, including Olympian and Ann Arbor native Evan Bates! The dancers have been training at our rink for several months under coach Igor Shpilband and would love to have a big crowd!
[The announcement had a photo of a dance team on the ice -- I think Tobias/Stagniunas, but I'm not sure.]
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f....10150459277373274.419913.111576433273&type=1

And the announcement for Sep 7 had a photo of Chock/Bates.​

Although these two exhibitions are water under the bridge, I wonder whether locals will have the opportunity to attend more as the season progresses.
[Novi also had a figure skating exhibition earlier in the summer as part of a larger rink event.]

Kind of amusing to see that almost all of the arena's social media messages pertain to hockey activities, but mentions of ice dance pop up once in while. :)
For example, Novi's "Fun Fact" for Sep 14:
While similar in many ways, ice dance differs from pairs skating by having different requirements for lifts, requiring spins to be performed as a team in a dance hold, and by disallowing throws and jumps.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
There is a translation by quiqui of a recent interview with Tarasova on FSU:
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3690578&postcount=1

She discusses the break up of the Shpilband - Zoueva school and predicts it will be bad for their students, and hence good for everyone else.

EV: You know them both very well, you visited Zueva and Shpilband in the U.S. Did you try to somehow prevent split of such a unique tandem?
TAT: I do not give advice when people don't ask me. It's such a pity that Marina and Igor do not work together anymore. I respect them both, but ... It really is a pity.
I do not think we have the right to discuss and criticize their split. We can only wait and see what happens next. By the way, it is not entirely unlikely that all this will lead to one result: the gap between the leaders and everyone else in ice dance will be significantly reduced.

EV: Why do you think so?
TAT: Just because Marina and Igor has already worked alone. And their athlethes' results were not as impressive as the ones they reached together. It's complicated — something like that happened in my coaching life too. Working together is not easy for two strong coaches: it is a rivalry, and it's everyday. But let's see. From my point of view, this whole situation has given an absolutely real chance to the rest of dancers to get closer to the leaders. The only question is, will they be able to take advantage of it.

There's a lot more there, all interesting.
 
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