- Joined
- Aug 1, 2011
OTOH, I think what COP has done is bring the sport back into ice dance. I remember watching ice dancing the year before T/D's Bolero, and my sister saying it was so boring because it was like "Lawrence Welk on ice." Then after Bolero, it turned into so much traumadrama, what I used to call "Ingmar Bergman On Blades!" I mean, it got to the point where it seemed like every single program ended with a dramatic flop to the ice--so much so that they had to institute a rule to stop it. And of all of the four disciplines, ice dance was the MOST notorious for 'fixed scoring.' And not without reason.
I think there is some validity to what you do say about the problems with COP. I think the biggest problem is there is no place for what I think of as elegant simplicity, a move that in itself is not technically difficult but packs an emotional wallop. And yes, some of the lifts are obviously there for point-gathering rather than choreographic integrity. But to say that ice dance has turned into "pairs skating with dance elements" is something I simply cannot agree with at all. Apples and oranges. They may both be fruits but still...apples and oranges.
I think there is some validity to what you do say about the problems with COP. I think the biggest problem is there is no place for what I think of as elegant simplicity, a move that in itself is not technically difficult but packs an emotional wallop. And yes, some of the lifts are obviously there for point-gathering rather than choreographic integrity. But to say that ice dance has turned into "pairs skating with dance elements" is something I simply cannot agree with at all. Apples and oranges. They may both be fruits but still...apples and oranges.