Virtue and Moir News

Ladskater · Jul 24, 2013

I have not posted or checked any posts for awhile here at Golden Skate, so I don't know if anyone else has posted this. Anyway, I just heard this news on the radio today - Virtue and Moir are making a six part tv show this winter about their preparation for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi. It's going to be about their lives on and off the ice. I am looking forward to seeing this show! :points:

http://www.therecord.com/sports-sto...-delve-into-lives-of-skaters-virtue-and-moir/

Olympia · Jul 24, 2013

Ooh, exciting. Yet again I wish I were Canadian. (Love my country, but we've become so backward about skating.)

Moment · Jul 24, 2013

I wish I could follow the finest and the most beautiful ice dancers in the world. So good.

ice coverage · Jul 24, 2013

Thanks for the news, Ladskater. :thumbsup:

aftertherain · Jul 24, 2013

Hopefully some kind soul will upload it to YouTube or something the day after it airs. Then I'd rush to go watch (read: d/l) each episode before it gets taken down!

ice coverage · Aug 5, 2013

I added the Virtue/Moir SD/FD music announcements to the Programs thread.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...13-2014-season&p=754966&viewfull=1#post754966

Cross-posting here the source article link and its other V/M news:

Source:

Secret's out: Virtue, Moir disclose program music
Olympic champions to jazz it up in short, go classical route in free
By Klaus-Reinhold Kany and Lynn Rutherford, special to icenetwork.com
(08/05/2013)

http://www.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130805&content_id=55949358&vkey=ice_news

The IN article has bits of other news.

- Virtue: "we have five new lifts and other new elements in our programs."
- Per Zoueva, Finlandia [ETA: meaning Finlandia Trophy] likely will be V/M's first international competition. (As marikat previously reported in the V/M fan thread, they will skate their SD on Sat Aug 10 at the Quebec summer championships.)
- "Virtue -- who had operations in 2008 and 2010 to correct compartmental exertion syndrome in her legs -- emphasized that full-time training has not been a problem for her."
- Virtue says they don't know whether they will retire after Sochi. [:yay:]

bramweld · Aug 5, 2013

Their choices seem very safe to me. To overwhelm their judges they'll have to work that much harder. They've seen them do these type of dances so many times before. But who knows maybe they'll give these programs a fresh twist.

Olympia · Aug 5, 2013

I was so eager to learn about the new programs that I saw the word "Finlandia" and immediately thought that V/M were going to skate to the piece Finlandia by Sibelius. Whoops! That's the venue, not the music. Wake up, Olympia....

nevergonnadance · Aug 5, 2013

Virtue and Moir have skated to a more diverse selection of music and dance styles in their fd's during their competitive career than their nearest rivals. I wonder why people don't think DW have to work that much harder when they unveil yet another bombastic, theatrical epic, either literally or in execution.

bramweld · Aug 5, 2013

I agree with you here. I just think that D/W, although limited in their artistic range, their athleticism and technical skills seem to have won over the judges in recent memory. They're actually quite amazing when they have the right material, for example Sampson and Delilah. However their speed, athleticism, and just sheer strength masks how little interaction they have with each other. Bless Meryl, IMO she interprets for them both. They're not dancers. Yet still on many an occasion their PCS marks are higher than those of V/M. Like it or lump it, its just the way COP works. Techies have a greater chance of coming out on top. So maybe if V/M were to be somewhat novel, equipped with the ease of execution that D/W have they'd have a chance. Though not exactly my taste I think that was what they were trying to do last year, they just couldn't match D/W in terms of performance execution.

As I said however, I hope they prove us all wrong and do something grand. May the best skate on that night, WIN!

dorispulaski · Aug 6, 2013

Actually, for whatever reason, D&W have been more adventurous and interesting in their OPs & SDs than in their FDs. While they don't have as great on ice connection as V&M, they have a great connection to their music, which is why you will see audiences around the world giving them standing ovations, a sure sign that a team is not merely technical; it is not just the judges that love D&W.

lcd · Aug 6, 2013

I think both teams have done a fair job of exploring music choices, however I would say they did not "step up" to grab the opportunity that was uniquely before them, as dominant, North American (and thus 'face changing' 'culture differentiated') champions, and truly take a lead in either altering or broadening or expanding upon the music choices that used in competition, in a way which would have allowed the sport to evolve - at least from a music standpoint. This comment is naturally an opinion (and many may feel there is no need to expand musical offerings in the context of competitive programs) but I think it was a bit of an opportunity lost. I'm not saying it would have been EASY in any way, shape, or form - given the rules. And yet, that is exactly my point ... true "path finding" leaders of a "next generation" become the ones to shape, force, influence the rules (e.g., Torvill-Dean). And in this particular regard, while these teams most definitely leave a legacy with much to be proud of (quality performances, etc) they are in my opinion, clearly not achieving, as they approach what seems likely to be their final competitive seasons (yes, maybe, maybe not) and high-exposure Olympic year. Not a diss. Just an observation and given how much we are seeing the predictable similarity of music choices coming from SO MANY of the skaters this season, emblematic of an issue, not addressed in this generation, and not by these two great teams.

TontoK · Aug 6, 2013

bramweld said:
Their choices seem very safe to me. To overwhelm their judges they'll have to work that much harder. They've seen them do these type of dances so many times before. But who knows maybe they'll give these programs a fresh twist.

Well, given that they've got to do a quickstep, their aren't that many SD music options in terms of genre. It's got to be a jazzy, snappy rhythm, unless they do something completely out of the box, like a polka/ballet mashup. I think the Finnstep will be a crowd-pleaser for audiences.

I confess to not being up to snuff with 20th century Russian composers, but I've never even heard of their FD music. The man/woman going through life together theme seems like one that would suit their strengths.

Small tidbit concerning D/W - short dance will emphasize speed and flow, and will be different than V/ M.

I don't suppose that's all that surprising.

TontoK · Aug 6, 2013

Olympia said:
I was so eager to learn about the new programs that I saw the word "Finlandia" and immediately thought that V/M were going to skate to the piece Finlandia by Sibelius. Whoops! That's the venue, not the music. Wake up, Olympia....

Which, by the way, would be awesome.

vera01 · Aug 6, 2013

bramweld said:
Their choices seem very safe to me. To overwhelm their judges they'll have to work that much harder. They've seen them do these type of dances so many times before. But who knows maybe they'll give these programs a fresh twist.

I think they've already confirmed that they weren't going to decide to be adventurous this season ever since it turned out that their Carmen FD didn't work for the judges. If the rumor stating that D/W is skating their new FD to Scheherazade is true, I would say it's even more of a safe choice than V/M's- at least V/M is skating to a type of music that isn't commonly used in figure skating.

ice coverage · Aug 6, 2013

If Virtue/Moir compete at Finlandia Trophy (as Zoueva said is likely) ... then LOL, they will have the honor and thrill of performing the Finnstep in Finland! :yay:

Duh, I guess that sounds obvious, but the thought just dawned upon me. :laugh:

What helped the light bulb turn on in my head is that Petri Kokko @coccco (citing IceNetwork) tweeted about V/M and Finlandia Trophy. (Kokko's tweet did not mention the Finnstep or his hand [foot?

] in creating it, but I hope it will be gratifying for him to see all the SDs designed around it this season.)

https://twitter.com/coccco/status/364461006019629056

sky_fly20 · Aug 6, 2013

they dont have the speed of D/W
finnstep will make them turtles compared to D/W, I dont see how they can top D/W
the Canadian overscoring for V/M, Osmond and Chan Fraud wont do in Sochi

vera01 · Aug 6, 2013

sky_fly20 said:
they dont have the speed of D/W
finnstep will make them turtles compared to D/W, I dont see how they can top D/W
the Canadian overscoring for V/M, Osmond and Chan Fraud wont do in Sochi

If you haven't watched the 2009 4CC, V/M(despite that Tessa had a surgery during that season), V/M scored higher than D/W for Finnstep CD because they actually have much better basic skills. I believe levels of the pattern dance keypoints should take a huge part when it comes to dancers' scores as well. Ice dance is no speed skating-if dancers were to be judged by the speed only, it's basically encouraging the dancers that it's more important to be fast than to have good basic skills, which is ridiculous.

Also, there is no such thing as 'Canadian overscoring' in ice dance unless you add 'American overscoring' here along with that. D/W also take advantage of the 'overscoring'-for example, their PCS was higher than V/M's PCS in previous 4CC, despite making a mistake when V/M didn't.

And as to your statement saying:

finnstep will make them turtles compared to D/W, I dont see how they can top D/W

I would reply with:Finnstep would make them look like Juniors with very weak basic skills compared to V/M. I don't see how they can top V/M.

I know, it also sounds ridiculous but I wanted to note that V/M is still one of the fastest dancers out there, and ice dance(and SS overall) shouldn't be judged only by speed.

Moment · Aug 6, 2013

D/W don't have the edge work, which is much more important than speed in ice dance, of V/M.

vera01 · Aug 6, 2013

Moment said:
D/W don't have the edge work, which is much more important than speed in ice dance, of V/M.

I agree. While I would not like to downplay D/W's efforts anything about them that's better than V/M, it annoys me that nowadays speed is being more valued in ice dance than the edge work or any other type of basic skills itself.

Virtue and Moir News

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