This, do we remember when we first saw them and especially in 2010/11 Katsalapov was nowhere near what he is today. He matured over these last two seasons a lot. Lena could have pursued new avenues if she wanted. Also you were never sure when he would mess up his twizzles. He has always been this way for both Zhulin and Morozov. At their first worlds he was a total flake, Ruslan however came through like a true champ. It is WAY too early to put him in a corner.
Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov Split
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This, do we remember when we first saw them and especially in 2010/11 Katsalapov was nowhere near what he is today. He matured over these last two seasons a lot. Lena could have pursued new avenues if she wanted. Also you were never sure when he would mess up his twizzles. He has always been this way for both Zhulin and Morozov. At their first worlds he was a total flake, Ruslan however came through like a true champ. It is WAY too early to put him in a corner.
What is such difference between Nikita and Ruslan? Ruslan is 179 cm tall (in ISU there is 177 cm, but different sources write 179 cm and he is as tall as Scott Moir who is 180 cm). Nikita is 182 cm tall, but Lena is about 4 cm smaller than Victoria. So the difference in heights is nothing terrible.
Nikita is more heavily build than Ruslan, which gives him an advantage in lifts, but it also gives an advantage to Ruslan to be more quick and brisk – and he really is in comparison with Nikita, who from time to time looks a little bit heavy (it is not distracting to me, but if you really want to talk about every detail in which are those guys different, you can notice also this).
From different way of looking they are both leading man in their couple…if you want to say that Lena was a leader, OK, I don’t think so, althought she was presenting herself in more visible way (but she was presenting herself, not music), in Ruslan‘s case it was obvious that he is a leader no matter what.
Off the ice boys are presenting themselves in a little bit different way that a Hollywood Bratt Pitt and how you call it Sky_fly? A school boy…they are a part of army…
…or they can be funny sometimes (maybe Nikita was serious, but it looks funny as well)…
Stylization and idea of program and real life are too different things. You can totally change a person with a certain kind of costumes (both man and woman) and make-up (woman).
With full make-up Lena sometimes looks even older than Nikita, she definitely looked older than Nikita in 2010/11 and 2011/12 season, but without make-up or with small amount of make-up, she was suddenly a 17 years old girl.
I took a screenshots from a post Olympic interview of Russian Ice Dance Teams from Sochi and compared all four skaters.
( link to a video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4lg7FAEJ6I Russian version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjBvsJqSAng an English version)
With Lena having less make-up, they all look in a similar age…or if you want to say that Viki and Ruslan looks like 17 years old children while Lena and Nikita looks like 27 years old people….well, I don’t see it.
Ruslan has smaller lineaments in face than Nikita, but he has also more smaller lineaments than Victoria… but who ever mentioned it and who took care about it?
There are more couples from past years where a girl had more visible and “bigger“ lineaments in face…and I don’t remember that people would really take care about it….especially if their dances were great…
Persisting on an idea that Ruslan is too thin and young for Lena starts to be funny.
If you would compare Ruslan to Mae Berenice Maite, I would agree that she is too big and “old“ looking than he is. But please, why to make Lena looks on near thirty and being “too big“ for “thin school boy“ Ruslan…just because your dream partner for her is Ivan Bukin you don’t need to punish the girl in such way.
Maybe they are learning Paso Doble. I know paso doble looking easy but I don't think so because thanks to Virtue/Moir's perfect version, I can notice all the mistakes or unsteady steps from other teams.
Definitely and Zueva mentioned that a couple would learn Paso Doble with her. It is indeed a hard dance. And even harder is to give an atmosphere. I like very much a way how Virtue & Moir skated paso doble, but personally I prefered Domnina & Shabalin more thanks to overall feeling of paso doble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfXZOszXdew D&S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub65ZkkOmsQ V&M
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:thumbsup: Lena is 2 years younger than Ruslan, 3 younger than Nikita, one older than Victoria. For all intents and purposes they are all the same age. As for Ruslan looking a bit younger than Nikita, perhaps but it's a funny thing... people, they get older, and they age. In 4 years Ruslan may look like a polished man and Nikita may look like Victoria's grandfather. No way to know.
http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/figur/16853.html
...from 17th of April...
“Mikhail Jurievich Stifunin liked everything (head coach of Russian Ice Dance), he complimented a couple and he plans to tell the head people of Federation about it. He was surprised how much well they look like – taking into account how short time they skate together. They already look like a couple! Particularly he was satisfied with dance of kids. Lena and Ruslan train in good mood, they try something themselves also. So a work goes in full speed. They (Lena and Ruslan) like it – and we like it also (coaches). Everything is interesting enought.“
To future programs: “We just simply try.We understand that it is very important, that is why we look for a different options. Naturally we are listening to kids – what they would want to. It is important for them to adore their programs. So, we are active in this direction.“
Nice to hear news that sound good.
Technically Virtue/Moir's Paso Doble is best for me. But for interpretation I love Belbin/Agosto more. I love hand movement from Belbin, she is the killer, isn't she? (Eurosport guy said something like that at the beginning, but my first language is not English, maybe I understand wrong) Capellini and Ilinykh can skate something like that, very very good. I like Bobrova and Weaver too but they are too cute for passionate dances,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjbGUU6rVjg (Belbin/Agosto)
You can see I/K skating the paso doble http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBcatgzzhg when they were juniors. I think they did an OK job for juniors, so it will be good to see how much they improve it with their new partners next season.
Loving this. The TAT kicked Morozov to the curve. Wow!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MbdjMdHnfVA#t=110
So I think this officially means that we have two new pairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MbdjMdHnfVA#t=110
So I think this officially means that we have two new pairs
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Loving this. The TAT kicked Morozov to the curve. Wow!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MbdjMdHnfVA#t=110
So I think this officially means that we have two new pairs
What is she saying?
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Some people are just obsessed with looks?
...unless it is a Hollywood BFF Blonde Beauty thing? LOVE YOUR LOGIC!
@GrandSophy: As far as I can tell, a certain poster has invented and is emotionally invested in a story line according to which Lena is dooooooooomed because she's an attractive but non-blonde dumped diva whose new skating partner doesn't live up to hunky standards of physical attractiveness. Therefore she should lock herself up in the skating rink 24/7 or at least skulk in the shadows if she dares to face the outside world. In any case, no smiling or Instagram for her, because that is out of (fictional) character. Lena should shun the world and wither in the shadows. Meanwhile Disney Princess got her Prince Charming, that is, Beautiful Blonde Viki and Handsome Hunk Niki frolic in the sunshine and will be crowned as the new ruling couple of ice dance (which, as a discipline, is mainly about physical attractiveness).
:thumbsup:
I think it's true that physical attractiveness matters more in Ice Dance than in the other disciplines. Maybe this is because the overall packaging and presentation between the couple takes on more importance.
In singles, you have jumps (triples, quads, etc.). In pairs you have throws, jumps & big lifts. In dance, there aren't the big moves and tricks that there are in singles or pairs - there are no jumps or throws, and the lifts are on a smaller scale than in pairs. In dance all you have are spins, footwork, and smaller lifts.
So the overall physical attractiveness of the two partners together and the picture they paint may have a bigger impact on the judges and the PCS compared to the singles and pairs. But it is not a modeling competition - it is not all about looks, or about whether the woman is beautiful and whether the man is a hunk.
Davis/White olympic champions over Virtue/Moir, Capellini/Lanotte, Weaver/Poje, Pechalat/Bourzat, they all very beautiful peoples, don't they? No I don't think beauty is that important. Judges loved Ilinykh/Katsalapov because of their skating skills and the way they are selling the programs (even bad ones) My objection for Zhiganshin is not beauty, only Elena going to overshadow him in programs.
Same goes for Sinitsina/Katsalapov too. I know sky-fly believes judges are going to say ''They are beautiful, lets award them with highest PCS''
Lets face it we have more blonde, more beautiful ice dance teams already.Figure skating is a subjective sport, even with new judging system it is still about people liking / not liking. Physical attractiveness plays role in every discipline in Figure Skating, probably bigger role in Ice Dance under old judging system, because couples didn‘t make so many mistakes which would take them points like in Single or Pair competition. With new judging system a mistake with losing 6 points of base value plus GOE looks to be much bigger loss than with old judging system.
I agree that beautiful face is one of helping attributes which help, for example like good costume matching the music – but I would point even good costume higher than face – because a cotumes has connection with music/story, so it must express what is a program about. We can’t tell the same about face (mimics out right now). If beautiful face would be so important than Jane Torvill would be beaten by other ladies no matter that she was the best ice dancer in her times by miles. Nora Hoffmann with her sexy and charming face would be definitely higher than 8th place at Europeans, which is her best placement ever. And Meryl and Tessa woud be in trouble as well. I find Meryl’s face interesting but far from typical beauty demands, while Tessa’s face is mainly about strong personality, not Hollywood beauty. And who cares? Also beauty Krylova would never lost to Grishuk with her face.
Great dancers should be that one who are able to express the music perfectly. Judges are sitting close the ice, so they see a face better than the audience, but even for them in moment when music starts to play they see mainly body movements and face (even beautiful) start to be something what they don’t care since that moment. If perfect make-up or mimics are stronger than movements then a skater proves that he is not the best dancer at all – there is no way how to express the music by domination of mimics and nice smiles towards judges only - this is subordinate.
Lena and Nikita are not the only great looking couple on the ice, but they are connected with beauty since they appeared in 2009/10 season. That is great to look so well. But what else?
Watching other top couples – Annisina & Peizerat, Krylova & Ovsiannikov, Navka & Kostomarov, Grishuk & Platov, Domnina & Shabalin, Usova & Zhulin, Virtue & Moir, Torvill & Dean etc. …all women were taken like great dancers, also with exception of Jane and Tessa like a very passionate women, femme fatale, but all were able to skate romantic pieces also…plus all Russian women were taken like beauties in their times…but do you feel that difference? All those women were great dancers and bonus was their beauty. Why most of people (not only here but also at Russian Forums) talk about exterior and beauty of Lena and Nikita and those people try to look like that a bonus is a fact that a couple has great skating skills (but they forget about other dancing demandings) – that is a mistery for me. This is not Ice Dance than.
Lena and Nikita – to become one of those great dancers mentioned above they need certainly more than just nice face and great skating skills. If they couldn’t find it together and if they really had to split to find another partner with whom they will creat not only great looking couple but also great dances, then maybe we will see two new couples who will overstep previous I&K.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdjMdHnfVA
Tarasova: “I never heard that a couple being Olympics Champions would split. It is a big gift from that wide Russian soul to the whole World. I will start with their coach Morozov – I think that he broke this couple…in same moral way…I think so, because he always does it, during whole his life he succeeds in it. I have an information…and it is a correct information…both couples are happy, the skate in different teams and we hope in their results…and it is said (like people say this) that it finished well.“
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Thank you.
Hope both teams work well in the end. When is the final deadline to know about them?
Thank you.
Hope both teams work well in the end. When is the final deadline to know about them?
It wouldn't matter to me if Lena overshadowed Ruslan at times as long as as a whole they were delightful to watch. This was sometimes the case with Marina and Gwendel but I didn't care as they were great together. Hopefully Ruslan is not as insecure about this as Nikita, because this is what I believe has always been Nikita's biggest problem with Lena.
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It's not a problem indeed. In most cases the woman is the one to be shown so I don't think it's going to be a problem.
This is how they do with latin dances;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlHDnHCEKjY Rus and Vick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYVJDNm_Yqo Nikita and Lena
This type of dance seems to suit Rus very well. Lena seemed uncomfortable in places; it looks like Nikita was rushing things maybe? I think Nikita made a couple of key mistakes on the pattern dance and the twizzles then he was rushing in the end. At the end they were both sort of disappointed but they put on a brave face. I am so looking forward to how Lena and Ruslan will look now as these were both two years ago and Lena has improved significantly since then. Case in point their performances at 2014 worlds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlypgm8DSG4 Len and Nikita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQv873x4Xy8 Rus and Victoria
I thought S/K would have chosen Igor or Angelica to help him with his technical issues. Marina is primarily a choreographer, IMHO.
For three world championships in a row 12, 13, 14 Nikita has struggled with twizzles, for the last two it cost them dearly. Nikita is great artistically it is the technical issues that need help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlHDnHCEKjY Rus and Vick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYVJDNm_Yqo Nikita and Lena
This type of dance seems to suit Rus very well. Lena seemed uncomfortable in places; it looks like Nikita was rushing things maybe? I think Nikita made a couple of key mistakes on the pattern dance and the twizzles then he was rushing in the end. At the end they were both sort of disappointed but they put on a brave face. I am so looking forward to how Lena and Ruslan will look now as these were both two years ago and Lena has improved significantly since then. Case in point their performances at 2014 worlds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlypgm8DSG4 Len and Nikita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQv873x4Xy8 Rus and Victoria
I thought S/K would have chosen Igor or Angelica to help him with his technical issues. Marina is primarily a choreographer, IMHO.
For three world championships in a row 12, 13, 14 Nikita has struggled with twizzles, for the last two it cost them dearly. Nikita is great artistically it is the technical issues that need help.
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