Domnina/Shabalin, what is special about them that I am not seeing? | Golden Skate

Domnina/Shabalin, what is special about them that I am not seeing?

S

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
This team seems to have alot of hype. Can anybody enlighten me on what is so special about this team? I dont see that much promise in them to be a Championship team. I dont see anything that would even grow into an extraordinary chemistry, dazzling speed, strikingly efficient technique, exceptional twizzles or edges. I just see a young team that is quite good, but a bit generously scored as it is, who has some capacity to improve further but will never a Championship caliber team. In fact I would project them, just as far as their dancing ability goes to be the least strong Russian leading dance they have in possably over 30 years, or atleast since Lobacheva/Averubhk and I recall Lobacheva/Averbuhk's success not being all that popular at the time.


I see far more potential in both Moir/Virtue and Mathews/Zazovin then this team, and I also dont see team making up the gap on Belbin/Agosto either, again strictly from an ice dancing perspective, whether there is some neccessity to have a Russian dance team on top we will find out if they dont make the sufficient evolvement.
 
I don't think anybody sees anything more in them than you do slutskayafan, or at least I don't. I see that they are Russian, and I see that the judges love the Russian style of ice dancing. Other than that I see nothing exemplary about their ice dancing whatsoever, and I would prefer Virtue and Moir or MAtthews and Zavozin to them any day. I do think however that the judges love to see Russian ice dancers on top, so I expect to see them moving up the standings in the year to come, and the judges setting them up to win in Vancouver, whether they have the talkent to back it up or not. The only thing that could make this worse would be if Domina teamed up with Kostomarov. Don't even get me started ...
 
Don't you know by now how many points the words "Representing Russia" are worth in Dance?? I kind of like them, they have a certain charm to them, but no, we're not talking the second coming of Usova & Zhulin here. But they're young and certainly have the capacity for development, assuming they don't split up. I saw Navka & Kostamorov in 2001, after they'd hooked up (again), and the less I say about the quality of that free dance, the better. They definitely came a long long LONG way within a couple of years; there's no reason to believe D/S can't do the same. That being said -- if they were from anywhere else, they'd probably be 13th or 14th in the world instead of 8th. (I'm averaging their Oly finish with their Worlds finish).
 
I agree SFf. But they are Russian and automatically have some sort of passion that no one else has. You figure. I'll take Ginger and Fred anyday.

Joe
 
Tatiana Navka had passion, and always had it, but Domnina does not. In fact, I think Max Shabalin is the better skater. Domnina/Shabalin are very pleasant to watch, but I agree---they are nothing special.
 
Well I was wondering if I might get some insight into what is so special about this time that I am missing, but so far it turns out the answer might be there isnt really anything that special about them after all. ;)
 
Actually, I really like them. First of all, their technique is superb; on the whole, it's better than Chait & Sakhnovsky's. Secondly, I like the joy that Oksana brings to her skating; not passion but joy. Though I think this season there was less of that in their skating than in previous seasons.
 
I think she has very good line. I like him because he bends his knees and is rather smooth, without a lot of uberdrama. I think Gorshkov gave them the program he couldn't give Denkova/Staviyski. I would love to see them skate to a Zhulin/Platov program.

They are very young; they've only been in seniors a couple of years. I think they're skating remarkably well as seniors.
 
Well a couple of you see some slightly more special qualities in them. I will try and look for those things more closely next time I watch them. To me Up to now they are just like chuckm had said, pleasent and nice, that is about all.
 
Well personally I just love them .They have such a lot of potential .I expect to see them right at the top by next olympics.They have beautiful lines arms looks .Just especially her beautiful skating.Just watch their foxtrot od or this years od gorgeous.If I had one critisism of them they could do with more speed but I think they have a lot of difficulty in their programmes which slows them down.And yes not forgetting they are russian .The top spot allows for another country to win now and then eg France Canada Bulgaria .But it wo n't be long till Russia is back .:yes: Sooner rather than later.:laugh:
 
Ptichka said:
Secondly, I like the joy that Oksana brings to her skating; not passion but joy. Though I think this season there was less of that in their skating than in previous seasons.
Click to expand...

I didn't enjoy the free dance at all. It didn't seem joyful. It simply seemed frantic, like she was trying too hard to make something out of nothing. On the other hand, they appear to be above average skaters, so maybe they need better programs.
 
I have never liked Gorshkov's choreography that much. I much more enjoyed Denkova/Stayvinski's programs and look this year then I ever did while they were with Gorshkov.
 
They're one of my favourite teams right now.
I think they're very well matched, have wonderful lines and really good technique.
IMHO their rhumba was the best last season and as to their FD, as much as liked it, I do hope Gorshkov will think of something less sophisticated for next season. I've seen many of their exhibition numbers and they can be really versatile - emotional, lyrical, funny but for some inexplicable reason Petukhov tends to choreograph for them some abstract pieces that are on verge of boring.
 
I like them. I don't love them yet. I think that they have great potential, but I wasn't crazy about their fd this year. They are in the position that Navka/Kostomarov were in 2002. If they suddenly go up the rankings next year I won't be as suprised as I was in 2003 with N/K, because D/S are very talented skaters with very solid technique. They still haven' t had those wow programs, but they will in the future IMO. I wish they'd change choreographer-there are moments where I'm seeing Denkova /Staviyski's old choreo in theirs!
 
The big question about D&S now is - are they going to stay together? There are rumors flying around that Oksana is going to pair up with boyfriend Kostomarov; according to yet more rumors, those rumors come from Piseev himself. Though I'd like to emphasize that those are as of now just rumors, nothing more. If they do stay together, I'd like to see them work with a different coach; personally, I think Dubova would work very nicely for them (though she hasn't had any elite teams for quite a while now).
 
Ptichka said:
The big question about D&S now is - are they going to stay together?
Click to expand...

Yes, they're going to continue skating together. (and I must say I'm extremely happy about it :) ).
 
Domnina/Shabalin are my favorite ice-dance team at the moment. period. They are so pure and amazing and fast. :)
 
They are going to be my favourites after Denstas retire.Be prepared to see them on the euros podium with Delshoes very soon :yes:
 
Like others have said, they have great technique in general and beautifiul traditional lines. I also love to watch them because they appear to be a team that really dances on the ice and feels their music, without much of the unneccesary drama that we so often see in ice dance. I loved the program they did this year--very understated but interesting choreographically. It's not very easy to interpret a piece like that well, but I think they did a good job.
 
shine said:
Like others have said, they have great technique in general and beautifiul traditional lines. I also love to watch them because they appear to be a team that really dances on the ice and feels their music, without much of the unneccesary drama that we so often see in ice dance. I loved the program they did this year--very understated but interesting choreographically. It's not very easy to interpret a piece like that well, but I think they did a good job.
Click to expand...

You worded it better than I did. Exactly, their skating is so smooth, sublime, and beautiful. I can see a great future for the both of them. :)
 
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