Dance Free Skate

I haven't seen one started so ...

I'm excited

Good luck to all

Current Overall Standing

Pl. Name Nation Points SD FD
1 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER
CAN
139.74 5 1
2 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV
RUS
136.75 6 2
3 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE
CAN
136.34 4 3
4 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN
HUN
132.07 3 4


Vanessa and Paul just won the battle for the bronze medal! Now the gold and silver to be decided between Nathalie + Fabian and Meryl + Charlie . . .

Current Overall Standing

Pl. Name Nation Points SD FD
1 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE
USA
171.58 1 1
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT
FRA
162.10 2 2
3 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER
CAN
139.74 5 3
4 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV
RUS
136.75 6 4
5 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE
CAN
136.34 4 5
6 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN
HUN
132.07 3 6


Segment Result Details

Pl. Name Nation TSS
= TES
+ PCS
+ SS TR PE CC IT Ded.
- StN.
1 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 102.94 50.15 52.79 8.71 8.68 8.82 8.89 9.00 0.00 #6
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 96.44 46.50 49.94 8.14 8.11 8.43 8.50 8.64 0.00 #5
3 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN 84.92 42.78 42.14 7.07 6.82 7.07 7.18 7.11 0.00 #2
4 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 82.42 40.84 41.58 7.00 6.82 6.82 6.96 7.11 0.00 #1
5 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 80.83 39.84 40.99 6.89 6.50 7.00 6.89 7.11 0.00 #3
6 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 76.09 37.13 38.96 6.50 6.29 6.43 6.71 6.68 0.00 #4

Meryl and Charlie win their 2nd senior GPF title and now have 3 medals at the event overall!
Nathalie and Fabian win their 2nd senior GPF medal, a silver to add to their bronze from last season!
Vanessa and Paul win their 1st senior GPF medal, a bronze!

Congrats to all the medalists! :yay:

I watched my first Dance of the season and thought D/W were great and looked like winners.

But I admit I don't know alot about the Dance rules or what scores the most points......:

I liked the podium teams and actually all of it was fun to watch. :yes:

D/W's tango has improved a lot, but those frantic arms still need to be contained IMO, it's a tango after all. Is Charlie the boss of that dance or else?
Don't know if they should have on by that much. P/B were great too (not perfect though), but I'm suspicious to say anything as they are my favs at this point.

Does anyone have any insight into why Vanessa and Paul are not doing 4 lifts like the other teams are? Why are they giving up points to the rest of the field by omitting a technical element? Could it be due to her injury perhaps?

The serpentine lift is a long lift, which is worth the same base value as two short lifts.

ImaginaryPogue said:

The serpentine lift is a long lift, which is worth the same base value as two short lifts.

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Thank you! I see now from the protocol, that the SeLi4 is worth 8 points in base value whereas most other shorter lifts are worth 4 points in base value if the couples are able to attain the highest level 4 on them. It all makes sense now.

So close to a great recovery for Bobrova and Soloviev-almost medaled. Both Canadian teams-uninspiring.

My problem with Ice Dance now is that there are too many tricks to judge and not enough about dancing. I suppose dancing (rhythms, Timings, proper steps, togetherness, etc.) is still there, but it have become, imo, second to tricks.
At some point in the future, Pairs and Ice dance will meld.

Joesitz said:

My problem with Ice Dance now is that there are too many tricks to judge and not enough about dancing. I suppose dancing (rhythms, Timings, proper steps, togetherness, etc.) is still there, but it have become, imo, second to tricks.
At some point in the future, Pairs and Ice dance will meld.

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You know, you are quite right. I am a dance fan in particular, and the rules are way too constraint to leave room for mauch dancing.

Lifts are fine but too many for my taste, spins make no sense to have in ice danncing, and twizzles as well. I guess, there have to be one technical element to differentiate in "visible" skating skills, but for me, the midline step sequence should be sufficient in the SP and twizzles in the FD. But that would be it. The rest, please leave for dancing, because that is what is mostly missing these days.

Eyewitness Thoughts

Finally getting around to my dance notes after seeing this competition live.

Warm up of first three couples: What the ...? In this short warm-up I've seen at least 10 near-collisions, got to be a Guiness record there. Only 6 people on the ice and they want to be in each other's laps? Or playing a game of chicken?

B/S: He falls out of twizzles, same mistake as in their SD. This skate seems more ragged somehow than when I saw them skate it at CoC. I wish his outfit was more than just a black pants and white shirt--he looks like he didn't have time to change after a day at the office. She needs a stronger partner, he needs to practice twizzles.
Overall score disappointing for them, not even breaking 140.

C/P: Gawd, this is just not very effective music--maybe it's the song version or the pacing or the choreography or all three. Half the crowd isn't even paying attention to their skate, it's that boring. The skating itself is relatively ho-hum, interspersed with a few tricks. I hope the judges were paying attention, because few others were. I liked this team last year and thought they had a lot of good moments, but I'm not seeing any progress this year. And I wonder if there just hasn't been any progress, or if the poorly-chosen SD and FD vehicles this year obscure the view. Score probably above B/S simply because they didn't make any obvious mistakes. And it is, though also doesn't break 140.

W/P: What is going on in Canada this year with program music selection for dance teams? This Moulin Rouge program is UGH, the music cuts add up to a disjointed whole. She hits some nice positions and they seem to execute decently, but their skating basics don't seem as strong as the previous two teams, and they are a little slow. I lost count of how many lifts this program has--it seemed as if they skate for a couple of seconds then she goes up again into a lift. The program is too circus-y for my taste. I have no idea what the judges will do with this. Oy! Just below B/S in last place. This dance tech panel seems to be a bunch of tough customers tonight.

Second group warm up: More civilized, or maybe more restrained. No near-collisions in this bunch. Make particular note of Bourzat's solo warm-up...he has some very nice smooth moves. And his skating is mightly fine also.

H/Z: Aargh. I saw this program at CoC, thought it was grating, and it's even worse now. The music of the first half has almost too much tension in it. The crowd sort of collectively goes Huh? at the music and concept--I can't say I blame them. The choreography is almost too frantic and the arm flailing gets scary. Max has a goof-up at one end of the rink during the last minute. Overall, I thought this skate was rougher and messier than what they put out at CoC, so not sure what's going on there. Wow--lowest score so far which drops them to last. They are better skaters than this--GET A NEW FD PROGRAM NOW, hopefully before Europeans.

P/B: Crowd thinks the real competition has now begun. Chaplin program was seen here at CoC and was well-received. This couple has superior skating skills to the previous couples, and well-showcased here. This program is just so nicely paced and choreographed, and it seems almost like an exhibition number but with real hard content. Dance spin was a bit slow. A very enjoyable program and they continue to polish it like a diamond. Well deserved first place so far, by a huge margin.

D/W: Had not seen their program before, even on youtube, so this was all fresh. It's a very busy program and they have to be careful not to let it get out of control, or too frantic. I had heard that they have actually toned it down from what it was at the season start. It looks like a very technically difficult program but that's only an assumption as I'm not that knowledgeable on the fine points of dance scoring. Those little jumps into the twizzle sequence are to-die-for and very effective though require perfection--I would give them a level 6 if there was such a thing. I'm so-so on this music, and the last 40 seconds or so, it really grated on my nerves. For me, it's a program that earns awe and respect, but I still don't find it very enjoyable or engaging.
Not surprised they end up with first place and gold medal.

I think placements at this competition were correct. B/S shot themselves in the foot twice (SD and FD), and lost what should have been their bronze medal. Overall, this competition was not even a horse race, and really suffered by not having V/M, F/S, Kerrs, heck...even Max Shabalin and his bum knees would have been a sight for sore eyes here. Or a Samuelson/Bates or Capellini/Lanotte. :disapp:

What is wrong with Dmitri Soloviev? He keeps tripping.. I hadn't seen that happen before recently

Crone/Poirier didn't do the dance as well as at SC, IMO

I feel sorry for Max Zavozin because in the kiss and cry, he said his skate came partly loose or something, which I guess led to the bobbles

I just can't get into Davis and White's FD this season.. it's boring to me

I think I may be the only person that actually loves D&W's FD. Happy with all of the medals here. First and second had a big gap, but I think P&B were a little bumpy in places.

Antilles said:

I think I may be the only person that actually loves D&W's FD.

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No, I love their FD too . . . all the hate on it is totally lost on me. It's probably my 2nd favorite of all their FDs in their career only behind Samson + Delilah from the 2009 season. If it is ever skated to the same level that S+D was at 2009 Worlds, it could possibly become my #1 favorite D&W FD. I love its passion and maturity.

Count me in as a lover of tangoes and this one gets better and better especially with the recent changes and should be unbeatable by Worlds. Such speed in a tango is incredible. Glad to see this judging and tech panel didn't overinflate the scores. I thought the scores were very realistic as to where the dancers are in their performances.

Correct results, boring competition. And to get bored is the worst scenary in Ice Dance.
For Davis/White: Brilliant choreography, technical execution without any kind of emotion. Without it it is still just a difficult, busy choreo and a good skating skill.
But NOT A TANGO. Pity, even if this program will be the one, which will give them the (deservd) World Champion title.

Pechalat/Bourzat are charming, overly sweet, theatratical. I would prefer the pure, real emotions ala Virtue/ Moir.

The rest was not really worth to mention this afternoon..... It tells everything.

I love C/P's FD, but they were a little off. I don't know if it was just the camera angle, but they've made a couple changes (I think) that I don't like.

P/B.... sigh. The last minute was quite good, but overall just completely uninteresting. It's so coy and precious and cutesy. And the bobbles throughout... just not my thing.

And then you compare it to D/W, and its clear to me just how dramatically they're outclassed. While it's true P/B invest their program with little details that are designed to express their chosen theme, the little chorographic moments in D/W's just seem asonithingly difficult to just be so offhand as it is. They include the details because it helps contribute to the whole, but it's less show-offy. I'm thinking in particular the exit from their first lift with Meryl's little kick. They also had that jaw-dropping opening position in their dance spin (when was the last time you saw a dance spin with a position that unique and difficult?). It's also the most clearly dance of the programs, imo. I'm so glad they were on, and I look forward to their corronation at worlds. V/M would need to be at their best to beat them, and they obviously won't be.

ImaginaryPogue said:

I love C/P's FD, but they were a little off. I don't know if it was just the camera angle, but they've made a couple changes (I think) that I don't like.

P/B.... sigh. The last minute was quite good, but overall just completely uninteresting. It's so coy and precious and cutesy. And the bobbles throughout... just not my thing.

And then you compare it to D/W, and its clear to me just how dramatically they're outclassed. While it's true P/B invest their program with little details that are designed to express their chosen theme, the little chorographic moments in D/W's just seem asonithingly difficult to just be so offhand as it is. They include the details because it helps contribute to the whole, but it's less show-offy. I'm thinking in particular the exit from their first lift with Meryl's little kick. They also had that jaw-dropping opening position in their dance spin (when was the last time you saw a dance spin with a position that unique and difficult?). It's also the most clearly dance of the programs, imo. I'm so glad they were on, and I look forward to their corronation at worlds. V/M would need to be at their best to beat them, and they obviously won't be.

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I think one of the differences between D&W and P&B is that P&B look like they're trying really hard, while D&W make the same things look effortless. Don't get me wrong though, I love P&B too.

Davis/Whiet very good but emotion is important too and they have not mastered the im(ex)pression of the dance yet. They may get the first in the World but is not enough if they skate only like this.