2015-16 Grand Prix Final Short Dance

[jenaj]

Love the Shib's short dance. It was just as charming and sharp as it was the first time I saw it at NHK. As a casual viewer of ice dance, I don't understand why they are in fourth place.

 

[ManyCairns]

Love, LOVE, L O V E the Shibs this season!! :luv17:

 

[notonmylife15]

Hmm, by rights the Shibs should be ahead of C/L, who were all kinds of loose thread sloppy. But with this tech panel, I think they'll go ahead.

ETA: Bingo. Not fair, but there it is.

Definitely not fair, especially when you look at the program component scores. I felt completely drawn in by the Shibutanis, and bored by C&L - which is NOT my usual reaction (I like them). I actually felt that the Shibs were better than Chock and Bates, but...I don't expect them to win that argument.

 

[notonmylife15]

Okay, I just rewatched the SD -- Luca did one extra turn than Anna in their first set of twizzles.

How the heck can this be considered synchronized twizzles if he does one more rotation? :shocked:

It shouldn't be. That's the point. Glad to know someone other than me feels the standings were plain wrong.

 

[keasus]

judging

As usual, the shadiest scoring is in Ice Dance.

This is the second competition in as many weeks (the other being Golden Spin) where the ice dance judging has been suspect. Both times involved Italian teams.

 

[Mathman]

I really like C/B and they definitely deserved 2nd, but I can't help but laugh at the judge who gave them 9.75s in all of the PCS categories!

There is no politics in ice dance and there are no conspiracies. That said, this paticular American judge has in the past been called in to monitor and advise Shpilband's and Zoueva's students, for instance Davis and White, Virtue and Moir and Capillini and Lanotte.

By the way, this same judge first came to especial attention when she received a death thread by telephone in the middle of the night at the World Championships following the 2002 Olympic pairs judging scandal. This was the Worlds where the skaters presented a petition to the ISU protesting the Ice Dance bronze medal -- the only time, as far as I know, that the actual skaters took a stand. Cinquanta crushed the uprising, threatening to kick ice dance out of the Olympic altogether if the affair generated any bad publicity.

 

[notonmylife15]

There is no politics in ice dance and there are no conspiracies.

That's a joke, right?

 

[keasus]

I'm still a tad annoyed that B/A didn't win bronze instead of them in 2010.

B/A and Del/Scho should have both finished higher than Dom/Shab. Dom/Shab's OD and FD were trainwrecks. His knees were so bad at the time they had to use a prop to execute some of their "choreography" in the FD. I still don't understand how they got away with it.

 

[bramweld]

B/A and Del/Scho should have both finished higher than Dom/Shab. Dom/Shab's OD and FD were trainwrecks. His knees were so bad at the time they had to use a prop to execute some of their "choreography" in the FD. I still don't understand how they got away with it.

Politricks....it's as old as.....

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Even after COP was implemented, the judges are very forgiving for teams where the woman does all the work as long as she does a lot of it. So many examples.

 

[Matilda]

Okay, I just rewatched the SD -- Luca did one extra turn than Anna in their first set of twizzles.

How the heck can this be considered synchronized twizzles if he does one more rotation? :shocked:

I noticed that too. Great job, judges... Not.

 

[Dots]

There is no politics in ice dance and there are no conspiracies.

This beauty needs to be quoted endlessly. :

 

[Jagger]

Even C/L and H/D got higher GOE on twizzles?

Some judging that is... :sarcasm:

It's totally unfair.
Shibs have the best free dance. I hope they will be the first/second tomorrow.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

FWIW -- Cizeron/Papadakis was 5th after the SD and rose to 3rd with their strong FD last year.

There's a difference. Last year, Ilinykh/Zhignanshin just weren't ready for prime time in the FD them being a new team and all, AND the judges, as they've shown time and time again, don't mind dumping the Shibs for hot new team. The Shibs can't dump themselves to get a medal so . . .

 

[Mrs. P]

There's a difference. Last year, Ilinykh/Zhignanshin just weren't ready for prime time in the FD them being a new team and all, AND the judges, as they've shown time and time again, don't mind dumping the Shibs for hot new team. The Shibs can't dump themselves to get a medal so . . .

I guess we'll see. I don't think it's as dire as some here.

 

[caitie]

Even after COP was implemented, the judges are very forgiving for teams where the woman does all the work as long as she does a lot of it. So many examples.

And yet I am forever hearing people say the male partner of an ice dance team is much better than the female partner. Guillaume, Jean-Luc, Evan, Luca, Michael Parsons, and the list goes on. There are a few exceptions like Elena being the stronger partner in I/Z and Alex in P/I, but I feel like it's always the guy I'm hearing about.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

And yet I am forever hearing people say the male partner of an ice dance team is much better than the female partner. Guillaume, Jean-Luc, Evan, Luca, Michael Parsons, and the list goes on. There are a few exceptions like Elena being the stronger partner in I/Z and Alex in P/I, but I feel like it's always the guy I'm hearing about.

True, but I don't know if there have been many championship or medal winning ice dance teams where the female partner has been as bad as Margaglio, Kastamarov, Goncharov, or Shabalin (in 2010 with his knee issues). Maybe Isabelle Duschenay but at least she did her job as Chris Dean's prop for Paul to maneuver the way he wanted in that dance.

 

[ozmodiar]

The Shibutanis' crowd roar inducing twizzles are not being rewarded much.

Here is the scoring for the twizzles. Everyone got level 4. All GOEs are shown though obviously some not used in final scoring because of high and low score eliminations. I put the names last so the numbers would line up.

8.14 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 Chock/Bates
8.06 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 Hubbell/Donohue
7.97 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 Shibutanis
7.91 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 Cappellini/Lanotte
7.91 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 0 Weaver/Poje
7.80 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 Bobrova/Soloviev

 

[WeakAnkles]

This beauty needs to be quoted endlessly. :

And then we should all look up the word "irony" on dictionary.com.

 

[icekiwi]

It's Anna and Luca's placement that really bothers me. They are simply not skating at the level of C/B, W/P, S/S, or for that matter, H/D as far as edge quality, smoothness, etc. They have shallow edges, stiff posture, and only one note/mode that they perform successfully: happy, cheerful, playful (at times manic). Their win at Worlds outraged me, and their placement here does as well. And I find them adorable, charming, and fun to watch, not to mention gorgeous. However, they are not first-rate ice dancers. End of Story!

100% agree with you, wordsworthgirl. Anna & Luca's dancing/skating really bothers me. Anna, especially..........her posture is so stiff, her arms jerky and her skating is so small, such a lack of fluidity and lack of edge. She is no where near the level of C/B, W/P & S/S in terms of just skating alone. Their so called smiles and characterisation looks so faked as well, it is like, they have to put in a smile here and a smile there. At times, so cringy to watch. Shibs should be heading into this in 3rd place.

The best female ice dancer for me is Maddison Chock. True ballroom dancing has a lot of little nuances, the little bits with the finger, turning of the face and looking away from your partner, she captures that so perfectly. C/B's foxtrot/waltz tonight just gave me the chills, in real ballroom terms, it is perfection, a 10/10!!