Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin | Page 84 | Golden Skate

Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

Meoima said:
I don't see why they say Ruslan is fading. He is constantly stable beside Lena, they compliment each other well. Ruslan is like a strong and silent force, you might not notice him immediately but you couldn't ignore his influence, you can sense it and see it. Thanks to Ruslan, Lena has the chance to do the expression. Ruslan is like a very stable anchor.
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ITA. Besides, if Ruslan hadn`t improved this fast, they would never have these results. Elena is amazing, but they are having these results because they are working as a team on the ice.
 
bsfan said:
I'm curious why the "general disinterest in them in some circles". As someone doesn't know much about ID, I'd like to know some objective comments about I/Z. Do they really have big future with their build and skills? When I watched their FD, I paid more attention to 'I' and 'Z' was more like a background. I also worry if 'Z' will be strong enough to do more difficult lifts with 'I'. I really want them to go far as 'I' is too talent to be wasted.
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This got long, I hope you don't mind!

The disinterest came when they teamed up and perhaps there were a few reasons for that; it didn't help that they started off as the team of dumped skaters - it got them sympathy in some circles, but for others the fact that their partners chose to leave suggests they were the inferior skaters - although as Alban Preaubert said at CoR, they very quickly showed their old partners this was not the case! Also I think people weren't convinced that Lena chose Ruslan because she believed in him or the new partnership, they decided she just grabbed whoever was available in a moment of panic, and of course, although Kustarova has got a great record of putting teams together, and bringing couples on from juniors, Zoueva had the reputation of coaching the last two OGMs and perhaps naturally people assumed that S/K would have the better coaching deal. Add in the rumors spread by some idiots on Russian forums that Nikita changed partners because Elena wasn't committed and wanted to quit, and you can see there were a lot of preconceived notions about what I/Z could do that they had to overcome that S/K weren't faced with.

They really do have the skills to do great things. The hardest non-element thing in ice dance is to gain synchronicity and move as one, and although they aren't soup yet, they are well on the way to matching their lines and movements. They've worked under different coaches for so long that it will take a while to completely get their style to match, but if you watch the non-touching step sequence in the SD for example you can see that their basic skating quality is matched and of a very high standard - for both of them edges are secure, turns are clean and all generated just from the knee work, neither of them are using their upper bodies to haul themselves round. Cover the bottom half of the screen and look how smooth & serene they look in the sequence, and compare it to more established teams like P/C or W/P where Gabi & Kaitlyn both still use their upper bodies a lot and you'll get what I'm talking about :) The other thing that is impressive is their speed, most importantly when they are in hold. At Russian Nationals I noticed that S/K were actually very fast between the elements and I thought perhaps I'd been a bit harsh criticising Marina always talking about them being the fastest team in the world, but all that speed got lost as soon as they went into the step sequences in hold. If you lose your speed, the turns are harder to do cleanly, and you'll drop levels in addition to getting poor GOE. Lena & Ruslan don't have this problem at all, they maintain their power even when doing their footwork in hold, and they are even starting to be capable of managing it with more complex transitions instead of just crossovers, such as the beautiful double three turns in killian into step sequence B in the FD. What I'm trying to say in this very long paragraph is that the basics, the fundamentals of what makes a good ice dance team are all there, and of course it's not all going to come together within one season, but I hope they will only continue to develop as they get more experience skating with each other.

The lifts will also be OK - you have to remember that new teams pretty much always struggle with lifts at the start, you need so much trust as well as all the technical demands, and actually they've acquitted themselves well so far. The rotational lift was level 2 at Cup of China, but level 4 everywhere else, straight line has always got level 4, and the curve is the only troublesome one, but it's purely down to Ruslan holding the difficult one foot position for long enough without getting an extended lift deduction: sometimes he holds off going onto one foot because he's waiting for her to be secure in her position (great partnering to make sure they both stay up!), but that will be overcome as they get more secure with knowing each other's balance points. People raise questions about their lifting ability because he is smaller than Nikita, but really the height difference between I/Z is no less than it was between V/M, or is between S/B or K/M now. It's just a case of finding what works for them; I'd like to see them try something like this or this.

Absolutely agree with chameleon about them doing better when they have clear roles in their choreo, and I'd add to that Ruslan in particular benefiting when there is a clear style to adhere to. He, even more than Elena, grew from working with Najarro because I think he was being challenged and pushed to do things that his partnership with Victoria wouldn't allow him to do. And although Kustarova & Alexeeva are doing a fantastic job, and are creating a wonderful supportive atmosphere for their skaters, I think it's good for him to have new people working with him from time to time to bring a fresh perspective and stop the occasional slip into generic Russian ice dance drama. Whether Averbukh who did the FD this year is the right person, I'm not sure. He's done great choreo for singles skaters, but the only ice dance work I've loved from him is Nelli & Alex's zombie dance. He's said though that he wants to keep working with Lena & Ruslan & hopefully he will see what we all see and give them more challenging & interesting material next year. That said, I hope they keep going to work with other dance specialists - I'd love Antonio to do a full free dance with them, I hope that if they decide to use ballet music (I want the mazurka from Coppelia and the pas de deux from Manon) they'll go back to Lena's dance teacher Luydmilla, and that they continue to work with ballroom experts when the short dance calls for it. They will probably always be a team where Lena is the more theatrical one, but Ruslan is a great partner & can keep growing in how he presents her & himself if they have the right people working with them. And I don't think that it's a weakness to have a team with a hugely charismatic girl and a male partner who focuses more on presenting her than grabbing the limelight for himself - it never hurt Grishuk/Platov, Krylova/Ovsiannikov, Anissina/Peizerat...
 
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Great post and to the point. :agree:

uhh said:
This got long, I hope you don't mind!

The disinterest came when they teamed up and perhaps there were a few reasons for that; it didn't help that they started off as the team of dumped skaters - it got them sympathy in some circles, but for others the fact that their partners chose to leave suggests they were the inferior skaters - although as Alban Preaubert said at CoR, they very quickly showed their old partners this was not the case! Also I think people weren't convinced that Lena chose Ruslan because she believed in him or the new partnership, they decided she just grabbed whoever was available in a moment of panic, and of course, although Kustarova has got a great record of putting teams together, and bringing couples on from juniors, Zoueva had the reputation of coaching the last two OGMs and perhaps naturally people assumed that S/K would have the better coaching deal. Add in the rumors spread by some idiots on Russian forums that Nikita changed partners because Elena wasn't committed and wanted to quit, and you can see there were a lot of preconceived notions about what I/Z could do that they had to overcome that S/K weren't faced with.
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About this though, I agree with it. However, I just could never understand how some people might think that these two were the inferior skaters, just because their partners left them. Anyone who watched the two previous couples together should've known two things:

1. Elena was/is the best female ice dancer. So if not better than Nikita (for me she was but that's not the point), then, for sure not inferior.
2. Ruslan was definitely the best skater between him and Sinistina.


Cover the bottom half of the screen and look how smooth & serene they look in the sequence, and compare it to more established teams like P/C or W/P where Gabi & Kaitlyn both still use their upper bodies a lot and you'll get what I'm talking about
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Absolutely. :thumbsup:
And to help you see that bsfan, watch this videos. Their SD and FD in the CoC and CoR, feet only:

1. SD CoC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF5_u09YJtc&list=WL&index=150
2. FD CoC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0NrXqOjJQ0 (I think they were the only couple to have level 4 for the stsq here)

3. SD CoR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXoVkdb_u7I
4. FD CoR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkcWReh5SO8
 
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By the time they splitted, my friend always told me Nikita was the better skater in I/K but I still like Lena better, my eyes were drawn to her. I know little about ice dance to be fair, I simply follow the one I find more memorable.
So...sorry Nikita! I simply decided who was the better one base on my initial taste. :laugh:
 
Uhh, I was ready to write that long post but you nailed it.

Actually, there was not a common belief they wouldn't be great, or they were snubbed or something, but the few cases that were obviously driven by others to cause some disbelief as still being used by people who, either liked IK and can't let go, or just liked Nikita cause he looked like a Ken doll,or let me put that one here, were just afraid for B/S


Let me add my two cents on the whole topic. When we are talking about Zhiganshin, we are talking about a skater that these same people consider even better as a partner than Katsalapov two years ago, suddenly, over a night or so, he just became not good enough.Some IK fans expressed their concerns back then because of the shock,the fact they liked him more than her, and probably because they had a I/K 2.0 in mind. Or they just didn't pay attention to Ruslan until that time.
The fact I/Z aren't I/K 2.0 is actually the best thing about this team. They remind me of the great teams of the past, and uhh put it perfectly.Grishuk/Platov,Anissina/Peizerat, let me add Klimova/Ponomarenko were teams of that style, the flower and the stem, and this helps you do more things dance wise.There are far more possibilities. My father who is an old skating fan saw I/Z for the first time at nationals and the question after the SD was, ' how does he manage to always bring her at the front, does he know where the camera is?"
This is a gift, to be such a good partner that you don't overshadow the lady, get in the spotlight when needed and put her in the spotlight when needed and partner her.Of course in order to do this you need such a good female partner as Elena, Marina x2 or Oksana ,Anjelika and the rest. Watching Anissina/Averbukh years ago gave me the impression Anissina would never have evolved if Averbukh didn't leave her, as that was a fight for the spotlight. Same case here for me,Elena is absolutely blossoming in this partnership
 
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"... they're both at their best when they have clearly defined roles or characters" -

so right, that's why FD does not compare to SD in any way.
 
Watching and rewatching I/Z this season, i want to express my appreciation for Ruslan. IMO he is the type of perfect parner to dance /skate with as he is looking for harmony and not for showing off himself. He blended well with Vika (even when they were for me a but bland, they had the harmony), he blends very well with Elena, both different kind of dance skater - he made the transition from the more lyrical style to the more dramatical style without problem. He looks very natural with Elena, nothing is forced in his pose or face, nothing screams to me "i just copy what my partner does". He seems to be a very versatile performer, changing styles without needing too much time to adapt.

It might be that Nikita is more dramatic, more expressive, but as long as he doesn't see that a pair is about harmony, Ruslan will win for me the battle of the better partner.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Really appreciate.

Btw, in G/P I watched a lot P too, not just G and I agree that P was very reliable and sharp.

And I'm the pair B/S fan, not ID B/S fan :)
 
bsfan said:
Thanks for all the replies. Really appreciate.

Btw, in G/P I watched a lot P too, not just G and I agree that P was very reliable and sharp.

And I'm the pair B/S fan, not ID B/S fan :)
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I knew that last part,it couldn't be any other way :biggrin:(B/S fan here as well...)
 
ttpUA said:
"... they're both at their best when they have clearly defined roles or characters" -

so right, that's why FD does not compare to SD in any way.
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I feel same. I think they understand their roles, expressions in SD, clearly they worked for posture and lines, looks very good and their moves highlight music very well. Najorro's work with them is great. I love Averbukh but I feel he just picked music and really didn't thought how they should interpreted. Also transtions could have been more smooth. I think moments before and after spin looks awkward. Of course every dance team slows/stops one point but music is strong just before the spin so I always feel they are behind the music there. They said there will be changes in Europeans. I hope they changes that and last lift. Spin have more base value and again moments before the finish I feel they are behind music. Spin in same position might be easier and 0.30 more points.
 
elif said:
I feel same. I think they understand their roles, expressions in SD, clearly they worked for posture and lines, looks very good and their moves highlight music very well. Najorro's work with them is great. I love Averbukh but I feel he just picked music and really didn't thought how they should interpreted. Also transtions could have been more smooth. I think moments before and after spin looks awkward. Of course every dance team slows/stops one point but music is strong just before the spin so I always feel they are behind the music there. They said there will be changes in Europeans. I hope they changes that and last lift. Spin have more base value and again moments before the finish I feel they are behind music. Spin in same position might be easier and 0.30 more points.
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I really like that the FD shows off their lovely skating skills. But Averbuck didn't give them enough richness in terms of choreo specifically transitions. They can handle more intricate choreo. I look forward to the changes her team will make .
 
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Totentanz said:
Thank you for sharing this beautiful montage. "A thousand years" reflects their story, like they were waiting for each other to be Russian Champion together :)

My love for Ruslan grows stronger everytime I see him. Such a cute man :love:
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This is only the beginning for them. Ruslan in particular is just at the beginning of his learning curve. I really like the authoritative tone he takes in this interview. These are the intelligent guys. I just sense it in my bones.http://fsrussia.ru/intervyu/632-elena-ilinykh-ruslan-zhiganshin-vse-tolko-nachinaetsya.html

Not sure if this has been posted already, probably has but I just really like the tone of it.
 
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