I’ve watched the FD, and I liked it a lot. They stayed in character throughout the program, they danced very close in close hold, and I thought they maintained high energy throughout. Actually, even the commentator said that an Indian dance is hard to do for an FD because of the amount of energy it requires throughout, but that they did very well. It’s only when they were approaching the boards after the skate that I saw how tired they were. Honestly, I think they can skate to anything under the sun – there are unbelievably versatile – so they can just as well skate to whatever they want to skate to. For both programs, this is totally not my type of music, but they live their performances to such a degree that I enjoyed every second of it. And I didn’t feel that Elena overshadowed Ruslan anymore than she should have: after all, shouldn’t the gentleman present the lady, especially in ID? Now the opposite would have been a disaster, lol. But it was just a shade of overshadowing IMO. Let’s face, nobody can be as expressive as Elena, but he was obviously totally into both their dances, from beginning to end.
Yes, the Carmen program was a work of art, but Carmen itself is a work of art. Should they only skate to museum quality music, so as to produce masterpieces? Personally, as a fan, I would have been happy if they did, but it’s their choice really. When I was younger I was disappointed when Johnny Weir didn’t take that route, because so few people can skate a masterpiece to any music, but I have since accepted that for many people it’s more important to express themselves than to create masterpieces. They are young, they are incredibly talented and versatile, they want to try different things. It’s understandable. Also I’m not sure that if they skated to dramatic opera music all the time it would have been well received, no matter how well done. As it is, they totally sell everything they skate to – to watch them is to feel alive with every neuron – and isn’t that enough on the artistic side?
BS is the first couple, of course they got higher PCS, I see nothing wrong with that, it works like that in every federation, I don't think that Rus Fed can be blamed here.
Sorry, but to me it’s like saying that XY are the home team, so of course they get overinflated scores, there’s nothing wrong with that, it happens all the time, so the judges cannot be blamed for doing that.
Loved it! I think the Blues fits them very nicely. The score is low if we consider the increase in base value, but I find it encouraging that their PCS were so close to H/D`s. H/D are skating home and were 6th at Worlds, but the main difference in the scores was the base value. I agree with chameleon that they have to win back the judges` trust, but if you look at their GOEs, there is a lot of positives. They received great GOE for their lift and had the second highest GOE, only behind the Shibs, for their partial, which was a very difficult element for them last year. So, it can only get better from here on
And I’m sorry I don’t find it encouraging that their PCs are close to a team who were 6th at Worlds (which also took place in the US, by the way, otherwise we don’t know how HD would have been placed).
I’m also not sure that the issue is winning back the judges’ trust. In 2014-2015 PC came back from the 13th or 15th place at Worlds to become 1st. When did they win the judges’ trust? I do suspect some anti-politicking by the Rus Fed. Otherwise why would they need a sponsor to train with Shpilband when SK didn’t to train with Zoueva?
Well, that sounds a little bit more encouraging, I mean even S/B and S/K lost the FD to G/F at Worlds.
I’m afraid I don’t find that encouraging either. Who are SB and SK? They are no. 11 and no. 10 in the world. Is that what IZ deserve?
I really don`t know what they should do. Maybe the right thing would be to skip TDF? OTOH they would probably lose even more ground.
Why? How can they place lower than 5th at TDF?
I agree with
Uhh that it’s a good idea to do a B competition between TDF and Nationals. Maybe they could become 2nd at Nationals if they skated well at two more competitions.
But in any case, they are young, BS are not forever, and besides, what’s important for a skater’s career after sport is not so much medals as how they scored with the public. Just look at Weir’s current career and look at Lysachek’s. I was very heartened by how they were received at SA. I certainly very much hope that they’ll achieve all they deserve in the sport, but I think they’ll have a fine future regardless.
judges have no shame
