Before I get to my main subject, I want to wish
Ashley and Tim, Haven and Brandon, and Tarah and Danny all the best, their most-thrilled-with-themselves skating, and a happy fulfilling week at 4CC.
So, I'm obsessed with why Danny and Tarah's lift came down. I watched their programs when they did it well. What bothers me is that it looks like a lift where she's just dead weight and it's all on Danny to complete it. That's never the case with a pairs lift, I know, there's timing, position, all sorts of micro-movements that they both have to execute. So I don't blame Danny. It also bothers me that she didn't acknowledge and comfort and at least look at him after the lift failed, but that's another issue.
What I've found is that Cain/Leduc, Denney/Frazier, Stellato/Bartholomay, Kayne/O'Shea, and Knierim/Knierim all do the the Group 3 Lift as the last (or for D/F, next to last) lift in their FS. They've all gotten Level 4 on the lift internationally; and C/L, D/F, and S/B got levl 4 at Nats. (GOEs differ.) But the thing is ... Danny's the only one who only has to muscle all Tarah's weight up at the beginning of the lift. The others begin the lift with the 2 holding hands and the woman's other hand on the man's shoulder. (for K/K, it's a one-handed lift, but Alexa also supports part of her weight with her hand on his shoulder, to get the lift up.) All the pairs go one-handed (with the woman "Look, Ma, No Hands!") at some point during the lift. Very impressive.:hap57:
K/O's Group 3 lift is their most impressive lift in this FS, IMO, when done well. But when I look all of the others' Group 3 lifts,
I like them all better than K/O's, mostly because of K/O's muscling-up look at the beginning. All the others are so smooth and really showcase the way "it takes two." And all the others have this beautifully airy quality, where the lady's air position and arm and leg extensions are just gorgeous.
at 3:11 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPy2gCIWC6E&t=214s - Ashley and Tim
at 3:58 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Rf3H2-Fhs - Haven and Brandon
at 4:02 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSAFdN4hp2Y&t=262s Tarah and Danny at Talinn
at 4:15 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgYTPyQ3l84&t=262s Alexa and Chris at Golden Spin
I'm looking for a working link to Deanna & Nate's national FS. If I find one, I'll put it here.
ETA: okay, it's working for me now on 2/7/19. At 3:34 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqx4JPPAYlo - Deanna & Nate
So, I really hope
Danny and Tarah will change how they do that lift in next year's programs. Does anyone here have any thoughts? I hope so ... and thank you for being here so I can get this off my chest where people care!
Or at least understand my being obsessed this way.
.... And on that other issue, I was glad to hear Brooke Castile (a former US pairs champion) say on the Ice Desk what I was already thinking. Michael asked her, "well, what do you do for 10-15 seconds when a lift comes down? Jazz hands?" LOL. And Brooke said (paraphrasing), you hold hands while you skate through it, you look at each other, and you comfort each other when it's over, and you don't forget that you're still skating a program. That is so opposite from everything that happened at the end of that FS, when Danny was doing all the comforting, all the apologizing, and Tarah was getting the attention. I'm having a hard time with it
; but I'll get over it. Hopefully when I see them do that program this week!
at 10:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyiWcnCTXQ8 Ice Desk Pairs FS (Warning: there's another audio going on in the background ... I can tune it out mentally, but I know not everyone can.)
