Free Dance - I heart Davis/White !!

[all that]

I don't think she needs to go on a diet either. She's not fat at all. She's just filling out. I don't think Scott has fully hit that stage yet (he's just beginning to fill out), so I think it'll happen over the next few years. I just hope it happens faster rather than slower.

 

[rain]

I have to chime in here because I think it's posts like the above that contribute to a very unhealthy pressure on young girls. Tessa Virtue is skin and bones as it is, if she dieted any more she'd become anorexic. Oh, and I also wouldn't take it as rote that one competition where Scott didn't seem completely over his skates in the lifts means that Tessa is weighing him down, so to speak. And I completely agree that Scott is more than likely not done growing yet — guys very often get their full physical maturity later than girls. I find them to be a very well-matched team, and in general very good in the lifts department.

 

[dorispulaski]

Oddly enough, Tessa's height is listed on her ISU biography as 5'3" but Scott's isn't listed at all.

 

[fanofskate]

Based on the reviews above, I guess it wasn't just my drowsiness and bad feed that was making the programs look blah in the middle of the night. V/M and D/W looked like they had to 'struggle' through their performances. I missed the 1st half of D/W but the 2nd half I saw, they indeed looked slower than usual. I'm glad at the end that it was W/B dancing to "Singing in the Rain" . It's that kind of program that was light, fun, very easy to get into, not too cerebral. They did well.

Hopefully, the teams will get the rest they need. But I'm still hoping that D/W will yet surprise us with new 'highlights/additions' to their programs. I wouldn't put it past them. I'm getting in the habit to look for those changes each time. Their mantra is 'build', and so as a fan I look for those new additions to the structure.

Re Tessa's height. I thought she is taller than 5'3. Meryl is only 5'2 and Tessa seems to be closer in height to Tanith who is 5'6.

 

[DWfan]

Well according to the press release at the ISU website

D/W got level 4's on all their elements
and V/M commented that they felt that their FD was great

 

[cassieandcheetah]

I have to chime in here because I think it's posts like the above that contribute to a very unhealthy pressure on young girls. Tessa Virtue is skin and bones as it is, if she dieted any more she'd become anorexic. Oh, and I also wouldn't take it as rote that one competition where Scott didn't seem completely over his skates in the lifts means that Tessa is weighing him down, so to speak. And I completely agree that Scott is more than likely not done growing yet — guys very often get their full physical maturity later than girls. I find them to be a very well-matched team, and in general very good in the lifts department.

yeah, but please don't accuse the posters of contributing to anorexia either. We all know Tessa's extremely skinny. I think most of us just felt that she was getting taller and just becoming more of a woman, and just getting more concerned for scott because he's just a bit "small" for a guy. And we all know their lifts are excellent, but they were wobbly on all of theirs today, which was extremely uncharacteristic for them.

 

[jennylovskt]

I have to chime in here because I think it's posts like the above that contribute to a very unhealthy pressure on young girls. Tessa Virtue is skin and bones as it is, if she dieted any more she'd become anorexic. Oh, and I also wouldn't take it as rote that one competition where Scott didn't seem completely over his skates in the lifts means that Tessa is weighing him down, so to speak. And I completely agree that Scott is more than likely not done growing yet — guys very often get their full physical maturity later than girls. I find them to be a very well-matched team, and in general very good in the lifts department.

Sorry, strict diet DOES NOT equal to unhealthy diet! Well balanced, full of nutritions, avoid the unnecessary products, limited amount, are all part of strict healthy diet. Not only good for athletes, but also good for everybody.

I agree that Bourne&Kraatz faced the samething. V&M might need to take their appraoches.

 

[dwiggin3]

Well, V/M certainly does NOT deserve 104 points... the scoring at this year's 4CC is just insane.......

So, this is the first time i watched V/M and D/W in the same competition this year.. i think that V/M are smart at the music selection. Without a doubt, their FD music is A LOT easier to skate to than D/W's... i think D/W need to think more about that next year, although they did GREAT, but that music is a lot harder to appeal to the judges and the audience, and it takes them a long time to get there too...

I would agree that V/M's music is easier to skate too than D/W but I think that D/W's ability to translate the music into a nice dance indicates a better team. In my opinion, why choose easy music - how does that challenge you? Sure, you might get higher scores but are your really getting any better or progressing with your skill level? I'm not so certain. If you choose harder music that requires you to really dig deep and improve in order to make the music work, that's a sign of a stronger team. JMO

 

[Tonichelle]

I agree D, about the harder music...

It goes hand and hand with the creativity factor - people can complain all they want about the judging not rewarding it, but the skaters seem to want to just stay in the comfy familiar same ol same ol easy stuff anyway!

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, that was why I was glad to see D&W pick Eleanor Rigby and challenge themselves. And certainly their Kalinka OD was a completely different mood, one sombre and angsty, the other light & playful.

The other good thing about D&W is that for a Shpilband team, they are fairly serious about OD's-at least about one a year, anyway. The pick the hardest of the 3 and practice it every day. Last year it was the Golden Waltz, this year, it appears it was the Yankee Polka.

And when interviewed after a performance, their focus is what they could have done better, not how awesome their skate was.

I have great respect for their brains and work ethic as well as their skating.

V&M challenged themselves in different ways this year; primarily upping their technical skill. Next year I hope they will pick more challenging music though.

 

[all that]

Before we all forget, V/M picked challenging music last year. "Valse Triste" (especially the version they used -- strings only, without a full backing orchestra) is not an easy piece to skate to for a full 4 minutes. Both Susie Wynn on ESPN and Chris and Simon on British Eurosport mentioned the difficulty of that music. There's a lot of emotion there, but all quiet and subtle, and it takes a lot of skill to bring that out without either over or under-emoting. Plus, the the quietness of the music is very unforgiving -- if you don't have matching lines, or you're flailing your arms, the mood is totally destroyed.

Emotionally, Umbrellas is beneath V/M's skill level. However, like I said in an earlier post, I believe this choice was deliberately made so that V/M could focus training on other aspects of their skating -- lifts, speed, ice coverage etc. Let's see what they do next year.

 

[chuckm]

I agree that V/M's lifts were all a bit off in their FD. Of course, that made no difference as far as marks go, but this was 4CC. Shaky lifts won't score points anywhere near that at Worlds.

Could it have been the costume change? If her dress is a very slippery material, that could make for problems with lifts. I noticed that the dress 'rode up' quite a bit during the lifts.

I don't understand why the costume had a white lining, either. I found that very distracting.

 

[DWfan]

I still haven't been able to find d/w fd online. Does anyone have the link for it?

I've only seen v/m's so far...
and I agree -- the white collars on both costumes strikes me as odd.

 

[dorispulaski]

I haven't found one yet either.

I know that the live streaming coverage was not great for some people, so perhaps we will have to wait until there is a repeat.

 

[cassieandcheetah]

I haven't found one yet either.

I know that the live streaming coverage was not great for some people, so perhaps we will have to wait until there is a repeat.

voila!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4FnEQF8f7M

 

[all that]

D&W are fast! And those are a lot of sequins on Charlie!

 

[rain]

Sorry, strict diet DOES NOT equal to unhealthy diet! Well ballanced, full of nutritions, avoid the unnecessary products, limited amount, are all part of strict healthy diet. Not only good for athletes, but also good for everybody.

I agree that Bourne&Kraatz faced the samething. V&M might need to take their appraoches.

You stated Tessa should go on a diet to lose weight so she's easier for Scott to lift — not in those words, but that was the gist of your post. To suggest such a thing of such a slim and in-shape young woman is unhealthy, and sends a pretty scary message to the many young girls who are of a healthy weight that would well exceed Tessa's.

yeah, but please don't accuse the posters of contributing to anorexia either. We all know Tessa's extremely skinny. I think most of us just felt that she was getting taller and just becoming more of a woman, and just getting more concerned for scott because he's just a bit "small" for a guy. And we all know their lifts are excellent, but they were wobbly on all of theirs today, which was extremely uncharacteristic for them.

I have no problem with posters who think Tessa has grown a bit lately. But one poster has specifically suggested she should go on a diet so she's easier for Scott to lift — I find that to be scary, particularly in a sport where girls are under pressure to keep their weight down and face many unkind comments if they put on a pound or two — or even just hit puberty.

 

[jennylovskt]

You stated Tessa should go on a diet to lose weight so she's easier for Scott to lift — not in those words, but that was the gist of your post. To suggest such a thing of such a slim and in-shape young woman is unhealthy, and sends a pretty scary message to the many young girls who are of a healthy weight that would well exceed Tessa's.

I don't know how her diet is now? It might have some room for it or it might not.

In general, I think North American athletes are heavier than Europeans. ( I didn't compare American with Asian because they have different race.) I think diet is one of the parts to be blamed for. If anyone takes my comment in a wrong way, and risk her health, I am sorry. I didn't mean to. Not all the figure skaters are in good shape.

Diet needs to be restricted at all time for all people. That is my take. But it got to be in a healthy, balanced way.

In general, Americans eat too much! If this comment offended you, please ignore it.

 

[DWfan]

I think D/W definitely improved on their connection/emotion since Nationals and it shows!

Here are some quotes from an article from icenetwork.com
"Davis and White gave an inspiring performance of their "Eleanor's Dream" program. They earned an L 4 for all elements, the only couple to do so. The U.S. silver medalists scored a new personal best of 199.45 overall. "We're just going to go out and train as hard as we can. We're going to make a couple of tweaks here and there to make ourselves comfortable with everything going to Worlds," Davis said. "

Gosh I really admire their attitude... I think some other people have mentioned this before, but I really look forward to seeing them get better each and every time they compete! GO D/W!!

 

[mycelticblessing]

Before we all forget, V/M picked challenging music last year. "Valse Triste" (especially the version they used -- strings only, without a full backing orchestra) is not an easy piece to skate to for a full 4 minutes. Both Susie Wynn on ESPN and Chris and Simon on British Eurosport mentioned the difficulty of that music. There's a lot of emotion there, but all quiet and subtle, and it takes a lot of skill to bring that out without either over or under-emoting. Plus, the the quietness of the music is very unforgiving -- if you don't have matching lines, or you're flailing your arms, the mood is totally destroyed.

Emotionally, Umbrellas is beneath V/M's skill level. However, like I said in an earlier post, I believe this choice was deliberately made so that V/M could focus training on other aspects of their skating -- lifts, speed, ice coverage etc. Let's see what they do next year.

Strangely, even though Valse Triste more challenging, I felt that they executed that one better. The concept of Valse Triste, about them being seperated then coming together was really enhanced by the music.

The music they use this season, while beautiful, doesn't quite have the same effect. Valse Triste is more subtle, giving it more emotional depth. while Umbrella's 'mon amour, j'taime' feels more deliberate, and I somehow feel less touched by it.