A few words about ice dance: I watched the FD of the top couples. I actually also wanted to watch Green and Parsons, but they withdrew.
I liked the free dance of Smart and Dieck. I haven't seen Dune-1, never seen the movie either, but Dune-2 is great. It gave an impression of something happening in a desert, but something phantasy-kind, I guess it is what the movie is about. The first lift is awesome, I've never seen it before, because I don't watch ice dance.
The choreo is interesting, she is a star, he is nowhere near in star quality. I don't know about his skills, because I mostly watched her. But he is a good showcase in this program. He looks a bit like Jim Kerry, so I always expect some fun from him, but in this program he is more of a background, and he does it well. The costumes and choreo felt comfortable and it felt like a program. I also watched Zingas and Kolesnik's dance, a lot of crooked lines (drama), not much atmosphere or sense. This music requires sharpness. Then I also watched Chock and Bates, and I didn't understand this dance. But having given it a thought, read the lyrics of the song and rewatched, the first half of their dance made sense, the second half lost me. I think it needs development to hold a viewer's attention, but they have time to work it out. Not my favourite dance, and her costume designs are weird. I know it's Madi, but lace undies should have earner negative feedback from the judges if not a deduction. Also, I watched Lopareva with partner, I don't remember what they skated to or the dance, typical story between me and them. All I remember is the color of her hair. She is like a detective story character whom the witnesses never remember except the red scarf. But Loicia and Theo's dance I do remember. To me it felt uncomfortable, I wouldn't want to rewatch it. They are probably good, but that unitard like most of her costumes that I've seen, felt very tight on her, and some of their lifts looked uncomfortable. They were almost too expressive, I just like it a bit more subtle. I tried to watch the rest of FD and dozed through it. So far my favourite FDs are Smart and Dieck's and FB/C.
Men: funny moment for me was thinking during Denis Vassiliev's SP: this is sung by a dead guy, what kind of love is he expecting from a living girl? But then it became a stream of Ghosts, and I stopped minding. Shun did great, but he usually starts minding the music at the last minute of his program, hopefully, this will improve in future seasons. Danny Grassl: question is if he doesn't make the loop will he become a pope?
Shaidorov and his FP music is a rather obvious combo if you follow Dimash, and totally confusing if you don't. SP is not bad, FP is terrible. Jacob Sanchez has potential PCS-wise but needs a ton of work, which I am afraid is not going to happen. His toe-pick technique seemed optimized even on the Arabian. But Hiwatashi, wow. Training in Japan seems to have stabilized his jumps and he looks confident and much better packaged. At least he is not skating to Norigami.
It's a little sad to see Sui and Han like this, the other Chinese couple don't look resigned at all, except in a season or two the girl might grow. Sui wasn't the strongest jumper to begin with, they are out of shape, lifts looked scary, and she looked nowhere near her usual elegance. Good luck to them matching what they had or reinventing themselves, they don't have much time. A drop of vinegar was Metelkina speaking Russian at the interview. Obviously, she spoke a language she could speak and the Chinese could interpret, but hm... If ISU bans the nation and its flag, why is it OK to use its language as an interview language? Be consistent: ban the language, music and people who take advantage of its facilities and heritage and play make believe they have nothing to do with it. As it is, it doesn't serve well to viewers on either side. Yesterday, there was also SP in Magnitogorsk, I took a look at men and women and there were a some interesting music selections. E.g. unusual cuts from Muse and Ksenia Sinitsina with Andrei Petrov's "Creation of the World" ballet adagio. Whoever chooses her music, I have a lot of respect for the breadth of the their knowledge.
I've missed them! But they do have some work to do. The Group five Reverse lift will have to looked at as coaches Chris Knierim and Daniel Aggiano, among others, pointed out that it was a Group 4 lift (hand-to-hand press lift).
. And, of course, we all know how horrible Vasiliejvs' situation is so... hopefully he finds a way through it.
