Compulsory Dance | Golden Skate

Compulsory Dance

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081213&content_id=57667&vkey=ice_news
"I am totally opposed to it," Shpilband said Saturday about the draw made in Goyang City, Korea, which resulted in the Finnstep being adopted for the opening rounds of the 2009 European Championships and 2009 Four Continents Championships, which both take place early next year.
[...]
But Shpilband warned, "All the skaters have to learn a completely new compulsory in a short time. It is ridiculous to introduce something new into these very important events. The Four Continents is the tryout event for the Olympic facilities. It is an important event."
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Whatever Shpilband :sheesh: . His hate for CDs is getting annoying.
 
^Besides wasn't it announced at the begining of the season that the Finnstep was one of the compulseries for this year? Shouldn't the teams already have learned the steps even if they havn't extensivly practiced it? If they don't already know the dance it seems like a bad oversight by the coaching team.
 
I believe the two venues (Euros and 4CC) are a couple of weeks apart which means the judges for Euros have a chance to judge 4CC as well. If it come downs to 2 separate sets of judges, then there should be no comparing the results as one contest in two parts.
 
silver.blades said:
^Besides wasn't it announced at the begining of the season that the Finnstep was one of the compulseries for this year? Shouldn't the teams already have learned the steps even if they havn't extensivly practiced it? If they don't already know the dance it seems like a bad oversight by the coaching team.
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Apparently he was just "hoping" it would not be drawn...I'm worrying for Davis & White and Virtue & Moir.
 
Well, strictly speaking D&W and V&M probably will be able to learn this dance that fast. From all I've heard, they're quick studies. None of the top competitors competed in the Finnstep at Lake Placid IDC. AFAIR, it was won by Maxwell & Traxler.
 
It' something to learn the steps and be able to do it in a competiton but another to take CDs seriously and try to understand the feel of the dances, show a little respect.
Igor's teams theses past years have IMO been "acting" during CDs, you could see they did not like to do them and did it because they were forced. They don't take it seriously.
 
That's true, but I would mostly tar Belbin and Agosto with that brush (hates all CD's & does them as a task & visibly so, especially early in their career). I don't think all the Shpilband teams think that way.

V&M seem to like some CD's and hate others. (I recall them saying they didn't like the YP (it was a silly dance, I think they said), but they did a spiffing Argentine Tango at worlds last year. Plus they have a great rhumba.).

And Eurosport reported back years ago at 4CC's that Davis and White started every practice session that year with the Golden Waltz. Plus D&W enjoyed the Yankee Polka and looked convincing doing it, both at 4CC's and US Nationals. The Argentine, not so much. And their Austrian Waltz was not good. They appear to like the really complex CD's.
 
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I just realized that 4CC is only a week after US Nats. The teams that are sent to 4CC have only a week to learn/practice Finnstep?:yes:
 
They've known the finnstep would likely be used somewhere for over a year. If they don't know the dance, they have only themselves (and wishful thinking that they would luck out and not have to do the dance) to blame.
 
rosee said:
Whatever Shpilband :sheesh: . His hate for CDs is getting annoying.
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Yeah, it's surprising that V/M and D/W (V/M especially) are pretty good at compulsories despite their coach's disdain for it. Although the Finnstep might be more of a problem for his teams, considering how many struggled with it at Europeans. It is so enjoyable for the audience though.:biggrin:
 
lcd said:
Why such a 'heavy coat of tar paint'? Disdain seems a bit much.
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He never was a coach who put the emphasis on the CD's training. However, this time around I understand if he is not pleased to have V/M learning a new dance, when they have a lot of catch up to do and the time constraint is really tight. No matter how talented they are, they need a lot of mileage on the programs and this dance is not an easy one, which they could just take of the shelve and brush off. The time spent on the Finnstep, could have been used to polish the OD and FD instead. I am curious how much progress they will show in comparison to the Canadians
 
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Maybe their plan is just to blow the CD and concentrate on the OD and FD? They really can't place lower than second.
 
Perhaps Shpilband has trained neither D&W nor V&M for the Finnstep, except in a cursory fashion. In which case, S&B, N&B and Crone Poirier have a chance to excel. And perhaps not..

I don't see either D&W or V&M deliberately neglecting it though. D&W in the past have chosen to decide to skate what they feel is the most difficult of the CD's first thing each day. As a result, their Yankee Polka was better than their Argentine Tango and their Golden Waltz was excellent. And V&M have had lovely CD's in the past.
 
The dancers have known about the Finnstep and Paso Doble addition at least since May 2008 , in comm. #1496, I wrote this down in my booklet at that time. So there should be absolutely no excuse for any of these teams to not know both dances by now and have run through them several times. My fav CD is the Yankee Polka, and I've not seen it better performed than by Virtue and Moir, so I think they will be able to handle the Finnstep with ease. I would love to see them do the Paso Doble, but we won't even see it next year as the Golden Waltz and Tango Romantica will be used.
 
The paso music is horrendous. I'm hoping for the Viennese.
I'm not a fan of either of these two compulsories, though.

Bring on the Golden Waltz and Tango Romantica next season!
 
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