What about ice dance couples that did the best in the various dances of the Original Dance segment: best Waltz, Quickstep, Foxtrot, Tango, Samba, Cha Cha, Mambo, Rumba, Jive, Rock'n Roll, Salsa, Merengue, Polka, Paso Doble, Flamenco etc
I think for exemple that Belbin Agosto's Salsa was pretty good.
Any Ice Dance expert here?
I'll take a stab at this. And I'm going with which teams' programs actually translated ballroom to ice, not necessarily who were the better skaters at the time. In some cases, the teams' I'm going with were rather far down the list.
Without doubt, best Paso Doble was Torvill & Dean's 1984 OSP
I'd also go with Rahkamo and Kokko's Quickstep too, which is why the Finnstep was created from it (TPTB also think it was a great Quickstep). However, I have to say that Fusar Poli/Margaglio had a good Quickstep 2001, and so did Grishuk and Platov 1995, who actually won the segment when R&K's great quickstep was performed.
Waltz is harder (there have been many good ones), but I'd give it to Klimova and Ponomarenko's 1987 Waltz OD that turned into the Golden Waltz. Unfortunately, the only copy I've found is not that clear, but I was there in person and it was very, very special.
The ChaCha was an OSP in 1981, and T&D won the segment, but frankly I didn't like any of the ChaChas that were done. The back and forward motion of the chacha does not transfer all that well to the ice.
Rock n Roll was only once an OSP, and that was won by T&D. They did a 50's style rock n roll to a rock beat version of Variations on a Theme by Paganini. It all worked, and the dance did have a good feel of a 1950's bop dance. AFAIR, that was 1983.
!982 was blues and they won to Summertime, which is one of the great blues dances in skating, and worth your while to look up. Usova and Zhulin did a good blues, too. 1991.
The polka was an OSP in 1992. They all were quite bad, although R&K's Finnish polka was the class of the bunch for me. Actually Averbukh and Anissina, who skated together at JR Worlds, probably had the best one that year. Now that I think of it, the best polka award goes to Sladky & Schwomeyer who created the Yankee Polka along with Ron Ludington, their coach. Best job skating it goes to Grishuk and Platov, 1997, IMO.
Probably the most compelling tango I've seen was 1988 the Duchesnay's take on the Argentine OSP. However, I also liked D&W's tango OD at 4CC's a lot. Both teams were at similar stages of their careers, just beginning, but these OSp/OD were when I first perked up and noticed both teams. Watching tangos, they all tend to blend together for me. Tango lovers, what was your favorite?
Jive I'd give to Krylova & Ovsiannaokov 1998
Rhumba, T&D 1994
Samba was 1990, and I can't say I liked any of them that much. It was part of the Latin Rhythms OD for 2006, and B&A were my favorites with their Let's Get Loud OD, which also had Rhumba and Salsa.
Flamenco, without doubt, Anissina/Peizerat 2006!!
Pechalat/Bourzat had a very good one in 2008. I'm not crazy about any of this year's flamencos that much.
When you get into these compositive rhythms they have been doing, stuff doesn't stand out that much. Mambo was an allowed rhythm, but I don't remember any of them. I don't remember anyone doing a Merengue.
Navka & Kostamarov had a spiffing OD to Ain't No Sunshine (blues) 2004
Charleston was 1989 and Wynne and Druar did a great one. I also liked D&W's Charleston last year, as choreo, but they were never quite able to perform all that difficulty, even so, check out the Skate Canada version.
Here's the reference for what dances were performed in what year.
http://www.ice-dance.com/reference/cdodhistory.html
