Wow !
I've been watching this thread evolve , not really wanting to get into the middle of another controversy over a questionable choice of words that gets blown out of all proportion..
Now that the dust has settled a bit , I find there are still some things that I take a bit of exception to.
To begin with , to say something is a piss-off...yeah , it's kind of jock talk , and I don't know about anywhere else , but in Canada it's a very ,
very common colloquialism. It's certainly not the most genteel way of expressing oneself , but it can barely even be considered a vulgarity anymore , at worst, it's a pretty mild one . Taken in context , the interview was in no way trash talk against D/W.
Was Scott right to express his views in some form or other ? Yes. Especially since his coach is also the coach of D/W , and if there
was a bit of inflation ( or depression ) in the marks , she couldn't really say so . She would then not be doing her best for D/W. Yet to
not call attention to the discrepancy being in PCS marks was not doing the best for V/M...so the job fell to Scott. That's better than if no -one raised the question out loud.
Last night ,I noticed it's come around to..
D/W have grown ,and V/M have not ( even taking Tessa's injury into account ). ...Pardon me , but that strikes me as a bit of a false claim. I think many of the arguments presented
don't take Tessa's injury into account , but use V/M's struggles in one area to proclaim advancement in another area for D/W.
Tessa's had to adopt a whole new way of training right down to something as basic as changing her stroke . They still have challenges to face.( e.g. lifts which
doris has astutely pointed out elsewhere ) They're still adjusting..Yes. But to say "
they haven't grown " implies complacency, which ( competitors that they are ) I think is the last thing they can be accused of.
Meryl and Charlie have certainly grown. I can see the strides they've made over the last year or so . Thanks to the tango ?...Maybe... but thanks to their work ethic for sure. But to me , this has been technical growth , not artistic. Their expression , connection to each other , nuance , emotion is pretty much what it has been .
Now , some people don't like the expression of Romantic love in programs , or maybe they don't like that V/M express this kind of theme so well. They accuse V/M of same old , same old endlessly ... and we read the same old lovey- dovey ..ooey- gooey charges over and over..
..they rely on Triste, UoC , and Mahler to make their point. Short programs ? Ignore them , or admit they were good, but point out they still preferred someone else's. Personal preferences are perfectly valid, but that's not what their argument is supposed to be about.
Look , out of the last 4 years V/M have done exactly
one "romantic " FD program. Mahler. Before that , it was Great Gig . Last year Latin , this year FF. The thing is, when they do a romantic love program , they do it so well, it stays with you. It's beautiful. But it's certainly not the only kind of thing they've done well , or that they're capable of doing. They
do do it better than anyone else, right now.
What do D/W do well ? They really excel at playful short programs , and for FD , programs to big, sweeping, Romantic era music , or ( as with Phantom ) music written to evoke that era. We've seen this type of program from them 3 out of the last 4 years. Last year's tango , they absolutely slaved at until they had it very, very polished technically , but there was no real tango soul there.You couldn't feel they were truly living that dance They fully deserved their win, nonetheless.
I love their skating. I love to see them take on something swooping and grand. It's what they do best ..of
course I want to see it. It's just a perfect thing.
I love V/M's skating. I love to see them do what they do best , too. It's another perfect thing , and I won't tire of it anytime soon. They have a subtle inner connection that is unmatched by any other team. For me, this gives them the edge artistically speaking. D/W skate brilliantly together , they've improved unison , line , neatness. But they don't possess the sense of oneness that V/M do.
I adore Fledermaus. It's a stroke of genius on Marina's part that plays fabulously to D/W's strengths. But is it a leap ahead for them artistically ? No. It's just right up their alley.
I don't feel the same sense of " so right for them " with FF , but that has nothing to do with how the program is designed ,what is it's content , how they skate it , or are they expressing it well ? If I was a judge, should my personal preference for the music, the style of program, etc. colour my perception of what the skaters are achieving on the ice ? Did this happen ? I don't know , or to what degree it may have ...but perhaps getting people to be aware of the possibility isn't such a travesty.
me neither. But I m glad someone else said it loud!
