The Starlight Waltz, one of the JGP CDs | Golden Skate

The Starlight Waltz, one of the JGP CDs

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
The Starlight Waltz will be skated in the JGP Courchevel, Mexico City, Madrid, and Cape Town competitions.

Starlight Waltz Reference
http://www.ice-dance.com/reference/compulsories/#starlight

The Starlight Waltz was first demonstrated by Courtney Jones and Peri V Horne in 1963 in London at the Queen's Ice Rink. It should be skated with a feeling similar to the Viennese Waltz, which is one of the compulsories for the Seniors this year.

Consequently, you should look for the Starlight, like the Viennese Waltz, to be light and graceful. It should be skated at a good pace with strongly curved edges, soft knee action, neat and unobtrusive footwork, elegant carriage and pronounced free leg extension, even on the one-beat steps. Body motion should not be excessive. Evenly controlled flow without obvious effort is desirable. The dancers should appear to be dancing in a grand ballroom.

Lady’s step chart
http://www.ice-dance.com/reference/compulsories/starpatternlady.jpg

Man’s step chart
http://www.ice-dance.com/reference/compulsories/starpatternman.jpg

Here we have an instructional video of Colleen O’Connor and Jim Millns, the 1976 Olympic Bronze medalists from the US, demonstrating the Starlight Waltz and calling the steps, on the Central Park outdoor rink in New York City. The legline is obscured by the heavy pants both are wearing.

Here's a selection of some great waltzers dancing the Starlight Waltz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnvzaF-GwYU
Canadian coverage of Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Kaponosov at the Olympics. They show great edges and great speed (check out the HUGE size of the patter) but the commentators feel their extension and matching leg line could be better, as do I. Even Olympic champions-to-be are a bit nervous in the CDs at Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsoHU-kngC8

Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponamarenko dance the Starlight waltz at the 1990 Good will games. They were apparently judged 0.6 better than Usova and Zhulin, who were second at this competition. I love the closeness with which they skate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_Pwqr-MyQ
Maia Usova & Alexander Zhulin skate the Starlight Waltz in 1994 at the Olympics. WOW! I love this dance and so did the judges! They placed first against Torvill & Dean and Grishuk and Platov. How they improved in the four years since they were crushed by Klimova and Ponomarenko in this dance!

http://www.youtube.com/v/h7bwIcobspM
Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov skated to a second place in the Starlight at the 1994 Olympics. I love Platov's carriage and extension and their speed. However Oksana's legline and matching is just not up to Maia's IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPJolLmcoco
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, returning to amateur competition after a ten year professional career, skate with beautiful ease, but not the gorgeous precision and expertise that they were capable of in 1984. They captured the ballroom feeling the best of the three couples, I feel, but are obviously a bit slower than they used to be, and placed third here. Additionally, they would have skated (and especially stepped closer) in 1984. It is odd that they also skated the Starlight in the 1980 Olympics where they finished fifth. I would love to see a video of that performance to compare to this one, but I haven't found one yet.

Here are some teams that are not at the elevated levels of Olympic medallists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4AdK00FLtU
Susie Wynne and Joe Druar skate the Starlight Waltz at US Olympic Festival 1986 back at the beginning of their careers.

The Starlight was skated at the recent Lake Placid International Dance competition, so results from competitors who are skating in the JGP will be posted as part of the preview threads for each JGP competition.
 
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