Ice Dance - Free Dance | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Ice Dance - Free Dance

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
After losing the internet and cable TV for two days, Comcast has still not gotten high speed on our internet connection, and all my hidef TV channels, including US sports, are missing in action. I am only catching up with NHK dance just now, by downloading the dances one by one and watching them.

However, may I say that all the teams down to 6th place were better than the 2nd and 3rd place teams at Cup of China, at least for being enjoyable to watch! Including the Shibutanis, who look like a different team than last week!

Some of this is due to improvement by the Shibs and a better cast of skaters at the event, but also some of it is due to the truly dreadful video production of the CoC crew-it's not just the skycam; it's also horrible audio, and poor synching of audio to video. This is especially noticeable in ice dance. So I'd like to give a shoutout to the NHK TV crew! Thank you all!

As to the actual skating, the Shibs did that 'a step to nearly every beat of the music, and every step on a beat' timing that is what makes them so charming to watch when you see them live (or have a really good TV feed). I enjoyed their program this week and hated it last week as a result. What their usual arc through a season is is to pick up their speed. Consequently, their skating skills here are lower than they are going to be later. I wish they had gone with a program that was not 1940's, since last year's program was also basically in that vein, but realistically, they are not going to be the US number one team this year, so tactically, their best move is to distance themselves from the other US teams by having the highest TES, and that's what they seem to me to be doing.


Nikita is not as poor as Margaglio. But I do feel this team is being groomed to perform like a 90's or 00s style team, where she is the entire focus of the duo.

And that's unfortunate, because rewarding equal skill by the team members is embedded in COP.

I&K's FD had them skating hand in hand doing crossovers far too much of the time. It was done, of course, to allow them to be skate really fast , but they paid the price in other places. Their twizzles were really interesting (although there is a lot of these opposite direction twizzles going around this year, following V&M's use of them in their FD last year. They look good, but it makes it difficult to see whether they are synchronized well.) Their lifts were a bit shaky (not enough practice?) and simple. And their spin really lacked power. They had these same problems last year.

I didn't hate this program at all, but I would have had it closer to Z&G's LP (which I also liked). I&K should beef up the transitions a bit, if they are capable of doing so at this time.

W&P-I thought this was a lot better than at Skate Canada, despite scoring lower. I thought they did a much better job of conveying their story. It was too bad about the lift and the spin and the twizzle in the SD. Without those problems, they would have won, and indeed should have won.
 

fairly4

Medalist
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
congratulations to Maia and Alex shibutani for winning your first gp event.
congratulationst o Weaver /Poje, Ilnykh and Katasalpov for medaling good job.
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Buttercup, I realize you are irritated with complaints about judging bias by Europeans, but the manner in which you chose to express it was, frankly, highly insulting, rude and imprecise. I hope in hindsight you will see how heavy handed your comment was.
I thought it was clear that it was meant as hyperbole. I have tried to answer some of the more unpleasant posts reasonably, which has not helped. I felt something a bit more attention-getting might do the trick. Upon further reading, I can certainly see how my previous post can be interpreted in ways other than that which I intended. If there is something I dislike, it is lumping a group of people together and judging them based on irrelevant criteria, and I should have been careful to avoid doing so myself; I apologize for not taking care to make my point in a better way. The issues various countries are dealing with belong in the politics section of this website, not in the competition section.

I have edited my previous post accordingly. I realize others have quoted from the original version, and I can't change that, but I've done my share to sort this out.
 
Last edited:

Dots

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2007
The more I watch the Shibs, the more I like their FD. Loving their twizzels. :thumbsup:
 
Last edited by a moderator:

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I honored Buttercup's wish to remove the part of the post she edited out when it was quoted by other posters. I think she was right to ask for that.

Back to discussing the dance?
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Amazing all the hate for the Shibs. Yes maybe they are too cutesy at times but they are still talented kids. And kids are what they are i 20 and 17. To make the GPF after winning bronze at Worlds shows that all the talk of them being buried was premature. They will continue to get better and i like how they seal the deal when they have too.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Really this comment is childish. The Shibs have wonderful deep edges and can generate speed without much effort. Their twizzles are the best in the world equal to Davis & White. With the FD program they have, smiling is a good thing as they are supposed to be enjoying dancing to "feel good" music. If you don' like them, that's a personal preference and that's fine, but no reason to be so snarky.

For two seasons now all they do to interpret and perform is put on these plaster smiles. At this point they really seem to have no ability whatsoever to have any kind of range in a program and are going to do the same thing over and over as seniors. There are different kinds of music. And even if you do do a program where smiling makes sense there is no evidence they can make them appear natural. Their unnatural locked faces are a big distraction. They have chosen to excel technically but clearly have no intent to do anything other than smile in their programs. That's so worthless and dumb when there is so much skaters can do.
 

CARA

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Country
United-States
For two seasons now all they do to interpret and perform is put on these plaster smiles. At this point they really seem to have no ability whatsoever to have any kind of range in a program and are going to do the same thing over and over as seniors. There are different kinds of music. And even if you do do a program where smiling makes sense there is no evidence they can make them appear natural. Their unnatural locked faces are a big distraction. They have chosen to excel technically but clearly have no intent to do anything other than smile in their programs. That's so worthless and dumb when there is so much skaters can do.

You should watch their Tango FD they did the last season of their Jr (2009-2010 season). They sure weren't smiling then - proof positive that they can show expressions other than smiles :)
 

100yen

You can't explain witchcraft
Medalist
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Amazing all the hate for the Shibs. Yes maybe they are too cutesy at times but they are still talented kids. And kids are what they are i 20 and 17. To make the GPF after winning bronze at Worlds shows that all the talk of them being buried was premature. They will continue to get better and i like how they seal the deal when they have too.

Success is always met with hate from others...however, Maia and Alex seem to be pretty aware of their perception to certain people and know hoe to power through the mud and do what they do best~ :) There's no doubt they see the criticism as challenge. And the "hate" and rudeness is always coming from a specific small amount of posters who seem to have accounts created nearly entirely for the purpose of this.
 

Ilvskating

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Congratulations Shibs, I mean Maia and Alex:) These kids are amazing! Love their pure deep edges and precision and great unison. Powerful and light at the same time. W/P improved this season too. congratulations for another podium finish!
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
They are 17 and 20 not 11 and 12 and they seem to want to performn as 11 and 12 year olds. 2009 - 2010 was their least successful season and they seemed determined not to make the maturity leap mistake again.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
They are 17 and 20 not 11 and 12 and they seem to want to performn as 11 and 12 year olds. 2009 - 2010 was their least successful season and they seemed determined not to make the maturity leap mistake again.

Okay, let me whip up a video of when they were actually 11 (and 14 and Alex's case) —

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6NrB23vPx8

We've seen this video before, but I want to point out that even when they were actually that age they weren't even skating like they were that young.

And here's another one of them skating when Maia was 12 --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McxhneBBB44&feature=related

Hardly childish.

And yes, 2009-2010 wasn't their best season, that had more to do with Maia's growth spurt and less with their programs.

And obviously you did not see the same FD I did. The expressions were not all "smiley" as you like to call them. In fact, I noticed a clear effort to change expressions in different parts of the program.


ETA: Thanks for cleaning up the formatting Doris!
 
Last edited:

katia

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
Shibutanis were NOT held in this competition. They won. Even with some small mistakes.
But hey, if some people think that S/S were held up in this competition I ask you what would happen , (what strange theories will fly), if (rpt. if ) V/M will win over the D/W in G.P.
LOL
******
I think S/S improved. So did other pairs. But I really think that S/S program is keeping them back. I mean S/S program does nothing for me. It is technically very good but otherwise it is ...... empty.
 
Last edited:

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Here's a brief reminder for those who keep harping about Euro-centric/Russian-led conspiracies:
1. There are a lot of countries in Europe,
2. Many of which are ISU members.
3. They are not all alike.
4. Some of them have good relations; others have a history of animosity.
5. There are not many NA countries.

Thus, it is very likely that judging panels will have more European judges than American ones. This does not make them biased, nor are the European judges "an eyesore". But these posts sure are.

All true. All fair.

But if I suggest that the make-up of a judging panel favours certain skaters over others, am I inferring inequity or something unfair?
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I can't help wondering what the reaction would be if the US started "lending" judges to other federations and a panel had a US judge and two 'loaner' judges. I am sure there would be outrage and cries of "FIX". Yet this very same situation exists to day. BLR and UZB have "loaner" Russian judges; furthermore, many of the UKR, EST and LAT judges were trained under the Soviet system and their cultural preference is naturally for the Russian-trained skaters. In the JGP this season, there were as many as FOUR of these judges on a panel at some of the events.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Is ISR still using loaner Russian judges? They used to.

And isn't there a loaner Canadian judge somewhere or other in the system, too? I forget for which country.

The US should definitely loan judges if asked ;) if the others do it.
 

hikki

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Country
Japan
Congrats to Shibs for the first Gold in a senior ISU event as an Asian-descent couple!!!
 
Last edited:

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Is ISR still using loaner Russian judges? They used to.

And isn't there a loaner Canadian judge somewhere or other in the system, too? I forget for which country.

The US should definitely loan judges if asked ;) if the others do it.

Maybe USFSA should use loaner judges for the US Nationals.
 

DianaSelene

Medalist
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
lol...

In what universe were I/K more original than S/S ? The skated to Ave Maria for god's sake! and to add insult to injury they even copied one of the Shibutani's lifts :laugh: And let's not talk about their OD.

What lift are you talking about? They didn't copy any.
 
Top