- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
I thought it was a sweet skate. I enjoyed it... but it definitely wasn't D/W's fire... but I'm not sure it's supposed to have fire?
2013 Skate America Free Dance
- Thread starter Tonichelle
- Start date
I thought it was a sweet skate. I enjoyed it... but it definitely wasn't D/W's fire... but I'm not sure it's supposed to have fire?
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Davis and White have never gone the "soulful artist" route. I think the point to keep in mind is that Olympic ice dancing is first of all a sport. Here is what local sportswriter Jeff Seidel had to say this morning in the Detroit Free Press, comparing Meryl and Charlie to baseball batting champion Miguel Cabrera and Detroit Lions football sensation Calvin Johnson.
http://www.freep.com/article/201310...eidel-skate-america-meryl-davis-charlie-white
Peaked too soon? Another strategy in sports is to bust out of the gate with "you can't touch this." We'll see. :yes:
http://www.freep.com/article/201310...eidel-skate-america-meryl-davis-charlie-white
Peaked too soon? Another strategy in sports is to bust out of the gate with "you can't touch this." We'll see. :yes:
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2012
wonderful performance by Mery and Charlie but I think as good as they are i don't find that something special of golden aera skaters or skaters fromt eh past. Whether Virtue and Moir can touch this is doubtful because the tide has changed and D and W seemed to be crowned oly champs and Va nd M have far too many technical issues including spins and twizzels and maybe their rotuine isn't strong enough though I appreciate they have gone another completely different route than last year; I do fine Charlie a nd Meryl a bit bland on changes - they kind of have one style and that is it - great pleasant skating done perfectly but not the character or flair of some other teams including lower ranked ones but that doesn't really get reflected in scoring so right now Crown D and W champions olympic and all.
A sportswriter actually comparing ice dancing to other major sports - imagine that.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
Gotta put it in language that most sports page readers will understand.
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2011
bland ?
doesn't that fit perfectly to V/M ? with the same repetitive themes and the love connection that I never really see ?D/W get huge scores from technicality and rest goes with it, V/M hit their peak in 2010 and have been going downhill with their technical abilities limping.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2012
Lovey-dovey does not equal supreme artistry. Sometimes speed, power, joie de vivre equal magnificent interpretation - art! And granted, we all will always have varying opinions, but for me D/W make me smile, make me feel joyous and free - and if that is not the power of an artist - then what is?!
Technically speaking - does anyone have the speed, the crispness and the difficulty all at once like D/W? My untrained eye, tells me no. Again, experts and non-experts will disagree but in my heart- D/W are unparalleled.
And to make it all greater - their athleticism, speed, clarity, joy and crispness have all increased over the past four years as evidenced by the performances. And I agree with Tonichell, they seem to thrive under pressure; I have always seen them rise to the occasion when it matters most and they know that these Olympics matter most.
Technically speaking - does anyone have the speed, the crispness and the difficulty all at once like D/W? My untrained eye, tells me no. Again, experts and non-experts will disagree but in my heart- D/W are unparalleled.
And to make it all greater - their athleticism, speed, clarity, joy and crispness have all increased over the past four years as evidenced by the performances. And I agree with Tonichell, they seem to thrive under pressure; I have always seen them rise to the occasion when it matters most and they know that these Olympics matter most.
Your English was great, NoNameFace! Certainly better than my attempts at other foreign languages, including the one of my own family.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope you participate more in our discussions.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
first of all, thanks for warm welcome 
, I love dancing in every form and even I'm dancing myself and choreographing for the others so my point of view lies basically on what movement is connected with music and in ice dancing I'm searching foremost that union and harmony between dancer's moves and music. I watch D&W from their juniors career so the same V&M - and I undestand that juges when see a great technical program give it also huge presentation marks, because when there is a technique, there is also a fluidity, lines, transitions etc., and that statutes great reception of it. Maybe I'm crazy or request impossible, but for me the program is complete when has some personal package, some elements (in music cuts, movements, interpretation) that each ice dancing team brings into its program - and I'm not seeing it now in D&W fd.
I know that it is sport which are ruled over by some rules, restrictions etc., but it is a kind of dance in the same time - when short dances I considered as a part when technique has the major role, the free dance should express more personality of the dancers, be more artistic in my opinion and technique should helps in that but not covers all the rest of the dance.
Personally I'm looking forward to see russian dancers, canadians and P&B on next events.
, I love dancing in every form and even I'm dancing myself and choreographing for the others so my point of view lies basically on what movement is connected with music and in ice dancing I'm searching foremost that union and harmony between dancer's moves and music. I watch D&W from their juniors career so the same V&M - and I undestand that juges when see a great technical program give it also huge presentation marks, because when there is a technique, there is also a fluidity, lines, transitions etc., and that statutes great reception of it. Maybe I'm crazy or request impossible, but for me the program is complete when has some personal package, some elements (in music cuts, movements, interpretation) that each ice dancing team brings into its program - and I'm not seeing it now in D&W fd. I know that it is sport which are ruled over by some rules, restrictions etc., but it is a kind of dance in the same time - when short dances I considered as a part when technique has the major role, the free dance should express more personality of the dancers, be more artistic in my opinion and technique should helps in that but not covers all the rest of the dance.
Personally I'm looking forward to see russian dancers, canadians and P&B on next events.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2011
first of all, thanks for warm welcome
I know that it is sport which are ruled over by some rules, restrictions etc., but it is a kind of dance in the same time - when short dances I considered as a part when technique has the major role, the free dance should express more personality of the dancers, be more artistic in my opinion and technique should helps in that but not covers all the rest of the dance.
Personally I'm looking forward to see russian dancers, canadians and P&B on next events.
Hi NoNameFace and welcome to this wacky world! I just wanted to say for the most part I agree with you but wanted to add one thing I think we all should remember. It's early days. The season essentially just started. So I think it's a bit premature to declare the Schez. program the greatest thing since blades were attached to boots, or that D/W's score are an international travesty. The truth is somewhere in between, wouldn't you say? And yes, I do think it was overscored here--but then reputation in an Olympic year tends to give you that point boost. One other thing--while Voir tend to get technically better over the course of a season, I think it takes Marlie several competitions to get that emotional connection with the music and with each other solidified. At least that is what I have seen since their tango program.
Well, I think the interpretation and character in D/W's performance has improved a lot just from a few weeks ago in SLC. I can see the story of Scheherazade in the dance much more than I could at SLC, and also there seem to be a couple moments like Meryl's arms on one of the lifts + the really cool new lift at the end that have been added. I think it will probably continue to improve. Notre Dame de Paris got so much better from its initial Skate America performance.
I don't think either D/W or V/M are bland at all. D/W skate with so much character to my eye, and I don't find V/M to be repetitive or boring. Their new FD may be overly reminiscent of the one they won their last Olympic medal with, but it's a big departure from Carmen and I will never fault a team for doing what they do best in an Olympic year. And they haven't done a FD like Mahler since 2010. I really think it is too early to draw many conclusions about how effective their FD may or may not be (in the scoring system, anyway) until after Skate Canada.
I don't think either D/W or V/M are bland at all.
D/W skate with so much character to my eye, and I don't find V/M to be repetitive or boring. Their new FD may be overly reminiscent of the one they won their last Olympic medal with, but it's a big departure from Carmen and I will never fault a team for doing what they do best in an Olympic year. And they haven't done a FD like Mahler since 2010. I really think it is too early to draw many conclusions about how effective their FD may or may not be (in the scoring system, anyway) until after Skate Canada.
I would not describe Charlie White's skating as being crisp...At times he has issues with his lines...if I was comparing them to V/M. I find Charlie presents himself better then he presents his partner. Davis is very precise with excellent lines. That's why I find sometimes that they are not skating as one as with V/M.
Since most sportswriters never actually watch ice dance events, I'm still surprised to see ice dancing mentioned in the sports page.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2011
FREE DANCE - RESULT & VIDEOS
1. Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE (USA) - 188.23 Free Dance
2. Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE (ITA) - 168.49 Free Dance
3. Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI (USA) - 154.47 Free Dance
4. Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE (USA) - 152.98 Free Dance
5. Cathy REED / Chris REED (JPN) - 136.13 Free Dance
6. Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES (FRA) - 135.70 Free Dance
7. Isabella TOBIAS / Deividas STAGNIUNAS (LTU) - 134.67 Free Dance
8. Julia ZLOBINA / Alexei SITNIKOV (AZE) - 133.76 Free Dance
1. Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE (USA) - 188.23 Free Dance
2. Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE (ITA) - 168.49 Free Dance
3. Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI (USA) - 154.47 Free Dance
4. Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE (USA) - 152.98 Free Dance
5. Cathy REED / Chris REED (JPN) - 136.13 Free Dance
6. Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES (FRA) - 135.70 Free Dance
7. Isabella TOBIAS / Deividas STAGNIUNAS (LTU) - 134.67 Free Dance
8. Julia ZLOBINA / Alexei SITNIKOV (AZE) - 133.76 Free Dance
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
The ignore feature is pretty cool :yes:
I agree with you, though I don't think I was surprised. It happens sometimes that a sportswriter will actually pay attention to skating, respect it and write well about it; often putting it in terms of other sports they know better. I just wish it would happen more often.
first of all, thanks for warm welcome
I know that it is sport which are ruled over by some rules, restrictions etc., but it is a kind of dance in the same time - when short dances I considered as a part when technique has the major role, the free dance should express more personality of the dancers, be more artistic in my opinion and technique should helps in that but not covers all the rest of the dance.
Personally I'm looking forward to see russian dancers, canadians and P&B on next events.
Let me ask you: do you think that any of your feelings about D/W's interpretation of this music might be caused by the way the music is cut? I ask this because although I love Davis and White, I find that the extensive way the music has been patched together makes it hard for any central emotional thread to emerge. I think that D/W can still make this a spectacular program, but I feel they might have to work harder to develop the emotional element.
I know that Charlie did the music cuts. And maybe it's my familiarity with Scheherezade that makes it hard for me to get into this particular cut of the music. (Rimsky-Korsakov is one of my favorite composers.) But I wonder whether other people have the same reaction I did to the music.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
JoAnn Barnas was the long-time "Olympic sports" reporter for the Detroit Free Press. She moved to Indianapolis when her husband got a big promotion there. She is very knowledgable about skating.
The newspaper did not replace her with a dedicated ice skating reporter, but instead turned it over to sports columnist Jeff Seidel. Seidel covers all the "main" sports, including the Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, Michigan and Michigan State, etc. He has really stepped up to the plate (or do I mean, scored a touchdown) with his approach to skating. There has been big full-page articles every day of Skate America and coverage of smaller events as well. The emphasis is mostly on skaters with a Detroit connection. I think part of the reason is that the newspaper feels an obligation to promote the city of Detroit and sporting events held here. I don't know how detailed Seidels' knowledge of figure skating is, but he has written lots of stories and has not made any mistakes (about technical elements, scoring, etc.)
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
Olympia, as I said in previous big post the cuts of music are well-made and show both passionate and lyrical side of that piece, but D&W movement doesn't show for me that variety of feelings. Elements are mostly well incorporated into the music, but between them there is no interpretation of music itself at all - they manage to skate in tempo of each section of music (slow and fast), but there is no deeper thought about what they want to tell us in whole performance. The idea of music cuts is good in theory, but practically it is a tough mission to show both passion between characters and some nostalgia about their situation. I don't know if they want to portray the character of Scheherezade or her relationship with The Sultan or something else...
When the team choose for its program music from well-know balet or opera piece with the story that has been told a thousand Times, in different places by variety of people, it should firstly think why they chose that piece, second - what message they want to give the audience in the ground of interpretation and connection, and after that they should create complex choreography which will show all of it.
D&W said that they've always wanted to skate to Scheherezade - I fully understand them, because it is a beautiful piece to skate, as someone earlier said it is just the beginning of the season, couples show new programs, watch the responses and will mastered them - after some time I will see if my opinion will change
When the team choose for its program music from well-know balet or opera piece with the story that has been told a thousand Times, in different places by variety of people, it should firstly think why they chose that piece, second - what message they want to give the audience in the ground of interpretation and connection, and after that they should create complex choreography which will show all of it.
D&W said that they've always wanted to skate to Scheherezade - I fully understand them, because it is a beautiful piece to skate, as someone earlier said it is just the beginning of the season, couples show new programs, watch the responses and will mastered them - after some time I will see if my opinion will change
Now that I've seen the performance on TV instead of just my tiny computer screen, I'm beginning to appreciate the cuts in the music. I hope you and I both come to love this program and see our questions about it resolved.
Isn't it amazing how a piece of music that truly is a warhorse, played all over the place and known to almost everyone, can remain so potent and thrilling even after all these years? I love Rimsky Korsakov's more obscure works, like his Antar symphony, but I'm still enchanted by Scheherezade every time.
Isn't it amazing how a piece of music that truly is a warhorse, played all over the place and known to almost everyone, can remain so potent and thrilling even after all these years? I love Rimsky Korsakov's more obscure works, like his Antar symphony, but I'm still enchanted by Scheherezade every time.
