GPF: Rhythm Dance - Thoughts and Highlights | Golden Skate

GPF: Rhythm Dance - Thoughts and Highlights

gsk8

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Jun 21, 2003
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United-States
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Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue dominated the Rhythm Dance to make sure their first medal at a Grand Prix Final is gold. The duo wove across the ice sensually and dynamically in their re-worked routine set to "Alevare" and "Tangata del Alba" and finished in first with a personal best score of 80.53. According to Hubbell, the team was striving for a program that would bring people to their feet and have a "roaring finish."

"It's a thrill to be able to put out such a good performance of a relatively new program for us," said Donohue. "We are pretty pleased with the bar we are setting for it. We look forward to going home and figuring out what the missing magical pieces are of it."

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Share your thoughts on the Rhythm Dance at the 2018-19 Grand Prix Final!
 

lavoix

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 5, 2015
I am so annoyed Stepanova/Bukin are in 4th. Why on earth did they only get base value for their first tango step sequence?

Italians in second also a huge shock.
 

Roast Toast

Medalist
Joined
Apr 13, 2017
I am so annoyed Stepanova/Bukin are in 4th. Why on earth did they only get base value for their first tango step sequence?

Italians in second also a huge shock.

I mean, because they didn't execute it correctly? It's not like they particularly nailed it on the GP. Overall I can't really call this an "upset" when none of these teams had actually faced each other at a big comp under the new rules. Levels are still a mixed bag: S/K and G/F placed high with good patterns, but on the other hand H/D are in first with a level 1/level 2 and S/K top the Russians with a level 2 lift. I have no idea what to expect in the free...
 

labgoat

I have no words
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Jan 3, 2007
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United-States
I missed Piper & Paul in this event. I wonder how their Golden Skate performance would have fared here.
 

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
I am so annoyed Stepanova/Bukin are in 4th. Why on earth did they only get base value for their first tango step sequence?
Because they didn't execute the keypoints.

Frankly, they're very lucky that the scoring system changes render the keypoints far less relevant than they were previously, otherwise they'd be sunk.

Guignard and Fabbri probably deserve to be in first.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Aug 12, 2014
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Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue. .... that was possibly the best use of a 5-week break between competitions in the history of Ice Dance! :dance: Creating this entirely new rhythm dance. (in my limited view of ID, it's the best, that is.) But Madi and Zach are simply brilliant.

The drama and the fierce confidence that Madi shows in this dance is dynamic, entertaining, and incredibly sexy. She could get arrested for the way she looks at Zach! These are all qualities of a Latin dance, in pluperfect form. It's a gorgeous allusion to the duality of human beings. I'm not a fan ... to put it quite mildly ... of very many of the synonyms of "feisty" ... hyperaggressiveness, militance, truculence ... but putting this into a dance is sheer genius exhibited by the entire Latin culture -- and by the way Madison expresses it. (Funny, too, as a person Madi embodies cordiality and graciousness, which are both "near antonyms" of feistiness.)

This is real art, to transform qualities suited to war .... into beauty.
 

madison

Record Breaker
Joined
May 2, 2015
Because they didn't execute the keypoints.

Frankly, they're very lucky that the scoring system changes render the keypoints far less relevant than they were previously, otherwise they'd be sunk.

Guignard and Fabbri probably deserve to be in first.
Yes, S/B are surely very lucky with the new system, including with the fact that now the free must have just one step seq - their weak point. The focus is on choreo moves now where the tech panel doesn't even have a say.
I disagree with this change, I consider that in ice dance the focus should be on the steps and SS.
 

serephy

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Because they didn't execute the keypoints.

Frankly, they're very lucky that the scoring system changes render the keypoints far less relevant than they were previously, otherwise they'd be sunk.

Guignard and Fabbri probably deserve to be in first.

Yes, S/B are surely very lucky with the new system,

S/B aren't the only ones who benefitted from the change in the system. H/D also particularly stood out to me in regards to this.

Yes, Stepanova/Bukin were helped by the GOE on the TR1 but they actually were only able to get better GOE than Z/G and H/B (both of whom had also struggled and only had level 1 TR1).

On the other hand, Hubbel/Donahue were helped by the GOE on the TR1 to the extent that they actually got higher GOE than S/K and G/F (who had fully met the requirements and been given level 4 TR1) despite only having a level 1.

i.e. Stepanova/Bukin got better GOE's than the two teams one level above them. Hubbell/Donahue got better GOE's than the two teams three levels above them.

Looking at the protocols, the only team that stand out to me as really suffering because of the new system is Z/G who were not rewarded at all for hitting the full four key points in the TR2 (lowest GOE of all the teams). Maybe also G/F and S/K if you want to argue that it's unfair a level 4 TR1 could be given better GOE than a level 1 TR1 (personally I would).

I do agree that Guinard/Fabbri probably deserve to be in first.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I missed Piper & Paul in this event. I wonder how their Golden Skate performance would have fared here.

Golden Spin has always been a high-marking competition, particularly in ice dance, so G/P's score there isn't quite comparable to the GPF scores. There's no telling how they would have done head-to-head at the same event with the GPFinalists. You'd have to wait til Worlds for that.

But if you still want a comparison, G/P's score (201.27) would have placed behind H/D (205.35) and S/K (201.36).
 
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