This is very huge achievement if this is true. Apparently, that's what Alla Shekhovtseva has been talking about in her long big interview, which I posted in the beginning of the season here, and which was pretty much ignored on this board for some reason.
According to her, the main GOAL of ISU when they decided to include this
Partial Step Sequence in hold (PSt) instead of Not Touching Step Sequence was to give dance teams a chance to introduce their own patterns. So, I guess that's what just happened. And that was their best decision in years, I mean I like NtStSq, but it's
the holds that make a dance difficult, AND it's the holds that make a dance a 'dance'.
I rewatched their PSt from Worlds, and I have to say that despite I don't like their SD as a whole, I like the construction of their
Partial Step Sequence in hold. It's very well balanced, difficult turns and steps are mixed with simple turns very good, so it doesn't looks empty in places like some other teams' PSt, and dance holds are variative enough and also spread through PSt very well (while some other teams mostly skate in one of the dance hold considered for level, and do other two for like a couple of seconds just to meet the requirements).
They executed
7 difficult steps and turns each (all
6 types and one of the types twice, while only
5 types of difficult steps/turns are required for level 4): counter, rocker, double twizzle, outside mohawk, choctaw and two brackets. This is good, respectable and difficult thing to do, because ALL these steps and turns should be clean, not just 5 of them, to receive level 4.
For example, Papadakis/Cizeron, Bobrova/Soloviev and Ilinykh/Zhiganshin are only doing
5 difficult steps/turns in their PSt (5 types), which is okay for level 4. And it's easier to get level 4 this way, because they need to cleanly execute only 5 difficult steps/turns, not 7 of them.
Some teams (Stepanova/Bukin, for example) are doing
8 difficult steps/turns in their PSt, their weakness, however, is that they're mostly skate it in foxtrot hold (and variations), so not too much variety here. But it's not only about amount of difficult steps, but also about the quality of choreography, dance holds and transitional simple steps.
So I guess it's a fair decision to somehow use parts of Gilles/Poirier partial step sequence for some kind of a new pattern. I see it as some kind of rock and roll, or something like that. IMO, it dosn't fit a 'march' pattern very well.