2012 GPF Free Dance FD

[tulosai]

I really hope V/M don't remove that choreo lift as the ending as it stands right now is my favourite part of their FD, but Scott admittedly sometimes looks like he's in pain while doing it and it's not as smooth as it could be.

Scott looks in pain when he is doing almost all of their lifts.

 

[kosjenka]

People keep mentioning how B&S have support of Russian Federation and I&K do not.
What do you base this claim on?

 

[WeakAnkles]

Scott looks in pain when he is doing almost all of their lifts.

And even when he doesn't, the lifts looks so cumbersome to get into that it ruins the flow of the program for me. What is the opposite of effortless?

 

[dcnative]

V/M are great ice dancers/dancers.They have great line, presentation, skills, etc. Their dances this year are not doing it for me. I am biased, because I think they get overscored but I'm still scratching my head on both dances. The SD tries to combine modern dance with YP and it's ridiculous, or maybe I'm just not dance-cultured enough to be able to appreciate it. As I'm understanding Carmen, they are supposed to be presenting a sexy woman that rules men. But all I see is a pretty woman in a sexy dress with sexy makeup flailing around. If my understanding of what Carmen is supposed to be is correct, then their final pose is sums that up.

i've been fans of D/W since Bollywood. They don't have "line", but they have the skills and just seem to be able to make their programs work for them. I recognize that they have recycled several "signature" moves and lifts, and they certainly haven't updated their expedition, but everything seemed to come together excellently with this skate. Kudos to them for taking what they have and making it work.

 

[Mathman]

And even when he doesn't, the lifts looks so cumbersome to get into that it ruins the flow of the program for me. What is the opposite of effortless?

Sisyphean?

 

[WeakAnkles]

Oh no! Not again!

[Repeat ad infinitum]

 

[lavender]

Tessa was 20 then. That was also before she had all the problems with her legs. She may have had to do exercises to strengthen other muscles in her body to help keep her from overstraining her legs. She is very buff-looking now, and muscle tissue is heavy.

Oh I agree with cha. I feel this is her normal weight and it's just fine. I personally don't pay much attention to tessa's weight but some seem to notice.

 

[Olympia]

Sisyphean?

Oh, my goodness! This one has me on the floor.

 

[ice coverage]

... But all I see is a pretty woman in a sexy dress with sexy makeup flailing around. ...

Pretty woman: check.
Sexy dress: check.
Sexy makeup: check.
Flailing???: yikes, not in a million years.

Everything is in the eye of the beholder, but for me, "flailing" does not belong in any description of Virtue's skating.

 

[Dance Fanatic]

Oh, my goodness! This one has me on the floor.

Ever since they trained with Cirque Du Soleil, difficult acrobatic lifts have been one of Virtue and Moirs strengths. The skating world particularely admired the beautiful positions of Tessa Virtue. Other ice dancers strive to emulate their lifts their lifts, not the other way around. The chorio lift in Carmen is not acrobatic just awkward to enter.
The height difference between them is fairly standard (between 5 and 6 inches) as pictures taken beside other dancers show. Toomuch height difference is hought to be a detriment in dance and some skaters have been marked down because of it. Those who think Virtue is heavy must admire anorexics.

 

[aftertherain]

She may have had to do exercises to strengthen other muscles in her body to help keep her from overstraining her legs. She is very buff-looking now, and muscle tissue is heavy.

Those who think Virtue is heavy must admire anorexics.

Dance Fanatic, I don't know if you had mistaken chuckm's post, but I'll assume you might have. Muscle tissue is heavier after it undergoes hypertrophy (increase in muscle fiber size) due to something like strength training:

But, essentially, [Virtue] upped the ante in off-ice workouts from her already-rigorous regimen and altered some basic mechanics of her skating stroke — which few skaters in their 15th year of competition ever do.

“We tried to focus on taking the load off my calves, activating and recruiting different muscles,” Virtue told The Spectator.

http://www.thespec.com/sports/article/617087--virtue-doesn-t-have-time-for-the-pain

She's not overweight, which you may have meant, but she did up her exercise regimen which indubitably increased muscle diameter ("bigger") and muscle strength.

Is she fat? Heck no.

Heavy has a lot of different connotations, but this time, it wasn't used in a "fat" context. It was used more in a "she's stronger" context.

("Heavy" doesn't necessarily translate to "overweight". I mean, you wouldn't call a UFC fighter with tons of muscle overweight without hesistation, would you? BMI is just a little obscure in that way.)

Besides, muscle hypertrophy is less pronounced in women than in men. She really doesn't look that much more buff and it's nice to see that the changes in her strength training allowed her to forgo surgery in her legs.

ETA: BUT if you said this in response to let`s talk, then I am not defending that person.

 

[blue_idealist]

I know Tessa gained a bit of weight, but am I the only one who thought Scott looked SMALLER than he used to be? When he was standing by the boards getting ready to go, he looked miniscule!

 

[Riemann]

I think let's talk probably meant that Tessa looked heavy on the ice which is different from saying she looks like a cow. Of course, being new, I could be giving the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn't deserve it. Oh well.

Edit: After reading the comment again and reviewing a bit of post history, I retract the above. Not cool, let's talk, not cool.

 

[Srin Odessa]

I believe the term is 'Hollywood fat.'

 

[gold12345]

Tessa is muscular, and that allows her to actually skate and not have constant leg problems. I think Scott does a pretty good job of proving that you can still do very athletic, high quality lifts without having a big size difference. The fact that Tessa is not unnaturally thin like some of the others is refreshing to me. Poor Meryl looks like she could use a good meal, although her size does allow them to execute the lifts with more ease. I think that because so many skaters are unnaturally thin (or prepubescent), our minds actually start to believe that is "normal size". It's not!

 

[ice coverage]

Tessa was really skinny at the Olympics but maybe this is her normal weight which is NOT overweight.

Tessa was 20 then. That was also before she had all the problems with her legs. She may have had to do exercises to strengthen other muscles in her body to help keep her from overstraining her legs. She is very buff-looking now, and muscle tissue is heavy.

I emphatically agree that Virtue does not look overweight and appears to be very fit. :agree:
(As an aside, a reminder that her leg problems started well before the 2010 Olympics. She missed the 2008 GP season because of her first surgery.)

 

[dorispulaski]

Ever since they trained with Cirque Du Soleil, difficult acrobatic lifts have been one of Virtue and Moirs strengths. The skating world particularely admired the beautiful positions of Tessa Virtue. Other ice dancers strive to emulate their lifts their lifts, not the other way around. The chorio lift in Carmen is not acrobatic just awkward to enter.
The height difference between them is fairly standard (between 5 and 6 inches) as pictures taken beside other dancers show. Toomuch height difference is hought to be a detriment in dance and some skaters have been marked down because of it. Those who think Virtue is heavy must admire anorexics.

Welcome to Golden Skate, Dance Fanatic!

 

[KKonas]

Ever since they trained with Cirque Du Soleil, difficult acrobatic lifts have been one of Virtue and Moirs strengths. The skating world particularely admired the beautiful positions of Tessa Virtue. Other ice dancers strive to emulate their lifts their lifts, not the other way around. The chorio lift in Carmen is not acrobatic just awkward to enter.
The height difference between them is fairly standard (between 5 and 6 inches) as pictures taken beside other dancers show. Toomuch height difference is hought to be a detriment in dance and some skaters have been marked down because of it. Those who think Virtue is heavy must admire anorexics.

Not all acrobatic lifts are "wonderful." Note that V&M made a number of changes in their FD. They got rid of that awful opening lift where I called Virtue's position similar to a "sack of potatoes" and the crotch lift has been minimized, even though it is still there. The last lift is still problematic IMHO. So I don't think V&M set any "standard" for great lifts.

 

[clairecloutier]

I wish the moderators of this board would ban all comments on female skaters' weight. Some may argue that skaters' relative weights affect lifts and jumps and are therefore a legitimate topic. But the comments are often so mean-spirited and rude, and they ignore important physical and mental health issues surrounding the subject of weight. I don't think this sensitive and complex issue is intelligently addressed with comments like "So-and-so is heavy!" "No, she isn't!"

 

[dorispulaski]

Some British Eurosport vids have surfaced. There wasn't much coverage: D&W's FD (not yet uploaded), V&M's FD, a recap of P&B's FD, and final results

P&B FD recap Eurosport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3yCfQJqjw

V&M Full FD Eurosport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIYowCzhVA

Final Results FD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3yCfQJqjw