I'm not usually into splitting couples, but sometimes this is necessary. I'm not saying it's L/D case, but I think she should do something to raise her level of skating.
2017-2018 State of Russian Ice Dance
- Thread starter gmyers
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I'm not usually into splitting couples, but sometimes this is necessary. I'm not saying it's L/D case, but I think she should do something to raise her level of skating.
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- Feb 17, 2010
I also hope that Loboda and Drozd won`t break up. They do need a different packaging and choreographer ASAP. If the current junior teams don`t break up and keep improving, the depth in Russian ice dance is going to increase again. Will be interesting to see how S/S and S/A cope next year with the move to seniors.
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Yeah, switching partners is not always the answer.
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- Oct 15, 2014
I'm not one usually for splitting couples at all but Loboda & Drozd don't have much chemistry imo, my favorite program of theirs is still their Giselle FD back in 2014, I haven't enjoyed much from them since then.
And they have not been skating together for that long. They've been together since what? 14/17 IIRC, that's not that young but pretty standard. Take Polishchuk/Vakhnov, they've been skating together since they were like 8 and 10.
Anyways, it's just speculation on a message board, only they know what they'll do in the future.
And they have not been skating together for that long. They've been together since what? 14/17 IIRC, that's not that young but pretty standard. Take Polishchuk/Vakhnov, they've been skating together since they were like 8 and 10.
Anyways, it's just speculation on a message board, only they know what they'll do in the future.
Pavel is 1.87m http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00034294.htm. By the way, in Skate America I was really surprised how thin Nikita looks, I think he was the thinnest guy in the competition.
call me crazy but I have thought for awhile that Pavel might be good with Angelique Abachkina. I know she and Louie may be going to the olympics but she seems a tad to big for him. She has great showmanship along with her skating skills. And the added bonus of being Russian.
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- Apr 18, 2014
Drozd has beautiful extension, nice, deep edges, great power in his skating but he isn’t very musical. I watched both this year’s and last year’s free dances with the music and you couldn’t tell that one is supposed to be a jazz/broadway program and the other a Spanish program. There was no interpretation of the music, no touches that helped portray the theme, no expression. And that went for both programs.
Evdokimova/Bazin are not really going up. Finishing 5th means they are Russian dance couple number 6 (surely no one would argue that Sinitsina/Katsalapov are better than them). That means that they are actually worse off than last year. They let another couple slot just above them, who were not there last year.
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- Mar 8, 2013
But... they have improved a lot. They were much much better than they were last year. And I am not a fan, in fact I thought they would be better off separately. Now Evdokimova has lost weight, thye have more speed and interesting lifts. They are slowly proving me wrong.
I am sorry but that is not going to help them much. If Popova/Mozgov are now considered better, they will be the couple who gets the home GP event. I don’t think Popova/Mozgov will be good enough to get GP event through earning it by season best or world ranking, but they will be the top team Russian federation will think off when handing out the home event. Until this years’ nationals it was Ev/Ba who were the tope of the weaker teams. Now it is Po/Moz.
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- Dec 22, 2010
Currently Popova/Mozgov have the 18th highest season's best.
S/K had the 16th highest season's best last season and got 2 GPs
So I'd say Popova/Mozgov should get a at least 1 GP and probably the home GP too.
It speaks volumes about Russian ice dance that we're even debating the merits of E/B. This team couldn't even beat the top-ranked Turkish team a few weeks ago. And to add insult to injury L/D couldn't beat them at RN. Drodz is good she is not. They can't even put together good teams anymore. With maybe the exception of P/M. But I'm not entirely sold on them yet. Their skating skills need more time to develop.
Z/G have a great S/D but egads their FD is pitiful. It just goes on and on without having much of a point of view other than trying to be pretty. Please people, you're seniors not novices.
Count me in also as one of those who thinks Katsalapov choked. As much as we saw that they started well, they again struggled with the knee lift. Then he stopped. The look of incredulousness and devastation on Vika's face was heartwrenching. If you've made it through five of the eight elements and only have one minute to go, why not give it a go? Or even try, he didn't even try. The olympics is not for another four years and he IS injury prone. How does she trust this guy going forwards? I don't know.
No offence to their fans but B/S's SD is going to handicap them when it counts most, the OG and WC. At ECs they should easily win silver. They will need to be absolutely perfect to win medals at OG and WC.
S/B showed that they have fight in the SD but that FD loses its impact once they make a mistake. Also once Stepanova gets nervous her skating skills take a nose dive. She's also filling out into more womanly curves so Bukin had better start bulking up. Why hasn't he already?
Russian ice dance needs some mouth to mouth resuscitation and fast!!
Z/G have a great S/D but egads their FD is pitiful. It just goes on and on without having much of a point of view other than trying to be pretty. Please people, you're seniors not novices.
Count me in also as one of those who thinks Katsalapov choked. As much as we saw that they started well, they again struggled with the knee lift. Then he stopped. The look of incredulousness and devastation on Vika's face was heartwrenching. If you've made it through five of the eight elements and only have one minute to go, why not give it a go? Or even try, he didn't even try. The olympics is not for another four years and he IS injury prone. How does she trust this guy going forwards? I don't know.
No offence to their fans but B/S's SD is going to handicap them when it counts most, the OG and WC. At ECs they should easily win silver. They will need to be absolutely perfect to win medals at OG and WC.
S/B showed that they have fight in the SD but that FD loses its impact once they make a mistake. Also once Stepanova gets nervous her skating skills take a nose dive. She's also filling out into more womanly curves so Bukin had better start bulking up. Why hasn't he already?
Russian ice dance needs some mouth to mouth resuscitation and fast!!
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- Mar 8, 2013
Well, I adore P/M so I don't mind
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- Mar 8, 2013
I like Russian junior ice dance teams. It would be a lot more fun if they could compete at Senior Nationals instead of the entire first group in FS.
Yes, they're very interesting this year. My only concern is Russia's current inability to make that well-needed transition from juniors to seniors. The only exception we currently have is probably B/S but their basic skating and dancing skills leave much to be desired in comparison to the rest of the world.
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- Nov 12, 2012
I think that there is something to be said indeed about the point of transitioning between junior and senior for Russian ID teams - and I do believe it has to do something with packaging and overall showcasing skills they obviously have, but in more 'senior', mature way. A lot of Russian junior teams have great skills, nice carriage and technicalities pretty much got together that seems to get lost in sight with wrong packaging. For example, I have had so far a great difficulty to appreciate Alla/Pavel's skills they have due to this mismatched, cookie-clutter programs of theirs; moreover - they highlighted them being out of synch performance and interpretation-wise in my opinion...
From my perspective, it's mostly about selling those skills, technical abilities in the most accessible/attractive way possible universally-wise. Sometimes I feel that there is some kind of lowplay/underestimation of packaging: choreography, music choice/cuts, costuming, attitude of all that in match to the team etc. regarding junior-to-senior teams - and to be honest, they probably need this kind of care the most in their first senior season to make that positive impact all-around, not only being good, solid technicians, but also exciting team to look at in a very common and plain sense.
I think that people have forgotten how hard it is for teams to transition from junior to senior - unless you have a truly exceptional team like V/M, it's super hard and was very rare before 2010 for a team to go senior and straight away start medaling on the GP or hit top 10 at Worlds. You see it with the Parsons and M/C and L/D this year, even though in juniors they were getting very high marks - there is so much more expected of you, particularly in presentation, in seniors.
There was an oddity in 2010 with the Shibs getting on the podium and I/K having a top 5 at Euros and top 10 at Worlds - but you have to think about how many teams had quit or were missing; Russia lost Domnina/Shabalin and Khoklova/Novitsky earlier than they would have anticipated, V/M were out for much of the year, as were the Kerrs and Cappellini/Lannotte, Scali/Faiella stopped their season in the middle of Euros, and then P/B made the huge mistake at Worlds. The more experienced top teams were decimated that year due to factors beyond their control, which allowed the younger teams to break through, but I think people have begun to think that should be the norm, when really it was an exception.
If Russia is really serious about rebuilding it's ice dance program, it has to give teams like Skoptova/Aleshin, Shevchenko/Eremenko and Polishchuk/Vahknov time when they move into seniors. They won't set the world alight straight away, but they have a lot of potential, if it's nurtured properly. There is no point in partner swaps or coaching changes if it's just to be the 5th priority for Igor or Marina. The one thing I think they should be doing is turning senior a little earlier - L/D could have done it last year, and I think would have learned more than they did doing a 4th junior season. When I saw them at JGPF last year I thought they had stagnated compared to when I'd watched them in Barcelona the year before - they needed to keep stretching themselves, and if they had, and got their heads round the expectations for seniors, they could have been in the mix with Z/G for that surprise bronze medal.
There was an oddity in 2010 with the Shibs getting on the podium and I/K having a top 5 at Euros and top 10 at Worlds - but you have to think about how many teams had quit or were missing; Russia lost Domnina/Shabalin and Khoklova/Novitsky earlier than they would have anticipated, V/M were out for much of the year, as were the Kerrs and Cappellini/Lannotte, Scali/Faiella stopped their season in the middle of Euros, and then P/B made the huge mistake at Worlds. The more experienced top teams were decimated that year due to factors beyond their control, which allowed the younger teams to break through, but I think people have begun to think that should be the norm, when really it was an exception.
If Russia is really serious about rebuilding it's ice dance program, it has to give teams like Skoptova/Aleshin, Shevchenko/Eremenko and Polishchuk/Vahknov time when they move into seniors. They won't set the world alight straight away, but they have a lot of potential, if it's nurtured properly. There is no point in partner swaps or coaching changes if it's just to be the 5th priority for Igor or Marina. The one thing I think they should be doing is turning senior a little earlier - L/D could have done it last year, and I think would have learned more than they did doing a 4th junior season. When I saw them at JGPF last year I thought they had stagnated compared to when I'd watched them in Barcelona the year before - they needed to keep stretching themselves, and if they had, and got their heads round the expectations for seniors, they could have been in the mix with Z/G for that surprise bronze medal.
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