- Joined
- Jan 9, 2014
My thoughts on Dance from inside the arena:
The dance event was all about Hubbell/Donohue. Madison and Zach here reminded me of the Shibs at Skate America 2016 – they have an air of confidence I haven’t seen from them before which translates live to extra power, speed, and sureness. They were clearly a step above every other team competing here. They have a good RD. As for their FD, I’d reiterate what several people have said here: they skated beautifully, executed their elements very well, had great chemistry, and might as well have been skating to any other piece of music. When I disconnected from trying to see a Romeo and Juliet story, I really enjoyed their performance; when she died at the end it was jarring. As others have suggested, they could rework this dance with fewer music cuts and just focus on selling us on their relationship as usual.
Here is where I rant a bit: I am probably biased towards McNamara / Carpenter because I’ve been watching them develop for years now, but for me they were clearly better than Zagorski/Guerreiro here. M/C have always been known for sharp, clean edges and their skating skills were on full display here. They also had my second favorite lift of the competition (my first favorite was one of Guignard/Fabbri’s – see below) in their RD rotational lift. More and more teams are trying different kinds of lifts, moving away from the big rotational lifts with a thousand different positions. But M/C execute their lift so well and with such ease that it stands out now compared to the others. In addition, I was struck by how smooth their entire FD was. Elements that usually have some jerkiness and rough moments from just about every team were smooth as silk for Lorraine and Quinn. And while they’re not at the top tier of ice dance performers in the World yet, IMO they had a good connection with each and the audience, especially in the FD, and should have scored higher in terms of skating skills, transitions, and composition.
The two other dance teams that stood out to me (and the judges, given that they filled out the top 5) were Guignard/Fabbri and Fear/Gibson. To be honest neither of Guignard/Fabbri’s programs made an impression of me (and I wanted them to!) but I love watching their power and strength on the ice. Their lift where Charlene holds herself horizontal to the ice while holding on to Marco’s legs is incredible. This was also my first time seeing Fear/Gibson’s FD and yes, it was energetic and tons of fun. But they’re also a good time – they were fast and confident here and during the RD stood out compared to the other teams in the first group.
Finally, I want to give credit to Manta/Johnson for the most creative dance of the day. I love their willingness to push boundaries and the credit the audience gave them for that. I don’t know if you could see it on the stream, but there were two Pride flags in the audience just for them. My heart was very happy to see that Sunday morning.
TL;DR, Hubbell/Donohue are a very good team but their FD isn't quite right, McNamara/Carpenter are a great young team on the rise deserving of higher scores, Guignard/Fabbri exhibit power and strength and have at least one very impressive lift, Fear/Gibson are fast and fun, and Manta/Johnson have a very creative program and the deserved support of the crowd.
The dance event was all about Hubbell/Donohue. Madison and Zach here reminded me of the Shibs at Skate America 2016 – they have an air of confidence I haven’t seen from them before which translates live to extra power, speed, and sureness. They were clearly a step above every other team competing here. They have a good RD. As for their FD, I’d reiterate what several people have said here: they skated beautifully, executed their elements very well, had great chemistry, and might as well have been skating to any other piece of music. When I disconnected from trying to see a Romeo and Juliet story, I really enjoyed their performance; when she died at the end it was jarring. As others have suggested, they could rework this dance with fewer music cuts and just focus on selling us on their relationship as usual.
Here is where I rant a bit: I am probably biased towards McNamara / Carpenter because I’ve been watching them develop for years now, but for me they were clearly better than Zagorski/Guerreiro here. M/C have always been known for sharp, clean edges and their skating skills were on full display here. They also had my second favorite lift of the competition (my first favorite was one of Guignard/Fabbri’s – see below) in their RD rotational lift. More and more teams are trying different kinds of lifts, moving away from the big rotational lifts with a thousand different positions. But M/C execute their lift so well and with such ease that it stands out now compared to the others. In addition, I was struck by how smooth their entire FD was. Elements that usually have some jerkiness and rough moments from just about every team were smooth as silk for Lorraine and Quinn. And while they’re not at the top tier of ice dance performers in the World yet, IMO they had a good connection with each and the audience, especially in the FD, and should have scored higher in terms of skating skills, transitions, and composition.
The two other dance teams that stood out to me (and the judges, given that they filled out the top 5) were Guignard/Fabbri and Fear/Gibson. To be honest neither of Guignard/Fabbri’s programs made an impression of me (and I wanted them to!) but I love watching their power and strength on the ice. Their lift where Charlene holds herself horizontal to the ice while holding on to Marco’s legs is incredible. This was also my first time seeing Fear/Gibson’s FD and yes, it was energetic and tons of fun. But they’re also a good time – they were fast and confident here and during the RD stood out compared to the other teams in the first group.
Finally, I want to give credit to Manta/Johnson for the most creative dance of the day. I love their willingness to push boundaries and the credit the audience gave them for that. I don’t know if you could see it on the stream, but there were two Pride flags in the audience just for them. My heart was very happy to see that Sunday morning.
TL;DR, Hubbell/Donohue are a very good team but their FD isn't quite right, McNamara/Carpenter are a great young team on the rise deserving of higher scores, Guignard/Fabbri exhibit power and strength and have at least one very impressive lift, Fear/Gibson are fast and fun, and Manta/Johnson have a very creative program and the deserved support of the crowd.
