2024 Europeans: Ice Dance thoughts?

[gsk8]

Guignard and Fabbri win second consecutive European title

2024 European Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy won their second consecutive European title in Kaunas,

www.goldenskate.com

Congrats to the Italians on their second win!! Worlds is going to be interesting for sure!

So thrilled for Reed and Ambrulevicius as well

I really enjoyed the Finns' free dance the most out of the top 6 this time.

What are your thoughts on the Ice Dance event?

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Delighted to see Charlene and Marco defend their title - 2 time European Champions!
I did think they looked a bit tight in places in the FD, but fortunately it didn't affect the performance very much. Looking forward to seeing what they can do at Worlds.

Also, I'm so happy for Allison and Saulius winning bronze at home; the crowd was electric!

 

[Dreamer57]

Delighted for the podium including R/A with their European medal!

Last night, I was also impressed with:
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan - well done Tango, best they've skated and they were rewarded well
Orihara/Pirinen - brilliant Chicago FD that brings the entertainment with a super choreo stepseq.
Holubtsova/Bielobrov - I am a fan of the merry go round music but I just really enjoyed watching their waltz. I hope we get to see this at worlds

It was a very good, quality event!

 

[Seven Sisters]

Reed/Ambrulevicius tearing into Guns n Roses like they had just won the Olympics, as the crowd went insane all around them, completely dwarfed everything else that happened in the dance event.

My wish for every competitive skater is that they get to experience a moment like this!

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Anyone know why Turkkila and Versluis got that deduction for the extra element in the free?

I thought it might've been something to do the little lift type thing they did the character step.

 

[lariko]

I am becoming more and more invested in G/F, L/B, T/T and M/M. I think they all did fantastic in this competition, so I was happy, despite Mrazkov stumbling and L/B's free not quite working this season. Their short though is one of my all time favs. I think Czech's approach to ID just makes me happy.

 

[skatingguy]

Anyone know why Turkkila and Versluis got that deduction for the extra element in the free?

I thought it might've been something to do the little lift type thing they did the character step.

I think that's the answer.

 

[zebobes]

From what Ben Agosto said on Twitter, any of those little lift flourishes are not allowed to last more than two seconds long, and the one in their character step went on for too long.

 

[Lyyli]

Anyone know why Turkkila and Versluis got that deduction for the extra element in the free?

I thought it might've been something to do the little lift type thing they did the character step.

Also the Finnish Fed confirmed on their website that the deduction came from that lift type of move. The Fed didn't say anything more. Anyway, Juulia and Matthias did a shorter one with only one rotation, about 3 seconds, until the Finnish nationals. There they added some more rotation to the move and the judges accepted it. So it looks like there has been some confusion or different interpretations about the rule concerning lifts in charactersteps here. This is only my take on the case, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

From what Ben Agosto said on Twitter, any of those little lift flourishes are not allowed to last more than two seconds long, and the one in their character step went on for too long.

Yeah, makes sense. Wasn't there a similar thing last with a Canadian team (i think) who had a breif lift in the character step (though that extra element was visible on the protocol if remember correctly)?

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Also the Finnish Fed confirmed on their website that the deduction came from that lift type of move. The Fed didn't say anything more. Anyway, Juulia and Matthias did a shorter one with only one rotation, about 3 seconds, until the Finnish nationals. There they added some more rotation to the move and the judges accepted it. So it looks like there has been some confusion or different interpretations about the rule concerning lifts in charactersteps here. This is only my take on the case, correct me if I am wrong.

I think that might be it. Perhaps it was a mistake to make a change like that and only show it to a domestic panel prior to Europeans?

Speaking of changes- they've also altered one of the lifts in the free, haven't they? In my opinion it's a bit of a shame- the new one looks a lot less impactful.

 

[DancingCactus]

Overall I think I liked Lilah and Lewis as well as the Taschlers best. And French #2's free dance. And I'm a sucker for Ghibli music, so the team with Merry go round of life automatically gets a bonus from me, although I don't understand the color of her costume, since I don't think there's a white dress anywhere in that movie.

And while we're on costumes, I can't stand Eteri's daughter for many reasons, but I think everyone who has eyes can agree that their Swan Lake costumes are just atrocious. Her corset tutu thingy was bad enough, but what on earth were his puffy shoulders and the shiny cutout shirt???? Just what? Was this supposed to look like a modern take on a Renaissance doublet? It looked so cheap and Halloween, I don't know what they were thinking.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I am becoming more and more invested in G/F, L/B, T/T and M/M. I think they all did fantastic in this competition, so I was happy, despite Mrazkov stumbling and L/B's free not quite working this season. Their short though is one of my all time favs. I think Czech's approach to ID just makes me happy.

Hey, we share the same faves!

It was a very watchable event overall. I enjoyed most teams, even some who are usually not my cup of tea (maybe I was just in an especially good mood...). The crowd in Kaunas was so lovely and supportive, hope they get to host another big event soon.

 

[zebobes]

The high level of this year's Euros really brought out the fact that the Dance discipline is super deep. We may not have the highs of the V/M D/W years, or the P/C and V/M years, but it seems crazy to me that up to half of the teams here will likely not make the Free at Worlds this year, once 4CC teams are added to the mix.

I know that the ISU is trying to keep the Free programs shorter, but man, there will be a lot of great teams cut out at Worlds.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

The high level of this year's Euros really brought out the fact that the Dance discipline is super deep. We may not have the highs of the V/M D/W years, or the P/C and V/M years, but it seems crazy to me that up to half of the teams here will likely not make the Free at Worlds this year, once 4CC teams are added to the mix.

I know that the ISU is trying to keep the Free programs shorter, but man, there will be a lot of great teams cut out at Worlds.

33 teams qualified for europeans meant all it took was for some teams was a small mistake to not qualify for FD that they'd usually qualify for. The quality at the top will be built over the next few years I feel (for example in 5years time people might talk about LaLa how they talked about VM, anything can happen - it's impossible to predict).

 

[Lyyli]

I think that might be it. Perhaps it was a mistake to make a change like that and only show it to a domestic panel prior to Europeans?

Speaking of changes- they've also altered one of the lifts in the free, haven't they? In my opinion it's a bit of a shame- the new one looks a lot less impactful.

True, they did that new more complicated straight line lift for the first time at Nationals. It seems to bring more points by a few tenths. Both T/V and O/P went to Rome to upgrade and polish their programs with their choreographer before the Nationals.

 

[icewhite]

Overall I think I liked Lilah and Lewis as well as the Taschlers best. And French #2's free dance. And I'm a sucker for Ghibli music, so the team with Merry go round of life automatically gets a bonus from me, although I don't understand the color of her costume, since I don't think there's a white dress anywhere in that movie.

And while we're on costumes, I can't stand Eteri's daughter for many reasons, but I think everyone who has eyes can agree that their Swan Lake costumes are just atrocious. Her corset tutu thingy was bad enough, but what on earth were his puffy shoulders and the shiny cutout shirt???? Just what? Was this supposed to look like a modern take on a Renaissance doublet? It looked so cheap and Halloween, I don't know what they were thinking.

I love Smolkin's swan lake costume...

My favourites are Lopareva/Brissaud and Dupayage/Nabais with Turkkila/Versluis my third choice, but I enjoy(ed) many more teams.
The Taschlers are also an amazing team and I'm so happy his back is alright now, but their programs remain their biggest weakness I think.
Overall, in Europe as well as in North America, ice dance is not a discipline we need to worry about in terms of quality. Only the judging remains a problem.