All Things Ice Dance: Canadian

[colleen o'neill]

Sorry, emdee.. I understand you ,and I'm sure you didn't mean anything personal..it's just that last year, once one person made a "hookerish" remark about Kaitlyn , others seemed eager to jump on the bandwagon with some really ugly comments. I wouldn't like to see Nicole subjected to the same.

It's not like either costume was overly revealing.

 

[13KJC13]

I have to say ,re: Nicole Kuzmich's costume ... I was one who thought Kaitlyn Weaver's Tiger stripes worked for her,last year. That doesn't mean that I think animal prints always work ,on all occasions..( giraffe print shirt, anyone ?) In Nicole's case, she's wearing 3 competing animal prints at once. The obligatory "skirt" being a ruched up around her hips , in a different pattern, added more for the eye to contend with ,and the blousey top can't be a help in seeing what she's doing.. Overall very distracting and confusing .

I didn't like it when people said Kaitlyn looked like a hooker , and I don't like it in reference to Nicole , either. I think it's lacking in taste and good design , though.

Surely they could have come up with a costume reflecting the club scene ( if that's what it's meant to do ) without assaulting the eyeballs and making the costume the story , not the skating...And as far as I know , animal prints are not universally equated with hip-hop , so why ? I could say more , but I'll leave it there.

fan1961..I have to say your report makes me feel a bit queasy, with all the emphasis on Vanessa , after the statement she posted , and later took down ( not everyone missed it ), and then supposedly coincidentally makes a very public show of support. ( We know she hopes to have a further career ). Let's just leave her out of it , shall we ?

And no, I'm not going to explain this comment further.

I was more than a little startled when I saw the pictures of Kuzmich/Hockley from Lake Placid, but after watching the program last night and seeing it in context, I have to admit that it does work. I'm still not particularly fond of Nicole's costume, but I now understand it a little better.

Colleen: This is the Canadian Ice Dance thread and Vanessa is a Canadian ice dancer who has been discussed at length here before. Why should we leave her out of it now? Vanessa was in Thornhill last night - I assume of her own free will - and I too witnessed her "very public show of support". I hope her support was genuine. The alternative would not be very pretty.

 

[colleen o'neill]

13KJC13 Perhaps it's unavoidable , but Vanessa has a whole thread devoted to her situation at the moment ,and she won't be ice dancing this season ( that we know of ) will she ? fan1961's post seemed to me to have a tone of refuting something or other..perhaps some things that were said on the other thread? IDK..
I too, assume Vanessa was there of her own free will ..But there are lots of unspoken rules that a skater should follow if they want the wholehearted support of their federation.. hence all the cliche ridden comments by skaters , the instant damage control that ensues when skaters inadvertently put a foot in their mouths..( see Chan, Moir )..either by the skaters themselves , by the skaters under advisement , or by someone on their behalf... And I hoped we could avoid discussion of that taking over here.

A-a-a-rgh ! I just explained it further.. I'll try not to nibble again.

 

[13KJC13]

But there are lots of unspoken rules that a skater should follow if they want the wholehearted support of their federation..

I guess I'm just really naive, but I can't see the federation having much interest in who shows up for a club-level simulation/fund-raiser. I would think they have bigger issues to concern themselves with as they gear-up for the new season and hosting Worlds.

 

[fan1961]

colleeenwow... this is why i try to stay off posting things.. I just wanted to comment on what a nice evening of skating i saw... i had no hidden agenda, no cliche ridden comments or no tone intended.. just that it was nice to see Vanessa again.. i thought she looked good and I thought she was being genuine... i guess I don't know about these things... I did not see her post that she took down... so don't know about that .. other than apparently she is going back to singles skating... ok but you seem to think she had her own agenda so I guess I will take a page from your book and not explain any further...

 

[slipslidin]

Now that Vanessa has made a very public, graceful show of support for Scarboro, I think it would be kind to let her try to salvage a skating career.

I agree that everything not connected with her past icedance performances belongs on her own thread, And please let's show a little restraint, and quit picking her bones at what is obviously still a difficult transition for her.

 

[colleen o'neill]

emdee , or anyone who was there..does R/H's FD feature vocals and is it a version with both male and female voices ? ( Even on my computer speakers, I fell in love all over again with the gorgeous clarity in Montserrat Caballe's voice )

 

[slipslidin]

I've been hoping for more information on this music, but it seems that it is an unusual choice, and unfamiliar to most of the audience. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

If memory serves, the boards, last year, were brimming with information on this event. This year I have been able to glean some information on music. At least one questionable costume works when seen in context. It was an enjoyable evening of lovely skating, and apparently the international judges are going to find G&P delightful and refreshing, actually quite enough to go on with.

 

[emdee]

I am really sorry I just cannot recall regarding their music. They didnt have the whole dance prepared and skated a bit and then just stroked around and then skated the next bit.
I was cold in the rink and had a tiring day at work. Really shouldnt have gone but its close to where I live and really went to see where G&P were compared to last year. I love Paul's skating and was really hoping that they would be well on their way.
I may be able to get 1 day of Thornhill - the Friday only so hope to see some more dancing that day. Plan to see T&S on the sunday (18th) at the CNE.

I think PJ plans to come out with the works.

 

[13KJC13]

emdee , or anyone who was there..does R/H's FD feature vocals and is it a version with both male and female voices ? ( Even on my computer speakers, I fell in love all over again with the gorgeous clarity in Montserrat Caballe's voice )

Yes, there were vocals.

 

[Dragonlady]

Now that Vanessa has made a very public, graceful show of support for Scarboro, I think it would be kind to let her try to salvage a skating career.

Not everything in figure skating is as fraught with drama as people make it out to be. As the saying goes, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".

 

[slipslidin]

Thanks, emdee, you've been very informative, I look forward to PJ's report, and hope to see what you think of Thornhill and any spy-report on T&S.

ETA: Ralph and Hill have made some wonderfully unusual music choices, over the years, and I applaud them for it.

 

[colleen o'neill]

Continuing to keep this light ,how about " A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke ?"

 

[Dragonlady]

I really wanted to go to this event and fully expected that some of friends would too, but everyone was too mezmerized by the Olympics, and I don't drive. My husband had no interest in driving to Thornhill during rush hour either.

My friends have assured me that they're going to Summer Skate though.

 

[ice coverage]

Virtue/Moir pre-season chat with PJ Kwong - posted Aug 5 on her blog and YouTube

Virtue/Moir pre-season chat with PJ Kwong - posted Aug 5 on her blog and YouTube:

http://pjkwong.com/?p=1253

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czMZCPLdc6M&feature=youtu.be&a


ETA:
No questions/answers about their programs for the upcoming season.
And none about training without Shpilband.
But nice to hear from them as they reflect on the Olympics, etc.

 

[chuckm]

Minto Junior Dance results:

132.04 55.08 76.96 Mackenzie BENT / Garrett MacKEEN
124.40 51.41 72.99 Andreanne POULIN / Marc-Andre SERVANT
109.65 46.16 63.49 Katie DESVEAUX / Dmitre RAZGULAJEVS
108.45 45.94 62.51 Nicole KUZMICH / Jordan HOCKLEY
108.16 44.26 63.90 Marieve CYR / Benjamin BRISEBOIS
107.74 44.32 63.42 Lauren COLLINS / Danny SEYMOUR
99.75 38.73 61.02 Audrey CROTEAU-VILLENEUVE / Dominic BARTHE
97.10 46.85 50.25 Jade MARROW / Benjamin MULDER
90.30 38.99 51.31 Samantha GLAVINE / Jeff HOUGH
88.68 37.69 50.99 Haili MOYER / Aaron CHAPPLAIN

Big improvement over LP IDC scores just a week ago:
BENT / MACKEEN (SD & FD)
132.04 55.08 76.96 MINTO
109.61 46.27 63.34 LPIDC

DESVEAUX / RAZGULAEVS (SD)
109.65 46.16 63.49 MINTO
101.74 36.81 64.93 LPIDC

KUZMICH / HOCKLEY (SD & FD)
108.45 45.94 62.51 MINTO
96.23 43.02 53.21 LPIDC

COLLINS / SEYMOUR (SD & FD)
107.74 44.32 63.42 MINTO
99.20 40.02 59.18 LPIDC

 

[colleen o'neill]

So it is..

Mama's home cookin ' ?

Did someone explain some odd wrinkle in in the Canadian marking system , last year ?..am I dreaming ? clutching at straws ? ( I know I've left it wide open for wise cracks )

 

[geoskate]

Also, lower down the list:

MOYER/CHAPPLAIN (SD & FD)
37.65 50.99 88.64 MINTO
35.85 47.44 83.29 LAKE PLACID

CROTEAU-VILLENEUVE/BARTHE (SD & FD)
38.73 61.02 99.75 MINTO
31.14 54.75 85.89 LAKE PLACID

Probably a bit of the improvement for some of the teams came from them fixing an element which received a low level at Lake Placid. That could be done in a week. However, I don't think there's any doubt that the 'odd wrinkle' in this case was that the judges were in a good mood.

Oddly enough, the good mood doesn't seem to have spilled over into the other competitions at Minto, where the marking seemed to have been reasonably level-headed.

Based on the results here, though, I expect Bent/MacKeen to get a JGP assignment. They were already on the sub list for JGP France and JGP Lake Placid.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

So it is..

Mama's home cookin ' ?

Did someone explain some odd wrinkle in in the Canadian marking system , last year ?..am I dreaming ? clutching at straws ? ( I know I've left it wide open for wise cracks )

A little bit, I'm afraid.

The thing with the way Skate Canada and all the feeder competitions posts the scores means they read differently than you'd expect. Internationally, the unfactored PCS are shown as the final PCS score. Nationally, the factored scores are shown. For example

The Pairs FS at 2012 Nationals
The Pairs FS at 2012 Worlds

Check out Duhamel/Radford's scores (just for ease of comparison).

PCS at Nationals: 62.35
PCS at Worlds: 57.99

However, check out the presentation of the individual component scores. At Nationals, they do the factoring, so they got an average of 12+ for each component (which translates to high sevens). At worlds, they got low sevens (the factoring is not done in the presentation of the numbers). Same thing in terms of final scores, but it just looks wierd.

As for the actual results, without seeing the actual skating/protocols, it's hard to tell what is home cooking and what isn't. I mean, Mt/M scored an eighteen point difference in their LP between Detroit and Indy Challenge, and certainly you can't argue home cooking. I mean, a massive error on an element is hugely deleterious in ice dance

 

[from the sidelines]

I would say part of the improvement in marks are based on the skaters performance. Lake Placid would have been a first time out for all these skaters. Minto gave them a chance to fix their little problems (as geoskate suggested) and also having one outing under their belts, probably skated a bit more relaxed and performed better overall.