All Things Ice Dance: Canadian

[Skater Boy]

I would love to see them rework this program. I think Usova and Zhulin and or Klimova and Pomarenko had similar themes and they were beautiful routines back in the day. I wish them the best of the luck and I do hope they get that bronze at world's.

 

[dorispulaski]

U&Z had the statue program, AFAIR.

 

[colleen o'neill]

U&Z were 2 statues in a park coming to life , and I believe that was the year K&P used Lawrence of Arabia . I think they were supposed to be the wind and the sand ?

But it was hard to tell the difference without a program.

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, those were the programs I remember from both teams. This was the sort of stuff that led to the Dance Only rule of the 1993 on era, sad to say. I think it's still behind the "The Story, If There Is One, Must Be Easily Understandable."


I would love to see them get some different music for the program, sad to say. But I can see it might be a problem deciding what emotions a live status might have.

I can't say I loved this program at SkAm, and the white tight tights made her look bleached out.

Having finally had a chance to see R&H's programs, I don't quite understand why they were chacked at SC? I fear dumpage is going on Those were fairly well skated programs, though the costumes for the SD make my eyeballs ache.

 

[chuckm]

Then there's Nicole Orford's horrible FD costume. The color is not the best, but what makes it horrid is the cheap material. It just screams factory seconds.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Really? I think she looks gorgeous in it. But it so clearly screams of "WATCH ME AND NOT WILLIAMS!!!!!"

 

[Mrs. P]

Really? I think she looks gorgeous in it. But it so clearly screams of "WATCH ME AND NOT WILLIAMS!!!!!"

I don't really care for it either. I think she could benefit from a more flattering, more tailored dress.

 

[slipslidin]

I must rise from my sick-bed to answer this. chuckm has given me the best laugh I've had in two months. The Idea that Nicole's dress is the worst free dance dress in canadian history just cracks me up. Nicole Orford is a lovely and talented young woman, and appears to lack figure flaws that would make her hard to dress. It seems rather mean to subject her to this critisism so shortly after their good result at NHK.

 

[Mrs. P]

I must rise from my sick-bed to answer this. chuckm has given me the best laugh I've had in two months. The Idea that Nicole's dress is the worst free dance dress in canadian history just cracks me up. Nicole Orford is a lovely and talented young woman, and appears to lack figure flaws that would make her hard to dress. It seems rather mean to subject her to this critisism so shortly after their good result at NHK.

Hi slipslidin, hope you're feeling better! I'm glad you have a good friend in colleen so you can stay in the predictions action.

Orford is quite lovely and I enjoyed their performances at NHK. I hope my comment isn't taken as being mean -- because I do think she's beautiful, which is why I feel she would benefit from a better tailored dress.

 

[chuckm]

The shape of the dress (and Nicole's shape) is fine. It's the sleazy material I hated. This costume looked like something that might have been inflicted on Kharis Ralph, who usually has the cheapest-looking costumes ever.

Mind you, this is NOT a criticism of Orford, but of whoever put her in that dress.

 

[dorispulaski]

Somebody in BC this time, not in Ontario.

 

[colleen o'neill]

I don't think there's much wrong with the cut of the dress..I preferred the rich blue one she had earlier on , but the cut is much the same..here from LPIDC :

http://photography.ice-dance.com/2012-13/12LPIDC/Sr/FDA/12LPIDC-SrFDA-0264-OW-LC.jpg.php

and it looked better with Thomas' costume. I don't think they were trying to distract from Thomas but grab the attention of the judges. I think they overplayed their hand a bit with the colour.

Mrs. P, I think I know what you mean about the tailoring of the dress, it doesn't have the exquisite level of finish that say, Alexandra Paul's FD dress has this year ( among others) . I can't help but be aware that due to the weird scenario in Canada last year , though O/W were the only couple in the group of P/I ,R/H and themselves who had earned a GP spot and were eligible for 2... because they finished 6th at nationals, they weren't officially on the national team, so not eligible for national funding .. though they have some other sources of funding , finances may be tight .. but we'll see if there's a further costume change by Canadians.

I have to say I'm already scowling in the direction of Skate Canada and CBC. That was a good finish for O/W at NHK , but CBC didn't deign to show them, and Skate Canada didn't bother to mention their final placement. Slipchuk was quoted on the website after they placed fourth in the SD..sort of damning with faint praise..basically implying that they capitalized on the fact that others skated poorly.. There was no question they skated well in the FD , holding on to their spot ( 4th) ..but you'd never know it by either SC or CBC. ( btw , I think Thomas looks really quite improved from last year and more relaxed )

CBC did praise G/P a fair amount and showed their program at TEB and the SC site news said they finished well ( 6th ), and gave Piper a quote . I hope they can restrain themselves with the hype this year.

I'm looking forward to seeing how P/I are progressing at Challenge , but maybe we won't see R/H again 'til Canadians.. I just really want to see a fair competition , not a foregone conclusion ( but I'm getting worried )

 

[cleoc]

All about Canadian ice dance
http://www.ice-dance.com/main/featu...northern-lights-24-onward-to-sochi-and-regina

I cant wait to see wht Shae-Lynn did with W-P FD. Dont know why, but i am sure she feel them much better, then other coaches. And like i said before, maybe its good to not go to GPF but be ready for Nationals, 4CC and WCh.

I agree about Nicol Orford FD dress. Like i said before this FD nothing special and dress is bad. But for me she is very promising yound ice-dancer.

 

[ice coverage]

... Orford is quite lovely and I enjoyed their performances at NHK. I hope my comment is taken as being mean -- because I do think she's beautiful, which is why I feel she would benefit from a better tailored dress.

Gotta save you from yourself, Mrs. P : Surely you accidentally omitted a key word? "I hope my comment is not taken as being mean" is what you intended, right?

 

[dorispulaski]

All about Canadian ice dance
http://www.ice-dance.com/main/featu...northern-lights-24-onward-to-sochi-and-regina

I cant wait to see wht Shae-Lynn did with W-P FD. Dont know why, but i am sure she feel them much better, then other coaches. And like i said before, maybe its good to not go to GPF but be ready for Nationals, 4CC and WCh.

I agree about Nicol Orford FD dress. Like i said before this FD nothing special and dress is bad. But for me she is very promising yound ice-dancer.

Wow!

That article really is a great one about everything going on both inside Canada and internationally with Canadian ice dancers just now.

Thank you.

 

[chuckm]

I have to say I'm already scowling in the direction of Skate Canada and CBC. That was a good finish for O/W at NHK , but CBC didn't deign to show them, and Skate Canada didn't bother to mention their final placement. Slipchuk was quoted on the website after they placed fourth in the SD..sort of damning with faint praise..basically implying that they capitalized on the fact that others skated poorly.. There was no question they skated well in the FD , holding on to their spot ( 4th) ..but you'd never know it by either SC or CBC. ( btw , I think Thomas looks really quite improved from last year and more relaxed )

On paper, the NHK dance field was the weakest of the GPs. O/W should have placed 4th regardless of how the other teams skated---two Chinese teams, the Reeds (who've been away from competition for a while due to Chris' injury) and Coomes&Buck.

 

[Mrs. P]

Gotta save you from yourself, Mrs. P : Surely you accidentally omitted a key word? "I hope my comment is not taken as being mean" is what you intended, right?

Opps, butterfingers! I've changed it, thanks!

 

[colleen o'neill]

On paper, the NHK dance field was the weakest of the GPs. O/W should have placed 4th regardless of how the other teams skated---two Chinese teams, the Reeds (who've been away from competition for a while due to Chris' injury) and Coomes&Buck.

I agree..it was a weaker field. And even I ( not an infallible handicapper) projected that would be their finish , even assuming, as I usually do , that all teams would skate fairly well. I'm objecting to the fact that there usually is some mention made of the skaters' finish in the SC news reports.. e.g. At TEB their last report was mainly about Duhamel and Radford's finish, but at the end, a paragraph or so was devoted to G/P .. It seems to me that over the years this kind of thing has been fairly standard practice , so I'm not saying G/P shouldn't have been mentioned..I'm saying O/W should have .. especially because the previous article managed to convey a feeling that their SD placement owed a great deal to others' misfortunes .

I think it could be argued that O/W took a bit of a hit at CoR ( by one place , or maybe two) but that was sort of to be expected as the non-hometown newbies ..and I believe Nicole herself said they felt they skated better at NHK...so I'm not really making wuzrobbed noises , insofar as their skating or scores go.

Oops , gotta go , for now.

 

[ice coverage]

Some bits for fans of @nicoleorford and @thomascwill:

(1) Skate Canada BC/YT [Tarrah Harvey, apparently? ] streamed a live interview with Orford/Williams yesterday, Dec 1.

I believe the archived video -- 34:09 in length! -- is here (but I have not tried to watch it):
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27426503
​

(2) And in case it has not been posted earlier, the address for Orford's blog is:

http://nicoleorford.wordpress.com/​

Three entries so far:
- Nov 8 introductory post
- Nov 18 re Cup of Russia
- Dec 2 re NHK​

 

[Dragonlady]

Is chuckie referring to the green dress? The colour is all wrong for her and makes her look pale and washed out but the cut is OK. I disagree that the dress or the fabric look cheap. If he thinks that either of Orford's outfits are the worst thing ever seen in Canadian ice dance, I guess he has completely forgotten that Little Bow Peep meets the Queen of Tarts outfit Shae-Lynn turned up in at Skate America one year. The judges told them the dress should not be seen again and it never was. Tarasova's team whipped it up for her and Shae said she never liked it anyway:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?um=1&hl...w=116&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:90