Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron

[Gotlev]

I'm not worried about the levels cause look who was the tech controller!
Remember the infamous european 2017 sd event, you know when they had to change the ranking afterwards and no one understood the score. when i saw her name i knew G/F will get levels 4 and P/C won't.
The thing is now with the +5/-5 system it no longer matters. I remember how anxious i used to be everytime i saw her name or dotsani for tech controller.

I see the word pretentious used to talk about P/C FD and i wonder is it because they are french ? I know what people think of us or the way they talk about french art in general.
Yes in france we have different tastes and opinions when it comes to art but that doesn't mean we are pretentious.

With Gabriella and Guillaume a program doesn't feel like it lasts 4 min, i see everything , they let the movements breathe.
Right now i like P/C free and i can't wait to see it grow. Take Oddudua it's not my favourite program from them but their performance at the 2017 WC was everything . I have gossebumps just thinking about it.

Thanks so much for pointing out that the tech controller may be part of the whole scoring weirdness here. That makes a lot more sense to me. (It still feel the RD was very sloppy and needs a lot more training, even though I like the program a lot and am so happy to see them have fun with the RD.)

This FD is a masterpiece for me. I can't stop watching it. It is so superb, already. It's a treat, a delight, a piece of art, to be watched over and over and over again, and marvelled at every single time.
The only thing that briefly breaks the spell for me and that I hope they will do something about is the second half of the straight line lift, which I can't really understand and looks laborious to me. The first position is so beautiful and wonderful, and then all of a sudden we climb into an ordinary "statue" lift that makes no sense. After their first showing I was hoping they would do something about it, but it's still there and still laborious instead of flowing.

Look at the rotational lift, the stationary lift: the finesse, the softness, the smoothness, the delicacy is beyond belief and description. It's otherworldly, so finished and perfectly tender. All the other elements breathe the same quality of perfection. All movements are so graceful, so marvellous...
And this silk-in-motion is balanced or complemented with the modern dance movements that I simply love. (As long as Gaby makes them sharp enough (the ending positions), that is; Guillaume does these things naturally perfect. But then again, Gaby's facial expressions are so spot-on and she thereby adds so much to the program that Guillaume would have a hard time getting right.)
God, I adore all of it.

From the way I praise them, you'd think I've discovered them yesterday, but even though we're seeing this now since 5-6 years, I simply can't get over it. It is so enticing, so magical, so ethereal...
For me at least. If anyone thinks it's all stupid (French) rubbish, fine, no problem. I'm just over the moon with the sheer existence of such artistry.

The Gods of Ice Dance graciously bless us with their presence once more. Please stay with us mere mortals for another full quad!

 

[brushalley]

The only lift I'm not sure about is the curve where she stands on his feet.It's not so much the lift its the movement where he lifts her off and out of it.I hope they change it.

 

[peepsquick]

The only lift I'm not sure about is the curve where she stands on his feet.It's not so much the lift its the movement where he lifts her off and out of it.I hope they change it.

There is something awkward and incomplete about it though I like Gabi's added wave movement when she dismounts but it needs more emphasis imo.

 

[LaArdilla]

I’m back from the IdF! I’m sorry for being so quiet here, but I was with my sister, celebrating her birthday, and we both wanted to soak up the atmosphere and not sit with our noses in the smartphones.

General impressions: god, are they fast. I loved watching them in the practice, just stroking. It’s like everyone else on the ice is a car and they are tracks. They are very... attuned to each other? They had a few lovely, funny moments with their training mates. I looooved the RD, yes it does need some polishing, but the choreography and the way they sell it is top notch. The costumes are absolutely brilliant. The FD is just glorious, I think I stopped breathing for those 4 minutes. I really wanted them to stay in black so I was happy with their costumes.

 

[LynsJ]

I’m back from the IdF! I’m sorry for being so quiet here, but I was with my sister, celebrating her birthday, and we both wanted to soak up the atmosphere and not sit with our noses in the smartphones.

General impressions: god, are they fast. I loved watching them in the practice, just stroking. It’s like everyone else on the ice is a car and they are tracks. They are very... attuned to each other? They had a few lovely, funny moments with their training mates. I looooved the RD, yes it does need some polishing, but the choreography and the way they sell it is top notch. The costumes are absolutely brilliant. The FD is just glorious, I think I stopped breathing for those 4 minutes. I really wanted them to stay in black so I was happy with their costumes.

It felt like everyone stopped breathing for those 4 minutes! It was magical! You are right about their speed, in practices they were flying round.
There’s a couple of bits they could iron out like someone mentioned about the lift where she is on his feet but I can’t wait to see how this develops and what it will look like come worlds [emoji178][emoji178]
Hope you enjoyed the weekend!

 

[Spot]

Agreed on the breathing danger, haha.

On a very different note, this is sweet: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIczsjpXYAAVtZX?format=jpg&name=large

 

[synian]

here is what Guillaume said about the theme of the free danse in the isu paper : Cizeron added: “This program is a little bit about death, but not in a really tragic way. It’s about two connected souls that want to find each other after life, after whatever they are going through. I think in this way it connects to everyone.”

https://isu.org/figure-skating/news...th-grand-prix-gold-in-france?templateParam=15

 

[thedeclan]

I absolutely love their RD program this season!!

I don't love spoken word programs, but I'm sure it'll grow on me.

 

[cuiniel]

Agreed on the breathing danger, haha.

On a very different note, this is sweet: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIczsjpXYAAVtZX?format=jpg&name=large

Comme c'est mignon! What event is it from?

 

[Spot]

It is indeed mignon, haha. It's from the IDF gala practice actually. During the gala itself, Nathan did the same move with Ponsart.

 

[cuiniel]

Cute behind the scenes moments from the gala from 2:24:53 - 2:25:20 in the stream: https://youtu.be/aYt5xkzUlPs

 

[cuiniel]

I'm trying to get a better understanding of how ice dance is actually scored, and was wondering if someone could explain why Gabi got a level 2 while Guillaume got a level 4 on the one-foot step sequence in the FD? To my eyes they look the same — would love to be shown the intricate differences.

 

[Bcash]

I'm trying to get a better understanding of how ice dance is actually scored, and was wondering if someone could explain why Gabi got a level 2 while Guillaume got a level 4 on the one-foot step sequence in the FD? To my eyes they look the same — would love to be shown the intricate differences.

There’s no slow-mo replay of that sequence so it’s hard to say exactly why. Could be that during some of those turns, the tech controller thought Gabi’s edge was a little flat. But I agree that on the TV screen it looks pretty good. There is that one turn towards the end where they are supposed to lean backwards while going forward and I though Gabi didn’t quite lean as much as she did at Masters, could be a balance check? I do think Level 2 is too harsh.

 

[cuiniel]

There’s no slow-mo replay of that sequence so it’s hard to say exactly why. Could be that during some of those turns, the tech controller thought Gabi’s edge was a little flat. But I agree that on the TV screen it looks pretty good. There is that one turn towards the end where they are supposed to lean backwards while going forward and I though Gabi didn’t quite lean as much as she did at Masters, could be a balance check? I do think Level 2 is too harsh.

Ah ok, thanks! More generally, does no one get above a level one on choreo sequences/slides? Also, in ice dance, what's the difference between levels and GOE? I get that levels are supposed to indicate difficulty, but in ice dance levels also seem to indicate how well an element was performed, which makes me confused as to how one team can get higher levels than another team on a certain element, but lower GOE.

 

[Harriet]

does no one get above a level one on choreo sequences/slides?

No, the Choreo elements are all fixed at Level 1 (ie they're 'unlevelled elements') - the same as the Choreo Sequence in singles skating and pairs. They're assessed purely on how well they're performed, not on what contortions the skaters work through to show how skilled/flexible they are.

what's the difference between levels and GOE? I get that levels are supposed to indicate difficulty, but in ice dance levels also seem to indicate how well an element was performed, which makes me confused as to how one team can get higher levels than another team on a certain element, but lower GOE.

Difficulty. vs performance quality is a reasonable way to think of it. For example, in a set pattern, the level indicates how many of the key points the skaters hit - 0 is Base level, one is Level 1, two is Level 2 etc. That gives them their base value for the element. It's determined by the technical panel. The GOE is determined by the judges and indicates how well they think the skaters performed each element. With the current scale of GOE values (how many points you get for each extra GOE point), that means that a Level 2 Finnstep pattern that misses two keypoints but is performed lightly and quickly, with character and in a way that suits the music can outscore a Level 3 Finnstep that gets three keypoints out of four but is performed slowly, heavily or laboriously, or in a way that doesn't suit the music (my personal way of thinking of it is that in ice dance, the more something looks like work, the lower its GOE should be).

It's the same thing for spins, lifts and step sequences: the technical panel assesses the difficulty of each element and calls the level where one is required, and at the same time the judges assess the performance of each element independently of whatever its level might be (IIRC they don't even find out what the levels are unless something comes up for review after the end of the program?).

 

[Gotlev]

One of the funniest slo-mo sequences ever must be MF sinking ve-ry slow-ly behind the boards...

 

[Spot]

Cute behind the scenes moments from the gala from 2:24:53 - 2:25:20 in the stream: https://youtu.be/aYt5xkzUlPs

Yes, that was a nice little moment!

 

[LaArdilla]

They danced the one foot sequence right in front of me and I thought it was gorgeous, the unison and upper body work looked great. No idea why she got lvl 2. There was a moment where I thought her toepick got close to the ice but I'm pretty sure it didn' touch it. Probably a flat edge somewhere. Maybe the Flutzes and Waxels sisters will talk about it on their podcast, they know their stuff.

 

[Bcash]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEfy5z3kdQs

Dylan Moskovitch and a guy who I do not recognize sum up IdF for CBC Sports. They loved P/C's FD. Starting around 5:00 mark.

 

[Endriu Ash]

I am a big fan of P/C but after this GP performance I am disappointed. There are couples of things that I don't like it.
1. First of all the Master performance in my opinion was better. I felt it more and the costumes fitted better to this performance and the camera engles was pretty cool.
2. In Grenoble the camera engles was bad. It was not good for watching at this.
3. The changes they have made especially in RD are not enough good. I am not convinced. In my opinion there is a lack of sth. Definitely better was on Master.
4. Gabi hair in FD ooo God. I hope she change the hairstyle in next performance. It was drama. It doesn't fit to this program.