Lovely, exquisite, and what is great is as with the last two years, you kind of feel they are starting off from the place they got to at the end of last year. There are some issues to be resolved- the legs didn't match at the end of the second set of twizzles; Guillaume is pulling focus too much with those down on the knee moments and the drops- Gabi needs a bit more to do balance them out; the last lift isn't enough; I question the two spinning movements together during the presto; and some of the Jeffrey Cirio bits feel like movements for movements sake- I 'm not sure how effectively this dance communicates a narrative like last year's did, and whether more work need to be done make sure all moves fit within a narrative structure. The marvellous bits though- the twizzles to the music, gabi's hand on her heart before the twizzles, the exit from the twizzles, the very ballet influenced exit from the spin/lift, the exit from the spin, though this feels like a repeat of the twizzle exit, the developed difficulty in the position of the curved lift, the retention of connection between them in the straight line lift (which is better than last years), the direction across the ice rink for the diagonal step is better for the judges to be fully aware of both skaters, the ending where genuine emotion is evident, the overall execution which apart from the swizzle legs not matching up was excellent, the musicality of it all, and both step sequences were very good. I loved it, but there is also work.......and it was great first skate. I also wish we had seen it from the judge's side and closer up, because gabby pulls focus with her face; and a lot of the detail is missed. But overall, a really great outing.
scratch2
