- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
Who do you think will have the upper hand next season? Will they all receive two Grand Prix assignments? Will Marina be coaching Hawayek/Baker?
Who do you think will have the upper hand next season? Will they all receive two Grand Prix assignments? Will Marina be coaching Hawayek/Baker?
I agree with Mrs. P, given all the retirements and splits they should all get 2 spots. I think the Shibs probably have the upper hand at this point but could easily lose it depending on a lot of things.
This coming season is going to be very interesting. With all the couples who are gone, and with I/K now officially out of the picture, the door is very open.
I just watching Jean Luc Baker skate! However, the transition to seniors is fraught with difficulty for dancers. They have to increade their speed without losing timing or posture or general tidiness or performance value to score well as seniors.
World Jr. Champions Bobrova and Soloviev lost posture, for example. Stepanova & Bukin had a dreadful year.
V&M and D&W had the best transition to seniors I've seen, but the Shibs medalling in their first senior season was shocking.
Although they struggled at Worlds, A&E have come a long way this year, winning the bronze at 4cc's. That Bollywood program was a real stretch for them, but they learned a lot, and impressed at Nationals.
I think H/B have an unusual advantage: because they've been together such a short time, they have less to UNlearn than other junior teams moving up might. I went back to youtube to watch their previous competitions, and with each one there was a marked improvement. So starting again at the senior level might not be quite as difficult a transition for them as for a team that may be more set in their ways. Baker really impressed me not only because his talent is so pure, but there is such a relaxed quality to his skating--very much like Fred Astaire in the Rogers & Astaire movies. Making the difficult seem offhandedly easy and elegant.
A&E also made marked improvements over the course of the year. What they seem to be missing so far to me is any kind of individual style that would make them stand out. It's like the equivalent of a poet finding his/her own "voice."
I'm sorry but I do not see anything in A&E that suggests they will be anywhere close to being a top couple. There are many other factors that go into ice dancing success outside of the skaters control including physical build, natural talent, charisma and yes even how attractive they are.