Dear Skatemom1122,
In the unlikely event that DorisPulaski does not respond to your post (she is perhaps our most knowledgeable poster on ice dance and very happy to share her knowledge), here are a couple of her posts from a year ago on the top Sr dance contenders for the Olympics. They might shed some light on your question. You might try reposting it in The Edge section of this forum if it doesn't get more attention in this section. Best of luck to your child(ren) and thanks for your support of the art and sport of figure skating!!!
All that follows is by DorisPulaski:
Dance: DelSchoes, DomShabs, V&M and B&A need first and foremost to get and stay healthy. And they need not to be failing to attend their national championships.
The biggest need of K&N, P&B, and D&W is to beat the national #1's at their national championships, and beat them again at 4CC's and Europeans. All three teams are, by a quirk of health and fate, already their national champions this year.
B&A need an FD that they really really can relate to. They have been strong in ODs any number of times, but their FD's have been a problem. I think they need to choose something light hearted, which will fit their personalities better than operatic tragedies.
B&A and Domshabs both need to work on getting level 4's on step sequences. Dostatni & tech specialist team members were quite forgiving in their level of skills they assigned at Worlds. If Judy Blumberg or one of the other tougher tech specialists is the lead at Olympics, they could really suffer. B&A need also to continue the carriage and extension & CD work they have done so well and to such profit this year with their new coaches. DomShabs also need to work on their dance spins, IMO. Maxim really needs to keep working with the physical therapist and his doctor, more than anything.
V&M need to return to the romance type FD's that worked so well for them in Valse Triste and Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This year they showed they can expand and do more modern types of music--next year they should play to their strength. And they should not go for polka or Russian folk in their OD. I have doubts that they can do humor very successfully. They seem to be quite serious young people. Technically, other than staying healthy, the one thing they might work on is their dance spins. Their lifts are the best in the business right now.
D&W already have the tech content down for the elements. (They had the highest tech score in the FD this year at Worlds) Other than B&A's retirement, what they need to do is work on posture and precise foot placement & extension.in an effort to pop up their Skating Skills PCS score. They made some improvements this year, but they have more to do. And they need to start learning the Tango Romantica and practicing the Golden Waltz right away. Their CD's are the weakest section of their competitions, always. And the CD's are a great place to work on their weaknesses. They also need to relax in the CD's. They seemed particularly tense this year. In the OD, they need not to be doing Russian folk again, and not picking hoedown. What they don't need to work on is projecting to the audience. It was obvious from the marvelous response they got in LA for their FD, that they have really done well on that (and it's a great improvement over the last 2 years).
K&N need for DomShabs to retire. They also need some CD work. Because Jana is so short, the Golden Waltz is likely to be a particular challenge for them, and they should start working on it right away. I'd love to see them do something not classical for their FD. They did classical this year, and it was not nearly as good as their last year's FD (and didn't rate with the judges as well either). Good on them for stretching themselves, though!! Also, they should refrain from acrobatic lifts and besti squats as opening and closing moves in all CD's. I think their moves in the paso offended some of the judges who decided, "that's not a paso at all" and downgraded them accordingly. Also, do not use any costume suggestive of a vegetable (like Jana's lettuce OD costume) again. I love their overall creativity and can't wait to see what they come up with for their Olympic program!
DelSchoes have the best CD's out there. However, they need to work a bit on their dance spins, and also need to avoid making mental lapse mistakes, a problem that has plagued them in the past. Above all, they need to be healthy. In a politicks free competition, if no one else improves much, I would expect them to win the Olympics in a walk.
P&B are another team that really need to improve their CD's-they have been unable to score better than D&W and B&A, teams notorious for CD problems. They also need to arrive at their first competition totally prepared. They might well have done better at Worlds this year if they had arrived at Skate Canada in shape, and had not ended up at SC behind Crone Poirier and Davis & White. Their FD this year was a very open one, a reason that it didn't score outrageously well, given the level of its charm, and the fact that by Worlds, they received all level 4's.
F&S-first they need to stay on their feet. The fall in the OD was disastrous to their hopes, and there will be fall out from it next year, too. Second they need to do something about their lifts. Granted they are nearly the same size; still DomShabs seem to be able to use that to their advantage. F&S keep using the same lifts, and also generic level 4 lifts that any of the top 20 skaters might do. With 4 lifts scored in the FD, the pedestrian nature of their lifts is a problem. They also have struggled all year with their dance spins and need to work on them. Also I'd like to see them do a very steamy Latin FD-the Beethoven thing didn't work for me on so many levels, and it never scored well. They had a wonderful Italian folk OD last year, and I hope they find an equally charming folk OD for the Olympic year.
S&B need to wait for B&A (and D&W) to retire too. But they had timing problems at this years worlds in the CD. Great posture and toe point is good (and they have those), but timing is equally important. . The timing is particularly difficult in the Tango Romantica, and they should start working on it right away. And they need to work on their speed/power. They are not quite as fast as the top couples. They also need work on dance spins a lot. And please, I hope they choose n FD that does not have the droning, repetitive type of music they had this year. They seemed to love their OD, but their FD not so much. They need an FD they truly love.
Kerrs- I totally love the Kerrs!!!
One thing they need to do is stay with Platov! He made sure that they arrived at Skate America in shape, and prepared to skate their programs. This is something they never did in past years. When you saw them at Euros, you'd say, where did this wonderful team come from??? I didn't notice them in the GP...and when you looked back at their earlier event scores for the season, you could see it was because they did not score well and skated poorly in their first event, a little better in their second event, but they never made the podium in the GP until this year (2 third places, and third at Euros!). That is all due to new discipline and commitment to training. The result of bad rankings is that ice dance is partially a game of expectations. A bad fall GP season means a couple points off your CD and the judges don't catch up with the improvement until the FD, and by that time, you're mired way down in the standings. I can't stress that enough for them...arrive in October in tiptop shape. Their strengths are unique programs and a lot of commitment to the program when they skate. They had my very favorite folk OD last year I don't know what they'll do this year -- it's too bad that they used up the Scottish dance for a non-Olympic season, but who knew the ISU would do folk again so soon. However, catching the "character of the dance" is a strength of theirs. They did it again with 40's Lindy Hop & Swing again this year.
They are a team that has had trouble with CD's, and I'm sure Platov will continue to make them work very hard on the CD's, especially since both the Tango Romantica & the Golden Waltz are both very difficult. They need to continue to work on their twizzles. They both & John famously have lots of trouble with twizzles. Platov has them doing mirror twizzles to conceal the lack of unison in twizzles, but you can't hide everything. Also they need to work on matching leg lines, and unison in general, and on John's feet, which aren't that tidy, particularly in footwork. I'd like to see them with some new lifts, as they do some lift recycling as well. (that handstand lift is in both the OD & FD for example).
I'd never think to suggest what they should skate to--their choices are wonderful, and I'd rather be surprised!!!
Capellini & Lanotte - are another team that have to wait for the number one team to retire. This year they worked like crazy to do better than F&S, but still finished behind them even with F&S falling in the OD. It has to be very discouraging for them. British Eurosport absolutely adores this team, even when they are not skating very well, as in the OD at Worlds, mostly because A: they're young B: Anna is gorgeous.
Somewhat, I think they peak at the wrong time, but opposite of the Kerrs. They seemed much better to me at Cup of China than here at the end of the season. They should perhaps pace themselves a bit more. I think there is also a speed and power issue here, too. They also lose touch with the character of the dance from time to time. She smiled all the way through the paso, plus had odd headrolls. Not a good idea.
Do you know the old original shaggy dog story? After a bunch of contests, the old man's shaggy dog is finally at the Worlds Shaggy Dog contest, having won all the qualifiers. And the the first judge says that's a shaggy dog. The second judge says, "That's a very shaggy dog." The third judge then says, "Nah, that's not a shaggy dog at all." You don't want to get to worlds and discover that your little paso character trick gets the judges thinking that's not a paso at all. It happened this year to K&N, and to a lesser extent to C&L, I think.
C&L will definitely move up after the older couples retire. I'm thinking DelSchoes and B&A will retire after the Olympics. It's possible DomShabs will retire too. Maybe V&M, if they win gold. So 3 or 4 teams will be gone, and that would move C&L up to 6th.
I will have to watch those two skaters at the start again when the video goes on-demand~
