Meryl Davis & Charlie White

[dorispulaski]

Alex Rus reported in this thread in the edge that 2012 Russian FSO Awards (one of a kind teddy bears, dressed as the skaters who won the awards) were announced for the 2011-2012 season. The awards are made by Russian fans:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...-Chan-an-Award&p=684159&viewfull=1#post684159

Best Dance Program was awarded to Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE for Die Fledermaus. Here is a picture of their bears, dressed as Meryl & Charlie.
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6519/181409796.0/0_8fdb8_c9d601c5_XL.jpg

Russian fans voted for best Foreign dancers, Tessa & Scott. It looks like they got their bears at CoR from this picture. No award was made for best Russian dancers, so I believe they were voted best dancers of the year overall.
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6615/181409796.0/0_9ec5f_1a98d776_L.jpg

 

[loreley]

No award was made for best Russian dancers

That is not true. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov were selected as the best russian dance team in fso awards.

 

[dorispulaski]

Thank you. They are now recognized as such on The Edge thread.

Here's a good version of Meryl & Charlie's gala performance & encore at NHK. Best sure to watch full screen!:

Meryl Davis & Charlie White
Someone Like You by Adele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxfCQD72ztI&feature=player_detailpage#t=6790s

 

[KKonas]

Just got off teleconference with Meryl & Charlie. They said the would be leaving for Sochi in a couple of days and are looking forward to a great competition in the Final and said that even though the bar is raised (competitively) in Sochi, they are obviously looking for a win. They were pleased with the changes they made in their FD from SA in NHK Trophy. Addition of the bells in the middle of the FD was a collaborative effort while they were looking at pulling the music together. Charlie cuts the music initially as he likes to adjust the music on the fly. He sends the music it to a professional to finish it off. They hope to improve their levels in both the Polka and their step sequences to receive all level 4s in Sochi.

 

[KKonas]

Forgot to add that Meryl was full of praise for Alex Wong and their work with him and said they hope to work with him again this season.

 

[dorispulaski]

Thank you KKonas!

I was wondering who thought of the bells. It transformed that program!

 

[Mrs. P]

Copied from The Edge:

Meryl and Charlie featured in Fitness Magazine blog.

Fun Q&A: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/blogs...-the-olympics/

My favorite part:

MD: We skate five days a week so we get the weekends off, which is nice, but typically we start on the ice around 7 or 8 a.m. Usually we’ll have an hour break somewhere in there, whether it’s an hour straight or two half-hour breaks, but we go for about five hours, sometimes six. When we’re done on the ice, we have a gym upstairs in the same facility where we workout and do some kind of cardio—3 days a week—weight training, agility, things like that. We throw some ballet in there sometimes, too. We avoid it at all costs.
CW: Yeah, [ballet] is a necessary evil for us. It’s never something we’ve embraced but it really helps with the skating, the posture, stuff like that.
MD: Our program this year is actually one of the most classical ballets, Giselle, so when we officially decided on doing that music this year, we unfortunately realized we weren’t going to avoid ballet this season.
CW: I do a lot of lifts with Meryl so it’s important that I have good shoulder stability so we’ll lay down a ladder, for instance, and do sort of agility. I’ll hold a kettlebell while I do it to sort of make sure I can transfer onto the ice that same sort of just balance and yet the strength with my shoulder…the most important thing is for skaters, especially, is just the core and making sure we’re strong through the core.
LOL about the ballet.....it is funny they are doing Giselle since they hate ballet so much!

 

[dorispulaski]

I will not let anyone tell me they are not good actors now...because they certainly didn't seem to be hating their Giselle program at SkAm

 

[ice coverage]

Meryl Davis, Charlie White sharpening for Grand Prix Final

By Gregg Krupa
The Detroit News
November 30, 2012 at 1:40 am
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121130/SPORTS07/211300357
​

This excerpt caught my eye:

White said they are drawing on lessons from the recent Skate America competition.
"Most of the feedback we got for Skate America was technical because it's so important and makes such a difference," he said.
After reviewing their performance with coach Marina Zoueva, a decision was made to perfect their developing program as the season went on.
"We all decided that the program was just in its infancy and there was a lot of room to grow," said White, who is from Bloomfield Hills and attends Michigan.
"You can't keep changing things all the time, otherwise you won't be prepared to compete."​

Not clear whether White is referring to their SD or FD -- in any case, is it me or is he not implying that the possibility of starting over with a new program after Skate America at least was considered (and then rejected)??

 

[dorispulaski]

I took it that if you had to change a lot of stuff, it was better not to do it all at once.

But you could be right.

 

[Olympia]

Just got off teleconference with Meryl & Charlie. They said the would be leaving for Sochi in a couple of days and are looking forward to a great competition in the Final and said that even though the bar is raised (competitively) in Sochi, they are obviously looking for a win. They were pleased with the changes they made in their FD from SA in NHK Trophy. Addition of the bells in the middle of the FD was a collaborative effort while they were looking at pulling the music together. Charlie cuts the music initially as he likes to adjust the music on the fly. He sends the music it to a professional to finish it off. They hope to improve their levels in both the Polka and their step sequences to receive all level 4s in Sochi.

Thanks for the info! This is going to be so exciting.

 

[deedee1]

KKonas, many 'thank you' from me, too!

Thank you KKonas!
I was wondering who thought of the bells. It transformed that program!

:yes: I loved their lift right at the rings of bells!
Best of luck to Meryl and Charlie at the Final! :yay:

 

[mare]

I just saw a new classroom message from D&W posted on firstpost.com. It covers the topic of "fair play" and includes how one handles a close defeat. It is delightful and ends with Meryl and Charlie's version of Gangnam style. I'm sorry that I do not have the expertise to create a link for you, but I am hoping that with this information someone more adept than I am will be able to create one. Good luck!

 

[semosk8tfan]

And here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TvQ_F4x-o

How wonderful is this? Just one of the many reasons I love this team.

 

[missysays]

And here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TvQ_F4x-o

How wonderful is this? Just one of the many reasons I love this team.

They're great- not that many other competitors handle loss that graciously. I think only Michelle Kwan comes immediately to mind.

Hahahaha- the dance clip at the end. And that's why Meryl won the dance-off during the Ice tour this summer and Charlie lost in the first round.

She doesn't take herself too seriously. You can tell he's a lot less comfortable really cutting loose.

 

[KKonas]

Meryl Davis, Charlie White sharpening for Grand Prix Final

By Gregg Krupa
The Detroit News
November 30, 2012 at 1:40 am
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121130/SPORTS07/211300357
​

This excerpt caught my eye:

White said they are drawing on lessons from the recent Skate America competition.
"Most of the feedback we got for Skate America was technical because it's so important and makes such a difference," he said.
After reviewing their performance with coach Marina Zoueva, a decision was made to perfect their developing program as the season went on.
"We all decided that the program was just in its infancy and there was a lot of room to grow," said White, who is from Bloomfield Hills and attends Michigan.
"You can't keep changing things all the time, otherwise you won't be prepared to compete."​

Not clear whether White is referring to their SD or FD -- in any case, is it me or is he not implying that the possibility of starting over with a new program after Skate America at least was considered (and then rejected)??

Charlie's comment was in regard to the FD. There was no indication that they were going to start over with a new FD program after Skate America. Just the opposite. It was when I asked the question about what feedback they got from SA (mostly technical) and who added the bells section. BTW Gregg Krupa was not on the conference call, but received the taped teleconference from USFS.

 

[ice coverage]

Thanks as always for sharing your firsthand reporting, KKonas.
And thanks for your thoughts on my Chobani question in the other thread.

 

[deedee1]

Just one of the many reasons I love this team.

Me, too! :yes:

 

[ice coverage]

Nice photo of Davis/White in Giselle costumes for GPF practice at Sochi rink:
https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/276300798143635456

 

[ice coverage]

Charlie White ‏@CharlieaWhite

Team USA looking good!! Ready for the opening reception! @USFigureSkating pic.twitter.com/bJy50QT6
7:12 AM - 5 Dec 12 ·
https://twitter.com/CharlieaWhite/status/276343292961112065​

The photo shows both the senior and junior American finalists.