As regards my dismay ( I can't actually decide if it's dismay, or apprehension ).. Look , L/R have obviously taught their students well , insofar as what they do with their feet goes, and I guess also in knowing where you partner is on the ice, etc. They can get in and out of lifts smoothly. Kudos. They've managed to keep their current two top teams together for years, and this is the result...
But wait a minute, the good news is also the bad news .. they've had these couples for years , from the beginning, in fact. They've been together 8 yrs , 10 yrs...something like that. That the girls, most noticeably, should have the posture problems they do at this stage is , frankly, apalling.You will not see this in the major ice dance schools from any other major skating country. Not the French , not the Italians , certainly not the Russians ( if their shoulders get up it's a choreographic / stylistic effect ) , and not the Americans ( especially Z/S ). These skaters , almost universally, have good carriage. .. Not all good schools always have great costumes, so let's leave that aside..( though I don't see why L/R's shouldn't have them. )
I'm dismayed for the skaters they have now , who could have grown up with that training and it would now be second nature. Where would they be placing if they had, I wonder? And I'm apprehensive for their future skaters. Of course, the talented kids want to go to the best coaches ( Often that means ,the coaches whose skaters are getting the best results ) what about those kids' prospects ?
But I still don't think it's a hopeless case, as long as people can be objective and admit that the skaters and coaches have flaws that could stand some improvement. They don't need to make a fanfare or even admit it publicly.. Just go ahead and do something about it. The results will speak for themselves
We have coaches who really tackle these problems in other disciplines.. .
Yes, this is what puzzles me about L/R's school: when there is a problem, they seem to go into full defensive mode, rather than full Let's Fix It mode, at least publicly. And it wouldn't bother me so much, if it didn't happen that the next year, the kids have the same set of problems. And the choreo is chosen in the "If you can't fix it, feature it" philosophy. For C&P, if they don't fake a romantic relationship too well, let's have the following:
1. Two kids playing in the park (Perfect Day, my favorite FD of theirs)
2. Let's claim Bohemian Rhapsody is about Orpheus (which it isn't) so if Paul isn't looking at Vanessa, it is understandable, since his one look will send her back to Hades.
3. Let's do Eleanor Rigby which is about a women who is terribly lonely (again, who could expect a connection with her partner in that case). Let's make up a story to the press that it is 'uplifting' because her life was so dreadful that dying is a happy ending. GMAB.
The way you fix that problem (or at least try to address it) is to send the kids to acting and mime classes (something D&W and P&B have both done). No matter your or my opinion of the result, you've got to respect that they recognized a problem and tried to fix it. Denying the problem and trying to wiggle around it fixes nothing.
And then there's the constant "African" packaging of Ralph and Hill. They have a charming personality on the ice. For heaven's sakes, there are other things to do with them than stuff them in the ice dance equivalent of minstrel show pieces-once sure, but 3 years in a row????
Most puzzling is the failure to have decent costumes for the kids in the R/L school. It can't feel good for Kharis Ralph to be called out so publicly by Nick Verreos in his costume blog for Universal Sports on Cup of China. (essentially making the worst dressed list) One look at Kharis in that costume should have been enough to motivate changing it.
And make no mistake about it, C/P and R/H are very talented teams. R/L are doing them no favors by not helping them work through their shortcomings as well as displaying their strong points. And their failure to send these kids out nicely styled is even more puzzling.