British Ice Dance and Pairs Take 2

[Imperfect Edge]

Sorry I was being lazy in not including the actual music choices - it is posted in the news section:

S&J's music for the year is (SD)‘At Last’ from Etta James and ‘Shut up and let me go’ from the ting tings, and (FD) Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 3: Redemption

[taz'smum]

Feedback from the Brasov JGP about Sophie and Richard was extremely positive! It was generally felt that they'd made great improvements this season, yet the marks didn't reflect the improvements. They were clearly under marked and deserved to be placed higher!

[sandfacer]

http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/4186
british performance team

[Sylvia]

2 local articles on Josh Whidborne and Charlotte Aiken:

http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/931...acilities.aspx

http://www.flintshirechronicle.co.uk...1352-27275633/

[Ziggy]

The SD music choice sounds excellent on both counts. Can't wait to see that.

As for more Muse for the FD... Really not a good choice whatsoever. They are stuck in a rut. The last season's FD was a disaster exposing a lack of progress. I just hope they prove me wrong because they definitely still have a lot to offer.

[penybrec]

[QUOTE=taz'smum;2873123]Feedback from the Brasov JGP about Sophie and Richard was extremely positive! It was generally felt that they'd made great improvements this season, yet the marks didn't reflect the improvements. They were clearly under marked and deserved to be placed higher!
[/QUOTE
The fighting spirit Sophie and Richard have shown over the last few years will surely get them through. They seem a mentally strong team who support eachother. Sheffield JGP should be interesting lets hope they bounce back

[Imperfect Edge]

Good to hear that Sophie & Richard have made such improvements - their marks looked rather dissapointing - hopefully they get better marks at Sheffield.

It appears that some JGP entries have been withdrawn (an example: Helen Wray and Jack Finerty but have a memory of there being more entries originally), does anyone know the reasoning behind this? My theory - perhaps some of the concerned teams skaters who I think are on development rather than performance team did not meet the Junior pass mark score for British at Sheffield where they were due to be monitoring teams, so perhaps they were withdrawn on those grounds?

Am looking forward to Sheffield and having 3 entries in all events par the pairs.

[STw Master]

Penny and Nick have updated their website and added a new Journal entry.

http://pennyandnick.ice-dance.com

[Imperfect Edge]

NISA has announced championship dates (and seminars) for the next 5 years see following link: http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/4167 Am for one dissappointed that at present they are all taking place at Sheffield. Whilst Sheffield is one of (if not the) best facilities in Britain, I think variety is good - for one different locations would mean different groups of local skaters may be encouraged to come along and watch. Now there are numerous full size rinks in the UK, (Nottingham, Guildford, Bracknell, Hull to name a few) and would be good to see more of these being used.

On another note am liking Penny and Nick's music choices (see above post), in particular Lion King is something different and potentially innovative that could work well (didnt see it at Sheffield).

[lovetheice]

lion king might be something different for penny and nick, but jones and sharpe used it to good effect last season, so it is hardly new. However i've got to agree that it is beautiful music and very uplifting.

[poths]

lion king might be something different for penny and nick, but jones and sharpe used it to good effect last season, so it is hardly new. However i've got to agree that it is beautiful music and very uplifting.

I loved Pam and Jon's Elton John Free a few years back....I doubt Penny and Nick will get close to that standard. But one can hope

[Morelli]

I loved Pam and Jon's Elton John Free a few years back....I doubt Penny and Nick will get close to that standard. But one can hope

Totally agree on Pam and Jon's Elton John free. A beautiful programme, beautifully skated.
I'm sure that Penny and Nick will do a good job as well, I really liked the way they moved to their FD music last year, and the free dance these days is a different animal to the year Pam and John skated so well. They may or not have been able to do Pam and Jon's particular choreography to the same standard, but I am positive their own will be excellent.

[Icecaptain]

Richard and Sophie have improved leaps and bounds, I enjoyed watching them at the JGP, I think that Josh and Charlotte were good but not a huge improvement from last years JGP

What has happened to the Cowards, last place, not a good result for the most experienced Junior couple we have. The ladies and men's did well, our pairs were one but last, so overall we are getting better.

[Icecaptain]

[QUOTE=penybrec;2878903]

Feedback from the Brasov JGP about Sophie and Richard was extremely positive! It was generally felt that they'd made great improvements this season, yet the marks didn't reflect the improvements. They were clearly under marked and deserved to be placed higher!
[/QUOTE
The fighting spirit Sophie and Richard have shown over the last few years will surely get them through. They seem a mentally strong team who support eachother. Sheffield JGP should be interesting lets hope they bounce back

Hello penybrec, I was replying back to you but I clicked on the wrong button
My post is up above.

[Ziggy]

Extremely depressing result for Stacey and David in Nice.

It's going to be an extremely tough season for them but I hope they continue going for the 3twist and sbs 2axels in competition. They need to finally get the experience of trying those elements in their programs and they will get there eventually.

[Jayne]

Spent the afternoon watching the dance events at the Deeside IJS and can report an afternoon of good performances. Really not sure about this short dance though, some couples skated the Viennese waltz to some "interesting!" musical choices (Crisp and Wallis to Bryan Adams' Have you ever loved a woman?) and 4 of the 5 junior couples went for tango music for the non-Vienese waltz section. Aitken & Whidbourne were the class act of the junior field in both sections, although there were some wobbly moments, especially on twizzles and step sequence in the short dance. But overall their speed over the ice, smoothness, and lifts will make them the team to beat at nationals. Surprisingly enjoyed Wray & Finnerty's short dance to a Tom Jones medley with leopard print tie and and lady's underskirt! and Bagnall & Shanahan's free dance which was very smooth looking indeed.

Walden & Edwards were the only competitors in the senior event and are clearly going for the elegant, romantic look this year, judging by their short dance and free dance (with a costume change halfway through the free!).

[joe]

Extremely depressing result for Stacey and David in Nice.

It's going to be an extremely tough season for them but I hope they continue going for the 3twist and sbs 2axels in competition. They need to finally get the experience of trying those elements in their programs and they will get there eventually.

I agree it will be a tough season for Stacey and David but hopefully after 4-5 seasons out internationally they will now keep trying the harder elements and not revert back but battle on attempting in competition until achieved. The British championship I would imagine will be theirs again for although they do have competition in Sally Riding and Jakub Safranek I doubt they yet have the fitness as yet to be a danger, I am pleased to see Sally back out there, for those who don`t know she has suffered a serious form of anaemia with complications causing a chemical imbalance for over 12 months and this forced her to be partially bedridden for 6 months. She is still fighting to regain fitness as has yet not beaten the anaemia so I applaud her to be competing when they can only train short sessions and is unable to do very much off ice fitness for we know how much strength work a pairs girl needs and obviously for them both stamina. I have on occasions over the years seen Sally train both with Jake Bennett and Jakub and have seen her perform double axels and throw triples so hopefully this couple at only 18years/22 years have the potential and will be back at full fitness next season.

[Ziggy]

It's so sad to hear what happened to Sally.

Fortunately she is still very young and hopefully will be able to return to form soon.

[sandfacer]

It's so sad to hear what happened to Sally.

Fortunately she is still very young and hopefully will be able to return to form soon.

i have just heard at deeside they have just had an excellent short program and have scored higher than david and stacey have all season think the british may not be a forgone conclution
just heard it was also a personal best score congratulations

[miffy]

i have just heard at deeside they have just had an excellent short program and have scored higher than david and stacey have all season think the british may not be a forgone conclution
just heard it was also a personal best score congratulations

Very well done to them, I am pleased to hear Sally is better, she is such a nice girl.

I wouldn't count out Stacey and David out as far as the British Championships goes - I have to admit I was shocked both years that Erica and Robert did not win (I think they won the free but not overall?) as they had the triple jumps, but potential does not always mean a win... great to have more competition in British pairs though!