The Dance Hall 5: Ice Dance Fans 2017-2018

[Marta24]

So where was that video taken from? I mean what competition was it?

The skated at one of the Russian Cup competition in Kazan in order to qualify for Nationals. They won overall, but lost the Free Dance to Morozova/Bagin.

 

[Amantide]

The skated at one of the Russian Cup competition in Kazan in order to qualify for Nationals. They won overall, but lost the Free Dance to Morozova/Bagin.

Thanks Marta.
Just watched the SD. That was better. I didn't even know they had one. Last time I saw they only skated part of the FD.
Not a fan of Sartacus tbh, and I am not sure that going with a grand music is the right choice. But whateva, as I said I'm waiting to see these two next season.

 

[chapis]

Well, not at in GP and who knows about Europeans, but I don't think so. They are a very new couple so I really don't know how they come into this discussion.
Anyway, thanks for the video. I had no idea they were competing anywhere but if it makes you happy, Spartacus does bore too.
Seriously though, that was blah. But I'm not expecting much this season. I'll see next one.

It just catched my attention that you did not like anyone but you said good things about them. It is a shame you dont like anyone. Especially becsuse it is olympic season.

 

[Amantide]

It just catched my attention that you did not like anyone but you said good things about them. It is a shame you dont like anyone. Especially becsuse it is olympic season.

Read again. I didn't said I don't like anyone. I said MOST programs bored me. But, if it helps, your Shibs are not among those. Touchy much?
Anton&Elena are a new couple, and when I say they have potential it's just that. It remains to be seen what they will become. Some context, please.

 

[chapis]

Read again. I didn't said I don't like anyone. I said MOST programs bored me. But, if it helps, your Shibs are not among those. Touchy much?
Anton&Elena are a new couple, and when I say they have potential it's just that. It remains to be seen what they will become. Some context, please.

Ok . I can breath now

 

[Amantide]

Ok

 

[shan]

How did pairs get in the dance thread? Because surely no one else can simply be called "Elena and Anton," right?

YES!!!

 

[bbkenn]

agree and this is where they took inspiration https://tessaandscotttrash.tumblr.com/post/167294093368/balletfever89-so-we-were-able-to-find-some

Wow, that's awesome!!

 

[Dobre]

A few things I'm looking forward to during the dance events this weekend:

1. The head-to-head between Weaver & Poje and Chock & Bates. As, I mentioned in the GPF Dance thread, these two teams have split results half of their last 10 matchups over the past three years. It's a big matchup. A win guarantees you a spot in the GPF. A loss and a low score puts you in danger within the tie-breaker.

W&P have a high home score from Canada so they are in a good position heading into the event, even if they wind up in a tie-breaker; but you know W&P want this win. It would set them up very well for the rest of the season, giving them a head-to-head win over Chock & Bates and Hubbell & Donohue, and essentially setting them up ahead of everyone except the three medalists from last year's Worlds podium.

C&B have a lower score, skating away from home and leaving some points on the table in their first event in China. They are certainly capable of besting Bobrova & Soloviev's total here; but with C&L skating late and with a higher first-event score, the best way into the Final for C&B is to best W&P here. And, likewise, if C&B achieve that, they will have set themselves up well against the rest of the field outside the three medalists on last year's Worlds podium. C&B have a very tough battle ahead at home. You know they want this win & that GPF berth.

Neither team can afford to implode.


2. Much less high-profile, but capable of being a lot of fun. The Warsaw Cup Challenger event marks the first senior rematch between 5 of the 6 athletes that stood on the 2015 Junior World podium: Mozgov & his new partner; McNamara & Carpenter; and Nazarova & Nikitin. All five have had some great competitions and some tough competitions since 2015. All come in at a different stage of senior-level experience, but all also come in off a successful last competition. They may finish this event with other players in the midst, but I am still excited to see this particular head-to-head play out. And looking forward to seeing it play out many times in the future.

3. Watching to see how Stepanova & Bukin do in France. They had a disappointing season opener at Finlandia and a strong opening GP in Russia. How do S&B fair on neutral ground in France? Can they maintain the momentum from Rostelecom and set themselves up well against a later head-to-head with Sinitsina & Katsalapov? And can Stepanova & Bukin make some noise by besting any of the more decorated teams on the technical mark in France? Or will Guignard & Fabbri step back in S&B's path?

4. Looking forward to seeing Hurtado & Khaliavin at the Warsaw Cup. I like their FD this season, really enjoy the way Sara sells Don Quixote. This is a young field. A good place for a second-year partnership with two more-experienced athletes to make a splash.

 

[binbinwinwin]

Hurtado/Khaliavin are a team I like too however at Finlandia it seems they were missing an entire element from their FD. They were missing a choreographic element so I hope whatever the issue was, they have fixed it now. Their Don Quixote FD is really good.

 

[DreamsofBliss]

4. Looking forward to seeing Hurtado & Khaliavin at the Warsaw Cup. I like their FD this season, really enjoy the way Sara sells Don Quixote. This is a young field. A good place for a second-year partnership with two more-experienced athletes to make a splash.

Looking forward to it all but all my fingers and toes are crossed for an excellent competition for these two.

 

[Dobre]

Hurtado/Khaliavin are a team I like too however at Finlandia it seems they were missing an entire element from their FD. They were missing a choreographic element so I hope whatever the issue was, they have fixed it now. Their Don Quixote FD is really good.

Looking forward to it all but all my fingers and toes are crossed for an excellent competition for these two.

And Hurtado & Khaliavin are off the entry list this morning. Sigh. According to GS, due to "bureaucratic difficulties."
?????

Gosh, darn it!

 

[lauravvv]

So my big issues with V/M's FD is the lack of cohesion between the to halves. I don't what they did, but their performance at NHK improved this significantly. It now comes off more as an awkward transition as opposed to two completely unrelated halves, like some really bad OD/SDs.

I like the tango part better, and feel like something is lacking from the slow part in terms of choreo until the ending part where Tessa is starting to die. But overall I find this change of moods and choreographic styles interesting and appropriate for the story. I would not want it to be all 'Tango de Roxanne' either despite liking that part better. It would be too simple and even somewhat shallow in comparison.

This is nitpicky, but the moment where Satine's voice comes in for the first time in the diagonal steps needs to be more emphasized by the choreography. Usually, this is what Marie-France does best with choreography, bringing out nuances in music, so I'm surprised this one was overlooked.

I agree with you about nuances. David Wilson choreographed this FD, though, not Marie-France. Still, I am sure that she had her input. I hope that those nuances will still be added, but it doesn't really look like that's going to happen. Currently V/M are obviously trying to perfect - both technically and in terms of expression - what they've got.

 

[Anyasnake]

I would not want it to be all 'Tango de Roxanne' either despite liking that part better. It would be too simple and even somewhat shallow in comparison.

I agree with you about nuances. David Wilson choreographed this FD, though, not Marie-France. Still, I am sure that she had her input.

Noooo, no it would be "simpler" in terms of choreo maybe but it would be SO difficult in execution. The stamina you would need for that ! And because of that their FD could even look sloppier in the end, whereas here it's clean.
I don't know if you watch pairs but Tarasova/Morozov's LP this year is litteraly them running around for 4+ minutes and I thought they were going to pop a lung, they looked dead.
That's just assumption of course (I have thought too about them doing just one part instead of both) but that would be so dangerous in terms of clean execution.
I think it's a 2-people, or 3 people work : David Wilson (primary choreo ans steps) + Marie-France (refining every detail) + Sam Chouinard (he does the body movements a lot).

 

[lauravvv]

Noooo, no it would be "simpler" in terms of choreo maybe but it would be SO difficult in execution. The stamina you would need for that ! And because of that their FD could even look sloppier in the end, whereas here it's clean.

I definitely did not mean simpler in the sense of "easier"/ simpler or less difficult in terms of execution or even choreography. I meant simpler and more shallow in terms of expression and mood - meaning, it would be too one-note (although I think it would not be so "simple" to keep the intensity of the expression as well as the intensity of skating and movements up throughout).

 

[GreenGan]

I was excited about Hurtado/Khaliavin when we first heard that they would be teaming up, but for now I've seen nothing but disappointment. Edges are not clean, it's still too early for them to look like a team, they're missing their twizzles (Sara ) all the time.. She's selling very well her program yes, but I don't see anything revolutionnary in artistic too.

I still prefer them over Smart/Diaz but so far on the cleanliness of execution and the feeling of seeing a couple skate they are not on the level of S/D. And their sloppiness doesn't help them stress their superior Skating Skills.

 

[chapis]

And Hurtado & Khaliavin are off the entry list this morning. Sigh. According to GS, due to "bureaucratic difficulties."
?????

Gosh, darn it!

God, at this point I think it will be a miracle if they make the olympic team

 

[MarieM]

I was excited about Hurtado/Khaliavin when we first heard that they would be teaming up, but for now I've seen nothing but disappointment. Edges are not clean, it's still too early for them to look like a team, they're missing their twizzles (Sara ) all the time.. She's selling very well her program yes, but I don't see anything revolutionnary in artistic too.

I still prefer them over Smart/Diaz but so far on the cleanliness of execution and the feeling of seeing a couple skate they are not on the level of S/D. And their sloppiness doesn't help them stress their superior Skating Skills.

They need to find another coaching situation, and fast.
That's all there is with them IMO of course.
Zhulin doesn't care about them, and it's probably better because when he does? You're Nikita's

 

[sap5]

I hope that those nuances will still be added, but it doesn't really look like that's going to happen. Currently V/M are obviously trying to perfect - both technically and in terms of expression - what they've got.

V/M had one week between SCI and NHK, so trying to perfect what they had was pretty much all that could be done in that time. I expect that they know changes need to be made, and those changes will be added between now and the Olympics. I just hope they are able to add enough changes between now and GPF to show their intention.

I definitely did not mean simpler in the sense of "easier"/ simpler or less difficult in terms of execution or even choreography. I meant simpler and more shallow in terms of expression and mood - meaning, it would be too one-note (although I think it would not be so "simple" to keep the intensity of the expression as well as the intensity of skating and movements up throughout).

Agree. This FD is very difficult because there are so many moods/concepts they are trying to express, yet it's not enough just to match the mood of the music -- the actual story must make sense.

 

[Anyasnake]

I definitely did not mean simpler in the sense of "easier"/ simpler or less difficult in terms of execution or even choreography. I meant simpler and more shallow in terms of expression and mood - meaning, it would be too one-note (although I think it would not be so "simple" to keep the intensity of the expression as well as the intensity of skating and movements up throughout).

I actually meant simpler in that sense too simpler like one-note.

 

[chapis]

They need to find another coaching situation, and fast.
That's all there is with them IMO of course.
Zhulin doesn't care about them, and it's probably better because when he does? You're Nikita's

If this is true, he is being stupid, because to achieve to qualify a team of yours, above one of Gadbois team, could give prestige to him. But I don´t know, apparently they choose him because of money, so maybe he is charging them too little and they have not another option.

 

[lauravvv]

I actually meant simpler in that sense too simpler like one-note.

Okay, I got it (I think) - wouldn't be simple/easy to keep this "one-note" (skating) tempo up throughout . Still, as I said, I didn't mean "easy". Or did you mean to say that just Tango de Roxanne wouldn't be one-note at all ? Of course, it wouldn't be completely one-note, just comparatively more so.

 

[Anyasnake]

Okay, I got it (I think) - wouldn't be simple/easy to keep this "one-note" (skating) tempo up throughout . Still, as I said, I didn't mean "easy". Or did you mean to say that just Tango de Roxanne wouldn't be one-note at all ? Of course, it wouldn't be completely one-note, just comparatively more so.

No no haha, I meant "easier for the choerographers" for example : instead of a full story, you're doing just one "tango". Of course Marie-France isn't the type to go for the simple choreo so she will dig into the weirdest ways possible to make that tango stand out, but for a random choreographer that might means looking for tango moves and that's it (hence the one-note).
But for the skaters, keeping such a fast tempo plus the sharpness for 4 straight minutes might be a living hell.

 

[sap5]

No no haha, I meant "easier for the choerographers" for example : instead of a full story, you're doing just one "tango". Of course Marie-France isn't the type to go for the simple choreo so she will dig into the weirdest ways possible to make that tango stand out, but for a random choreographer that might means looking for tango moves and that's it (hence the one-note).
But for the skaters, keeping such a fast tempo plus the sharpness for 4 straight minutes might be a living hell.

It could also be easier because it's one style of movement. To move convincingly from tango to ballet (at the very end) like they're doing is harder than staying within the same style. It's why some choreography changes are needed in that "Come What May" section. The transition right now isn't fully working.

 

[Anyasnake]

They need to find another coaching situation, and fast.
That's all there is with them IMO of course.
Zhulin doesn't care about them, and it's probably better because when he does? You're Nikita's

I don't understand : when Hurtado and Diaz split, Sara said that her new partner must agree to come to Montreal to train.
I don't think Gadbois would have refused them at all... right ? I know she still very much get along with Adria (the partnership wasn't working though) but maybe it would have been too weird to have them both in the rink... I mean Gadbois already has 2 out 3 Spanish teams.
Technically, they are better than Smart/Diaz but it doesn't show. And you can see that the environment in Montreal just works so much for them. If it had to be decided now, S/D would have the Spanish spot for sure.

 

[chapis]

I don't understand : when Hurtado and Diaz split, Sara said that her new partner must agree to come to Montreal to train.

maybe she did not know how difficult it would be to get a new partner, maybe she was not in a position to be exigent. Kirill is already married and maybe his wife does not want to move from Moscow.

 

[Anyasnake]

maybe she did not know how difficult it would be to get a new partner, maybe she was not in a position to be exigent. Kirill is already married and maybe his wife does not want to move from Moscow.

Yes I think that all factors must have worked against that anyway.

 

[MarieM]

maybe she did not know how difficult it would be to get a new partner, maybe she was not in a position to be exigent. Kirill is already married and maybe his wife does not want to move from Moscow.

Yup. He won't leave Russia.
But Zhulin already is bored of them, like he does with all his teams.

IMO they need to find a coach that would make them their number 1 priority, but IMO it's already too late this season to make a difference.

 

[her grace]

I wonder if Stepanova/Bukin can play spoiler in France, finish in the top 3, and throw a monkey wrench in the GP qualifications. It would be shocking, but there's already been a few shocking Russian dance results so far this season.

 

[Anyasnake]

I wonder if Stepanova/Bukin can play spoiler in France, finish in the top 3, and throw a monkey wrench in the GP qualifications. It would be shocking, but there's already been a few shocking Russian dance results so far this season.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do that in the SD, it could be a 1-point difference if, let's say, C/B or WeaPo don't get their levels and S/B compensate PCS by getting theirs. That is for now highely unlikely but who knows.
I also don't think we will see WeaPo get the same scores as they got in SCI (but I could be very much wrong).
The panel might be crucial for G/F against S/B and WeaPo against C/B.