The Shibutanis Thread 4: Ready for Paradise

[gk_891]

It's funny that you would say that gk891, I am a long-time fan of K/P for precisely those reasons. I liked D/D, but he was a far better skater than she, whereas K/P were equally strong. B/B never appealed to me and are my least favorite World/Olympic ice dance team ever. They were so over the top and did not have the skating skills to match their uber dramas on ice.

I too disliked B&B for a long time. But in the past couple of years, I've come to realize that many of their compulsories were amazing. However, they never really transferred those skating skills to their OSPs or FDs. Instead, there was a ton of heaving, dramatic snap action, and facial expressions galore. When looking at their compulsories, they were perhaps capable of better.

With K&P, she started off well below his level. But she worked hard to catch up to him and with time, they became more evenly matched. But above and beyond their beautifully clinical skating skills, the range of steps, edges, and handholds that they demonstrated in their programs was astonishing. They are one of my favourite ice dance couples of all time (along with Torvill & Dean and Grishuk & Platov).

 

[VGThuy]

Shibs getting some mainstream attention outside of NBC and Team USA. This time from PopSugar (that site is most famous among skating fans for the Surya Bonaly piece that agitated many of us fans for its slant and inaccuracies but was a hit with non-skating fans).

Meet the Adorable Team USA Brother-Sister Duo Going for the Gold in Ice Dancing

ETA: I didn't know their grandmother was born in South Korea.

 

[chapis]

Shibs getting some mainstream attention outside of NBC and Team USA. This time from PopSugar (that site is most famous among skating fans for the Surya Bonaly piece that agitated many of us fans for its slant and inaccuracies but was a hit with non-skating fans).

Meet the Adorable Team USA Brother-Sister Duo Going for the Gold in Ice Dancing

ETA: I didn't know their grandmother was born in South Korea.

I wonder if is their grandmother who lives with them. I hope she can go to the olympics in Korea with them.

And what a cute picture with Lily and Po.

 

[chapis]

They are in Dallas

• shibsibs: We’re in Dallas for the @galleriadallasiceskating Tree Lighting Celebration! If you’re in the area, come watch us perform saturday night! Show starts at 6pm!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcv79__hT_Y/?taken-by=shibsibs by the way, what a beautiful christmas tree
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcv3R26F6am/?taken-by=maiashibutani

 

[Rukia]

I woke up my husband and told him we needed to be at the Galleria before 6pm to see the Shibs. He just stared at me. I'll be impressed if they can do much there though. That rink is tiny, and it's half taken up by that giant tree.

 

[chapis]

I woke up my husband and told him we needed to be at the Galleria before 6pm to see the Shibs. He just stared at me. I'll be impressed if they can do much there though. That rink is tiny, and it's half taken up by that giant tree.

yay!!, good job .

eta 1. I miss their instagram live as usual, thanks God for this user https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r98NI6uTsHI

 

[Laura4]

The Shibs made the list of People Magazine's 12 Hottest Athletes to watch at Winter Olympics!

http://people.com/sports/2018-winter-olympic-athletes-to-watch/1-snowboarder-jamie-anderson

 

[MRani]

I woke up my husband and told him we needed to be at the Galleria before 6pm to see the Shibs. He just stared at me. I'll be impressed if they can do much there though. That rink is tiny, and it's half taken up by that giant tree.

You get Mr. Rukia (that sounds strange, can we give him a Bleach character name too? Lol) onboard and to the Galleria to see the Shibs! Hopefully it’ll still be worth seeing them even if they can’t skate much.

 

[VGThuy]

What I noticed about the Insta live is that Maia seemed very chipper, animated, and excited. I know I shouldn't, but I really hope Alex is feeling better about the GPF. I don't know why I'm so worried about him, but I am. They're like my children or something...even though I'm only a few years older than Alex.

 

[MRani]

What I noticed about the Insta live is that Maia seemed very chipper, animated, and excited. I know I shouldn't, but I really hope Alex is feeling better about the GPF. I don't know why I'm so worried about him, but I am. They're like my children or something...even though I'm only a few years older than Alex.

I’m not even older than Alex and they feel like my children too LOL (I am older than Maia though so it’s ok right?!). I blame all the adorable baby video clips and pictures they post.

I think it’s natural to worry about them when you’ve been following their careers for so long and want the best for them. For me, it’s also easier to worry this time because it’s so unusual to see one of them struggle so visibly and to see them look so upset in the KnC. I feel like we got the opposite moment of the 2016 Nationals KnC at GPF.

There was an insta live? I missed it
But good to hear Maia is in high spirits. I think that’s a good sign and hopefully that also means that Alex has bounced back strong! He’s been posting pretty regularly too.

 

[Spun Silver]

The Shibs made the list of People Magazine's 12 Hottest Athletes to watch at Winter Olympics!

http://people.com/sports/2018-winter-olympic-athletes-to-watch/1-snowboarder-jamie-anderson

That's fabulous! Wonderful pic of them too. Congratulations, Maia and Alex!

 

[Mrs. P]

Definitely not old enough to be either of their parents. Maybe an auntie.

I feel like GPF is nothing, TBH. Enduring as a ShibSibs fan circa 2012-2015 seemed way worse to me. People were talking about every U.S. junior team/senior team that was going to unseat them. Never happened.

 

[Spun Silver]

Shibs getting some mainstream attention outside of NBC and Team USA. This time from PopSugar (that site is most famous among skating fans for the Surya Bonaly piece that agitated many of us fans for its slant and inaccuracies but was a hit with non-skating fans).

Meet the Adorable Team USA Brother-Sister Duo Going for the Gold in Ice Dancing

ETA: I didn't know their grandmother was born in South Korea.

Ah, now the world has been introduced to the Shib Family Archive's endless stash of adorable baby pix and vids. I predict loads of crushing on these two, just like us.

 

[Mrs. P]

I am impressed with the amount of documentation the Shib parentals did. I mean honestly, it was much harder in the 1990s cause you have one of those unweldy camcorders. I am so thankful that I don't have to deal with those things now.

Also, Maia is honestly like 1.5 going on 30. I mean...that girl had vocabulary from the start.

 

[DreamsofBliss]

Shibs getting some mainstream attention outside of NBC and Team USA. This time from PopSugar (that site is most famous among skating fans for the Surya Bonaly piece that agitated many of us fans for its slant and inaccuracies but was a hit with non-skating fans).

Meet the Adorable Team USA Brother-Sister Duo Going for the Gold in Ice Dancing

ETA: I didn't know their grandmother was born in South Korea.

PopSugar also did some videos with Meryl Davis this year. Apparently, she has a connection there. (This was my favorite of those videos.)

anyway I do think PopSugar Fitness was at the media summit. Cute article!

 

[chapis]

You get Mr. Rukia (that sounds strange, can we give him a Bleach character name too? Lol) onboard and to the Galleria to see the Shibs! Hopefully it’ll still be worth seeing them even if they can’t skate much.

it would be great if they skate their circular step seq around the tree

What I noticed about the Insta live is that Maia seemed very chipper, animated, and excited. I know I shouldn't, but I really hope Alex is feeling better about the GPF. I don't know why I'm so worried about him, but I am. They're like my children or something...even though I'm only a few years older than Alex.

I know, when you compare to Alex with other ice dancers, he does not make mistakes often, but when you compare him with Maia, well, it is another story, I hope he understand that Maia is the best female ice dancer and that it's not good to compare himself to her.

There was an insta live? I missed it
.

I missed it too but someome uploaded it to YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r98NI6uTsHI

Practice in Dallas https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcx94UZl8Xl/?tagged=maiashibutani

 

[MRani]

it would be great if they skate their circular step seq around the tree.

I missed it too but someome uploaded it to YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r98NI6uTsHI

Practice in Dallas https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcx94UZl8Xl/?tagged=maiashibutani

Thank you for the links! That was fun to watch. Cool idea about the circular step sequence around the tree haha.

 

[teacakes]

I too refer to the Shibs as my children even though Alex needs to call me lmao. Sending mixed messages is my M.O.

 

[Jessica]

You guys make me feel really old. I refer to the Shibs as my grand children.

 

[chapis]

I just saw that Maia and Alex started to follow the account Beijing2022 in twitter. Although I know that they are very enthusiastic about the Olympics in general, winter and summer, I hope it means that they want to compete in Beijing 2022.

The event in Dallas went very well http://almightysempai.tumblr.com/post/168627124657/got-to-see-maia-alex-shibutani-and-ryan-bradley, https://www.instagram.com/p/Bczq5qZFO_c/?taken-by=maiashibutani, https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcz0XMADusE/?taken-by=alexshibutani, https://twitter.com/RETIZ7/status/942216214457315329, https://twitter.com/shinamoroo/status/942210754559832065

it seems that they skated a Christmas song, someone on instagram said it sounded like a Latin Christmas song

 

[VGThuy]

The USFS posted a Shibs video titled "Reaching Paradise":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCB3VD0dGhc

 

[VGThuy]

Clip of their Galleria performance to "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year":

https://twitter.com/Marina9sg8/status/943656299014868992

Seeing them skate in a circle made me dizzy. I appreciated all the changes in direction though.

 

[Spun Silver]

Clip of their Galleria performance to "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year":

https://twitter.com/Marina9sg8/status/943656299014868992

Seeing them skate in a circle made me dizzy. I appreciated all the changes in direction though.

That clip is ludicrous. I hate that venue! Great tree, great ice for skating for fun, but a horrible space for performing! I can't believe so many great skaters perform there and not, for instance, in the great state of New Jersey with all our normal rinks!

That said, the Shibs look great as always. What little I could see of them.

 

[MRani]

Clip of their Galleria performance to "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year":

https://twitter.com/Marina9sg8/status/943656299014868992

Seeing them skate in a circle made me dizzy. I appreciated all the changes in direction though.

I find it hilarious and also kind of tragic that there is literally no possible viewing angle that allows you to see the whole performance. I’m sure they probably choreographed it so that interesting things happen in all 4 “quadrants” but still, I’d want to be able to see the rest of it!

The place looked pretty packed! It’s nice they had a good-sized audience. I appreciated the “wows” for their straight-line lift

 

[chapis]

The USFS posted a Shibs video titled "Reaching Paradise":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCB3VD0dGhc

Great clip, I love seeing them training.

That clip is ludicrous. I hate that venue! Great tree, great ice for skating for fun, but a horrible space for performing! I can't believe so many great skaters perform there and not, for instance, in the great state of New Jersey with all our normal rinks!

That said, the Shibs look great as always. What little I could see of them.

haha, I know, but Texas is always so far from big events, I was surprised by the amount of people in the place, considering that Maia and Alex are ice dancers.

I find it hilarious and also kind of tragic that there is literally no possible viewing angle that allows you to see the whole performance. I’m sure they probably choreographed it so that interesting things happen in all 4 “quadrants” but still, I’d want to be able to see the rest of it!

The place looked pretty packed! It’s nice they had a good-sized audience. I appreciated the “wows” for their straight-line lift

In Mexico city every winter is installed a huge ice rink and the inauguration is popular, they invite local skaters, so I can´t help to think that while the Shibs are skating around a tree, Donovan Carrillo is skating in this big rink with so many public , no offense I like Donovan but it is unfair, lol

https://imgur.com/a/ZCu3n
https://imgur.com/a/kn7DA
https://imgur.com/a/nWhnm

 

[MRani]

In Mexico city every winter is installed a huge ice rink and the inauguration is popular, they invite local skaters, so I can´t help to think that while the Shibs are skating around a tree, Donovan Carrillo is skating in this big rink with so many public , no offense I like Donovan but it is unfair, lol

https://imgur.com/a/ZCu3n
https://imgur.com/a/kn7DA
https://imgur.com/a/nWhnm

That rink is beautiful!!! Now that’s a holiday rink done right

 

[chapis]

Okay, I can't stop watching the video that Maia posted https://www.instagram.com/p/BdB137lh21y/

She was the most adorable baby girl. And it is so cute she imitating to Alex. My little sister used to do the same, she repeated everything I said all the time. It was so annoying but now I think it is so cute, lol.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ That video is indeed sweetly addictive. Cuteness quotient to the rafters!

I love Maia & Alex! Go ShibSibs!!!
https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/943569393904054272

ETA:
Oops, I just noticed the above clip was already posted earlier.

 

[GloriaW]

A loving Xmas present to #ShibSquad fans. Incredible turnout, the place literally looks packed to the rafters, including with fans who came specifically to see them perform, including one who drove 4 hours!

Shibsibs vlog 54/ Skating Around a Giant Christmas Tree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pErOsCtxtIo

 

[Cayuse]

Thank you for sharing the Christmas Tree blog. It is no surprise they are a fan favorite!