The Dance Hall 6: We're All Off Our Rockers 2018-2019

[cocotaffy]

Oh, we care about authenticity for the SDs now?

No, authenticity doesn't mean much anyway but it could at least have couple of tango moves in it or reflect a certain tension/release, I mean even his costume screams torero rather than anything else. It looks like the choreographer got the memo wrong. It's all the more so disconcerting they skated a tango FD just couple of season ago, not a very good one but still.

 

[Icetigger]

No, authenticity doesn't mean much anyway but it could at least have couple of tango moves in it or reflect a certain tension/release, I mean even his costume screams torero rather than anything else. It looks like the choreographer got the memo wrong. It's all the more so disconcerting they skated a tango FD just couple of season ago, not a very good one but still.

Or actually be created around a tango rhythm rather than a Habanera. (it is after all, the RD now) A point which the spanishness of the whole programme, the lack of tango movement, and Edith Piaf singing "Carmen's Story" and yelling that phrase all underline- and it's the rhythm to me that is they key objection, everything else is just icing on the non appropriately flavoured cake.

On a separate note- opening the floodgates for Ice Dancers to do Carmen themed Tango RD programmes is not something I would want.....

I do find it funny that the top Russians in three disciplines are all doing Carmen programmes. Just T/M to go.....
although the postmodern quality of the song Carmen's story isn't really within the S/B interpretation here.

 

[caseyedwards]

Everyone is going to see how 200 is not a good score in ice dance anymore. Not win a medal at worlds level.

 

[firstflight]

Everyone is going to see how 200 is not a good score in ice dance anymore. Not win a medal at worlds level.

Well, last year's bronze medalists at worlds scored about 3.5 points lower in their premiere this season and last year's silver medalists at worlds scored about 3.4 points lower in their premiere. I have no idea why these fabulous Stepanova/Bukin Finlandia scores have you upset at all.

 

[caseyedwards]

Well, last year's bronze medalists at worlds scored about 3.5 points lower in their premiere this season and last year's silver medalists at worlds scored about 3.4 points lower in their premiere. I have no idea why these fabulous Stepanova/Bukin Finlandia scores have you upset at all.

The scoring in North American events tends to be real. Scoring in Europe is totally fake. But on the other hand with p/c getting 207 with goe maximum at 3 with goe at 5 they will get like over 210

 

[Ena Grins]

Everyone is going to see how 200 is not a good score in ice dance anymore. Not win a medal at worlds level.

It is literally the highest score recorded so far this year. The third highest belongs to Sinitsina/Katsalapov who, unless they changed countries in the last month without any of us noticing, also represent Russia (edit: Weaver/Poje have the third highest and S/K, the fourth, but my point stands). I'm not even a huge fan of either team, but wow, dude.

I kind of hope one of them wins a world medal just to see how you manage to spin it.

 

[Icetigger]

I think the Russians are bringing it this season. RD and rhythm aside, the free (S/B) is wonderful. Change that last lift though......

 

[mollymgr]

IMO S/B fill the void that was there in Russian ice dance after Elena and Nikita split.

 

[taz'smum]

It is literally the highest score recorded so far this year. The third highest belongs to Sinitsina/Katsalapov who, unless they changed countries in the last month without any of us noticing, also represent Russia (edit: Weaver/Poje have the third highest and S/K, the fourth, but my point stands). I'm not even a huge fan of either team, but wow, dude.

I kind of hope one of them wins a world medal just to see how you manage to spin it.

Ha ha, I look forward to hearing that a Russian team with a world medal is somehow a failure and all Russians are doomed unless they move to Montreal immediately!

 

[Ka3sha]

IMO S/B fill the void that was there in Russian ice dance after Elena and Nikita split.

I absolute love Stepanova’s look and attitude this season , but she will never have one thing that made Elena special (IMO) - one of the best SS in the field and those deep deep edges

 

[mollymgr]

I absolute love Stepanova’s look and attitude this season , but she will never have one thing that made Elena special (IMO) - one of the best SS in the field and those deep deep edges

But they bring their own style and are improving year by year. They try a variety of dance genres. I like that. They are not out to be someone else.

 

[Ka3sha]

But they bring their own style and are improving year by year. They try a variety of dance genres. I like that. They are not out to be someone else.

Agree. I may not like their FD (maybe just yet), but it suits them and shows their strengths.
I'm actually quite surprised with their progress this season. Same goes to SinKats. Both teams did a great job this off-season and have already showed that they are ready to compete at the highest level. And I can't wait to see Tiff&Jon.

 

[caseyedwards]

It is literally the highest score recorded so far this year. The third highest belongs to Sinitsina/Katsalapov who, unless they changed countries in the last month without any of us noticing, also represent Russia (edit: Weaver/Poje have the third highest and S/K, the fourth, but my point stands). I'm not even a huge fan of either team, but wow, dude.

I kind of hope one of them wins a world medal just to see how you manage to spin it.

Hard to imagine! Not Coached by Dubreuil or from US or Canada. Plus their SD twizzles level 1.

Ha ha, I look forward to hearing that a Russian team with a world medal is somehow a failure and all Russians are doomed unless they move to Montreal immediately!

 

[Ena Grins]

IMO S/B fill the void that was there in Russian ice dance after Elena and Nikita split.

I do think S/B look very good this year. I like their RD a lot (despite not being a tango, I thought it looked precise and was performed well). I'm not as big a fan of their FD because I'm realizing I'm not a huge fan of blues programs. I did really enjoy their rotational lift and choreographic twizzles at the end.

I'm interested to see how the rankings shake out over the course of the Grand Prix. Right now there are a bunch of teams who IMO have a reasonable shot at the Worlds podium alongside Papadakis/Cizeron, whom we haven't seen yet.

 

[casken]

I hated S&B's FD a few weeks ago when they first skated it, but I have to admit Finlandia was miles better and actually held my interest the whole way through.

Between them, W&P, G&P, G&F, and even some random teams like Fear/Gibson, this season's FDs are already more promising than last year's crop.

 

[Dobre]

I knew I would like this FD. I've always thought S&B did blues well. They skated to it the year they won Junior Worlds and also for their Blues/hip hop program in 16-17. Both very successful programs for them.

I've thought for years that this season would be the one for Stepanova & Bukin to make a run at the podium, and nothing has happened to change my mind. (Don't wait for Worlds to be in Montreal next year. Get it done this season). But it won't be S&B's scores at Finlandia Trophy that will get them there.

The GOE on those twizzles is likely to be a separator for S&B. But still the level 3 footwork sequences. They're eventually going to need to shatter that ceiling, I think. Either this season or in the future. Great start, though.

 

[Bigbird]

People please a score of 120 + is simply the equivalent of anywhere between 108 or 110 from last year. The guys are where they should be. Shouldn't they be improving with each year? The maximum score this year is 137!!

Yes, Anna and Luca have retired, so have B/S and W/P are sitting out the GP, and the Shibs are out for this season at the very least. So yeah, we're gonna have new couples in the winner's circle. That's the way it is.

Regardless of the scores though I must say I really liked SB's RD. OTOH their FD does nothing for me. It comes across as all glam and very little heart.

What Russia needs is a team that actually combines the best qualities of both S/K and S/B. Ivan is a great partner, Sasha is a fierce performer and good dancer, Katsalapov has great musicality and Sinitsina is a hard worker.

Just the way I see it.

Now it's time to see P/C and C/B and H/B right? Who else am I missing?

 

[Dobre]

Zagorski & Guerreiro and Skoptcova & Aleshin

 

[firstflight]

People please a score of 120 + is simply the equivalent of anywhere between 108 or 110 from last year. The guys are where they should be. Shouldn't they be improving with each year? The maximum score this year is 137!!

I don’t think anyone in this thread is marveling at the score itself; we know about the change. The point was that relative to W/P, G/P, and H/D, S/B’s scores here are just fine for first competition out.

 

[Bigbird]

I don’t think anyone in this thread is marveling at the score itself; we know about the change. The point was that relative to W/P, G/P, and H/D, S/B’s scores here are just fine for first competition out.

Yeah. But honestly, it feels like the 2017 worlds all over again. The judges sort of just bunched everyone together with the exception of the top two, which I feel are still H/D and P/C. To be frank the only team whose FD impressed me so far are P2. But I think everyone's just hungry to fill the voids left.

 

[VGThuy]

It would be funny if Davis/White decided to come back and set up base in Gadbois and they surprised people a la V/M back in 2016-2017 and everybody moved down a spot (except P/C) and then the whole thing starts over again.

 

[Dobre]

Updating the list after the past two weekends with teams that have received a YY for the rocker portion of the pattern in international competition:

Guignard & Fabbri at Lombardia.
The Parsons at the Asian Open and Lake Placid International.
McNamara & Carpenter at Nepela and Lake Placid International.
Turkkila & Versluis at Nepela.
Tessari & Fioretti at Nepela.
Muller & Dieck at Nepela.
Wang & Liu at Autumn Classic. (Wang & Liu had YYYY across the first part of the pattern).
Carreira & Ponomarenko at Nebelhorn. (C&P had YYYY across the first part of the pattern).
Gilles & Poirier at Nebelhorn.

There weren't any at Finlandia.

Wang & Liu have the highest levels on the pattern thus far with a 4 & 3 at Autumn Classic (which I find interesting as they had level 1s for both at the Asian Open). Guess that is a sign that everyone should keep at it.

 

[firstflight]

The most stunning result from Finlandia IMO is Turkkila/Versluis finishing 5th, and smashing their previous personal best in the FD by 11 points. Obviously there’s a home country bump but their base value was actually a touch higher at Nepela. Both GOE and PCS ascended to a different tier here. They had a smattering of +4’s and two +5’s here, which is a completely different plane than where they were before Finlandia. PCS total in the FD went up more than 4 points.

I’ll be really interested to see where they settle at the end of this season.

 

[believed]

Are there links to s/b’s RD & FD? So sorry if this has been answered already, I looked back to when they were first brought up and didn’t see any (I think).

 

[Dobre]

Are there links to s/b’s RD & FD?

You can search them on youtube & they will come right up. "2018 Finlandia Stepanova Bukin."

 

[believed]

You can search them on youtube & they will come right up. "2018 Finlandia Stepanova Bukin."

Yesss thank you!

 

[EYGH]

I just watched S/B.

Kudos to them for finishing their RD as strong with that akward and very long interruption in the middle of their dance.
I have a hard time with this team because, although they are very elegant, have each beautiful long lines that I like very much and have improved a lot skating wise, as far as the lifts are concerned there is a body mismatch and an unbalance IMO.
Also that RD doesn't have any tango flavor for me and her dress while gorgeous is not in the theme spanish or tango.

Their FD is ok.

 

[taz'smum]

Zagorski & Guerreiro and Skoptcova & Aleshin

Both teams have had to deal with injuries, so their preparations have been impacted

 

[muffinplus]

I'm not really a fan of S/B FD yet...too much arm flailing in the choreography

 

[nimi]

Gotta say, I really enjoyed the Finlandia FD comp. (The Finnish TV broadcasted the top 8 yesterday). Nice variety of program styles.

The most stunning result from Finlandia IMO is Turkkila/Versluis finishing 5th, and smashing their previous personal best in the FD by 11 points. Obviously there’s a home country bump but their base value was actually a touch higher at Nepela. Both GOE and PCS ascended to a different tier here. They had a smattering of +4’s and two +5’s here, which is a completely different plane than where they were before Finlandia. PCS total in the FD went up more than 4 points.

I’ll be really interested to see where they settle at the end of this season.

Agreed! I don't think anybody could have predicted that T/V would be less than 1 point away from Soucisse/Firus in the FD portion! Sure, that was in large part because S/F made a couple of costly errors and got hit in the TES, but still.

I enjoy Juulia so much more now as an ice dancer than I ever did as a singles skater. I’m also impressed how much Matthias has improved since last season; he looks like an actual ice dancer now. And I love this FD's style and construction and thought it’s a good fit for them stylistically. Her ballet training really shines through. In the performance side, it’s pretty impressive how they managed to smooth things out in these few weeks since their somewhat shaky Lombardia debut. (Although the curved lift where Matthias is on 1 foot and Juulia is upside down still scares me.) They did look a lot more comfortable with their FD here.

I also enjoyed the young Russians (Shpilevaya/Smirnov) that finished fifth. They create such interesting body shapes in their FD. I’m rooting for them now!

Btw, is there a nick name for them or something? Calling them ”S/S” in writing just seems… dunno, somewhat cryptic.

As far as Russia#1 goes, I’m glad that S/B finally got a FD that I actually can fully enjoy. Last season, parts of the music cut and the overall schmaltziness kinda ruined it for me... So yeah, I’m happy that this year they chose to be bold & fast & dramatic while Beth Hart is singing her heart out. Works for me! I really think this style of program suits Alexandra’s dramatic arm flailing better than e.g. the not particularly memorable tango FD they did a couple of seasons ago (btw, not a fan of their current tango RD either).

I’m digging the Smart/Diaz Beatles FD, too. Well deserved silver here. But I was surprised that based on the protocol, it looks like almost half of the judges didn’t notice that obvious error in the straight line lift where she almost got dropped onto the ice and kicked him in the head. I mean, plus twos and threes for that? Nice save, but Romain's facial expression says it all...