The Dance Hall 7: Tripping the Light Fantastic 2019-2020

[Bigbird]

Btw what is the story S/K are trying to portray in their FD? Is it about remembering your dead love or something completely else?

This ranter is absolutely clueless. If I knew that I'd have something else to rant about.

 

[Bigbird]

I don't think Zhulin's programs are usually that awful - of course, he had several big misses (Bobrova/Soloviev's FD in 2014 being the biggest one), but the same can be said about most top coaches - Shpilband, Krylova, Morozov, Zhuk and even Zueva..
Montreal team is usually an exception, but don't forget that Hubbell/Donohue's R&J program also came from that coaching team

As for SinKats, I truly enjoy their Rhythm Dance, it is one of my favorite s so far. I don't think that it's a better program than P/C's one (which I also enjoy) or that they can challenge the French with this program. Most importantly for them, their RD can help them to ensure their #2/#3 position in the World. Yes, we haven't seen Stepanova/Bukin and Hubbell/Donohue yet but given their music choices (H/D) and some technical limitations (S/B), I highly doubt that they will have better rhythm dances (with better scoring potential) than what we have seen from SinKats.

I also hoped for something different for Victoria/Nikita this season - either a classical blues or some true Russian drama. Their current Free Dance is on the line between being completely boring and quite catchy. In the beginning of the season it is definitely closer to the former one, but as the season progresses and when they add cleanliness to their movements, speed and power the program may look much better, especially from the arena.
That's why I believe that in the end teams like SinKats and Hubbell/Donohue will always have an edge over other teams like Chock/Bates or Gilles/Poirier, who may have more interesting choreo but lack some quality and skating skills.
Still hate that straight line 'knee' lift and hope they change it, though..

Yes please.

 

[Fairuza]

This ranter is absolutely clueless. If I knew that I'd have something else to rant about.

I remember reading Zhulin’s interview about her being depressed and even suicidal and him saving her with the power of her love.

 

[allezfred]

You are all going to regret encouraging Zhulin to indulge himself, next season he should have S/K tell the story of his own fateful love triangle, with Nikita as himself and Victoria as both Usova and Pasha.

That sounds amazeballs. Can we crowdfund it?

 

[Aerobicidal]

You are all going to regret encouraging Zhulin to indulge himself, next season he should have S/K tell the story of his own fateful love triangle, with Nikita as himself and Victoria as both Usova and Pasha.

Now I'm imagining Sinitsina dressed as a cigarette smoking witch at the beginning of the program, and then there's a costume change and she becomes Pasha as Marilyn Monroe lip syncing "Happy Birthday" and flashing her landing strip.

This is going to change ice dance forever. I think I'm going to go write a slam poem about it.

 

[Miloune]

Shocking news out of Hollywood, the Wachowskis sisters are taking everyone by surprise: "the Uber Matrix" is to be the title of their upcoming fourth installment of the Matrix series set in the unforgiving world of figure skating fans. Starring P/C, the golden couple trying to change the mere fabric of the Ice dance Matrix thanks to a trashy yet chic attempt at Fame and a cloying yet somehow mesmerizing slam dunk poetry. Featuring S/K, the redeemed couple taking over Russian ice dance one RD at a time yet near missing their FDs (at least for now). And the US and Canadian ice dance scene full of intrigue and potential upsets: will twos become the new ones? Supporting roles by Marie-France Dubreuil as Oracle and Romain Hagenauer as Morpheus. Of course, Carol Lane as Agent Smith along with Zhulin as Agent Brown and the fans as all the agent clones.

Carol Lane as Agent Smith omgggg ?????

 

[Bigbird]

I remember reading Zhulin’s interview about her being depressed and even suicidal and him saving her with the power of her love.

Seriously? She seems just as depressed if not more so at the end.

 

[dramagrrl]

It's funny how much taste in ice dance (supported or not by various levels of knowledge about the technical elements) varies. I think C/B's FD is dreadful, while P/C's FD is my favourite of theirs since To Build a Home. I think the spoken word poem is pretentious as hell by itself, but somehow they make it work when combined with their skating.

 

[Bigbird]

It's funny how much taste in ice dance (supported or not by various levels of knowledge about the technical elements) varies. I think C/B's FD is dreadful, while P/C's FD is my favourite of theirs since To Build a Home. I think the spoken word poem is pretentious as hell by itself, but somehow they make it work when combined with their skating.

I really wanted to be on board with C/B's FD. But on reviewing it several times, it needs a bit more drive and power also the music more or less stays at the same level for way too long and it seems to only superficially build at the end. IMHO, a piece like this needs more drama of either the Baiul or Ilinykh type that Maddie just does not have. Does their size difference hinder their ability to generate power? This is a genuine question not the typical hysterics I'm prone to.

 

[Ladida]

I remember reading Zhulin’s interview about her being depressed and even suicidal and him saving her with the power of her love.

I love how Zhulin is a realist and he knows that power of Nikita's love would not save her
But the first pose and the last one looks like Victoria is already dead, so I am surprise that it is about depression.

 

[suki]

Now I'm imagining Sinitsina dressed as a cigarette smoking witch at the beginning of the program, and then there's a costume change and she becomes Pasha as Marilyn Monroe lip syncing "Happy Birthday" and flashing her landing strip.

This is going to change ice dance forever. I think I'm going to go write a slam poem about it.

Oh, good. Let's use it in a free dance.

 

[nuge]

Why can't a team skate to something like Night on bald mountain? Remember the cycling moves and the handbag lift ? Popova/Mozgov come to mind

 

[deegee]

Why can't a team skate to something like Night on bald mountain? Remember the cycling moves and the handbag lift ? Popova/Mozgov come to mind

i love that program!

 

[aftershocks]

From Zhulin's interview as linked by @Gris:
"I was looking for such a music for the free program in which Nikita wouldn’t 'jump out of his pants'..."

Uh, errm, okay.

Apparently, Zhulin found the music, Vika perservered, Nikita calmed himself down to a lesser flashpoint, plus V&N worked harder, fans rallied, Shibs took extended & likely permanent time-out, V/M, B/S, C/L, W/P, et al retired, and Rusfed politics took over the rest of the necessities, thus slam-dunking Vik/Nik's hefty scoring transformation that began last season.

 

[aftershocks]

Cross-posting from Canadian pairs thread. @Sylvia share this great interview from ice-dance.com with Hugo Chouinard!

Hugo Chouinard (here's a recent Q&A with him): https://www.ice-dance.com/site/hugo-chouinard-the-man-behind-the-music/

Lots of interesting and enlightening info in this interview about music selection and editing, and about Chouinard's career, plus blasts from the past. I don't remember Chouinard from his ice dancing career, but I spotted Patch Lauzon in this group podium photo, standing next to a young lady who was probably his first partner, Marisa Gravino:

https://i1.wp.com/www.ice-dance.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Podium-Hugo.jpg?w=450&ssl=1

Lauzon is to the left and Chouinard in the center with his partner, Elizabeth Hollett Shackett. So I looked up Lauzon's bio and discovered he also skated with Chantal Lefebvre before teaming with Marie-France Dubreuil in 1995. Lauzon was 20 and Dubreuil was 21, About five years later (after their coaches retired), they moved to France to train under Muriel Boucher-Zazoui, who was also coaching Romain Haguenauer. All three: Haguenauer, Dubreuil and Lauzon are about a year apart in their ages respectively, so they are now all only in their early 40s.

Dubreuil was partnered with Tomas Morbacher and Bruno Yvars before she teamed with her future husband, Lauzon. With Yvars, Dubreuil won the bronze medal at the 1990 World Junior championships. Another photo from the article shows the 1994-95 Canadian National Team.
https://i2.wp.com/www.ice-dance.com...08/1994-1995-NATIONAL-TEAM-BW.jpg?w=957&ssl=1

Dubreuil is kneeling to the far left in the second row, likely with her former partner, Yvars. I also spot Jamie Sale to the far right, back row; Hugo Chouinard in the front row center with his partner; and King Elvis Stojko to the far right in the first row. Oh yeah, how could I forget that I also spotted Bourne & Kraatz behind Elvis!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lauzon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-France_Dubreuil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Haguenauer

Long live Gadbois! And thank God for Canada's important contributions to figure skating!

 

[Bigbird]

From Zhulin's interview as linked by @Gris:
"I was looking for such a music for the free program in which Nikita wouldn’t 'jump out of his pants'..."

Uh, errm, okay.

Apparently, Zhulin found the music, Vika perservered, Nikita calmed himself down to a lesser flashpoint, plus V&N worked harder, fans rallied, Shibs took extended & likely permanent time-out, V/M, B/S, C/L, W/P, et al retired, and Rusfed politics took over the rest of the necessities, thus slam-dunking Vik/Nik's hefty scoring transformation that began last season.

If only he calmed down somewhat in this years RD, he truly makes it look messy and uninspired as he's just rushing through the choreography. The execution of this years material also IMHO cannot compete with the SD he did in 2014.

 

[Icandance]

Zhulin knows Nikita well. Nikita always tends to rush elements. Last year he was controlled, which is why they did so well as his current partner, lovely as she is, is not as fast as he is.

 

[Bigbird]

Zhulin knows Nikita well. Nikita always tends to rush elements. Last year he was controlled, which is why they did so well as his current partner, lovely as she is, is not as fast as he is.

Nobody is actually. But he can't seem to wrap his mind about the fact that going at warp speed doesn't always look best. It may be impressive athletically but the dance suffers. But hey..

 

[Bigbird]

How is it possible for Morozova and Bagin to beat Konkina and Drozd? LOL.

EDIT: Russia Cup, RD Only though..

 

[morqet]

Nikita is an abusive piece of trash and people who are cheering for him & Victoria need at best to take a long hard look at themselves.

 

[muffinplus]

Nikita is an abusive piece of trash and people who are cheering for him & Victoria need at best to take a long hard look at themselves.

I hope you have some evidence for what you are saying...

 

[morqet]

Yeah,

I hope you have some evidence for what you are saying...

Yeah, I do.

 

[muffinplus]

Yeah,

Yeah, I do.

So are we to take your word for it? ?‍

 

[marbri]

Nikita is an abusive piece of trash and people who are cheering for him & Victoria need at best to take a long hard look at themselves.

He may well be an abusive piece of trash but it's also possible people cheering for them are not privy to the information you seem to possess so I don't understand how they would need to take a long hard look at themselves. Most on this board know nothing about training environments and the real personalities of the skaters we watch.

You can't judge people on what they don't know.

 

[Bigbird]

He may well be an abusive piece of trash but it's also possible people cheering for them are not privy to the information you seem to possess so I don't understand how they would need to take a long hard look at themselves. Most on this board know nothing about training environments and the real personalities of the skaters we watch.

You can't judge people on what they don't know.

I don't know definitively what she knows about him. But if we've been reading between the lines of Zhulin's and Ilinykh's interviews over the years or even Zueva's we'd pick up that this man is a piece of work. But this is also Victoria's choice.

 

[deegee]

I don't know definitively what she knows about him. But if we've been reading between the lines of Zhulin's and Ilinykh's interviews over the years or even Zueva's we'd pick up that this man is a piece of work. But this is also Victoria's choice.

can people say exactly what they are talking about instead of beating around the bush? this is confusing.

 

[chantilly]

I’m guessing they know nothing but innuendo and rumours.

one poster is an Uber of P and C

 

[Peepsquick]

I’m guessing they know nothing but innuendo and rumours.

one poster is an Uber of P and C

What does it have to do with P/C ????

 

[Ka3sha]

Morozov/Bagin got 115 points in the FD at Russian Cup event

 

[thvu]

I’m guessing they know nothing but innuendo and rumours.

When do you believe information? The reports came 2nd hand. Do you only believe a source if someone personally witnessed it? What if that person retold this story. Is the story itself problematic unless you heard it from the source? I’m just curious where people think the line is, because the burden of proof some here are suggesting pretty much negates almost any and all news and reporting.

I, for one, believe the narrative that S&K had to leave Zueva due to Nikita’s abusive behavior at the rink, and that it was out of Zueva's hands at that point.