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

[RoseRed]

I do not think Hurtado & Khaliavin need a new coach.

I mean if they want to go elsewhere, that's fine. But they have one of the three most established coaches/teams in the world. They are able to live in Russia, which is probably good with Khaliavin's wife. They are #2 in their rink. Their programs are perfectly good, and Hurtado has cleaned Khaliavin right up as far as packaging goes. They are having a less than stellar season but no less a stellar one than Smart & Diaz were having last year, and I didn't hear a lot of declarations that S&D should switch.

Mostly, of course, the Spanish teams need someone to step up & grab that top ten berth at Worlds. Which is again a possibility and again going to be a tough order.

Which makes me wonder again about whether there are any injuries, since we learned after Euros last year that Adrian was dealing with a foot injury or something for most of the season.

 

[binbinwinwin]

According to his Instastories, Nikolaj Sorensen had knee surgery today, I wonder if he will be ready to compete for Nationals in January?

 

[Wyliefan]

That was unexpected! Hope all is well and his recovery goes smoothly.

 

[Colonel Green]

Since he wasn't anesthetized for it, probably not very severe.

 

[Dobre]

In case anyone missed this post in the OES thread, here is an update that Yanovskaya & Lukacs have been out this season due to an injury of hers.

The Hungarian federation posted this week, that the team is out competition this year due to her injury. http://hunskate.hu/mukorcsolya/uj-bajnokok-szuletnek-negy-nemzet-bajnoksag

 

[firstflight]

Interesting battle for France's #2: https://csndg.org/resultats/ELITES-2019/SEG007.HTM
Lopareva/Brissaud are right in the mix. L/L have the PCS edge but got Basic for the pattern.

 

[taz'smum]

Interesting battle for France's #2: https://csndg.org/resultats/ELITES-2019/SEG007.HTM
Lopareva/Brissaud are right in the mix. L/L have the PCS edge but got Basic for the pattern.

I love Lopareva/Brissaud, my little babies

 

[Colonel Green]

Interesting battle for France's #2: https://csndg.org/resultats/ELITES-2019/SEG007.HTM
Lopareva/Brissaud are right in the mix. L/L have the PCS edge but got Basic for the pattern.

In situations like this I tend to look at the PCS. The judges wanted L/L in second, but their level failures on the pattern meant they narrowly missed it. In the free dance that won't be an issue.

 

[firstflight]

In situations like this I tend to look at the PCS. The judges wanted L/L in second, but their level failures on the pattern meant they narrowly missed it. In the free dance that won't be an issue.

Yes, but L/L had rough outings on the FD in the Grand Prix events. In the Warsaw Cup, they did much better and had separation with the field in the FD. No guarantee which type of skate L/L are going to have in the FD.

What's interesting to me about Lopareva/Brissaud's RD score here is that the judges moved their PCS significantly closer to L/L's than at the Warsaw Cup: http://www.pfsa.com.pl/results/1920/CSPOL2019/SEG007.HTM
26.88 vs. 31.88 there. 30.40 vs. 32.86 here at Nationals.

 

[Dobre]

I do want to say, again, that I really like Lopareva & Brissaud's FD to Tron this season. The control in the slow-motion movement is impressive.

My mother really likes Galayavieva & Thauron's Carmen. (They did defeat Lauriault & Le Gac in the FD portion at French Master's this season).

Lauriault & Le Gac had big mistakes on the GP and a huge score over Lopareva & Brissaud at Warsaw Cup.

Regardless, though, it's a very interesting set-up for a rivalry heading into the second half of the quadrennium.

 

[firstflight]

And maybe L/L could have consolidated 2nd place this season if they had some sort of consistency. This RD was yet another program of theirs with an obvious error. She loses her balance and he has to catch her in the pattern step. I know teams go through less consistent seasons but this one has been rough so far.

 

[Gris]

Galyavieva / Thauron and Lopareva / Brissaud finished 2nd and 3rd at French Nats ahead of Laurialt / Le Gac, who had a fall at the end of ChSl.

Will G/T and L/B both go to Euros?

 

[Dobre]

Galyavieva / Thauron and Lopareva / Brissaud finished 2nd and 3rd at French Nats ahead of Laurialt / Le Gac, who had a fall at the end of ChSl.

Will G/T and L/B both go to Euros?

Wow! Who knows?

Lauriault & Le Gac have really not had a great season. They've had major errors in at least three outings, and with the exception of that Warsaw Cup score, their marks have not been very high. They do have that very high score from Warsaw, and they did help earn the third spot last season. Lopareva & Brissaud have had lower scores. Also, I think, pretty consistent performances? They would benefit from the experience. All three teams are competitive with each other & have promise. I would like to see L&B get the shot to develop their own experience, but L&LG do have an argument. Up to the French Fed, I think.

 

[Wyliefan]

Who would have thought the choreo slide move could bring people down like this? First S/K and now L/LeG.

 

[Dobre]

Who would have thought the choreo slide move could bring people down like this? First S/K and now L/LeG.

Zagorski & Guerreiro and Smart & Diaz both counted a fall on it at Internationaux de France before the GPF.

 

[Wyliefan]

Oh, so they did! That thing is lethal!

 

[Sylvia]

According to his Instastories, Nikolaj Sorensen had knee surgery today, I wonder if he will be ready to compete for Nationals in January?

Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen are not listed in the RD starting order for Canadians as published on December 20.

 

[Dobre]

Oh, so they did! That thing is lethal!

Lopareva & Brissaud (3, 3+3) and Galayavieva & Thauron (2, 3+3) had higher footwork levels in the FD than Lauriault & Le Gac also (2, 2+3).

 

[Colonel Green]

Lauriault & Le Gac have really not had a great season.

Not great is a bit of an understatement. This was pretty much a full-on .

 

[Dobre]

The other teams have been working hard though. Galayavieva & Thauron had a lot of low levels early in the season, plus a music deduction for their initial RD, and pressure here; but they arrived at Nationals with a new RD and skated that FD pretty free. And Lopareva & Brissaud, whom I do think skated tighter, have done their job on the CS circuit this season. I think rather a surprise because while they had a decent result at Junior Worlds last year, they didn't look nearly as together as a team then as they do this season. It's fun to see so many young teams in the international dance ranks now, really filling out the center of the field and beginning to make their mark.

 

[Dobre]

Speaking of which, here is a look at how this year's transitioning teams did this season on the CS & GP circuit:

178.08 Shevchenko & Eremenko-NHK
177.53 Lajoie & Lagha-Skate Canada
174.63 Kazakova & Reviya-Asian Open (competing as juniors & seniors this season)
173.69 Lajoie & Lagha-Finlandia
169.90 Lajoie & Lagha-Rostelecom
167.28 Lopareva & Brissaud-Warsaw
166.51 Shevchenko & Eremenko-Skate America
165.71 Lajoie & Lagha-Lombardia
165.68 Lopareva & Brissaud-Nepela
160.39 Kalehanova & Palkhouski-Minsk
155.77 Fabbri & Ayer-Warsaw
150.91 Guo & Zhao-Cup of China
145.88 Kalehanova & Palkhouski-Golden Spin
142.97 Seclet Monchot & Manceau-Minsk
124.65 Seclet Monchot & Manceau-Warsaw

Just let me know if I've forgotten anyone or if you see any corrections that I should make. Taschlerova & Taschler have also skated in both junior & senior events this year but they have not competed in a CS or GP.

 

[RoseRed]

Speaking of which, here is a look at how this year's transitioning teams did this season on the CS & GP circuit:

178.08 Shevchenko & Eremenko-NHK
177.53 Lajoie & Lagha-Skate Canada
174.63 Kazakova & Reviya-Asian Open (competing as juniors & seniors this season)
173.69 Lajoie & Lagha-Finlandia
167.28 Lopareva & Brissaud-Warsaw
166.51 Shevchenko & Eremenko-Skate America
165.71 Lajoie & Lagha-Lombardia
165.68 Lopareva & Brissaud-Nepela
160.39 Kalehanova & Palkhouski-Minsk
155.77 Fabbri & Ayer-Warsaw
150.91 Guo & Zhao-Cup of China
145.88 Kalehanova & Palkhouski-Golden Spin
142.97 Seclet Monchot & Manceau-Minsk
124.65 Seclet Monchot & Manceau-Warsaw

Just let me know if I've forgotten anyone or if you see any corrections that I should make. Taschlerova & Taschler have also skated in both junior & senior events this year but they have not competed in a CS or GP.

Lajoie/Lagha also had 169.90 at CoR.

 

[Ka3sha]

It's fun to see so many young teams in the international dance ranks now, really filling out the center of the field and beginning to make their mark.

It’s also great to have new coaching teams in the mix: Rubleva/Shefer, Denis Samokhin’s group and etc.

 

[Gris]

Just saw it on Twitter that at Japanese Nats they used Ice Scope for dance too to measure the distance between partners during twizzles.

Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO Free Dance 2019 Japan Figure Skating Championships

Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO Free Dance 2019 Japan Figure Skating Championships

youtu.be

Can we have this at every competition?

 

[Dobre]

Just saw it on Twitter that at Japanese Nats they used Ice Scope for dance too to measure the distance between partners during twizzles.

Can we have this at every competition?

The ice coverage map would be great for dance also!

 

[Dobre]

Thoughts on Russian Nationals, anyone?

In particular, how do people see things shaping up below the battle for gold & silver? Do you see a huge fight for 4th? Or one for 3rd? I'm finding it really hard to know what to expect as a couple of the teams with top scores got those on the CS, didn't do the GP, and haven't been head-to-head with the teams that earned GPs.

Program-wise, I quite like Shpilevaya & Smirnov's flirty thing, Shevchenko & Eremenko's sharp modern thing, and I think Zagorski & Guerreiro's Survivor has potential for great highlights if sharper & better trained now. My favorite RD of the bunch was Popova & Mozgov's Cabaret so I am rather bummed that we won't see it.

I am, of course, mostly rooting for Stepanova & Bukin to upset for gold, though I think they are a bit underdogs this season.


A few dance-related details from elsewhere on the board in case anyone has missed them:

-Hawayek & Baker, Wang & Liu, and Kaliszek & Spodyriev are signed up for Mentor Torun Cup. Also Tweedale & Buckland making it back to competition after their injury. And another head-to-head between Harris & Chan and Kerry & Dodds for Australia.

-Popova & Mozgov are out of Russian Nationals, due to back problems for him which have apparently been a problem for a month & likely explain why they did not do a late-season CS to follow up their GP event at SC.

-Turkkila & Versluis withdrew from Finnish Nationals. Orihara & Pirinen won the berth for Europeans. Apparently there is still a chance T&V could earn a berth for Worlds, but they would need to earn more than one high score prior to Worlds in order to do so. Seems like a challenging task.

-New junior champions in dance for both Italy and Great Britain this season, with both Portesi-Peroni & Chrastecky and Rose Brown & Hernandez upsetting last year's champions.

-Still waiting for official word from France on who is assigned to Europeans, I think.

 

[Colonel Green]

Do you seeing a huge fight for 4th? Or one for 3rd?

Z/G should be third fairly comfortably unless they get in their own way (like last year), but based on their Grand Prix performances it seems like they're in a good position.

Fourth could definitely go a number of different ways.

 

[casken]

Assuming Z&G are third, I think 4-7 will probably be some order of Konkina/Drozd, Morozov/Bagin (yes, really), Shevchenko/Eremenko, Shpilevaya/Smirnov. M/B are the hardest to figure becuase they have the highest scores of the season of those teams, but they only skated at B events, which tend to score higher.

Unless the event is a mess and they take advantage of it, I expect Evdokimova/Bazin to drop a lot from last year, and I honestly think there was a good shot of Popova/Mozgov finishing out of the top 5, so it might be for the better for them to refocus on next season.

 

[Dobre]

I honestly think there was a good shot of Popova/Mozgov finishing out of the top 5, so it might be for the better for them to refocus on next season.

I dunno. The Bohemian Rhapsody definitely wasn't scoring well, but P&M are one of only a handful of teams to earn a Level 4 on the Finnstep in the RD (and did so in Canada). Obviously, competing injured would be a bad idea, but if healthy, I think they could have made a pretty good argument in the rhythm dance.

 

[firstflight]

I’ve watched the beginning of Shevchenko/Eremenko’s FD over and over. Love it. I particularly love that he’s totally fine with sass. They’re a team that scored quite differently between their two GP events (a 108 FD at NHK was a pleasant development), so I’m curious how they place at nationals.