The Dance Hall 10: The Saitama Samba 2022-2023

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VGThuy

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It's incredible to see how much ice dance has progressed since this time.
To be fair, they were doing technically demanding programs during their Olympic competition days but the judges rewarded Bestemianova/Bukin and then the Duchesnays so… they found this style and kind of stuck with it.
 

love skating

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I love a good Summertime program - here's my favorite from Usova and Zhulin at the 1991 Worlds. (So sad that Zhulin has become so disappointing in his views/comments lately)

 

Taso

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I love a good Summertime program - here's my favorite from Usova and Zhulin at the 1991 Worlds. (So sad that Zhulin has become so disappointing in his views/comments lately)


One of my favorite osp/od/rd/sd of all time. And ITA, its pathetic what a rotten person Zhulin is
 

chantilly

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Or regressed. All the things that make it more objective to judge also make it more formulaic. Looking at the intricate close holds and steps in that dance makes me sad.
Mileage varies I guess. I see a lot of two foot skating and forward and backwards cross cuts with some easy lifts. Some lovely transitions in hold but some easy holds in hand to hand too. There are some lilting lovely footwork moments, but I find them few and far between to be honest in this program.
However loved them in their competitive skates.
But I bristle a bit when people say that this era had more dance or that ice dance has regressed.
I agree there are definitely some issues now but I’m way happier with ice dance now than I was then.
 

Sylvia

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^^^ Link to watch the clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp2VK3bNRjq/
ginettecournoyergigi
Solene MAZINGUE et Marco GAIDAJENKO will be at ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023 Saitama / Japan … Representing Estonie 🇪🇪 from Ice Academy of Montreal we wish them good luck 💕#iceacademyofmontreal #icedancers #isufigureskating

ETA that the same account also has clips for Fear/Gibson, Fournier Beaudry/Soerensen, Harris/Chan, Holubtsova/Bielobrov, and Lafond-Fournier/Kam + Carreira/Ponomarenko, Chock/Bates & Reed/Ambrulevicius.
 
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Belsornia

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TBH I feel pretty uncomfortable about this. Of course, I’m just a person who’s been following Solene’s recovery on IG and not her doctor, but it feels much too soon after such a horrific injury and so little time back on the ice to be flying from Canada to Japan and competing in the most high pressure event. I hope this feeling is unfounded, but I also hope that if she’s not feeling good when she gets to Saitama, she feels confident and supported in withdrawing, resting up and having a nice holiday in Japan to celebrate how far she’s come.
 

litenkyckling

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TBH I feel pretty uncomfortable about this. Of course, I’m just a person who’s been following Solene’s recovery on IG and not her doctor, but it feels much too soon after such a horrific injury and so little time back on the ice to be flying from Canada to Japan and competing in the most high pressure event. I hope this feeling is unfounded, but I also hope that if she’s not feeling good when she gets to Saitama, she feels confident and supported in withdrawing, resting up and having a nice holiday in Japan to celebrate how far she’s come.
I totally agree - what are they going to gain from this? Her videos have been really distressing - cardiac arrest? coma? crainiotomy? very much near death experience. I know that athletes live to compete, but I don’t think that they need to prove anything to anyone and I hope this doesn’t set her back health wise
 

Karen-W

Checking Senior Bs for TES mins...
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I trust that the IAM team know what they are doing and wouldn't jeopardize her longterm prognosis.

I'm guessing that they plan on skating the RD and don't have any expectation of making the FD, but that's just a hunch based on what small snippets of video clips they've posted on their social media over the past couple months.
 

sap5

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To be fair, they were doing technically demanding programs during their Olympic competition days but the judges rewarded Bestemianova/Bukin and then the Duchesnays so… they found this style and kind of stuck with it.
I’ve been a K/P fan for decades, so I know this ex is very different from something like their Golden Waltz OSP. It was just funny to hear the commentator ooh and ah over what was obviously very simplistic for K/P themselves.

On a similar note, I listened to the recent Carreira/Ponomarenko interview and was glad to hear that while Anthony was happy he didn’t have to practice the pattern while he was recovering this season, he understands compulsory patterns made ice dance and there can be value to having them practiced. Good to hear young skaters understanding the basis of ice dance.
 
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azcalder

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I’ve been a K/P fan for decades, so I know this ex is very different from something like their Golden Waltz OSP. It was just funny to hear the commentator ooh and ah over what was obviously very simplistic for K/P themselves.

On a similar note, I listened to the recent Carreira/Ponomarenko interview and was glad to hear that while Anthony was happy he didn’t have to practice the pattern while he was recovering this season, he understands compulsory patterns made ice dance and there can be value to having them practiced. Good to hear young skaters understanding the basis of ice dance.
It wasn’t an exhibition. It was the 1996 World Professional Figure Skating Championships created by Dick Button in 1973 and held in Landover, Maryland until 1997 when it moved to the MCI Centre in DC. It ended in 2000.
 

exNyer

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Those were my exact words as I watched the video. No twizzles, no sliding on the ice, just pure dancing. They were always my favorites at the Champions on Ice and other shows back in those days.
Hubba hubba!! No twizzles !!!:):). No filler. No Gymnastic lifts. Both skaters are skating so close to one another- not being lifted/dragged across the ice.
 

Rukia

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Hubba hubba!! No twizzles !!!:):). No filler. No Gymnastic lifts. Both skaters are skating so close to one another- not being lifted/dragged across the ice.
I mean they did twizzles, just not the long complicated twizzle sequences we see in ijs.
 

tony

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It wasn’t an exhibition. It was the 1996 World Professional Figure Skating Championships created by Dick Button in 1973 and held in Landover, Maryland until 1997 when it moved to the MCI Centre in DC. It ended in 2000.
The program linked is from the Legends Championship, not World Pros-- two completely different entities. I'm fairly certain it was created specifically for ESPN post-whack along with the multitude of other competitions at the time, and it later turned into the ESPN Pro Championships, the same event that Tonya Harding was allowed to compete in 1999.

And FWIW, World Pros wasn't exactly as 'glamorous' as it sounds. Button personally invited the competitors and judges, and the results ended up suspect more than a few times.
 

topaz

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Prepping for Worlds, I've been watching Piper and Paul's previous programs. They have a legacy of really excellent programs. Very good skating, incredibly difficult holds/transtions and some really great, inventive lifts. I would consider Piper a fashion icon in the skating. Dancers are the peacocks and Piper has had some incredible costumes. I love all the vintage inspired styles she's worn.

 
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azcalder

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The program linked is from the Legends Championship, not World Pros-- two completely different entities. I'm fairly certain it was created specifically for ESPN post-whack along with the multitude of other competitions at the time, and it later turned into the ESPN Pro Championships, the same event that Tonya Harding was allowed to compete in 1999.

And FWIW, World Pros wasn't exactly as 'glamorous' as it sounds. Button personally invited the competitors and judges, and the results ended up suspect more than a few times.

The program linked is from the Legends Championship, not World Pros-- two completely different entities. I'm fairly certain it was created specifically for ESPN post-whack along with the multitude of other competitions at the time, and it later turned into the ESPN Pro Championships, the same event that Tonya Harding was allowed to compete in 1999.

And FWIW, World Pros wasn't exactly as 'glamorous' as it sounds. Button personally invited the competitors and judges, and the results ended up suspect more than a few times.
The video may have been of a different competition, but they did skate a short program to Summertime in Landover at the 1996 Nutrasweet World Championships. Their free skate was to Gone With the Wind.
The program linked is from the Legends Championship, not World Pros-- two completely different entities. I'm fairly certain it was created specifically for ESPN post-whack along with the multitude of other competitions at the time, and it later turned into the ESPN Pro Championships, the same event that Tonya Harding was allowed to compete in 1999.

And FWIW, World Pros wasn't exactly as 'glamorous' as it sounds. Button personally invited the competitors and judges, and the results ended up suspect more than a few times.
They also skated Summertime at the 1996 Nutrasweet World Professional Championships in Landover,
The program linked is from the Legends Championship, not World Pros-- two completely different entities. I'm fairly certain it was created specifically for ESPN post-whack along with the multitude of other competitions at the time, and it later turned into the ESPN Pro Championships, the same event that Tonya Harding was allowed to compete in 1999.

And FWIW, World Pros wasn't exactly as 'glamorous' as it sounds. Button personally invited the competitors and judges, and the results ended up suspect more than a few times.
They also skated Summertime at the 1996 Nutrasweet World Professional Championships in Landover where they were 2nd behind Torvill & Dean and ahead of Roca & Sur.
 

On My Own

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I had not realized that Wang & Liu were still out. Do we know what kind of issue they are dealing with?
Liu was injured and they had to withdraw from 4CC. Not sure if it carried over or something else happened. Apparently, there were some rumours about them on Weibo, but I didn't bother seeing what those were. (but basically their being absent is not a surprise)
 

Ena Grins

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Wang/Liu were in Colorado Springs and were at at least one of the 4CC practice sessions. They didn't seem to be in bad moods, but they did look rough. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still dealing with lingering effects of an injury and haven't had enough practice time.
 

Dobre

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Wang/Liu were in Colorado Springs and were at at least one of the 4CC practice sessions. They didn't seem to be in bad moods, but they did look rough. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still dealing with lingering effects of an injury and haven't had enough practice time.
Well, I'm sure they haven't--compared to a field that has been competing all season--but something further must have gone wrong or flared up or be a longer-term issue; as they did compete this year. Their programs were green at that stage; but if they were healthy, they could have come a long way by 4CCs.

(I feel like another fan told me that she had read Wang might have had a concussion? Or maybe I'm remembering similar news about a different team? A concussion would be a serious longer-term problem that could certainly have affected training throughout the year; but it seems the discussion now is that Liu is the one injured. The China thread is always full of speculation but not much useful or solid information so I don't keep up with it well & thought I might have missed something. Sounds like we haven't heard anything since they pulled out of 4CCs).
 

Andrea82

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Ahead of Worlds

I would expect one of the technical specialists being Higashino or Tsuzuki. Organizing Fed can recommend to ISU a referee or technical controller or technical specialist. And those two are the only 2 ISU level people Japan have in these roles.
Given Muramoto/Takahashi are not top 5 material, they won't jeopardize the recommendation present in the ISU Code of Ethics of not having technical panel members or referees from the Federations with top 5 contenders.

Higashino and Yang (South Korea) area the TSs. Molina (France, Technical Committee member) is the TC. Wolter (Germany, Technical Committee member) is the Referee.
 

yurokis40

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Chock/Bates 🥇?
No why the tech specialists are japanese and korean, the TC influence is minimal and even then why would he favor a past prime american team when they are 3 up and coming french teams he can politic for.

Predicitions
1. G&P gold should not be close but they will make it close with c&b because of politics
2.Silver C&B unfortunately they don`t deserve it their programs are really bad this year especially the bowie RD
3. Bronze the Italians, I would have picked the canadanes but unfortunately Canada deso not have a judge , and skate
Canada will politic and go all out for G&P leaving Canada 2 with the crumbs.
 
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