Finally watched the show and apparently I had a lot of thoughts!
-I’d love more behind the scenes on how they came up with the choreography, which choreographers were working with whom, and the process in learning the skills. Perhaps this can be incorporated more as there are fewer couples remaining. Also, how were they initially paired?
-The judges with coaching experience seem the most helpful with constructive comments. Last week, I liked seeing Kurt and Scott demonstrate use of the upper body and finishing off the line, respectively. Would be great to have more judges that know both figure skating and hockey, like Colby, or someone like David Pelletier who worked on skating skills with hockey players. Kristi Yamaguchi and Brett Hedican were judges at one point – anyone remember if they were effective?
-An idea for the producers: it’d be fun to see the eliminated figure skaters pair up with each other and switch disciplines in an exhibition later on. If Eric Radford and Amanda Evora are the first eliminated (just using them as an example since they were the bottom two), what would they look like doing ice dance together? (Dance and freestyle blades are also different, so it’d be a different kind of battle of the blades!) I’d imagine there’s a lot of cross training and all the skaters would be somewhat proficient, but one thing I really like about this show is seeing the dynamic skaters have with different partners.
-Speaking of the previous point, it’s so nice to see Weaver and Poje do lighter, upbeat numbers with their partners! (I haven’t followed their career very closely but feel like I often see them in very dramatic and emotional pieces.) Andrew in particular looks happy and re-energized with Natalie!
-Performance ability seems extremely important in this show, based on the comments from both the viewers and judges, and it’s something that can’t be taught so easily. Take Sheldon, for example. I appreciate that he did the Yankee polka last week and twizzles this week, but truth be told, his posture isn’t great and he lifts Kaitlyn somewhat awkwardly. However, he makes up for that with his enthusiasm and ability to engage the audience. Natalie also makes up for a slight lack of finesse with her ability to project to the audience. In contrast, Amanda Kessel seems unsure and doesn’t emote as well, and people can sense that. This is also Bruno’s issue – he has a fun personality based on interviews, but on the ice it doesn’t always come across when he’s concentrating. As the guy in the pair though, this is perhaps less obvious since most people would pay more attention to the woman during lifts and tricks, so Amanda K and Natalie are both at a disadvantage there.
-I agreed with the bottom two this week, though I honestly felt Amanda and Eric should’ve stayed. Amanda did a true death spiral last week and really held her own in some of those lifts that Eric does with Meagan. Her arms and hands were a bit stiff, but she had decent posture and did project in some instances (though it came in and out); overall I thought she had the potential to really improve. In some ways, I wish the format was just a tally of points and votes through all the weeks so that we get to see everyone’s trajectory from beginning to end – there could just be a final ranking to determine the winners.
-Nice to see Isabelle Brasseur in the audience. Did I also spot Dylan Moscovitch? There was a panned shot after Amanda and Colton’s skate before the commercial break where I thought I saw him in the front row.
