The Dance Hall 11: Movin' On Up 2023-2024

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I'm not too worried about Bash/Beau yet. They beat a bunch of these Canadian teams to win Challenge. They came very close to medal position in the short here. And they would have done much better in the free if they hadn't skated so tight and nervous and made a mistake. They do have a long road ahead, but there's hope. But it is a pity about the lack of opportunities; I hope the fed finally gets its act together and starts sending them (along with other skaters) out there.
 
Here.
And beside Perrier Gianesini/ Blanc Klaperman, a second couple from Lyon Charlemagne Alisa OVSIANKINA / Maximilien RAHIER finished 3rd above Mouaden Bigot.

A couple of judges (Segolene Duprez and Sandrine Peizerat) even marked O/R ahead of F/F overall.
 
I feel like Bashynska/Beaumont and Bekker/Hernandez are having pretty typical first senior seasons. Both have had some good skates which showed their promise, some messy outings, and both unfortunately had a big mistake at their most high pressure event and fell behind teams they were beating earlier in the season. And neither team has bad programmes but both played it safe with their programme choices. So it’s not where either team would have wanted to be after junior worlds but it’s also really normal and I’m also not particularly concerned about them. It doesn’t feel like Wolfkostin and Chen last season. There’s plenty of time to bounce back.

Both B/B and B/H also had injury issues in the off season (Nadiia’s back, James’ elbow) which slowed the start of their seasons and probably meant they didn’t compete as much as they would have liked in the autumn. Whereas Lim/Quan and the Mrazeks competed a bit more and were better able to build momentum. Both have been unusually - and deservedly - successful for their senior debut seasons. And while Lim/Quan also had unadventurous programme choices they work for them much better than I was expecting. The Mrazeks were really on top of their game in the RD at Euros; IMO their programmes are their weakness. I wish most of the Zanni teams would try external choreographers, but I appreciate they’re small fed teams who are probably budget constrained so need to stay in house.

I think B/B and B/H would benefit from going to Egna or Challenge Cup so they can end their seasons on an upswing. Though knowing Skate Canada B/B’s season likely ends here. B/H should be at worlds but even if Phebe survives the twizzles it will be a very tough call for them to make the FD with 3 US teams, 3 Canadian teams, Lim/Quan, Smart/Dieck and possibly one of the fast improving Japanese teams coming in ahead of them. Plus maybe Wang/Liu, although who knows what kind of form they’ll be in if they ever make it back.
 
Interview with Yuka Orihara here -- she's considering getting Finnish citizenship to get to the Olympics, and has already started studying Finnish.

Machine translation:
The dream of the Olympic Games is the main reason that Orihara has been spinning a huge question in her mind.

- Japan does not accept dual citizenships. If I want Finnish citizenship, I have to give up my Japanese citizenship. It's a big decision, but I'm getting ready for it. If I could make it to the Olympics, it would be wonderful to represent Finland there, says Orihara.

It's a good article with some nice photos.
 
Here.
And beside Perrier Gianesini/ Blanc Klaperman, a second couple from Lyon Charlemagne Alisa OVSIANKINA / Maximilien RAHIER finished 3rd above Mouaden Bigot.
No, just No.
Now that Gailhaguet is gone, the Schoenfelder/De la Asuncion/Zazoui team is making the effort to rebuild from the younger level up.
Fine. But their teams still don't have the couple qualities or the nuances that the Villard and the Chalons teams have.

While Perrier Gianesini / Blanc Klaperman do have quite good edge quality & knee bending, and they would probably be on 2024 YOG podium (even possibly getting a gold), Fradji / Fourneaux’s programs touch me more. Love the details and nuances in their Tango FD! Scorpion RD, not so much, don’t think it’s as interesting as last year’s Peer Gynt. However they are kind of inconsistent recently, I don’t remember see them with two clean programs this season. I pray to see that happen at WJC.
About Alisa OVSIANKINA / Max RAHIER, he’s “Coco” Corentin Rahier’s younger brother, formerly skating for Switzerland. She’s Russian, the former partner of Matvey Samokhin (Son of Denis Samokhin, Denis is one of the only two ISU Ice Dance technical specialists in Russia. I’d say Alisa has good basics, but they dumped her in the middle of last season. Nobody knows why, maybe they think she’s too high for him?) Alisa & Max just teamed up this summer and I'm happy for them. They have beautiful matching lines, I do hope their skating and partner skills will improve in the future.
 
BTW With European finished and Shawn Rettstatt there as the referee, do we now have any more information about next season’s RD? Still “movie” theme as rumored?
 
:fragile:

I’m so glad I got to see them in Boston. A very special team. I guess USFS knew this when they did the 4Cs assignments.
I don't think Four Continents was ever a reasonable possibility so I think they probably passed back in December. It would have been too much for them to compete for the first time in more than a year at US Nationals, and then do it again the very next week with a flight to China in between. Not just the physical toll of competition, but the emotional toll of US Nationals would have made competing at Four Continents a poor decision.
 
I'm watching the FDs right now, and I just have to say . . .

Orihara & Pirinen:

Brilliant. That is the best choreographic step sequence across the horizontal axis I've seen in years. This is what it should be for, expressing the music & a real highlight. Takes me back to the programs before IJS.
 
Also, I have to tip my hat to Margaglio. He's brought up these two teams--most of the athletes of whom were not very competitive dancers at the junior level and mastering those technical skills at a young age--and he & his team have done so well by them, I think. Both teams are completely different, maximizing their own strengths and developing looks that really stand out from other teams in the field. Using Turkkila & Versluis's long lines beautifully. And bringing out this personality, first in Orihara & now in Pirinen, that I honestly had no clue existed the first time I saw each of these athletes. Also, kudos to Scali for developing/helping develop the choreo for these two completely different FDs.
 
Bavarian Open senior entries have been leaked on Golden Skate - https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/2024-bavarian-open-jan-30-feb-4.95823/post-3238608

Huber/Huber AUT
Shilling/Baeten BEL
Lagouge/Caffa FRA
Terreaux/Perron FRA
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan GER
Matthaei/Liebers GER
Ichilov/Kravchenko ISR
Nosovitskaya/Nosovitskiy ISR
*Carolina Argentieri/Francesco Riva ITA
Galimberti/Mandelli ITA
*Marta Nalbone/Manuel Schiavon ITA
Jakucs/Galli NED
Verhaegh/van Geffen NED
*Nicole Calderari/Cristian Murer SUI
Sassi/Morini SUI
Pucherova/Lysak SVK
Reitan/Majorov SWE
*Myroslava Tkachenko/Riccardo Pesca UKR

* = International debut
 
Been asked about Turkkila & Verslius’ Extra Element deduction from the Euros FD…

In the choreo step, they do a lift that lasts > 3 seconds. Any time a partner is lifted for 3 seconds, it’s a called lift. When this occurs within another element, like a step or choreo sequence, +ExEl is added to the called element and a -1.00 deduction is applied.

This is a change from last season when an extra element within another element was a far harsher penalty (I believe it was an invalidation of the underlying element).
 
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