The Dance Hall 13: When You Dance on the Ice and Your Feet Twizzle Twice, That's Amore

[Colonel Green]

Who saw THAT coming?

I was expecting it. Cizeron didn't come back to be second, and Chock/Bates ascended to the top more by outlasting everybody ahead of them than anything else.

Gilles & Poirier are going to need another mistake from Fear & Gibson to stay in third after the free, based on how the judging went.

Sad for Lim & Quan.

 

[Orm Irian]

All I care about is that R/A had fun and did well. And, hopefully, that someone posts the video of their RD and it stays up long enough for me to see it, because I'm not signing up for yet another streaming service just to watch the Olys even if it is free.

 

[shuilee]

Will USA judge finally be on the Free Dance panel? USA wasn't chosen in the RD today, and wasn't chosen in TE RD or FD either.

Is there a random draw for FD, or is there a rule that USA judge must be in the Free Dance panel (because she wasn't on the panel for RD)?


Today was the worst possibly judges draw for Chock & Bates. No USA judge, but there was FRA & CAN judges. In hindsight, I should've known C&B would be wuzrobbed.

 

[Peepsquick]

Will USA judge finally be on the Free Dance panel? USA wasn't chosen in the RD today, and wasn't chosen in TE RD or FD either.

Is there a random draw for FD, or is there a rule that USA judge must be in the Free Dance panel (because she wasn't on the panel for RD)?


Today was the worst possibly judges draw for Chock & Bates. No USA judge, but there was FRA & CAN judges. In hindsight, I should've known C&B would be wuzrobbed.

How is it a 'wuzzrobbed' situation? there is not even a point between C/B and FB/C ...

 

[Andrea82]

Will USA judge finally be on the Free Dance panel? USA wasn't chosen in the RD today, and wasn't chosen in TE RD or FD either.

Is there a random draw for FD, or is there a rule that USA judge must be in the Free Dance panel (because she wasn't on the panel for RD)?


Today was the worst possibly judges draw for Chock & Bates. No USA judge, but there was FRA & CAN judges. In hindsight, I should've known C&B would be wuzrobbed.

USA (Janis Engel), Italy (Isabella Micheli), Spain (Marta Olozagarre) and Georgia (Elena Khmyzenko, represented Russia until last year) will be in the Free Dance panel. 45 minutes before the FD they will draw which 5 judges of the RD will join them.

 

[Vagabond]

Chock & Bates usually do better relative to their top competitors in their Free Dances than in their Rhythm (or previously, Short) Dances. I am pleasantly surprised that their score is so close to Fournier-Beaudry & Cizeron's.

 

[Tesla]

I honestly think Chock/Bates would be happy with the silver medal, if that’s what they get. They didn’t have to do both segments of the Team Event.

 

[Ikari]

Gilles & Poirier are going to need another mistake from Fear & Gibson to stay in third after the free, based on how the judging went.

The mistake needs to be quite obvious, the pull for F/G to medal seems to be fairly significant. Sigh. Judges still love F/G, but I feel they need new material. Their party act is getting bit stale by now.
I suppose Italians can forget about medalling, especially as "they got one already, mission accomplished!" They would have needed truly magnificient rhythm dance to place 3rd with comfortable margin, and that was not it.

Seemed to me team competition had taken the best edge off from Chock/Bates. Literally. (sorry about that...) It was bit tight performance. I was not surprised they didn't get over 90 today.

 

[Bigbird]

I think they themselves see silver as their ceiling for the individual event. Why else do both aspects of the Team Comp? It doesn't spell sense for me. They are 33 and 36; Zingas and Kolesnik could easily have substituted for them. IMHO, C/B see FB/C in practice probably every day, so maybe that influenced their choices.

 

[~tapdancer~]

I was expecting it. Cizeron didn't come back to be second, and Chock/Bates ascended to the top more by outlasting everybody ahead of them than anything else.

Gilles & Poirier are going to need another mistake from Fear & Gibson to stay in third after the free, based on how the judging went.

Sad for Lim & Quan.

This. As a ice dance fan for 46 years now, it has always been that for ice dance. Somehow they got anointed along the way after D/W retired and then H/D (who did beat them during their match up years) retired as well. They just kept going and had interesting programs as well so there you go. C/B are great people but they are not the best ice dance team that ever was. You will rack up medals if you stay in it as long as they have. They started to win when they stopped making major errors. Which I suppose is true for any sport.

 

[bwayrose7]

The mistake needs to be quite obvious, the pull for F/G to medal seems to be fairly significant. Sigh. Judges still love F/G, but I feel they need new material. Their party act is getting bit stale by now.

I don’t get the judges’ love for F/G, truly. They’re a ton of fun and I love watching them, but they have never screamed podium material; I’ve been baffled by their rise. Is it really just IAM politicking?

Also, I’m not a G/P or LaLa ride-or-die by any means (especially with that atrocious RD for LaLa this season ) but my jaw DROPPED when I saw the GBR judge’s scores today.

 

[Allskate]

I think they themselves see silver as their ceiling for the individual event.

I think they may have thought that their odds of getting gold were higher in the TE, but I don't think they necessarily saw gold as impossible in the individual dance. After all, regardless of the reason, C&B did win the GP Final. But, I don't doubt that they knew that they were taking a risk by agreeing to do both segments of the TE and be there for the last day of the TE so close to the individual ice dance competition.

 

[Allskate]

The Runthrough has their episode up discussing the RD. Adam was watching in the arena. Ashley and Sarah were watching from Connecticut and working on it for the GoldZone. (It turns out that Sarah was the one who had a contact at FedEx and helped track down Christina's dress.)

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[Katha]

I thought the judges kinda wanted to give it to C/B because they like their RD better, but CB were slower and tighter than in the team event? FB/C skated that very well. I don't think either program is really outstanding, but that's the stupid RD theme in general, so whatever.

Z/K were great. I know everyone's harping on it, but G/F's program is really not good. Like, everyone else at least they're trying to make the best out of the muddled assignment and they're just "How do you do, fellow kids?". The costumes are not good either. Totally preventable own goal.

 

[Ikari]

I don’t get the judges’ love for F/G, truly. They’re a ton of fun and I love watching them, but they have never screamed podium material; I’ve been baffled by their rise. Is it really just IAM politicking?

Also, I’m not a G/P or LaLa ride-or-die by any means (especially with that atrocious RD for LaLa this season )...

LaLa deserved bonus points from actually skating to Eurodance, 2 Unlimited no less (one of my old favs ). However the music cut is not great, and what's with the outfits? Is that music genre associated in sporting events?

 

[morqet]

I don’t get the judges’ love for F/G, truly. They’re a ton of fun and I love watching them, but they have never screamed podium material; I’ve been baffled by their rise. Is it really just IAM politicking?

It's a Sotnikova 2014 situation - they fulfil the requirements of the judging system & squeeze every possible point out of it. (You might not think the judging system is rewarding the right things, but that's the system we're operating within...) They clocked that the "fun" crowd pleasing choreo elements are what the judges are looking for & where you can really boost your score, and every program is designed to maximise that.

And in F/G's defence, the FD this year feels like a breath of fresh air for them and they really work the rhythms & dance style. It's one of the few choreo steps at Euros that came across as a dance, not a collection of poses.

I was also surprised that G/P didn't lose a level on the twizzles yesterday, as her second set were not continuous. It was more like a series of consecutive three turns, with a helpful close up on her blade in the replay showing the running edge between each turn instead of keeping the rotation going.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks to @Bunny Hop for sharing this Australian article by Vince Rugari (February 7, 2026) in the Kiss & Cry section that I was able to read - am reposting in this thread (glad Harris/Chan qualified for the FD!):

Wasn't paywalled for me, but not sure how it will go overseas:
Christopher Dean's influence on Holly Harris

 

[BlueRidge]

Thanks to @Bunny Hop for sharing this Australian article by Vince Rugari (February 7, 2026) in the Kiss & Cry section that I was able to read - am reposting in this thread (glad Harris/Chan qualified for the FD!):

Thank you for reposting! I'm a big Harris and Chan fan and so glad they qualified. Looking forward to watching their FD.

 

[ellathink]

OMG, what a competition it was in the short dance! It's a pity that there is only one gold. Expect to watch more intense competition in the free dance!

 

[jmtfti]

LaLa deserved bonus points from actually skating to Eurodance, 2 Unlimited no less (one of my old favs ). However the music cut is not great, and what's with the outfits? Is that music genre associated in sporting events?

It is. "Get Ready for This" is very often played at sporting events in the US (and presumably Canada), like during starting lineups when the players are introduced, while the "Ole Ole Ole" song is associated internationally with both soccer/football and hockey. They've said they want to focus on the sport aspect of skating with the program. To me it sort of feels like they were invited to do a hype-up performance at a hockey game, which may be entirely what they were going for.

 

[Allskate]

I thought the judges kinda wanted to give it to C/B because they like their RD better, but CB were slower and tighter than in the team event? FB/C skated that very well.

I don't think C&B were tight. I jut think that they weren't quite as energetic as in the TE. Like the punches weren't quite as punchy. And TPTB pretty clearly want energetic.

I actually thought that FB/C were a little tighter than C&B and that it was kind of a cold performance (per usual), but that they maybe did slightly better than in the TE.

But, these things can be very hard to judge on a tv screen.

Adam mentioned that the crowd in the arena seemed to love the 90s theme of the RDs. But, these are people who spent hundreds of dollars a piece to see them.

He also said that there were some boos when C&B's scores came up. I wonder if that was because he was sitting with Americans who were not skating fans.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I don't think C&B were tight. I jut think that they weren't quite as energetic as in the TE. Like the punches weren't quite as punchy. And TPTB pretty clearly want energetic.

I actually thought that FB/C were a little tighter than C&B and that it was kind of a cold performance (per usual), but that they maybe did slightly better than in the TE.

But, these things can be very hard to judge on a tv screen.

Adam mentioned that the crowd in the arena seemed to love the 90s theme of the RDs. But, these are people who spent hundreds of dollars a piece to see them.

He also said that there were some boos when C&B's scores came up. I wonder if that was because he was sitting with Americans who were not skating fans.

I heard a lot of boos from where I was sitting too, and they seemed to be coming from all over.

I have not been a fan of the 90s theme, but I will say that the arena sound system is incredible and it was easy to get into all the programs last night.