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

[yurokis40]

worlds will be interesting , from what i understand there is a Canadian judge Benoit Lavoie who said that Frenchmen would never be allowed to win worlds on Canadian soil after what Didier pulled in 2002, maybe the results at euros foreshadowed that.

 

[yurokis40]

The Canadian fed seem to be strongly behind g&p considering the record scores they gave them at nationals. Canada knows how to politic maybe they made deal with Russians.

 

[marbri]

worlds will be interesting , from what i understand there is a Canadian judge Benoit Lavoie who said that Frenchmen would never be allowed to win worlds on Canadian soil after what Didier pulled in 2002, maybe the results at euros foreshadowed that.

 

[dramagrrl]

Damn it, Ice Dance. When I want drama and excitement, P&C steamroll the field with meh-to-questionable programs (last year, misc SD/RDs, Moonlight Sonata if I'm honest...). But when I'm over the moon for their programs, it's a strug-gle to the end. We need to get this timing in alignment...

I totally agree with this (and about Moonlight Sonata, too ). P&C's FD this season is my favourite piece from them since "To Build a Home" in 2016, but it has been getting the weakest response from the judges (and not that overwhelming of a positive response from audiences, either). I had the opposite initial reaction about this year's FD music choice and last year's - I thought a Rachel Yamagata FD would be totally up my alley, but the actual program didn't do much for me. This year, I listened to the spoken word piece before I watched their FD and thought, "What is this pretentious nonsense??", but then watched them skate to it and was captivated.

 

[casken]

Whelp, as I usually do I cursed Green and Parsons by rooting for them.

3/4 of their US nationals FD performance was spine-tingling for me, one of the best FDs of anyone I've seen all season, and then they wiped out entering one of their last lifts and that was that.

 

[shan]

Whelp, as I usually do I cursed Green and Parsons by rooting for them.

3/4 of their US nationals FD performance was spine-tingling for me, one of the best FDs of anyone I've seen all season, and then they wiped out entering one of their last lifts and that was that.

I know!! I was so into it and then they went down.

 

[bbkenn]

I don't think there will be any Russians on the podium at Worlds. I would say, the French, an American couple, and Gilles/Poirier or a Canadian couple. I don't know the order. Maybe that's why Sinitsina and Katsalapov got the gold at the Europeans.

I disagree.

 

[Colonel Green]

I don't think there will be any Russians on the podium at Worlds. I would say, the French, an American couple, and Gilles/Poirier or a Canadian couple. I don't know the order. Maybe that's why Sinitsina and Katsalapov got the gold at the Europeans.

I think it would be difficult to keep a Russian team off the podium at this point (unless they take themselves out via splat or something, which of course can happen).

I suppose now French Fed and Gadbois camp will go politicking even harder than usual. American and Canadian Fed may join them as well since this result diminishes their teams' chances at Worlds medal.

Honestly, from Skate Canada's perspective, it's not the Russians in their way, really -- it's Gadbois and the Americans. Like I said above, it's probably going to be hard to remove the Russians from the podium entirely absent error, which means there's one North America spot available. Gadbois and Canada's interests are not the same at this point; Gadbois is exclusively pushing their competition.

 

[bcash]

Cizeron posted an instagram story questioning the judging at Euros, so I doubt they are totally uncaring about results.

But neither should they. They are athletes and they do care about winning.

I saw that and thought he must have been pretty angry with the result to make a “comment” through his social media account.

 

[Madison25]

I saw that and thought he must have been pretty angry with the result to make a “comment” through his social media account.

He just reposted that as well as other posts related to their couple as well.

 

[bcash]

He just reposted that as well as other posts related to their couple as well.

Yeah but usually he reposts stuff post-competition strictly related to their performances. That was Romain commenting on the judging.

Anyway, finally got to see S/K’s FD. Certainly as a program it’s much more emotionally accessible, especially for the more traditionally minded judges. But execution-wise they were not at all flawless. Exit of the twizzles were out of sync; She had a slight stumble right in the beginning of their serpentine step sequence; and their spin was super slow in the last two variations.

 

[Bigbird]

Yeah but usually he reposts stuff post-completion strictly related to their performances. That was Romain commenting about the judging.

Anyway, finally got to see S/K’s FD. Certainly as a program it’s much more emotionally accessible, especially for the more traditionally minded judges. But execution-wise they were not at all flawless. Exit of the twizzles were out of sync; She had a slight stumble right in the beginning of their serpentine step sequence; and their spin was super slow in the last two variations.

Exactly which is what makes this so difficult to process. And while it is more traditional, I was more emotionally drawn to P/C. It came across as a lighter version of P/C's more classical take on things. And in their spin she did not fully let go of Nikita in the layback position so I wonder if the level should be lowered because of it. Again he wobbled on the lifts and there were little trips here and there. To allow this to beat P/C was in poor taste, very poor taste.

 

[casken]

H&D skated a bigger, more complex FD at 110% at US Nationals and still got trounced by ChockSnake who biffed the end of the footwork sequence, had basic transitions going into and out of the twizzles and the one foot sequence, stood on two feet for much of the choregraphic sequence...and people generally seem thrilled with the outcome.

That's ice dancing.

 

[muffinplus]

H&D skated a bigger, more complex FD at 110% at US Nationals and still got trounced by ChockSnake who biffed the end of the footwork sequence, had basic transitions going into and out of the twizzles and the one foot sequence, stood on two feet for much of the choregraphic sequence...and people generally seem thrilled with the outcome.

That's ice dancing.

Yeah, I have always like Chock & Bates (even when they were a Shpilband team), but think H&D got robbed a bit at US Nationals...

I think people hate the H&D program and love the Snake FD, so packaging clearly affects perceptions

 

[nimi]

H&D skated a bigger, more complex FD at 110% at US Nationals and still got trounced by ChockSnake who biffed the end of the footwork sequence, had basic transitions going into and out of the twizzles and the one foot sequence, stood on two feet for much of the choregraphic sequence...and people generally seem thrilled with the outcome.

That's ice dancing.

I haven't seen FDs from US Nats but apparently H/D had an interesting screw-up there... Anybody got non-geoblocked links for us EU dwellers?

Chock, Bates charge to second U.S. title; Hubbell, Donohue charge the wrong way

"Four elements, which are pretty valuable elements, all were facing the wrong direction,” Hubbell said.

olympics.nbcsports.com

“Out of the first element, the dance spin, we got turned around somehow and came out the wrong direction,” Hubbell said. “The next four elements, which are pretty valuable elements, all were facing the wrong direction.”

Not until their fifth element, a step sequence, did the skaters get back on track. In between, there was a world of hurt, likely unnoticed by many members of the audience but readily apparent to the judges, who had seen the free dance in practice.

 

[casken]

I think people hate the H&D program and love the Snake FD, so packaging clearly affects perceptions

Especially when some of the "packaging" is your physical appearance.

“Out of the first element, the dance spin, we got turned around somehow and came out the wrong direction,” Hubbell said. “The next four elements, which are pretty valuable elements, all were facing the wrong direction.”

Not until their fifth element, a step sequence, did the skaters get back on track. In between, there was a world of hurt, likely unnoticed by many members of the audience but readily apparent to the judges, who had seen the free dance in practice.

Why would that matter? It didn't interupt the flow of the program. The FD doesn't have to match the one in practice.

 

[muffinplus]

I haven't seen FDs from US Nats but apparently H/D had an interesting screw-up there... Anybody got non-geoblocked links for us EU dwellers?

Chock, Bates charge to second U.S. title; Hubbell, Donohue charge the wrong way

"Four elements, which are pretty valuable elements, all were facing the wrong direction,” Hubbell said.

olympics.nbcsports.com

That's.... interesting. I don't remember any of this mentioned by Tanith.. I guess she didn't notice either

 

[Wyliefan]

It's impressive that they were able to keep their heads. It seems like a little thing to us but might be disorienting for them.

 

[VGThuy]

Especially when some of the "packaging" is your physical appearance.

To be fair, all Madison Hubbell has to do is get a better cut dress since most people consider them hot.

 

[mollymgr]

Hmmm that's interesting about H/D. I would have to watch again. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that happen before. I did hear that they had changed their program quite a bit so maybe they weren't as familiar with it.

 

[georgiana08]

I'm completely sympathetic to H/D and whatever money struggles they have, but I agree that the cut of her dresses leaves a lot to be desired. Like, I don't understand how anyone could look at her long torso and think that a dropped waist dress was the way to go.

 

[Bigbird]

As Bukin said earlier this week, dance is very very subjective, rules are just there as gate keepers but more often than not they are ignored or used punitively. People simply like what they like, nothing can be done about it. It would be best if we didn't take the results of competitions in ice dance too seriously, they're not that important and sometimes have no real bearing on reality.

 

[heartyxo]

I think it should have been a bit closer but I think C/B deserved it. It wasn't their best of the season but still great!
H/D did this to themselves, if they hadn't been so stubborn and made these decent changes earlier, or just changed the program overall, then it could have gone differently. They need a wake up call for next season- making changes all the way through the year isn't a good thing.

 

[aka_gerbil]

Especially when some of the "packaging" is your physical appearance.

As others have noted, the dresses do not help. I've long thought that they needed to stop with her mom making them. I know it's been their thing for a long time, but the first thing the judges see is how a team is dressed. It's not supposed to matter, but it does. That said, another skating fan and I have wondered in our conversations if Madi was about 4 or 5 inches shorter and built differently if they'd be perceived different by fans. I've been lucky enough to see H/D skate live 3 times now. Madi is the very opposite of fat--there's not an ounce of fat on her and I'm so jealous of her muscles. That said, she's not a 5'4" waif and it sometimes feels like people prefer the tiny skaters, particularly within the weight and appearance obsessed culture of North America.

Why would that matter? It didn't interupt the flow of the program. The FD doesn't have to match the one in practice.

My guess is that it would mean they had to think through some stuff instead of relying on muscle memory.

 

[mollymgr]

As Bukin said earlier this week, dance is very very subjective, rules are just there as gate keepers but more often than not they are ignored or used punitively. People simply like what they like, nothing can be done about it. It would be best if we didn't take the results of competitions in ice dance too seriously, they're not that important and sometimes have no real bearing on reality.

He is a wise young man.

 

[VGThuy]

I honestly don’t think many or most fans perceive Madison Hubbell negatively due to her physical appearance or size. Quite the opposite it seems. Maybe some old fashioned people do but they’re out-of-step with many things.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I honestly don’t think many or most fans perceive Madison Hubbell negatively due to her physical appearance or size. Quite the opposite it seems. Maybe some old fashioned people do but they’re out-of-step with many things.

Maybe not here on FSU, but I have seen comments in other places that made me think that it might factor in. Granted, some of those were read with google translate last season, so maybe it's just bitter S/B stans and I extrapolated too muc on to general skating fandom.

 

[heartyxo]

Maybe not here on FSU, but I have seen comments in other places that made me think that it might factor in. Granted, some of those were read with google translate last season, so maybe it's just bitter S/B stans and I extrapolated too muc on to general skating fandom.

Definitely was at SKAM edit: and worlds. and gpf too I guess. they've been close more times than I remember.

 

[muffinplus]

I honestly don’t think many or most fans perceive Madison Hubbell negatively due to her physical appearance or size. Quite the opposite it seems. Maybe some old fashioned people do but they’re out-of-step with many things.

I have seen plenty of hate online for her body type ( calling her a truck driver)

 

[Bigbird]

Definitely was at SKAM edit: and worlds. and gpf too I guess. they've been close more times than I remember.

Look at all of the medalists, ice dance girls who want to top the podium internationally, must be compact and petite or tall and thin. V/M had to work very very hard to achieve their look on the ice. They had a special team in place just to help with that. But I will believe till the end that with the right programs and performance H/D can win.