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

[Wyliefan]

Stepanova/Bukin’s ISU profile has been updated:

http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00012117.htm

Einaudi and Timberlake... well, that’s interesting

So we get a "Cry Me a River"-off this weekend, Buble vs. Timberlake.

 

[Gris]

And assuming it's true, who would it benefit? Chock/Bates? Of course it's not P/C since H/D are behind them.
You know what, this is ridiculous. Sabotage stuff is usually about the leader, the number 1.

Of course it's ridiculous, that's why it's called conspiracy theory. Those people just wanted to mock H/D that's all...

 

[twinklestar]

Of course it's ridiculous, that's why it's called conspiracy theory. Those people just wanted to mock H/D that's all...

Virtue/Moir didn't think it was ridiculous when they criticized Marina Zoueva, saying she was on Davis/White's side.
But Hubbell/Donohue and Romain Haguenauer, (and Chock/Bates would benefit?), quite ridiculous since he wasn't even in the Kiss and Cry with them at the last competition.

 

[believed]

We never never see Romain in the KandC with Hubbell/Donohue, always Lauzon, or Dubreuil/Lauzon. I thought they were working with Lauzon and Dubreuil, not Romain.

They work with all the coaches, but MF and P are their listed ones.

 

[Gris]

Stepanova/Bukin’s ISU profile has been updated:

http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00012117.htm

Einaudi and Timberlake... well, that’s interesting

Just listened to 'Primavera' and I think it would actually make a good program on its own. Not sure if it's the right vehicle for S/B though.

 

[skategal]

Patrice sits with H/D in the Kiss and Cry because he is the coach at Gadbois that has the USA credentials.

MF gave an interview a couple of years back discussing this.

 

[GreenGan]

Stepanova/Bukin’s ISU profile has been updated:

http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00012117.htm

Einaudi and Timberlake... well, that’s interesting

Einaudi for Stepanova/Bukin doesn't seem right. But Timberlake sounds exciting.
Now both musics... Huh.

 

[Peepsquick]

Things is, It's not the background, at least not in the version they debuted at Masters. It's firmly in the foreground. Maybe it was because the footage from French Masters was low quality and camera angle far away while the audio was loud and clear.

Before they unveiled it, based on what MFD and RH had said to the press, I was expecting something much more experimental. "Skating to the rhythm of a text, not a melody, etc". I expected them to at least bend and stretch and cut up the voice-over somewhat, and blend it in with instrumental music, but what I heard was just a simple overlay of the Blakk piece, in equal volume as the instrumental, which felt gimmicky at worst, "precious" at best.

What I appreciate the most about their past programs is their power to "suggest" meanings and imagery, and emotions, through musicality and movement, which really set them apart from the rest. But with some of the choreo in this program, they are actually "illustrating" and "depicting" the words (in a not very good poem) which I find to be a step backward.

Footage from the French Masters is always abysmal, so I would just wait and see ...

They proceed by increments ...

They are using some interesting moves taken from Modern or Contemporary Dance and yes, Sam Chouinard is probably behind some of the "deconstructed" moves, but I quite like it and would appreciate even more of that interspersed with the actual skating.

 

[Peepsquick]

I agree. This Free Dance does not engage the audience.

Wait and see ...

 

[Debbie S]

Patrice sits with H/D in the Kiss and Cry because he is the coach at Gadbois that has the USA credentials.

MF gave an interview a couple of years back discussing this.

MF and Romain are also credentialed now. I noticed this as I was working my way through the USFS list verifying my club's coaches' compliance a couple months ago. Makes sense that with multiple USA teams, they would need more than one person. Hence Romain at Finlandia.

 

[twinklestar]

Patrice sits with H/D in the Kiss and Cry because he is the coach at Gadbois that has the USA credentials.

MF gave an interview a couple of years back discussing this.

Btw, why Chock/Bates were not allowed to skate at Skate America this season? I mean, it's their own country!

 

[oleada]

Btw, why Chock/Bates were not allowed to skate at Skate America this season? I mean, it's their own country!

Why would the USFS want their top two teams facing each other this early?
H/D are the national champs and finished higher at Worlds.

 

[Debbie S]

Btw, why Chock/Bates were not allowed to skate at Skate America this season? I mean, it's their own country!

Because Stepanova/Bukin opted to go to SA, and they had first choice in the 4-6 seeding group as they were 4th at Worlds (C/B effectively moved up to 5th when W/P retired/took the season off). I'm sure USFS talked to their seeded skaters/teams about where they wanted to go, and I'm sure they would have picked C/B for SA (host country can override other skaters' choices when it comes to their own entries) if C/B wanted to go, but I assume everyone involved, inc C/B, preferred to go to different GPs than H/D....it's pretty standard practice for USFS not to have their top skaters (i.e. those with the best chance of making the GPF) face each other directly in the GP series, if they can help it.

 

[firstflight]

Just got around to watching the Finlandia FD. That’s a trooper of an audience cheering through those Bohemian Rhapsody “renditions.” Yikes.

 

[Bigbird]

Einaudi... again

Look if she's finally learnt to skate the music will be secondary.

 

[Dobre]

If you want a guaranteed spot at SA, you need to be the National Champion. (Though you have a great argument if you finish above the National Champ at Worlds. When these results are split, we often see both top athletes/teams get an invite). USFSA rarely invites its top two dance teams both to SA. (The last time they did was 2014, and it was counterproductive, IMO). There's no clear advantage for U.S. Dance as a whole in sending both teams to the same event this season as far as I can see. They did choose to invite two top teams in 2016 when they invited both the Shibs (#1) and Hubbell & Donohue (#3); and there was a clear benefit in doing so that season as V&M were back & unseeded so by inviting H&D to SA, USFS could help ensure that H&D at least had one invite without an extra deep field. Which, ultimately, paid off in helping to get H&D into the final that season along with the Shibs and C&B.

This is the norm when you have two dance teams from the same country that are closely ranked. Even Russia didn't invite its two top teams this season. Canada didn't either. If you are going to risk undercutting your top team, there should be some pretty obvious benefit, I think.

There's no big advantage for C&B going to SA. You come into SA, and the National Champions are the ones with their pictures on the posters and the flyers, etc. Why not go to China & try to catch Sinitsina & Katsalapov on an off day. It's not going to be easy with both Papadakis & Cizeron and Guignard & Fabbri in France. But when you're #2, you don't get the easy road. You have the opportunity to prove yourself, though, before you meet your main at-home competition--hopefully at the Final though plausibly not until Nationals.

Anyway . . . this is a fab field at Skate America this season! I am excited. Cannot watch live, but the chance to watch it all when I get home will get me through a long work day!

We never never see Romain in the KandC with Hubbell/Donohue, always Lauzon, or Dubreuil/Lauzon. I thought they were working with Lauzon and Dubreuil, not Romain.

They sat with Romain in the K&C quite a bit until last season. I always used to think of P&C as more with Romain, V&M as more with D&L, and H&D as the team with both.

 

[firstflight]

Their RD is using the fun upbeat parts of the score, so I don't think her expression is out of place (the sunny smile is Marjorie's default expression, of course).

So instead of going for Maria, she’s going for Becky. Got it

 

[Dobre]

They are skating to a song about being cool via gang warfare. If they were skating to I Feel Pretty, then the smile would be appropriate.

 

[mollymgr]

I am used to S/B picking music for their programs. But they somehow manage to keep me interested every time. So more power to them.

Did anyone see the update from the ISU about the scores being corrected for the RD? The placements didn't change. I believe the twitter account (@skatingscores) caught this gross error.

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[shan]

I am used to S/B picking music for their programs. But they somehow manage to keep me interested every time. So more power to them.

Did anyone see the update from the ISU about the scores being corrected for the RD? The placements didn't change. I believe the twitter account (@skatingscores) caught this gross error.

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Good grief! I'm glad that person caught the error!

 

[deegee]

i can't remember where the last event was that s & k competed... did they score hire there in the sd than h & d at skate america yesterday?

 

[skatingguy]

i can't remember where the last event was that s & k competed... did they score hire there in the sd than h & d at skate america yesterday?

Sinitsina/Katsalapov scored 78.42 in Nepela, so Hubbell/Donohue were quite a bit higher.

Skating Scores: Latest Figure Skating Results, Scores, Rankings & Statistics

The best resource for Figure Skating scores and stats on the web.

skatingscores.com

 

[chantilly]

Sinitsina/Katsalapov scored 78.42 in Nepela, so Hubbell/Donohue were quite a bit higher.

Skating Scores: Latest Figure Skating Results, Scores, Rankings & Statistics

The best resource for Figure Skating scores and stats on the web.

skatingscores.com

Not that it matters, different scores at different events etc but FB/S are above that score. But then again so are S and B. So doesn’t mean much. But happy to know FB/S are in the mix at least.

 

[skatingguy]

Not that it matters, different scores at different events etc but FB/S are above that score. But then again so are S and B. So doesn’t mean much. But happy to know FB/S are in the mix at least.

Looking at the protocols from Nepela, it looks like Sinitsina/Katasalpov had some technical issues. There were a number of elements that were level 2, and that really lowered their technical score. Their PCS score was 36.52 which is higher than what both Fouriner-Beaudry/Sorenson & Stepanova/Bukin scored in Vegas.

 

[bcash]

I do think H/D are back in their wheelhouse again. She looked super glamorous, their skating strong as ever and the program flows well. Just their strategy of doing back to back GP I question, when they won't be getting the benefit of the natural inflation of scores over the GP season and will "disappear" form the judges' eyes for quite a bit after SC.

I don't think S/B should have been this close to H/D. Once again I feel they are doing lots of extra things (costumes yes, and the kiss) to distract from or dress up their relatively weaker skating. There's this disconnect between her upper and lower bodies--little power generated from the hips and lower-back, arm movements from the shoulders instead of the back.

C/P--costumes change maybe needed? His pants makes him look round-ish in the middle. And her pink dress looks garish. Better speed and commitment to performance from the last time I paid attention to them (or maybe just the camera angles?).

 

[RoseRed]

I do think H/D are back in their wheelhouse again. She looked super glamorous, their skating strong as ever and the program flows well. Just their strategy of doing back to back GP I question, when they won't be getting the benefit of the natural inflation of scores over the GP season and will "disappear" form the judges' eyes for quite a bit after SC.

I don't think S/B should have been this close to H/D. Once again I feel they are doing lots of extra things (costumes yes, and the kiss) to distract from or dress up their relatively weaker skating. There's this disconnect between her upper and lower bodies--little power generated from the hips and lower-back, arm movements from the shoulders instead of the back.

C/P--costumes change maybe needed? His pants makes him look round-ish in the middle. And her pink dress looks garish. Better speed and commitment to performance from the last time I paid attention to them (or maybe just the camera angles?).

Well, they didn't really have a choice this year, did they? They had last choice as the bronze medalists.

 

[deegee]

Sinitsina/Katsalapov scored 78.42 in Nepela, so Hubbell/Donohue were quite a bit higher.

Skating Scores: Latest Figure Skating Results, Scores, Rankings & Statistics

The best resource for Figure Skating scores and stats on the web.

skatingscores.com

thanks!

 

[nimi]

I don't think S/B should have been this close to H/D. Once again I feel they are doing lots of extra things (costumes yes, and the kiss) to distract from or dress up their relatively weaker skating. There's this disconnect between her upper and lower bodies--little power generated from the hips and lower-back, arm movements from the shoulders instead of the back.

Yeah that disconnect really bugs me. No matter how hard I try to ignore her posture and her way of moving and just sit back and enjoy the more enjoyable aspects of their skating... I just cannot. (But good for them that the judges obviously see things differently lol)

 

[Bigbird]

thanks!

But at Shanghi they got 86 and change. Does that count?

 

[Bigbird]

I do think H/D are back in their wheelhouse again. She looked super glamorous, their skating strong as ever and the program flows well. Just their strategy of doing back to back GP I question, when they won't be getting the benefit of the natural inflation of scores over the GP season and will "disappear" form the judges' eyes for quite a bit after SC.

I don't think S/B should have been this close to H/D. Once again I feel they are doing lots of extra things (costumes yes, and the kiss) to distract from or dress up their relatively weaker skating. There's this disconnect between her upper and lower bodies--little power generated from the hips and lower-back, arm movements from the shoulders instead of the back.

C/P--costumes change maybe needed? His pants makes him look round-ish in the middle. And her pink dress looks garish. Better speed and commitment to performance from the last time I paid attention to them (or maybe just the camera angles?).

He is very round in the middle my sweet Ponamarenko. This is a good look for him unless they went for something elongating like coat and tails.