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

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Bigbird

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The slowmo replay seemed to show her right knee touching the ice.

Well considering they were aiming for a score of 90 and it got cut to 83, wasn't that sufficiently harsh on them? With SK's programme what were they realistically hoping for 127 at best. With all the wobbling and shaking going on and the comparative lack of power, two foot skating and the excessive use of crossovers,122 is generous isn't it? Scoring at individual grand prix events is different. When the big guns come together everything is reevaluated at a different level. To score higher for this programme they have to be perfect and that programme was nowhere near that, it was only slightly better than the snoozefest it has been all season, we even predicted that something like this could happen. So I don't get all the bashing of the top three teams they earned their placements and surprisingly I do also think HD were better than both Russian teams on the night.
 

thvu

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By this standard, shouldn’t Gabriella’s stumble in the RD also be considered a fall?
It’s not just “a standard”. It‘s the rules as written.

The slowmo replay seemed to show her right knee touching the ice.
It isn’t about touching the ice with body parts other than the blades. It’s about keeping balance on them. What the panel will look for is a weight transfer. When Papadakis tripped, her weight transferred into her left blade, not a body part. Even if her knee grazed the ice, it wouldn’t be considered a fall unless the knee was being used to stay upright.
 

PRlady

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Gilles and poirier robbed again I hope they medal in Montreal hub bell and Donahue don’t deserve a medal this year

Told you they wouldn’t beat the US teams. And they won’t beat them in Montreal either. Although Mack and Mabel is very cute, the FD is a snooze and they can’t make up the TES gap.
 

barbarafan

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Ugh, I'm still disappointed we didn't get a stream from GS. I'm so curious to see how much Green/Parsons have improved even just since Warsaw. A month ago I thought for sure they'd place 6th at Nationals, but now I'm not so certain. Definitely think they can at least place ahead of M/C.
I am sad as well. The only vid I have seen is Jason Brown.
 

barbarafan

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Do you also get bored when an athlete wins over and over again? It is not just a matter of taste. They are really good. That said, I don't see why having a strong(er) team means that the enjoyment of the competition is gone. I thought that the GPF was quite exciting and full of surprises, including P/C getting in difficulty.
This year I have been enjoying almost all of the programs and looking forward to seeing them again...both junior and senior. It is so exciting...No more calculating the time my favourites will skate and muting it to go about other stuff until them.
 

Peepsquick

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This is one of many things that keep me from truly loving them despite their incredible qualities. I don’t think they were ever good actual dancers but had a lot of athletic prowess and speed to be able to do choreographed movements like Zach’s bicycle kicks and such to make it look like they did. The biggest issue for me is lot of sloppiness throughout that they still haven’t really worked on. During the in-betweens when they are “simply” skating together, they even have trouble matching leg lines and having that great unison or just cleanliness between them that the best teams have. I think the “sloppy” image adds up to ever prevent them from being a contender against P/C despite maybe being able to match or at least come close to having the speed and power of P/C. When I say “sloppy” I don’t mean they are sloppy but when they are competing for the top spot they do have that in comparison to the top teams (at least the ones that aren’t being artificially politicked to garner higher PCS and GOEs then they deserve). In other words, they make it look like labor while P/C just make it look so innate. Even V/M more content-heavy and laborious choreo showed off V/M’s “naturalness” with their skills and just being one with one another so it never looked rough the way H/D can.


I finally got to see a youtube video of the FD and your post came to mind as I was watching H/D's FD. They have tremendous power and have chosen to highlight this feature of their skating above all others. They are impressive but you do see the effort. I don't think I ever noticed it as much before. They have a lot of raw power but today it did look heavy and labored at times. Are they overdoing it to win over the crowd? I think that the issue may also be that they don't really "dance" the way P/C do on the ice with the body behind every single movement.
 

Sylvia

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P/C aside, the Georgians had the best performance of the night today amping both juniors and seniors :love:
Want to rewatch that ASAP
Junior medalists' press conference:

Senior medalists' press conference:
 

Khaleesi

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In other news, who was responsible for the atrocious camera work this whole weekend. It was very annoying.

I have a random question. Does anyone else get annoyed when the audience starts clapping along to the music lol.
 

heartyxo

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In other news, who was responsible for the atrocious camera work this whole weekend. It was very annoying.

I have a random question. Does anyone else get annoyed when the audience starts clapping along to the music lol.

If the music is appropriate to be clapped to I don't really mind. but the completely off time clapping in the ladies free? NO.
 

Dobre

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What really impresses me is how Chock & Bates have been able to climb themselves back up to being real contenders again, and could possibly retake the U.S #1. I would have never thought it possible, not even after their noticeable improvements last season. I figured the hierarchy of dance alone would not allow such a thing.

I think this was the general feel for decades, but signs over the past several years say that teams can now drop & climb. Particularly over the past 4 years.

The Shibs, Sinitsina & Katsalapov, and Weaver & Poje all lost spots at Nationals and then climbed above the teams that defeated them there. And all of the top teams have done so internationally as well. I am glad to see signs that this can happen under the new scoring system, as it is new and much more in the hands of the judges than the previous system.

If Chock & Bates do regain the U.S. National title, with Hubbell & Donohue present, I do think it would be quite an achievement. We've seen a lot of teams come back from losses recently; but you don't see too many national champions drop & stick around long enough to climb back up. Weaver & Poje technically did it, having won post-Sochi, losing to G&P in 2018 and regaining the title last year. Bestemianova & Bukin most likely would have technically done it if Klimova & Ponomarenko had attended the 86-87 Soviet Championships. In order to regain a title at Nationals, both teams have to show up for the rematch & so often we haven't seen that happen because teams have either avoided the head-to-head, moved up to the next level of competition, or achieved/not achieved their goals at the Olympics and moved on.

We are seeing the trend of dropping & climbing happen with younger and lower-ranked teams at U.S. Nationals as well. Hawayek & Baker did it. McNamara & Carpenter did it. Carreira & Ponomarenko have shown they could do it. I think it is a very healthy message within the sport that proximate teams can battle it out and trade results for years if they keep growing, challenging themselves, stick it out together, and develop as competitors.

Russia is primed for exactly the same scenario if the teams will stick it out together. Stepanova & Bukin and Sinitsina & Katsalapov fighting it out could be good examples for the many proximate developing teams now crowding the ranks.

I'm not rooting for Chock & Bates in particular this season. Neither for nor against. The trend with fans rooting for someone to overturn the U.S. champions every year still feels very "let's-undermine-this-team-so-maybe-my-favorites-will-have-a-better-shot" feel to me. But I would like to see a fair contest between competitive teams in which the stronger skate has a shot at winning. Ditto for Russian & Junior Russian Nationals and the battle for the bronze at Canadian Nationals.

This year I have been enjoying almost all of the programs and looking forward to seeing them again...both junior and senior. It is so exciting...No more calculating the time my favourites will skate and muting it to go about other stuff until them.

Yes, I am enjoying watching the programs develop this season. I still like all of the ones that I liked early on. And I'm enjoying watching the majority of the others either for signs of evolution, actual evolution, or being performed with more strength & confidence.
 
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Colonel Green

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I really don't get what's been going on with Hurtado/Khaliavin this season. At the end of last year it was looking like they had consolidated their position as the #1 and were pulling away from Smart/Diaz; this year, from the beginning, they've seemed completely off their game.
 

cocotaffy

Fetchez la vache... mais fetchez la vache !
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H/K RD at Nationals
S/D RD at Nationals
I've always preferred H/K but honestly, they looked quite weak out there, very shaky with a small pattern. It looks like their skating has regressed. On the contrary, S/D are much improved since last year even though they are the weakest skaters of the two pairs imo. So well done. H/K's RD isn't distinctive either. I don't care for Grease but watching it back to back it's clearly much more engaging and S/D do interpret it to a T. H/K has a very interesting and original FD but S/D's, weird and all, is also quite interesting in the end and they yet again own it.
 

firstflight

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Does anyone know if Platov is still in the business of (as in open to) coaching elite teams? Based on his work with the Kerrs and Coomes/Buckland, I would think he has more to contribute and could have been an option for some of the teams needing a new training environment in the past few seasons.
 

Bigbird

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I really don't get what's been going on with Hurtado/Khaliavin this season. At the end of last year it was looking like they had consolidated their position as the #1 and were pulling away from Smart/Diaz; this year, from the beginning, they've seemed completely off their game.

The Gadbois group IMHO, distributes, difficult and engaging material or tries their level best, so improvement comes but with time. Zhulin has had his moments but I find most of his work and teams a bit pretentious and hemmed in if that makes sense. As for the FD at the beginning of the season I liked neither program. However as the season progressed I realized S/D really grew into theirs. As for H/K that program was done a million times better when Hurtado and Diaz did their flamenco SD in 2015. Hopefully next season H/K will have better programs and skate with more freedom. For all I know one or both could be dealing with an injury, as that does take a toll. But this season H/K, IMHO, is missing something.
 

PRlady

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Joni Mitchell HATER! :mitchell:

Lurved Ms Mitchell these 50 years. Both SidesNow was my favorite song in 10th grade. I don’t dislike the dance (just the costumes) and I like Piper and Paul. They are not a top three team.
 
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