The Dance Hall 8: Join the Maskerade 2020-2021

litenkyckling said:
Although both teams had twizzle issues, S/D's Finnstep was a mess - possibly the worst they've performed it in competition ever unfortunately.
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Agree. And I think the key to getting into the last two groups will be an adequate Finnstep.
 
MsZem said:
Have Smart/Diaz ever finished ahead of Hurtado/Khaliavin in international competition?
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I believe the answer is no. I can think of only three events where they have competed head-to-head in international competition. Golden Spin and two European Championships.
 
taz'smum said:
Of course it should be easy for them to qualify, I just meant that it would be tough that they would have to be put through the unnecessary stress of such a competition.
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Well, they would most likely be competing in an international competition before the Grand Prix in any case. It will just mean for this one there will actually be something on the line.
 
@topaz Ilinykh had a headpiece in her RD in 2014, but dunno if the rules have changed since then. Pretty sure Skoptsova (sp?) has one for her RD this year now that I think of it? Assuming I am thinking of the same thing you are! Like those headbands that go around the forehead and have feathers attached or something of that sort?
 
mjb52 said:
@topaz Ilinykh had a headpiece in her RD in 2014, but dunno if the rules have changed since then. Pretty sure Skoptsova (sp?) has one for her RD this year now that I think of it? Assuming I am thinking of the same thing you are! Like those headbands that go around the forehead and have feathers attached or something of that sort?
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I remember something happened to it at a competition, right? I know the next year a flower fell off her dress or something and SinKats went to Worlds.
 
supergirl573 said:
I remember something happened to it at a competition, right? I know the next year a flower fell off her dress or something and SinKats went to Worlds.
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A feather fell off her tutu in the FD in the team event at the Olympics in 2014. And then a bracelet fell off in the FD at Russian Nationals in 2016/17 and I/Z missed out on the Euros spot, but Russia only had 2 spots for worlds that year which went to B/S and S/B.
 
Crazy that that's with P & C and Smart/Diaz not going. I don't know, I just am not sure this is great for the sport, with all due respect to I.AM. I know that they want to have as many couples as they can, because this is what they do, but it still worries me. Especially for ice dance, you want different points of view and different aesthetics, and while I see that they do try to create something different for each team, it just seems like a lot to have this many couples at one place. I guess I hesitate to bring it up since my favorite couple isn't there so it could seem like I am biased, but I would feel that way no matter who the coaching team was.
 
mjb52 said:
Crazy that that's with P & C and Smart/Diaz not going. I don't know, I just am not sure this is great for the sport, with all due respect to I.AM. I know that they want to have as many couples as they can, because this is what they do, but it still worries me. Especially for ice dance, you want different points of view and different aesthetics, and while I see that they do try to create something different for each team, it just seems like a lot to have this many couples at one place. I guess I hesitate to bring it up since my favorite couple isn't there so it could seem like I am biased, but I would feel that way no matter who the coaching team was.
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I don’t think it’s good for ice dance either. As I say, all choreography has a squawk, so even if it is different, there are still tells that the programs have that make it obvious that they came from the same place.

I also think that there are limits to how many teams can get full attention, and I’ve felt for awhile that they have so many teams that some fall through the cracks. Related, I feel some aggregation when it’s implied Montreal is the only place a team ca go or if a team doesn’t achieve success there, they’re hopeless. There is no one universal one-size-fits all coaching situations and even when a coaching team has a lot of success, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for every team or skater out there.
 
I just think it's best for the sport to have different choreographers, coaches, points of view, ideas, etc.

Has there ever been such a mass of top skaters in one training location at the same time?? I cannot think of another time when that has happened, in any discipline. I mean in the past, we had situations where a coach would have 2 or 3 of the very top skaters or teams at once, and maybe 1 or 2 middle-ranked skaters, but it usually wasn't more than that. Is this good or bad? Hard to say.
 
I wonder how many of the IAM couples are likely to retire post Olympics.

Hubbell/Donohue have said they're planning to, I believe. I'm not aware of any others who've confirmed that, but there are some I wouldn't be super surprised about.

Evan Bates will be 33 in Feb 2022, and will have gone to 4 Olympics. Nik Sorensen is the same age - I no idea what his and Laurence's plans are. I could see Adrian Diaz retiring if Madison is. Papadakis/Cizeron are younger, but already very accomplished (especially if they win gold in Beijing). I don't know if they've said anything to suggest it, but I've definitely seen some of their fans assuming they'll retire then. They'd be 26/27 which is about the same age as Davis/White were post-2014.

Not that I'm eager to see any of those teams retire (and who knows if any of them will), but it would change the situation in terms of how many top teams IAM would have.
 
It goes in cycles. Igor/Marina, in their heyday, had the top 3 U.S. teams (and close to half the Senior teams at U.S. Nats, plus top Junior and Novice teams), the World podium (2011), 2/3 of the Oly podium (2010), and an assortment of OES teams. Now IAM is on top of the dance coaching world, and as noted above that might change post-Beijing.

Of the teams contending for a medal at Worlds, only 2 (C/B and H/D) are at IAM (obviously, they'd have 3 if P/C were there). There might be another 3 teams (H/B, Danadians, F/G) in the top 10. It's not like their teams will take all the top spots.
 
With Carreira/Ponomarenko moving to IAM (satellite campus) and Gilles/Poirier soon to retire, IAM will probably own the Four Continents podium in the next quad (though there's still Green/Parsons to try to get in amongst all the IAM teams, I suppose).
 
H/D have said that they don’t intend to compete through 2026, but will not necessarily be done after next season. It sounds like they’re considering a mid-cycle retirement.
 
Dobre said:
Have they said they will retire soon?
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Piper has definitely made comments in the past that seemed to indicate 2022 was it for them (including recently in some promo Instagram Stories for one of their sponsors). They'll both be 30 -- granted, people have continued beyond that, but it seems like a pretty good stopping point.
 
aka_gerbil said:
H/D have said that they don’t intend to compete through 2026, but will not necessarily be done after next season. It sounds like they’re considering a mid-cycle retirement.
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Are you sure? Because Madison gave this quote in October:

“It’s really sad to think that, in 18 months, show skating will be my only option of skating with Zach,” Hubbell said before Skate America
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Yes, Gilles & Poirier are the same generation--obviously--as Hubbell & Donohue. Of all the teams in the current top six, though, I felt like G&P's odds of possibly continuing were better than all except Stepanova & Bukin. (Because it has taken G&P a bit longer to climb the ranks and I figured they might want to stick around a while to see what they could do when the other teams clear out and because G&P are pretty securely #1 in Canada now and because Canada tends to hang onto its top athletes a bit longer if there is no one likely to bring in the same results & because Sorensen isn't for sure to be able to go on & because I've not heard of any chronic injury issues for G&P). I would not be surprised to see G&P call it good, but I would not be surprised if they stayed in 4 more years either, much less two.

Guignard & Fabbri could stay in as long as their bodies hold together. He's a year older than Evan. And G&F have already stayed in 4 years longer than might have been expected had C&L not hung in so long. But Italy will have no one in the medal hunt without G&F, and Italy also is known for encouraging top athletes to stay or return to Olympic competition. So we'll see. They did have a health challenge last year. I feel like after 4 years of carrying the torch for Italy, they'll probably feel that's sufficient. But it's Italy so maybe.

Mostly, I expect Stepanova & Bukin to stay in and for there to be a lot of turnover among the top six.

There are always dance teams that stay in longer than anticipated. And there are always teams that leave the door open to staying in, get their medal, and are done.
 
Wyliefan said:
What are G/F going to do, anyone know?
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In this article from 2020, when discussing the 2021-22 season, Marco says "I think it will be our last season, I don’t think we are going to continue after that." In the same article, they both said that they basically got everything they wanted in the 2018-19 season.
They also have said previously, IIRC, that they'd like to start a family, so that might also be a factor in them retiring.
Dobre said:
Guignard & Fabbri could stay in as long as their bodies hold together. He's a year older than Evan. And G&F have already stayed in 4 years longer than might have been expected had C&L not hung in so long. But Italy will have no one in the medal hunt without G&F, and Italy also is known for encouraging top athletes to stay or return to Olympic competition. So we'll see. They did have a health challenge last year. I feel like after 4 years of carrying the torch for Italy, they'll probably feel that's sufficient. But it's Italy so maybe.
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I would love them to stay longer. Or, maybe do exactly what Barbara and Maurizio did: take a couple of years out to start a family and then return for their home Olympics? Although, after what happened, I'm not sure Barbara would necessarily be encouraging them to do that?
 
GoneWithTheWind said:
In the same article, they both said that they basically got everything they wanted in the 2018-19 season.

I would love them to stay longer. Or, maybe do exactly what Barbara and Maurizio did: take a couple of years out to start a family and then return for their home Olympics?
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I've thought maybe the former would be true.

And I could see the latter happening also. I didn't even realize that Italy had won the 2026 Olympics! (Really, why not come back for it? Of course, mothers of two-year-olds the world over are shaking their heads madly right now;)).
 
clairecloutier said:
...

Has there ever been such a mass of top skaters in one training location at the same time?? ....
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In singles, for a while, it seemed as if Carlo Fassi/The Broadmoor covered the western globe! By that I mean countries outside the Communist sphere.
 
Do we think Sinitsina/Katsalapov will retire after Beijing? Nikita gave an interview last summer and said if it was anyone else, he would recommend retiring but he doesn't know for himself.

Like Dobre said with G/P, it's taken S/K quite a while to get to the top - they've really only had 2 seasons (not including this one) which really isn't that long compared to the likes of H/D and C/B etc.

Also Victoria is still pretty young, she's only 25 I believe so for her another cycle is more than possible, it's just a question of whether Nikita would want to carry on (I believe he's 29ish)
 
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