Tango Romantica

Triple Skates, Not Triple Jumps

The ice dancing event consists of three events. The first event is called the compulsory dance, where each team skates the same dance pattern to similar music. To the casual spectator, the compulsory dance can seem monotonous as each couple repeats the same dance. It's not broadcast often other than showing the top three placements aftterwards. If it's shown live, it's generally just to show the favorites. If anything is broadcast, the compulsory dance is a good event to watch because both the casual and fanatic spectator gets to compare apples to apples in this event. When everyone skates the same steps with the same required dance holds, you can distinguish who skates with more speed, who has better edge quality, and who can "dance" the dance the best. I also enjoy it as every summer I would work towards passing a dance test. Dance tests are nothing but compulsory dances, so I also enjoy watching this part of the event. It takes me back to those summers in Aspen and Lexington and skating all day.



Luck of the Draw

The ISU selects 2 - 3 CDs for each season. This year's compulsories are the Golden Waltz and Tango Romantica. One of those dances will be used as the CD during competition and it is generally announced a couple of weeks prior to each competition which CD has been drawn. For the Olympics, the dance is supposed to be selected one week prior to the first official practice at the Olympics. The compulsory dance drawn for the Olympics is the Tango Romantica. 

While it's supposed to be the luck of the draw, there has been buzz all season long that the Tango Romantica would most likely be the CD. It's shorter than the Golden Waltz. Perhaps NBC and the other broadcasters will squeeze in a few more performances.

Tango Romantica

This dance was invented by Ludmilla Pakhomova, Alexander Gorshkov and Elena Tchaikovskaya and first performend in Moscow in 1974. The ISU guidelines say:

This is a romantic sinuous dance which expresses the soft, lyrical interpretive characteristics of the Tango. It must be skated with deep edges. Foot and body movements must be deliberate and convey a sense of dignity approaching arrogance. Very erect carriage, precise timing, and continuous flow must be maintained. The difficulty of the steps should not be revealed in awkward or stressed upper body positions. Finally, coordination of free leg movements is essential to avoid a tangled, confused effect.

Music - Tango 4/4
Temp - 28 measures of 4 beats per minute; 112 beats per minute
Pattern - Optional
Duration - The time required to skate 2 sequences is 1:43 min

Ladies Pattern
Man's Pattern

This was the CD at a few events this season:

• Nebelhorn Trophy
• Rostelecom Cup
• NHK Trophy
• Skate Canada
• Europeans

Skater Advantages

The top three scoring teams over the season have been:

• Domnina & Shabalin 42.78 - Europeans
• Virtue & Moir 40.69 - Skate Canada
• Davis & White 38.09 - NHK Trophy

Domnina & Shabalin's only international event was the European Championships. The big score from the CD kept them ahead throughout the competition. Davis & White have faced Virtue & Moir this year at the Grand Prix Final and won. However, the compulsory is nixed during the final! I'm looking forward to comparing the "apples" between all the teams.

Domnina & Shabalin's CD at Europeans:


Take a gander at Virtue & Moir at Skate Canada:



Dark Horses in the CD
Belbin & Agosto have skated the Golden Waltz at all of their events this season. They train with Domnina & Shabalin and their CDs have dramatically improved since switching coaches two seasons ago. I expect they will earn a score in the 38-42 range as well.

Delobel & Schoenfelder have been out all season. They skated the Tango Romantica the last season it was used at the 2006 European Championships. Their edges were deep and expression smooth, but Olivier fell. Questionable how rusty they will be Friday.