Ah, it's January with two more months of winter. Most of the US is a bit sick of winter after record snowfalls, but the snow and cold is all the better to cozy up to winter sports. No, not the football playoffs, way more exciting stuff like ice skating!
Synchro Stuff
Early in the month, the U.S. selected their teams for the Junior World Challenge Cup in Switzerland. There's not an official ISU junior synchro championship yet, so the entrants are not decided at Nationals. The World Junior Team Selection Competition was held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin with the Skyliners of New York and Team Braemar of Minnesota earning the two spots to represent the U.S. Both teams have several seasons of experience in international competitions.
The international competitive season of synchronized skating kicked off in Germany at the Cup of Berlin. The mighty Finns continued to be mighty at the senior level, with the Rockettes winning the event. They won by nearly 40 points. At the junior level, Finnish teams swept the podium. I'd hate to be behind the Finnish teams at airport security. That's a lot of medal to check.
California Gold and Chicago Jazz represented the U.S. at the senior and junior levels, respectively. Both teams had solid fourth place finishes. For full results check the Cup of Berlin link above.
National Championships
Several countries held their national championships in December. Canada and the U.S. hold their championships in singles, dance and pairs in January. The Canadian champs are wrapping up this weekend.
Missing in action from Canadians are Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. They sat out the first half of the season due to a surgery to help with shin splints on Virtue. They decided they weren't quite ready to compete yet. No word yet on if they will be selected to compete at the world championships.
Cynthia Phaneuf won the ladies event, and the team of Moore-Towers and Moscovitch were crowned the new pairs champs. Patrick Chan is leading after the men's short and planning two quads for today's freeskate. Check out skatebuzz.ca for results, interviews and live streaming and archives of some events.
Other News
Johnny Weir has a book out, Welcome to My World. It's made news as he actually talks about being gay in the book and in promotional interviews. I don't think his sexual preference is really news, but if you have googled figure skating in the past few weeks this has come up. If you're a Weir fan, he may be coming to a bookstore near you. Check his site for book signings and other happenings. I'm debating downloading his book to my Kindle or buying for my collection of skating books. While I think there will be some uber-dishing about the skating world, I think it will be more about Johnny covering all things Weir. It may just be a Kindle title. What do you think?
Showing posts with label Virtue and Moir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtue and Moir. Show all posts
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Figuring Out the Frankendance
I've been curious about the changes to junior and senior ice dance that go into effect this season. Ice dance had three segments of the competition prior to this year; now there are just two segments. The ISU voted to combine the compulsory dance and original dance into a "short dance" for the junior and senior events. This was supposedly done to keep ice dancing in the Olympics as the IOC wants to have shorter events that do not need to be scheduled over a few days in the Olympics. I think this is an odd reason as sports like the decathlon are in the Olympics which consists of 10 events. I personally think ISU made the move to cut costs of hosting events and judges expenses over an extra event. That's just my opinion.
I've been looking up the short dances from the Nebelhorn Trophy, and I must say I appreciate Ice-Dance.com's term "Frankendance" even more. From my understanding, senior competitors are to skate one full pattern of the Golden Waltz as a required element in their short dance. This required element is the "pattern" portion of the short dance while the rest of the elements are skated in the "creative" portion. (The ISU explains the Frankendance rules in communication 1621 if you'd like to provide further insight to my interpretation.)
I think the Golden Waltz was selected as the pattern for seniors this year as it's the most difficult of the compulsory dances. Here's a clip of the Golden Waltz being performed by Belbin & Agosto and Virtue & Moir side by side. The side by side gives a good example of how the compulsory segment could distinguish skaters of various levels by comparing apples to apples with each team doing the same dance to the same music.
Note both couples are following the same steps which make a pattern of steps around the ice. They complete the pattern at least two times around the rink. Note the pattern begins with steps that involve stepping in between each other's feet while rotating. It's also skated to a rather traditional waltz. Waltzes have a count of 3 so in completing the steps with the rhythm you might be saying in to yourself, "And One, Two, Three, AND One, Two, Three..."
Ok, got that? Now check out how the Golden Waltz is inserted into Pechalat & Bourzat's short dance:
Love the music to Yann Tiersen's Amelie, it starts very waltz-y. They started the program with a wonderful twizzle sequence for part of the required elements in the creative portion the program. Did you catch that they started the Golden Waltz pattern half way through at not with the traditional starting point of the pattern as noted in the previous example? It's allowed by the rules, but looking at the protocal, I think it threw off the judges a bit.
Now let's see the Italian team of Cappelini & Lanotte:
The music is not as waltz-y, but it is soft and lilting like most waltzes. They completed the full pattern from the beginning so it was a little easier to catch right? Wasn't her dress fun and fabulous?
One more, here's the team of Zhiganshina & Gazi:
OK, after you got past the creative skirt, what did you think of this short dance? Incredibly fun music, although I would get rather tired of it if I was practicing at their training rink. Also, they completed most of the creative required elements at the beginning of the program and then went into the traditional pattern of the Golden Waltz.
From these examples, I think we'll see a great deal of variety in the short dance which is exciting. Lots of different music styles too; bringing a bit of a Dancing with Stars element into ice dancing. Different music styles, pieces of compulsory patterns, different interpretations, total Frankendance! I think this variety is going to make the judges compare apples to oranges in all segments of the competition. The beauty of the compulsories was in making a segment completely comparing apples to apples by every executing the same dance. In the short dance, all skaters have a specific pattern to execute, but with the different styles and interpretation, I think it may lead to some crazy judging. I'll be interested to see how this develops through out the year.
I've been looking up the short dances from the Nebelhorn Trophy, and I must say I appreciate Ice-Dance.com's term "Frankendance" even more. From my understanding, senior competitors are to skate one full pattern of the Golden Waltz as a required element in their short dance. This required element is the "pattern" portion of the short dance while the rest of the elements are skated in the "creative" portion. (The ISU explains the Frankendance rules in communication 1621 if you'd like to provide further insight to my interpretation.)
I think the Golden Waltz was selected as the pattern for seniors this year as it's the most difficult of the compulsory dances. Here's a clip of the Golden Waltz being performed by Belbin & Agosto and Virtue & Moir side by side. The side by side gives a good example of how the compulsory segment could distinguish skaters of various levels by comparing apples to apples with each team doing the same dance to the same music.
Note both couples are following the same steps which make a pattern of steps around the ice. They complete the pattern at least two times around the rink. Note the pattern begins with steps that involve stepping in between each other's feet while rotating. It's also skated to a rather traditional waltz. Waltzes have a count of 3 so in completing the steps with the rhythm you might be saying in to yourself, "And One, Two, Three, AND One, Two, Three..."
Ok, got that? Now check out how the Golden Waltz is inserted into Pechalat & Bourzat's short dance:
Love the music to Yann Tiersen's Amelie, it starts very waltz-y. They started the program with a wonderful twizzle sequence for part of the required elements in the creative portion the program. Did you catch that they started the Golden Waltz pattern half way through at not with the traditional starting point of the pattern as noted in the previous example? It's allowed by the rules, but looking at the protocal, I think it threw off the judges a bit.
Now let's see the Italian team of Cappelini & Lanotte:
The music is not as waltz-y, but it is soft and lilting like most waltzes. They completed the full pattern from the beginning so it was a little easier to catch right? Wasn't her dress fun and fabulous?
One more, here's the team of Zhiganshina & Gazi:
OK, after you got past the creative skirt, what did you think of this short dance? Incredibly fun music, although I would get rather tired of it if I was practicing at their training rink. Also, they completed most of the creative required elements at the beginning of the program and then went into the traditional pattern of the Golden Waltz.
From these examples, I think we'll see a great deal of variety in the short dance which is exciting. Lots of different music styles too; bringing a bit of a Dancing with Stars element into ice dancing. Different music styles, pieces of compulsory patterns, different interpretations, total Frankendance! I think this variety is going to make the judges compare apples to oranges in all segments of the competition. The beauty of the compulsories was in making a segment completely comparing apples to apples by every executing the same dance. In the short dance, all skaters have a specific pattern to execute, but with the different styles and interpretation, I think it may lead to some crazy judging. I'll be interested to see how this develops through out the year.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Past 24 Hours In Skating
About this time last night, Evan Lysacek made his DWTS debut with a Viennese Waltz. Watching him, I was reminded that he's never been that artistic of a skater, and his on artistry mostly consists of arms up, arms out straight and jazz hands around the face. I thought he looked a tiny bit nervous and stiff but overall he did a good job. He's in 2nd with the judges marks, but we'll see how the audience reacts a week from today.
During the rehearsal piece prior to his performance, he mentioned he was spinning the wrong way in the dance. I don't know if viewers picked up on that. In ice skating, skaters typically spin in a counter-clockwise direction. Perimeter skating is generally done counter-clockwise as well. Skaters who spin and rotate their jumps clockwise are often referred to as "opposite skaters". I would say for Evan, it's somewhat like driving on the right side of the road and then driving on the left side in Great Britain for a few days. It's executing similar movements to what moves are done everyday, but it feels way different. So different it makes you hesitate and hyper-aware of the awkwardness.
After enjoying the rest of DWTS, I nestled into bed until my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I stretched and found myself so at peace in dark and quiet with my dog and husband snuggled up to me. My brain hasn't felt that clear for awhile, I've been over thinking project plans at home and work so it was nice. Unfortunately, I kept too much of that quiet stillness with me at the rink. I could never really get warmed up so I ditched my plan to emulate the lovely Shae-Lynn Bourne with her ice dancer's Axel.
I got frustrated with the outside rockers in my junior moves instead. After checking the rocker, the hips are supposed to rotate underneath the shoulders to deepen the edge and cross in front. I've created an exercise of simply gliding on a back outside edge and rotating my hips. It's a good exercise for double loops too. I always feel a little stuck after the check - that my check isn't a true check, just a person stuck! I'm either good at rotating the hips or good at maintaining speed, I can't seem to combine both.
Much better skaters than I took to the ice in Torino, Italy today. I didn't get to watch any of the skaters who can properly check and skate with outside rockers. I followed the event via Twitter. (Most of the tweets related to the compulsory dance were "Woohoo! I skated my last compulsory!" I'll be so sad if the ISU votes compulsories out. That's another post.)
The ice dance event followed the Olympic results pretty closely. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are leading Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The Italians are in 3rd.
The US skaters did great in the short program, earning season's best scores. The leaders are Pang & Tong, Kavaguti & Smirnov and Savchenko & Szolkowy.
During the rehearsal piece prior to his performance, he mentioned he was spinning the wrong way in the dance. I don't know if viewers picked up on that. In ice skating, skaters typically spin in a counter-clockwise direction. Perimeter skating is generally done counter-clockwise as well. Skaters who spin and rotate their jumps clockwise are often referred to as "opposite skaters". I would say for Evan, it's somewhat like driving on the right side of the road and then driving on the left side in Great Britain for a few days. It's executing similar movements to what moves are done everyday, but it feels way different. So different it makes you hesitate and hyper-aware of the awkwardness.
After enjoying the rest of DWTS, I nestled into bed until my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I stretched and found myself so at peace in dark and quiet with my dog and husband snuggled up to me. My brain hasn't felt that clear for awhile, I've been over thinking project plans at home and work so it was nice. Unfortunately, I kept too much of that quiet stillness with me at the rink. I could never really get warmed up so I ditched my plan to emulate the lovely Shae-Lynn Bourne with her ice dancer's Axel.
I got frustrated with the outside rockers in my junior moves instead. After checking the rocker, the hips are supposed to rotate underneath the shoulders to deepen the edge and cross in front. I've created an exercise of simply gliding on a back outside edge and rotating my hips. It's a good exercise for double loops too. I always feel a little stuck after the check - that my check isn't a true check, just a person stuck! I'm either good at rotating the hips or good at maintaining speed, I can't seem to combine both.
Much better skaters than I took to the ice in Torino, Italy today. I didn't get to watch any of the skaters who can properly check and skate with outside rockers. I followed the event via Twitter. (Most of the tweets related to the compulsory dance were "Woohoo! I skated my last compulsory!" I'll be so sad if the ISU votes compulsories out. That's another post.)
The ice dance event followed the Olympic results pretty closely. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are leading Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The Italians are in 3rd.
The US skaters did great in the short program, earning season's best scores. The leaders are Pang & Tong, Kavaguti & Smirnov and Savchenko & Szolkowy.
World Championship Ice Dance Preview
The compulsory dance gets started tomorrow in Torino, Italy. I'll try to catch some of it after my skating practice as a live stream starts on Universal Sports at 7 a.m. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are commentating; they've got to have some unique insight into the skaters and the event.
This season has been a game changer in the ice dancing world with the dominating teams coming from North America. I hope Meryl and Charlie can pull off a victory over their training mates and newly crowned Olympic champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I also excited to see who will skate away with the bronze. The Kerrs are bringing back the kilt with a Scottish themed original dance. The Italians will have homefield advantage on top of their lovely free dance called, "The Immigrants" to Nino Rota's Godfather music.
Here are further previews:
Ice-Dance.com
Aaron's Axels, Loops and Spins
Golden Skate
This season has been a game changer in the ice dancing world with the dominating teams coming from North America. I hope Meryl and Charlie can pull off a victory over their training mates and newly crowned Olympic champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I also excited to see who will skate away with the bronze. The Kerrs are bringing back the kilt with a Scottish themed original dance. The Italians will have homefield advantage on top of their lovely free dance called, "The Immigrants" to Nino Rota's Godfather music.
Here are further previews:
Ice-Dance.com
Aaron's Axels, Loops and Spins
Golden Skate
Monday, March 22, 2010
Last Week of March, Last Week of Skating
Ah, March, my favorite month! The month where the grass turns green and bulbs bloom. The weekends are filled with exciting basketball games and bracket analyzing during the work day. It's also a month that features the climax of the skating season with the world championships.
This year's worlds are probably a bit anticlimatic as the Olympics occured in February. Two of the Olympic gold medalists are competing at worlds this year, Virtue & Moir and the Queen, Yu-Na Kim. Since the mid-90's the Olympic medalists, particularly the golden winners have been ducking out of worlds. It will be a treat in Torino to have two of the Olympic champions competing.
While some skating fans are bemoaning the lack of TV coverage of the event, I'm excited that the ENTIRE event will be streamed on Universal Sports' site. Generally when it's on TV, they only show the top 6 skaters and the Americans. This way skate fans will get to enjoy all the performances, observe up and coming skaters, and see how the penultimate group impacts the final standings. I love seeing Chris Anderson's long tail theory working in accessing figure skating online! I'll be going to work early and hitting the Java Brewing Co. on the corner to watch before work.
This week got started with bonus skating on TV. The finale of Thin Ice rocked on Sunday. I totally want this to become a series in the fall. It was dorky but fun. It was a great show skating talent outside of a serious competition. Shae-Lynn Bourne skated to Lady Gaga with John Zimmerman and did an Axel! She's an ice dancer and she did an Axel! I'm so getting my 30-something behind to do an Axel this week. Screw the Junior Moves, it's all about Axels.
Tonight has skating related TV too, with Dancing With The Stars premiering with Evan Lysacek. I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy skating references and "pressure" hyped up with Kristi Yamaguchi's win. As long as Evan can balance DWTS and touring with Stars On Ice so he doesn't suffer a career-blowing injury more power to him. I just want to Buzz Aldrin do his version of a moonwalk and the original Octo-Mom, Kate Gosselin gone.
This year's worlds are probably a bit anticlimatic as the Olympics occured in February. Two of the Olympic gold medalists are competing at worlds this year, Virtue & Moir and the Queen, Yu-Na Kim. Since the mid-90's the Olympic medalists, particularly the golden winners have been ducking out of worlds. It will be a treat in Torino to have two of the Olympic champions competing.
While some skating fans are bemoaning the lack of TV coverage of the event, I'm excited that the ENTIRE event will be streamed on Universal Sports' site. Generally when it's on TV, they only show the top 6 skaters and the Americans. This way skate fans will get to enjoy all the performances, observe up and coming skaters, and see how the penultimate group impacts the final standings. I love seeing Chris Anderson's long tail theory working in accessing figure skating online! I'll be going to work early and hitting the Java Brewing Co. on the corner to watch before work.
This week got started with bonus skating on TV. The finale of Thin Ice rocked on Sunday. I totally want this to become a series in the fall. It was dorky but fun. It was a great show skating talent outside of a serious competition. Shae-Lynn Bourne skated to Lady Gaga with John Zimmerman and did an Axel! She's an ice dancer and she did an Axel! I'm so getting my 30-something behind to do an Axel this week. Screw the Junior Moves, it's all about Axels.
Tonight has skating related TV too, with Dancing With The Stars premiering with Evan Lysacek. I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy skating references and "pressure" hyped up with Kristi Yamaguchi's win. As long as Evan can balance DWTS and touring with Stars On Ice so he doesn't suffer a career-blowing injury more power to him. I just want to Buzz Aldrin do his version of a moonwalk and the original Octo-Mom, Kate Gosselin gone.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
North Americans 1-2-4
Meryl Davis and Charlie White completed their best Bollywood boogie of the year. They skated with such speed and precision. Excellent twizzles with Indian-inspired arm movements. They were ahead until Tessa and Scott skated to a 2 point lead.
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto closed out the evening with their Moldavian themed dance. New costumes and lots of energy, but after Tessa and Scott the audience took a break. They didn't seem as into it unfortunately. Still, Tanith and Ben are in a close fourth place right behind the Russians, Domnina and Shabalin.
That makes three North American teams in the top five. I can not say that has ever happened in my 30 year existence. What amazing days we live in!
The Global Dance Party Is Under Way
Alright, NBC showed the originaly dance of American's Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. They look thrilled to be skating at the Olympics. After 23 tangos Friday, here's a reminder of the theme for the original dance if you missed my earlier post:
Delobel & Schoenfelder will be representing France with a Can Can. From practice notes, it looks to be fun. I'm not sure how they'll end up on the podium, but this a team I'm rooting for. After skating together 18 years, they received their first ever world medal and it was gold! They put together the most lovely free skate to music from The Piano soundtrack and integrated sign language into their arm movements as well as the patterns on the ice. Last season, they started strong winning everything but then Isabelle injured her shoulder and got a bun in the oven during her recovery. They are my sentimental favorites for skating together for 20 years and skating four months after giving birth to a son. The NY Times has a great article on them and the pregnancy.
The Kerrs - The brother and sister team skate to Johnny Cash tonight. Too bad they didn't bring back their Scottish OD from the first time the ISU had the folk theme two seasons back. John looks great in a kilt!
Domnina & Shabalin - skate to an aboriginal theme, representing aboriginal people of the world. Rumor has it they have new outfits for this evening. They've been practicing in black all week and a blogger with IceNetwork said the dance actually looks like a great, modern dance in the black. We'll see what they're wearing tonight.
Davis & White - Bollywood comes to Vancouver as they take the ice. They've had huge scores and a bigger reception with this OD, be sure to watch.
The Zaretskys - the other brother and sister team of the evening skate to a traditional Jewish song. I heard the Israeli federation actually chose the music for them. This is a team that has done well over the season and they may make a move in the standings.
Virtue & Moir - I hope they checked the bolts on the roof and BC Place. I expect when this team takes the home ice, the roof will be near blowing off. They skate to a flamenco and have received high scores for the program all season. Risk factor - Tessa skates in this crazy long dress. It looks pretty and flamenco-y but there are times that it looks like it's getting caught between her legs or too much in Scott's face.
Belbin & Agosto - Tanith and Ben close out the evening with their Moldavian dance. I have not enjoyed this dance to much which is too bad as I really like Tanith and Ben. I want them to leave this Olympics with the best souvenir possible, an Olympic medal. I just don't think this program will help them unless one of the top three has a major booboo tonight.
I've got to travel for work this week so I've got to get up early Monday - Thursday. I can't stay up too late, so I'll be catching the blogs and watching the snippets of performances. I'm also missing my skating practice again. I'm going to have to work hard in March to take my Junior MITF test in April. I'm so inspired watching the skaters, there's choreography I'm dying to imitate. I'll have to wait until the weekend and weave through the crowd.
Any type of folk/country dance music or typical dance of the country can be used. For the chosen type, there are no restrictions onHere's what to look for tonight:
the number of musical selections. Although the dance may consist of different musical selections – fast and/or slow- there must be a
consistent theme based on a specific country or region.
The arrangement of the chosen music should give a genuine feel for folk/country dance. It should be very distant from the feeling of
the Grand Ballroom.
Same examples: Village, Square, Street, Barn dance, Hoedown, Mazurka, Polka, Tarantella, Hula, Hora, Csardas, Kalinka, Gapak,
Syrtaky, Scottish, Irish, Jig, Reel, Guajira, Cumbia, Jarabe, Fandango, Aborigines Dance, Chinese dances, Lesginka, Country
Waltz, Flamenco, etc.
Delobel & Schoenfelder will be representing France with a Can Can. From practice notes, it looks to be fun. I'm not sure how they'll end up on the podium, but this a team I'm rooting for. After skating together 18 years, they received their first ever world medal and it was gold! They put together the most lovely free skate to music from The Piano soundtrack and integrated sign language into their arm movements as well as the patterns on the ice. Last season, they started strong winning everything but then Isabelle injured her shoulder and got a bun in the oven during her recovery. They are my sentimental favorites for skating together for 20 years and skating four months after giving birth to a son. The NY Times has a great article on them and the pregnancy.
The Kerrs - The brother and sister team skate to Johnny Cash tonight. Too bad they didn't bring back their Scottish OD from the first time the ISU had the folk theme two seasons back. John looks great in a kilt!
Domnina & Shabalin - skate to an aboriginal theme, representing aboriginal people of the world. Rumor has it they have new outfits for this evening. They've been practicing in black all week and a blogger with IceNetwork said the dance actually looks like a great, modern dance in the black. We'll see what they're wearing tonight.
Davis & White - Bollywood comes to Vancouver as they take the ice. They've had huge scores and a bigger reception with this OD, be sure to watch.
The Zaretskys - the other brother and sister team of the evening skate to a traditional Jewish song. I heard the Israeli federation actually chose the music for them. This is a team that has done well over the season and they may make a move in the standings.
Virtue & Moir - I hope they checked the bolts on the roof and BC Place. I expect when this team takes the home ice, the roof will be near blowing off. They skate to a flamenco and have received high scores for the program all season. Risk factor - Tessa skates in this crazy long dress. It looks pretty and flamenco-y but there are times that it looks like it's getting caught between her legs or too much in Scott's face.
Belbin & Agosto - Tanith and Ben close out the evening with their Moldavian dance. I have not enjoyed this dance to much which is too bad as I really like Tanith and Ben. I want them to leave this Olympics with the best souvenir possible, an Olympic medal. I just don't think this program will help them unless one of the top three has a major booboo tonight.
I've got to travel for work this week so I've got to get up early Monday - Thursday. I can't stay up too late, so I'll be catching the blogs and watching the snippets of performances. I'm also missing my skating practice again. I'm going to have to work hard in March to take my Junior MITF test in April. I'm so inspired watching the skaters, there's choreography I'm dying to imitate. I'll have to wait until the weekend and weave through the crowd.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Compulsory Dance Roundup
The teams that garnered the top 3 Tango Romantica scores season, set new scoring heights last night.
Belbin & Agosto are sitting in 4th with 40.83 points. While they are probably disappointed being in 4th, those are great scores for them. Too bad they don't award points for tassels. She had like four on her outfit. I think she's been rooming with Johnny too long... he only had one.
How about Delobel & Schoenfelder competing after a year away? Pretty nice. They looked a bit stiff, but good for them to come back after injuries and Isabelle giving birth just 3 months ago!
Complete results here.
- Domnina & Shabalin - 43.76
- Virtue & Moir - 42.74
- Davis & White - 41.47
Belbin & Agosto are sitting in 4th with 40.83 points. While they are probably disappointed being in 4th, those are great scores for them. Too bad they don't award points for tassels. She had like four on her outfit. I think she's been rooming with Johnny too long... he only had one.
How about Delobel & Schoenfelder competing after a year away? Pretty nice. They looked a bit stiff, but good for them to come back after injuries and Isabelle giving birth just 3 months ago!
Complete results here.
Friday, February 19, 2010
A North American Podium?
Ice Dancing, like pairs, has traditionally been dominated by Soviet/Russian skaters. Ice Dancing has only been an Olympic sport since 1976, but since then all but two of the gold medals have gone to Soviet or Russian teams.
This quadrennium, for the first time ever, North American teams have been competitive and stood on the podium at each worlds since Torino. Vancouver will be the first Olympic ice dance competition where North American ice dancers could sweep the podium.
This quadrennium, for the first time ever, North American teams have been competitive and stood on the podium at each worlds since Torino. Vancouver will be the first Olympic ice dance competition where North American ice dancers could sweep the podium.
US Teams
US Nationals - Belbin & Agosto 2nd, Davis & White 1st
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto earned the silver in Torino and immediately followed that up with back to back bronze at the World Championships. They seemed primed to be the next great ice dancing champions, however the past four seasons have also been filled with mid-season program changes, mid-season injuries and a coaching change. They ended last season with a close 2nd place finish at Worlds.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White moved up from the junior ranks after the Olympic season in Belbin & Agosto's shadow. Over the past two years they've become equal competitors and Davis & White defeated them at the US Nationals this year. This team has had success on the fall Grand Prix circuit and have been undefeated this season. Yet they been shut out at Worlds the past few seasons.
Canadian Team
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
Canada has one team that has been competitive internationally and also have medaled at Worlds, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. They actually train with Davis & White in the Detroit area. They are the culprits who have edged out Davis & White at Worlds.
One of the coaches that they share with Davis and White is Marina Zoueva who recently mused on how much Virtue and Moir remind her of the pair skating legends, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. Zoueva choreographed for G & G and I'm beginning to find Virtue & Moir's programs to be a dance version of G & G's programs. They're original dance flamenco music is the same cut of G & G's '93-'94 short program. Ice dancing is supposed to be ballroom dancing on ice, but I find Virtue & Moir skate adagio more often than ballroom. Even doing mirror movements common in adagio dancing, they still have beautiful and appealing programs with fascinating dance lifts.
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:
Man's Pattern
This was the CD at a few events this season:
Skater Advantages
The top three scoring teams over the season have been:
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.
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. 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 4/4Ladies Pattern
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
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 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.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Getting Closer to Vancouver
Sign that the Winter Olympic Games are closer, the "Ice Meisters" are making ice. There's a bit of twist in making the ice for Vancouver as it has a milder and wet climate unlike those dry climates found the Alps where the Winter Games are often held. Check out this NBC Olympics article: Vancouver Venues On Track; Ice Makers Weary of Rain. It reminds me of skating in humid Kentucky.
While the US spread the National Championships over two weekends, our northern neighbors wrapped up their championship this weekend and have named their Olympic Team. No real surprises there with Patrick Chan, Joannie Rochette and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir leading the way.
While the US spread the National Championships over two weekends, our northern neighbors wrapped up their championship this weekend and have named their Olympic Team. No real surprises there with Patrick Chan, Joannie Rochette and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir leading the way.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Grand Prix Original Dance Quickies
Finished breakfast and getting ready for work. Catching the end of the Original Dance in Tokyo:
64.01 for Viture & Moir, new season's best! Still love the flamenco music and program, but I think Tessa dress hides a few flaws in twizzles. The dress length also adds a layer of intrigue to their already exciting program; I'm always wondering if it will get caught in a blade and down they go. The back-flip entrance into their lift continues to amaze me. Good job!
Davis & White... 65.80!!!!!!!!! Another new season's best and first place! Rock out! Their Bollywood inspired skate has been my favorite all season. The music is great and the moves are so authentic. It's also just a great DANCE. So much of ice dancing has become pairs without triple jumps. Davis & White dance with intricate footwork and difficult holds through out. Clearly, the are the class of the field. Awesome.
64.01 for Viture & Moir, new season's best! Still love the flamenco music and program, but I think Tessa dress hides a few flaws in twizzles. The dress length also adds a layer of intrigue to their already exciting program; I'm always wondering if it will get caught in a blade and down they go. The back-flip entrance into their lift continues to amaze me. Good job!
Davis & White... 65.80!!!!!!!!! Another new season's best and first place! Rock out! Their Bollywood inspired skate has been my favorite all season. The music is great and the moves are so authentic. It's also just a great DANCE. So much of ice dancing has become pairs without triple jumps. Davis & White dance with intricate footwork and difficult holds through out. Clearly, the are the class of the field. Awesome.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A New Storyline Begins, But Is It Wise?
Monday I read several "tweets" from some of the competitive skaters I follow that involved either packing for Tokyo or traveling to Tokyo for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Tweets from Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Joannie Rochette, Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott and Ashley Wagner. I liked Meryl's tweet, "It seems fitting that we're leaving for the land of the rising sun around dawn..."
The Grand Prix Series consists of 6 competitions across 3 continents that take place October through November for senior level skaters. Competitors earn points for their placements in the series. Winners of the event earn 12 points and go home with a snazzy gold medal, second place finishers earn 9 points and so on. The top six in the point standings after the 6 competitions end go on to the Grand Prix Final.
Skaters are selected to compete at the various competitions by their national governing body of the sport. (e.g., the USFSA in the States, Skate Canada in Canada, etc.). Competitors are allowed to compete in 2 of the six events where they earn points. Typically, winning a Grand Prix event gets you into the Final. The other competitors who make it are consistent in placing in the top three in their events.
The Final is the cream of the crop in the fall skating season. Performances and placements here are generally a good precursor to the World Championship standings. In an Olympic season, it's an excellent chance to make a statement that you're medal worthy. Plus, by reviewing the judges' marks and how skaters stack up against the narrow field, gives each skater exceptional feedback on what needs to be tweaked before the big championships later in the winter. Especially for those Olympics.
It would seem that all skaters would be honored to make it to the Grand Prix Final and want to skate their best. Recent seasons have shown a lot of skaters skipping the stay home and practice.Well, those skaters aren't completely "skipping" there is usually an injury involved. However, several blogs and message boards have been lit up this past week if the injuries are for real. Regardless, the big story leading into the Final is who's not here.
Brian Joubert experienced an awkward landing on a triple lutz last week. He ended up cutting his right foot with this blade. It so bad, he needed surgery to repair a ligament! According to his coach, the surgery went well and a good prognosis is expected. Difficult set back not only effecting the Final, but going into the French nationals and possibly Europeans.
The ice dancing event would have been a great match up of North American ice dancers, Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto and Meryl Davis & Charlie White represent the US. While Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir sing "O Canada." Ice dance has been a sport dominated by former Soviet countries. Over the past decade that domination is swinging to North America in part by former Soviet coaches who have relocated to the North America. Amazingly, all three of the teams making the Final have been coached by Igor Sphilband at one point in their careers. Each team won all of their Grand Prix events. None of the teams actually had a head to head match up through out the season.
Belbin & Agosto had to withdraw due to Tanith having an impacted wisdom tooth that got infected. I had once of those...ouch! My whole right side of my head from my temple to just below the jaw would throb in the days leading up to the extraction. I feel for her, but I wonder a little about the doctor's orders to stay off the ice for a week. Hopefully, she'll get the time to rejuvenate and then take advantage of not having to travel and compete in Tokyo. Belbin & Agosto's scores were lower in both their Grand Prix wins to the scores of both Virture & Moir and Davis & White.
Finally, there are several players not attending the Final simply because they didn't either didn't compete in more than one event or simply skipped the Grand Prix. Evgeny Plushenko only competed in Rostelecom Cup and neither Sasha Cohen or Stephane Lambiel competed. They may be a factor in Olympic placements.
The streaming times for the Final start Thursday, I think I'll be able to watch a bit over coffee.
The Grand Prix Series consists of 6 competitions across 3 continents that take place October through November for senior level skaters. Competitors earn points for their placements in the series. Winners of the event earn 12 points and go home with a snazzy gold medal, second place finishers earn 9 points and so on. The top six in the point standings after the 6 competitions end go on to the Grand Prix Final.
Skaters are selected to compete at the various competitions by their national governing body of the sport. (e.g., the USFSA in the States, Skate Canada in Canada, etc.). Competitors are allowed to compete in 2 of the six events where they earn points. Typically, winning a Grand Prix event gets you into the Final. The other competitors who make it are consistent in placing in the top three in their events.
The Final is the cream of the crop in the fall skating season. Performances and placements here are generally a good precursor to the World Championship standings. In an Olympic season, it's an excellent chance to make a statement that you're medal worthy. Plus, by reviewing the judges' marks and how skaters stack up against the narrow field, gives each skater exceptional feedback on what needs to be tweaked before the big championships later in the winter. Especially for those Olympics.
It would seem that all skaters would be honored to make it to the Grand Prix Final and want to skate their best. Recent seasons have shown a lot of skaters skipping the stay home and practice.Well, those skaters aren't completely "skipping" there is usually an injury involved. However, several blogs and message boards have been lit up this past week if the injuries are for real. Regardless, the big story leading into the Final is who's not here.
Brian Joubert experienced an awkward landing on a triple lutz last week. He ended up cutting his right foot with this blade. It so bad, he needed surgery to repair a ligament! According to his coach, the surgery went well and a good prognosis is expected. Difficult set back not only effecting the Final, but going into the French nationals and possibly Europeans.
The ice dancing event would have been a great match up of North American ice dancers, Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto and Meryl Davis & Charlie White represent the US. While Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir sing "O Canada." Ice dance has been a sport dominated by former Soviet countries. Over the past decade that domination is swinging to North America in part by former Soviet coaches who have relocated to the North America. Amazingly, all three of the teams making the Final have been coached by Igor Sphilband at one point in their careers. Each team won all of their Grand Prix events. None of the teams actually had a head to head match up through out the season.
Belbin & Agosto had to withdraw due to Tanith having an impacted wisdom tooth that got infected. I had once of those...ouch! My whole right side of my head from my temple to just below the jaw would throb in the days leading up to the extraction. I feel for her, but I wonder a little about the doctor's orders to stay off the ice for a week. Hopefully, she'll get the time to rejuvenate and then take advantage of not having to travel and compete in Tokyo. Belbin & Agosto's scores were lower in both their Grand Prix wins to the scores of both Virture & Moir and Davis & White.
Finally, there are several players not attending the Final simply because they didn't either didn't compete in more than one event or simply skipped the Grand Prix. Evgeny Plushenko only competed in Rostelecom Cup and neither Sasha Cohen or Stephane Lambiel competed. They may be a factor in Olympic placements.
The streaming times for the Final start Thursday, I think I'll be able to watch a bit over coffee.
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