European Championships Overview

I'm going to talk a bit about the FD..It was obvious that Pechalat and Bourzat lead FD and won the Europeans because of their progress and attidude..But Kerr's being 3rd was a big suprise because of Sinead's injury this season. I didnt think that they were going to push this hard. They were floating with speed and balance. They were so pleased with themselves. They seemed to having a good time and most of all they were feeling it. Great tricky cheorography by Platov..
 About Bobrova and Soloviev, great opening in FD a bit disharmony and loss of balance, but especially Ekaterina looks so confident. Altougha little bad luck about her skirt stuck under Dimitri's blades she is always controlled. Elena Ilynkh oh how beautiful she smiles. Whatever she does I like it I don't know why but I think after 5 years. We will be talking about them as champions... Faiella and Scali were technically ready and tried to focus but this caused them not to reflect the feeling of the dance enough.

Overview sentence: "Unpredictable in some aspects but also highly predictable?"

European Championships Short Dance Overview

It was obvious. As I've said before, Pechalat & Bourzat we're great. I said so much about this Short dance in my last post so I will not again. It was "Absolutely french"
As we come to Bobrova & Soloviev, this was their best short dance performance that I've seen in this season. That's for sure. They started with fluidity and the twizzle part was technicaly good. They stand like champions, which I think is a great way to be in front of the jury. Stance of a person is the greatest power that changes other peoples thoughts, attitudes and behaviors towards him and Jury sees self confidence. There was one minor disharmony after the part lady leans stands back they take the position to outside hold, fastly to combo spin and outside hold again while she removes her right leg back he removes his left leg foward. This is the hardest part in the patters sequence. But I found them succesfull. They deserve to be on the 2nd spot
Ilnykh & Katsalapov were fast and furious. They never slowed down, technically great cheorographed by Zhulin. Everything just fitted. They got up there and just did it. I noticed that they were highly concantrated, which led them to success.
They are only 0.02 points in front of  Riazanova & Thachenko whom were wonderfully elegant. There was a great harmony in that performance. Creativity lies inside the classic moves which gives you hope for the future of the Ice Dance. I always expect these little moves from coaches. I think its what Ice Dancing is all about. Kerr's, they were amazing. I just wanted to scream it was wonderful. To be honest, I wasn't sure about them before the championships begun but they absolutely rocked. I hope they finish it with a silver.
Their speed was wonderful. The linking footwork sequences almost perfect and loved their spins. One of the highest marked components of their presentation was timing.The highest was "Performance" with 7.89 which should be 8.50 at least. But when do we all agree with jury? :) Good Work Sinead & John.
Faiella & Scalli. Loss of balance as usual.. but they wraped up nicely so I think they should'nt be placed 9th. So my prediction is that after the FD, nothing will change and their positions will remain the same.

2011 European Championships Preview

   

Well, the European champs have begun in Bern this season. There is definitely no competititon in the air but there can be surprises.First of all the gold medal will go to Pechalat and Bourzat. Since there is no Domnina and Shabalin couple this season they went a step ahead and did a wonderful job. Asiding from the technical qualities, their aspects of presentation is very strong. They are leaving this "french, magnolia, vintage, dusty memories" feeling when they dance. short dance is very romantic, especially the opening part of the music and the harmony between the twizzles is amazing. Natalie prefers to wear red this year which I think is a brilliant choice and she looks so elegant. I hope she doesn't change it like the others do.
They are standing as they feel like they are the champions this season, which makes me look at them differently. In their free dance, the theatratical sad and happines combination with a Charlie Chaplin medley is a full flavor. First lift is technically very difficult. It dissociates from other straight line lifts that we have seen before. He is on one foot but not close to the ground so he can simply loose his balance but he also makes a curve while gliding.But judges scores this season for this particular lift was very disproportionate. They are my favourites in this European Champs.
But Kerr's on the other hand, have lost significant time due to Sinead's injury that included a dislocation. They placed second in the Skate Canada behind Crone&Poirier. Which was a total dissapointment for them but I have hope that they will be strong in the EC's like they always do and be on the podium. Transitions of style and music in the short dance are very good. Speed and fluidity is great. FD was a bit disappointment for me because I felt that they've stayed back. But their transition moves like the creative twizzles they do on opposite directions (mirror) is so great and elegant. Didn't liked the lifts. They are doing the same lifts every year, they need better ones, I don't know why are they doing this but I know that they have great potential otherwise Platov would not be working with them. They always impress me but its definitely a questionmark in this seasons EC's.
About the Faiella & Scali team. Such a bad luck, two falls beacause of the same reason, wrong design of the clothes. He slipped by stepping on her skirt and I said "What again?".It's not about how long the skirt is. You must watch the dance and see the conflicts. Their last season FD was so impressive so we expect the same performance this year. Didn't liked the clothes in both dances. I really think clothes are so important on influence.



Don't think Bobrova & Soloviev are good enough to be on the podium nor the Hungarians. They still need some time to improve their skills.
This season The European Championships is going to be either boring or very exiting thats for sure...

"Compulsory Dance" Out "Pattern Dance" In!

In Rule 303 Paragraph 1 Content of Ice dance it says;
The Name of "Compulsory Dance" in replaced with "Pattern Dance". Which is a "pattern" litterally in Short Dance. And yes.. Original Dance in mixed with Compulsory Dance so here it is The Short Dance. Duration is 2 Minutes and 50 seconds which is longer than the Original Dance which was 2 Minutes and 10 seconds maximum, Is a very good choice I think. Now it is much longer, dancers can show themselves much better and they have the time to adapt the sequences.
The Short Dance must be to a prescribed rhythm, vocals permitted, but will also have required elements, aligning it with the short programs required of the other figure skating disciplines. Partner seperations are still limited. Well it is not so different than the OD actually except the pattern dance part in it, which allows skaters to develop focus on specific skills, moves and harmony.

The pattern must proceed in a generally constant direction and must not cross the long axis of the ice surface
except once at each end of the rink. Just like in the Compulsory dance..
Pattern Dance in indivisible.They can start whenever or which part of it they want. But once they start, they have to finish it to be able to continue with the Rhytmic part. The Pattern dance is a choreography which links to each other so from whereever you start, they cant finish it untill they wont dance all of the passages.

"All dance steps, turns, rotations and changes of position are permitted provided that they are appropriate the designated rhythm(s) and the music chosen." This rule is very important. They emphasize it two or maybe three different ways in the new rules. There is no tolerance to any kind of music which is arythmic or moves that are. They don't say it out loud but I think it is mentioned in different ways.
 The program must be developed through skating skills and quality rather than through non-skating actions such as sliding on one knee, or use of toe steps which should be used only to reflect the character of the dance and underlining rhythm and nuances of the chosen music.
A good way to manage the abuse but has a restrictive way either.
 I always liked sliding on knees since Bourne and Kraatz. Those kind of moves allow dancers to develop and present their own unique style.

Still, in skating, modifications and change of rules hopefully will guide it to a refining improvements.

Virtue & Moir Withdraw From Nationals but say "Will go all the way to the Worlds!"

Well, this is my first entry so I wanted it to be about something new and about Ice Dancing.
As you all know that Tessa and Scott have been off the Grand Prix beacuse of Tessa underwnt a second surgery to alleviate chronic exertional compartment syndrome in her lower legs back in October and they have withdrawn from this weeks Canadian Nationals.
Well I thought "Thats it, they're not gonna make it to the Worlds but th couple said "The plan is to be Four Continents champions and world champions," Well.. we hope so. They say that they've talked to Zueva and Shpilband about skipping the Nationals but I think that nationals is always important for an Ice Dancing couple, to be at home, to hear those cheerful screams and to get energy for the rest of the events. So in my opinion  there should be a problem. Scott seemed down and Tessa seemed like she was trying to look like everything is fine. And I know how confident and smiley this team looks like in their interviews something just doesn't fit in this picture. 

But we all hope that everyting is fine and get to see them in the podium at the Worlds

You may know that they are preparing for a Latin Free Dance this year which is definitely hard we know that every step matters.. 

So good luck Tessa and Scott !