Wednesday, March 20, 2013

2013 World Championships Ice Dance Recap



Our take on the ice dance event at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships.

29 comments:

  1. They only won because the judges had no choice. The Canadians messed up and it would have been Chanflation all over again if they had fixed that event too.

    The Olympics will give the gold to the Canadians.

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  2. I do expect Tessa and Scott to come back fighting next season, but I don't feel the gold is a given by any means. Meryl and Charlie have improved immensely over the past twelve months, and I expect they will continue to push themselves and grow during the off-season.

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  3. I loved how feisty P/B were in interviews, saying they wouldn't let the Russians beat them, and then posting bitterly on Facebook after they lost. We need more of that bitchy realness in skating.

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    1. Yeah - boy, they looked not happy when they realised they had finished in sixth place. I admire them but was not so keen on their FD this season.

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    2. Facebook link? What did they say?

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  4. I adored the whackadoo routine Zhulin worked up for Bobrova and Soloviev. Much like one of Stefon's nightclubs, that dance had everything - flowing blonde hair, red lipstick, a hoboesque grey cable knit sweater, a sexy LBD, Ennio Morricone harmonica music from a Clint Eastwood movie soundtrack into Disco Tosca!, and a story about insane people doing the robot.

    It gave me afterlife

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    1. Lol, perfectly put. I enjoyed Bobrova & Soloviev's weirdness in their FD, I adore Stefon, and I freaking LOVE that you put all of that together!

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    2. This might be my favorite comment ever.

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  5. I hope Virtue and Moir have a more "flowy" program for the Olympic year, the way the Mahler program was. If you look at the Samba, Funny Face, and Carmen free dances they are all a bit more choppy. Obviously the FD does not have to have the same style/mood as Mahler, but it would be great if it had the same level of effortless, airy flow. It will probably depend on how coherent their music is.

    For Meryl and Charlie, I am just hoping for a masterpiece on the level of Samson and Delilah. As much as I have liked (sometimes, loved) their last several programs, none have been as brilliant as that FD.

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    1. Yes, the concept and composition of Samson & Delilah is still the bar to me. D/W execute flawlessly whatever they are given, but I want a masterpiece FD in its own right for them.

      People used to say, if D/W did Samson & Delilah the Olympic year, things might have gone differently.

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  6. joycey, what are your thoughts on yuna becoming the greatest skater of all time, far above michelle, if she wins the sochi olympics?

    do yo honestly want her to win?

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  7. I do not think Tessa will be back for the Olympics. It is obvious that her legs are hurting and chronic pain effects the mind too.
    Jenny I don't like the idea that the Shibutanis need a makeover with regard to sexiness. If this is supposed to be sport then their look or sexiness factor should have nothing to do with it. I mean, a poorer team can have a big WOW factor and get great scores beating out the more technical team. Is that fair or really a sport? For an art performance maybe.Shame on judges who let personal opinions like that get in the way. That said I like Chock/Bates too (but they aren't as tech as Shibs at this point) and I do like her look and dress not being skanky. I have a suggestion that I think would be good for this site. You should go to Canton or wherever to see the training and do a video from there. Maybe the coaches will interview maybe not but it'd be good.Dave, you did better with your eyes this time.

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    1. That's the way it is. Michelle Kwan didn't medal at 95' Worlds for this precise reason. The judges told Frank Carroll, "We want a ladies champion, not a girls champion".

      Frank took it to heart, convinced Michelle & Family, and the rest is history. Jenny simply stated the reality regarding the Shibutani's.

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  8. You're saying you think Tessa and Scott are done? I don't think Jenny was saying Maia needs to be more sexy. What I believe she was saying was that Maia needs to emote more, project the pair more to the audience like Chock does.

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  9. Totally off topic but don't want to sign up for a Formspring account bc it's ending and not sure which email address you're checking these days, but just gonna leave this here... ask your coach!! http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130318/180095876/Bolshoi-Theatre-Mulls-Response-to-Pimping-Claims.html

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  10. I suspect Voir were slightly undermarked due to the Chan fiasco? I see them as the better dancers/performers whereas Marlie are the better technicians.

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  11. On that dance Tessa and Scott weren't better. Heck they weren't better last year. Even Tatiana thought the D/W should have won last year.

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    1. did Tarasova say that in an interview? I don't actually understand how V/M won 2012.

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    2. You're not alone, no one understands how V/M won in 2012. Even V/M seemed sheepish about their win in the FD.

      Compared to this year, while a lot of the Canadian fans hoped V/M could win, everyone understands the final result.

      An inquiry in 2012 Worlds really should be done.

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    3. I know Sonia Bianchetti and Alla Shekhovtseva said the same thing.

      As far as this year goes, if you read the Voir thread on FSU, some of the posters are truly, umm, special and believe that Voir is incapable of losing because they're that much better than everyone else.

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  12. This was translated on google. It's from this article which is in Russian.

    http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20120401/589082464.html

    Quote:
    "In Ice Dance, Tarasova felt the winners should have been Davis/White but she didn't explain her decision except some subjective compliments about the American Champions, neither did she express her disagreement as strongly as she did with respect to the men's competition, leading the audience to think she feels it could go either way but she prefers the Americans"

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    1. Well, if you get to the level of these two teams, it all comes down to preference, I think.

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    2. funny how this year she thinks quite the opposite. thats why she gave V/M a standing o at CoR.

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  13. Thank you Dave, for discreetly correcting Jennifer at the end - Russian and Latvian are not the same, don't even use the same alphabet.

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  14. Until it was pointed out here and on some other sites, I didn't realize that since the CD was eliminated, Marlie have dominated Voir. I checked and confirmed: They have won 2/3 of the times they've faced Voir. The body of Marlie's work since the Olympics has been amazing--their range is thrilling. Voir's programs since the Olympics have been weak, Ice Dance is a skating event after all. You can't stand around and dance the way Voir do what Marlie skate the heck out of their programs. If Voir ubers opened their eyes, they'd understand what the judges are rewarding.

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  15. The V/M ubers are amazing in their bitterness. It shocks me that people who could be fans of such a lovely sport could also be so full of venom. As a Canadian, I was proud the way the London audience and even the CBC announcers embraced D/W's great skaing. I know it's only a few ubers, some of whom use different names, even on the same boards, to appear to inflate their number. I don't recall ever having seen such a bitter, paranoid, insecure fan base for any other skaters. Maybe Tessa's secretive, maybe paranoid nature is being reflected in their fans. I've heard it's really weird in Canton and has been for a long time but that the least liked skaters there have always been V/M.

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  16. VM are the least liked skaters in Canton, according to whom?

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