2015 Skate Canada Ice Dance Free Dance

[Alchamei]

The Shibs FD is one of the best dance programs of this milenium. Or rather, it has the potential to be one of those, when Maia and Alex will be more emotionaly invested and interact more with each other during the dance.They will also need to skate closer to each other and improve the final pose, but these are just details. I seriously belive they could win the World title. I am not kidding. If not this year, then the next or another because they really feel the music and their lifts are fast and clean as a whistle. And I'm not mentioning the twizzels.

Think about that - this is the second ice dance program that made me cry on the FIRST watching. V/T Vancouver FD is the first one. I've already watched Shibs FD five times and I am stilly crying like a turtle.

 

[Mattieu]

The Shibs FD is one of the best dance programs of this milenium. Or rather, it has the potential to be one of those, when Maia and Alex will be more emotionaly invested and interact more with each other during the dance.They will also need to skate closer to each other and improve the final pose, but these are just details. I seriously belive they could win the World title. I am not kidding. If not this year, then the next or another because they really feel the music and their lifts are fast and clean as a whistle. And I'm not mentioning the twizzels.

Think about that - this is the second ice dance program that made me cry on the FIRST watching. V/T Vancouver FD is the first one. I've already watched Shibs FD five times and I am stilly crying like a turtle.

I like the Shibs FD a lot but it is not quite on the level of Papadakis/Cizeron Masterpiece FD from last season.

 

[WeakAnkles]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Just sayin'...

 

[Alchamei]

I like the Shibs FD a lot but it is not quite on the level of Papadakis/Cizeron Masterpiece FD from last season.

It depends on personal opinion. P/C was indeed a masterpiece, but as the season passed, I didn't enjoy it that much. I cried only during their Worlds FD. Ok, maybe I was overreacting, but I seriously belive Shibs can win that World title. The tech is on their side now, they just need to finally earn higher PCS (and win that Nationals finally).

 

[noidont]

The Shibs isn't better. They are better compared to their former selves, but still too many open holds and sometimes Maia was behind and had to run into Alex. I thought W/P did great. Their FD is my favorite dance of the past two GPs.

 

[andromache]

There's no way Shibs can win at US Nationals unless C/B end up being a disaster. C/B have way too much momentum from last year, plus whatever politics are on their side. Maybe if the international judges start lowballing their dull FD on the GP this could change but it's ice dance and shake-ups rarely happen.

I liked C/B FD last week and I still like it better than their FD last year, but after seeing the Shibs here and W/P, C/B really do seem dull in comparison. Still love Madison and Evan, but the program just doesn't seem inspired or unique in any way. Very traditional and safe.

 

[bramweld]

I hope that P/I don't give up, as I like their elegance but IMHO, changing coaches hasn't made much of a difference.

 

[WeakAnkles]

There's no way Shibs can win at US Nationals unless C/B end up being a disaster. C/B have way too much momentum from last year, plus whatever politics are on their side. Maybe if the international judges start lowballing their dull FD on the GP this could change but it's ice dance and shake-ups rarely happen.

I liked C/B FD last week and I still like it better than their FD last year, but after seeing the Shibs here and W/P, C/B really do seem dull in comparison. Still love Madison and Evan, but the program just doesn't seem inspired or unique in any way. Very traditional and safe.

One thing to keep in mind: C/B really haven't done super-traditional programs before. Certainly, as dorisp pointed out, have they never done a strictly traditional ballroom dance before this year. And given the responses we're already seeing in the SD in the traditional vs thinking out of the box debate, tradition is clearly winning the battle.

Really I wish people would stop confusing personal taste with 'objective' judging criteria. Again, de gustibus non est disputandum.

 

[Mrs. P]

It's very apparent to me that this was much more a personal victory for the Shibs than about really beating anyone. If you look at our own predictions thread, people had them in 3rd and even 4th at this competition. Nobody really expected them to perform as well as they did especially since they got beat by Gilles and Poirier and Coomes and Buckland just three weeks ago.

I think there is still plenty of room for improvement even with getting 51+ TES. They still left quite a bit of points on the table as far a +GOE, which is OK at this point of the season cause it was obvious the goal was to get those level 3 fw sequences (and level 4 everything else).

Heck, people were predicting that the Shibs would struggle to keep U.S. No.2....they made a statement here that they're not ready to roll over yet. And that's fine with me.

 

[andromache]

One thing to keep in mind: C/B really haven't done super-traditional programs before. Certainly, as dorisp pointed out, have they never done a strictly traditional ballroom dance before this year. And given the responses we're already seeing in the SD in the traditional vs thinking out of the box debate, tradition is clearly winning the battle.

Really I wish people would stop confusing personal taste with 'objective' judging criteria. Again, de gustibus non est disputandum.

At no point in my post did I refer to objective judging criteria. I only said that Shibs have a miniscule shot at beating C/B on the off-chance that judges decide C/B's program is too traditional. After all, we saw P/C showered with love for having a brilliant, inspired program. (Any news/vids of their programs yet? I miss them so much!) Anyway, my post is primarily about my own personal taste regarding the programs and how Shibs don't really have a chance this year due to how strong C/B are generally. I did not mean to imply that judges should apply my taste to their evaluations. I know basically nothing about ice dance except when twizzles look good and how a program makes me feel.

 

[dorispulaski]

I cannot comment on W&P's FD yet. So far I have fallen asleep while attempting to watch it twice. Maybe third time's the charm.

At the worst case, I now know how to solve my insomnia issues. :hopelessness:

This, btw, is the absolute truth. Fell asleep. Twice.

I think there is a tenable case that it bored me.

 

[TontoK]

I think there is a strong case to be made that the Shibs deserved to win this competition.

I also think, that if judged on the same ice, their SC performance would beat C/B's SA performance.

Again, I say this as someone who has not been a great fan of theirs over the past several years.

Credit where due: This is not simply an improvement over what they've done prior; they showed a completely different level.

 

[Mattieu]

I cannot comment on W&P's FD yet. So far I have fallen asleep while attempting to watch it twice. Maybe third time's the charm.

At the worst case, I now know how to solve my insomnia issues. :hopelessness:

This, btw, is the absolute truth. Fell asleep. Twice.

I think there is a tenable case that it bored me.

Me too W/P just bore me and send me to sleep, there is only so long Pojé's hotness can keep me distracted from the boredom of their skating.

 

[TMC]

I cannot comment on W&P's FD yet. So far I have fallen asleep while attempting to watch it twice. Maybe third time's the charm.

At the worst case, I now know how to solve my insomnia issues. :hopelessness:

This, btw, is the absolute truth. Fell asleep. Twice.

I think there is a tenable case that it bored me.

Doris you crack me up

I adored their SD at Finlandia Trophy, but the only thing that kept me interested while I was watching their FD there in person was that their lifts were so scary and I was worried there was going to be a big fall...it was like driving past an accident site: you don't want to look but you can't help it.

I was a WeaPo fan from the Je suis malade season and became an uber during the Maria de Buenos Aires season, but last season and this season their programmes just don't interest me...I feel like a bad fan now.

Somebody said that they are at their best when they do a story-based programme and I agree. Maria was the kind of inspired programme that wins Worlds.

 

[TontoK]

Doris you crack me up

I adored their SD at Finlandia Trophy, but the only thing that kept me interested while I was watching their FD there in person was that their lifts were so scary and I was worried there was going to be a big fall...it was like driving past an accident site: you don't want to look but you can't help it.

I was a WeaPo fan from the Je suis malade season and became an uber during the Maria de Buenos Aires season, but last season and this season their programmes just don't interest me...I feel like a bad fan now.

Somebody said that they are at their best when they do a story-based programme and I agree. Maria was the kind of inspired programme that wins Worlds.

Exactly! This is what I meant when I said they had better programs when they were clawing their way to the podium. Those programs are so much better than last year's program, and they dwarf what they did at SC.

 

[TMC]

Exactly! This is what I meant when I said they had better programs when they were clawing their way to the podium. Those programs are so much better than last year's program, and they dwarf what they did at SC.

I think the Eurosport commentators (or some commentators anyway) put it well during Worlds last season: the technical and performance skills of the top pairs are so equal right now that basically whichever pair has the best programme, wins. I tend to agree.

ETA Except of course here the best one didn't win #Shibswuzrobbed

 

[Layback11]

https://salchowsandswarovskis.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/recap-skate-canada-highlights-low-points/

Blog post finally done!

 

[cornell08]

Shib's Coldplay FD is transcendent, just wow. Chock & Bates used to have the edge when it came to really engaging program (Dr. Zhivago, Les Mis), while the Shibs had a string of doozies...so I could forgive the placements then. But this year, I don't know-- **** might hit the fan if the Shibs and C/B skate equally and C/B come out on top. Sometimes I think Maia (and to a lesser extent Alex) would benefit their case more by being less diplomatic when things don't go their way and really express their frustration and anger. I like how Alex is more candid in that respect, but even now you often see him look to Maia when answering presser questions...and her answers are always more canned.

It was disappointing to see them place 2nd here, but utterly unsurprising because...Canada.

 

[nocturnalis]

However great the ShibSibs are or do, they have got to be clod t on their holds. It's like they at getting farther apart every season.

 

[Mathman]

There's no way Shibs can win at US Nationals unless C/B end up being a disaster. C/B have way too much momentum from last year, plus whatever politics are on their side.

What politics are on their side? Is Shpilband better connected that Zueva thse days?

However great the ShibSibs are or do, they have got to be clod t on their holds.

OK, you got me. What is clod t? (or is it something I don't want to know. )