2015-16 Grand Prix Final Free Dance

Reposted from the Shibs thread:

After looking at the protocols, I think there is something to be said that the Shibs' PCS is actually very close to Chock/Bates and Cappellini/Lanotte (with the Shibs beating Chock/Bates in PE and INT), but more importantly out of the 7 elements (I'm not counting the Twizzles as Madison had an uncharacteristic mistake there), the Shibs received higher GOE than C/B on the Curve Lift and the Rotational Lift, and the same GOE for their diagonal step sequence with the maximum GOE allotted for their curve lift with the one judge's score of a "2" being dropped. The Shibs also beat C/L on 4 of the 8 elements in GOE and tied for their diagonal step sequence.

If only they got level 4s for both Pattern dances and the level 4 for their spin, they would have won silver here with the same performances (of course relying on Chock's Twizzle mistake) with GOEs and PCS being the same. Even with just one level 4 pattern and the level 4 spin that they received all season, they would have beaten C/L (I'm not going to consider his Twizzle mistake in the SD because they got really great GOE with it despite that mistake) and lost the silver to C/B by 0.03. All very good things despite their 4th place finish. I think that the Shibs can perform their dances better and be more on point with the elements.

One thing they should change is their last choreographic lift. They lost 0.34-0.77 in GOE to the top three teams here, and consistently scored lower on that than the top 3 GPF finishers in the GP series. That's construction related issue that needs to be fixed along with making sure Maia drills the Ravensburger and not losing a level for their dance spin that they received in the past. And if they can improve their linking footwork and movement score by adding one, two, or a few more transitions in the beginning (since they're bit behind the top 3 there compared to their other PCS that are quite close to C/B and C/L) then it'll be even better. That may even lead to the judges closing the gap with W/P in PCS (not beating them). Last season their PCS in relation to W/P and C/B seemed seriously unreachable, but this season it looks very attainable (though looks and actually being attainable are different things).

Alchamei said:

This is not unfortunate, this is serious overlooking of mistakes. Otherwise how could W/P and C/B with their mistakes have higher scores? With PCS like candy? When no one except the judges seem to love them?

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If you would really read the thread, you would see that there are people who like W/P and/or C/B and their programs. Overall, I don't like C/B all that much, but live they looked better than I expected. And W/P were the only team whose FD performance truly captivated me. Unfortunately, I didn't like Shibutani's FD performance live nearly as much as I liked it on TV. It didn't draw me in. And W/P definitely looked both skating bigger/faster and more expressive. C/L's FD was my second favorite despite their smaller skating - I think the FD stood out because of it's light mood (the same as on TV) + C/L are just good performers.

On a sidenote, I did like Shibutani's SD performance the most out of everyone.

VIETgrlTerifa

Thanks for bringing that over. I find the analysis interesting.

Additionally, and I know it's hard to tell from a YouTube video, they looked a bit slower to me than at NHK. Afterwards I learned that Alex was so ill. It explained Marina's concerned expression during the performance... I think she was worried whether he could carry on through it.

So, it seems to be that a healthier, speedier Alex must add something to the PCS.

lauravvv said:

If you would really read the thread, you would see that there are people who like W/P and/or C/B and their programs. Overall, I don't like C/B all that much, but live they looked better than I expected. And W/P were the only team whose FD performance truly captivated me. Unfortunately, I didn't like Shibutani's FD performance live nearly as much as I liked it on TV. It didn't draw me in. Anda W/P definitely looked both skating bigger/faster and more expressive. C/L's FD was my second favorite despite their smaller skating - I think the FD stood out because of it's light mood (the same as on TV) + C/L are just good performers.

On a sidenote, I did like Shibutani's SD performance the most out of everyone.

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Thank you for the live report and hope you enjoyed your trip to GPF and Barcelona!

It is interesting to hear the different reactions to the same performances/skaters. I had the opposite reaction to Weaver and Poje. I had liked them a lot on television but when I saw them in person at Skate America in 2012, I found they were quite slow (to me) and did not enjoy them as much as I did on TV. But perhaps they have improved greatly since then! I have found myself warming up to their FD and I look forward to seeing it in person for myself in Boston.

I had a similar reaction to Chock and Bates, however, when I saw them at Nationals in 2014. They do skate with a lot of speed and power. I'll be looking forward to seeing if I have a similar reaction to a less performance-oriented, more lyrical, FD.

Mathman said:

I agree. Everyone else looks like they're going to a funeral. Oh, the soulfulness of it all!

Will someone please run over Anna Karenina with a train?

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I know Bobrova and Soloviev skated to Anna Karenina, but who else did? (I'm Guilty of not watching all the couples:noshake

I don't mind dirges and angsty programs, as long as they're done well.

Like Kavaguti and Smirnov's Tchaikovsky program.