Why the lack of interest in pairs? | Golden Skate

Why the lack of interest in pairs?

bobbob

Medalist
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Pairs is by my favorite discipline, mainly because of the range of elements being performed as well as the perfect combination between art and athleticism involved between the two partners. It's just so exciting to watch! In singles, its just jumps and spins and an occasional sequence, in dance, its step sequences, lifts, twizzles/spin, but pairs have lifts/twist lifts, throws, jumps, spins, sequences, death spirals. So why are other disciplines more popular. Ladies/men I sort of get, but I cannot understand any reason why Ice dance is more popular than pairs, especially when to a casual viewer ice dance cannot really be understood properly. I'm thinking it it is due to the fact that pairs has traditionally been Soviet dominated so there hasn't been as much of a tradition to watch it in some of these Western countries (maybe?).
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Country
United-States
For me it’s a lot less of a lack of interest than it is a lack of time. It’s tough enough to keep up with one discipline let alone two. For the time being it’s the ladies who get my attention the most but I think pairs will be the next discipline I get into.

Right now K/S are my favorites to follow but I’m totally amazed by Sui/Han and watch them any chance I get :)
 

TerpsichoreFS

Marin Honda's skating skills
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 10, 2016
I'd be more interested if they'd left me Yu/Jin...

I have a hard time with both dance and pairs for different reasons (spacing out and boredom vs lack of aesthetical appreciation) but I really like J/C in France, and I like S/H and S/M. My guess is that dance tries to be pretty and the partners try to have a connection whereas pairs can look a little disjointed as a discipline. Paris seem to have the worst programs between the 4 disciplines. The ones who are the most popular are interestingly enough the ones with a little something. (even T/M have a little something).

I also have the feeling pairs are not maxed out technically? The ladies are pushing backloading and tanos, mens do quads, dance is going ever more conceptual and complex and pairs is kind of the balance beam of figure skating, without a proper identity.
 

Crossover

All Hail the Queen
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
From my experience that I've tried to persuade my friends - who only watch ladies's figure skating during Olympics (they claimed they're genuine FS fans..well ;)) - to get more interested in figure skating, they thought pairs is like acrobatics. They said it looked scary and dangerous as well as less artistic than ladies. Therefore, while it was exciting to watch to some extent, they said there are tons of more exciting and familiar sport, so why bother learning difficult rules and following it? They said men wearing glittering shirts and tight pants is like male ballet dancers wearing white tights. They think figure skating is primarily ladies' sport. They didn't get interested in ice dance as well although dancers were very beautiful and graceful. However, I think your question is more towards long time FS fans though.

Pairs is one of most favorite disciplines, so my main interest for this season is whether Savchenko finally can be an Olympic champion, or Sui/Han take the title as many predict. Of course, there would be other alternative results than I desire. If I have no time watching all disciplines, I watch pairs first and then men. Ice dance and ladies are next at this moment.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
pairs is often the discipline i watch with the most enthusiasm for the reasons pointed out by the OP... Variety.

However, I think that it's less popular simply because it's dominated by a few countries. It's the least universal discipline. It also requires a lot more time to develop and rare are teams that stay together from novice/junior age until seniors. Many teams break up.... etc

What I also love with pairs is that teams can really max out on their own strengths... for instance D/R max out BV in jumps and have a quad throw.
Other teams have a quad twist. Some teams earn huge points with their perfect lines and connection...

Also, there are a lot of beautiful moments in choreography because pairs is not as restrictive as dance is.
 

reneerose

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 9, 2011
Pairs is by my favorite discipline, mainly because of the range of elements being performed as well as the perfect combination between art and athleticism involved between the two partners. It's just so exciting to watch! In singles, its just jumps and spins and an occasional sequence, in dance, its step sequences, lifts, twizzles/spin, but pairs have lifts/twist lifts, throws, jumps, spins, sequences, death spirals. So why are other disciplines more popular. Ladies/men I sort of get, but I cannot understand any reason why Ice dance is more popular than pairs, especially when to a casual viewer ice dance cannot really be understood properly. I'm thinking it it is due to the fact that pairs has traditionally been Soviet dominated so there hasn't been as much of a tradition to watch it in some of these Western countries (maybe?).

Pairs is very exciting to watch! I prefer it over ice dance. A casual skating fan just goes with watching the individual disciplines , i.e. men's and women's. Probably another factor is that pairs are short shrifted when it comes to primetime broadcasting. Hopefully all of the livestreaming NBC plans to do will rectify that at least here in the States.
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Well, from my standpoint, it has become difficult to get attached to a US pair because they never seem to last more than a couple of seasons. I finally gave up hope when Caitlin and John broke up after winning Nationals in 2011. Most of you know that that was the last time I went to Nationals.....I was so excited for the future......Then, they broke up. After that, I stopped putting my heart into pairs. It's the volatility that keeps me from becoming invested in pairs and unfortunately, I don't see things improving in the US.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
To people on this site we are the fanatics when it comes to skating but it is hard for the average olympic fan or sports fan to learn all the rules or understand teh scoring system. Ladies is one of the the premier events. In Men's the Americans usually always have a contender and they are one of the biggest viewers along with Japan and China who have top male competitors. Ice Dance right now is poopular and you have several top North American teams so they have a large market. Pairs top teams are the most part not really North American and couple that perhaps not the most engaging personalities. Add to that while Si and Han are gorgeous skaters they are nothing new. They are arguably Shen and Zhou but for whatever reason their personalitiesdo notshineo n or off the ice. With Rodina and Zaitzev you hard her fire and amazingskating record. With G and G you had beauty and romance, and magic.. EVen artur and hispartners had such fire. But now you just have a pretty gracefuland lyrical team and not particularly distinguishable.
 

solar

I got cat class and I got cat style
Medalist
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Country
United-States
Pairs has always been a favorite of mine, and I've had a growing interest in it the last few years due to the competitiveness of the top teams :) To me, it's the most complicated and maybe even the most dangerous event out of all four of them. Those pairs girls are the most fearless skaters I know! I've always enjoyed the event but I've noticed that it's not the most popular one. Maybe pairs skaters are less marketable? Many pairs tend to split up or change partners sporadically so it's difficult to create a following. I don't really have a theory, but I do think pairs deserves more recognition! Especially now.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
I'm sure Pairs is the favorite discipline for the Chinese, and understandably the least favorite in the U.S.

eta. solar brought up the issue of stability of the Pairs partnership and this is another contrast between the (very successful) Chineses Pairs and the U.S. counterparts. The Chinese Pairs tend to stay together for 18 years and then they get married whereas the American Pairs break up and search for new partners every year. (All generally speaking for effect, in case some people want to admonish me on account of specific cases.)
 

solar

I got cat class and I got cat style
Medalist
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Country
United-States
I'm sure Pairs is the favorite discipline for the Chinese, and understandably the least favorite in the U.S.

I was thinking about this, and how it must be true for Japan too since Japan doesn't have any competitive pairs at the moment. Places like the US and Japan are home to many figure skating fans, maybe the discipline is not as popular in general since it's not as universally represented competitively
 

Sam L

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
I don’t like Pairs as much because I see pairs as being too acrobatic.

I like singles because of jumps and spins. I like ice dance for the skating skills/edges.

Having said that Sui/Han are one of my favourite skaters.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
I really like pairs. The hard part, as mentioned above, is that the US pairs don't stay together long enough to get attached to them. I don't think it's for lack of talent, maybe it's for lack of coaching expertise, but you look at the Russians and the Japanese and they have such unity and skate as one. The Knierems come close, but, I think the best pair team we've had in recent years is Denney and Coughlin. I felt they were truly competitive internationally. Once you get past the Knierems it's pretty sparse.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
It's odd. I enjoy watching pairs when the time allows me and I really like a lot of pairs -- Kavaguti/Smirnov (when they were in competition), Sui/Han, Savchenko/Massot, Peng/Jin, James/Cipres, Denney/Frazier, among many others. But for some reason it's not a huge priority.

I agree with Sam that time is a time thing. Dance and Men are my top priorities. I think for me both of those disciplines are really unpredictable and there's a sense of parity among the top 8 or so skaters/couples in those two disciplines so it's fun to track.

That's not so much the case in Ladies or Pairs.
 

Mussique

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
For me it's about it being too scary. I like men's skating and that's scary too, and lately a slapfest, but if I hadn't gotten into it previously I probably wouldn't be this invested either.
I just prefer skating to be more about artistry and least about surviving the different jumps. I don't really understand ice dance's rules but I don't need them to enjoy the pure coordination and musicality of the programs.
And also the girls in pairs usually feel so defenseless against the odds and injury that I just can't.
Sometimes I'll watch a winning program because I'll know no one fell or was injured during it, but watching/following it live with all the bad stuff that could happen? I've got enough with man's quads, I don't want to break my heart again each time someone falls.
 

Sam L

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
For me it's about it being too scary. I like men's skating and that's scary too, and lately a slapfest, but if I hadn't gotten into it previously I probably wouldn't be this invested either.
I just prefer skating to be more about artistry and least about surviving the different jumps. I don't really understand ice dance's rules but I don't need them to enjoy the pure coordination and musicality of the programs.
And also the girls in pairs usually feel so defenseless against the odds and injury that I just can't.
Sometimes I'll watch a winning program because I'll know no one fell or was injured during it, but watching/following it live with all the bad stuff that could happen? I've got enough with man's quads, I don't want to break my heart again each time someone falls.

I don't think men's is scary. Quads is nowhere near as scary as side by side camel spins or lifts. It's hard but not that scary. The thing about quads is more the risk of long term injury.
 

eaglehelang

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 15, 2017
Actually it was the pairs discipline that got me interested in watching figure skating. One reason was cos of Shen/Zhao's gold medal win in 2010. Being from Asia, news that an Asian pair/individual able to win Gold in the Olympics was something.

Besides, watching 2 person skating is more interesting than 1 person skating. Watching Shen/Zhao skating their gold medal performance was more moving(having come out of retirement and all that) than watching Kim Yuna skating her gold medal performance(as the fav).
After that, of course I starting watching the other disciplines : Ladies Singles, Men's Singles, Ice Dance, in that order.

Till today, pairs is still my fav discipline to watch. It may be different for Golden skate forumers though.
 

Shayuki

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Having to concentrate on 2 skaters just isn't very appealing to me. And it's not as interesting to watch. It seems like the programs need to be a lot more simple to keep the sync going which is meh. Hardly ever have I seen a pairs program that's a great display of skating. It tends to be just trick after trick for me. Even for the top pairs. If I want to watch a 2 person discipline pairs really have nothing on ice dance for me, though even that I'm not the biggest fan of.
 
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