Interview with Carol Lane and Juris Razguliaevs | Golden Skate

Interview with Carol Lane and Juris Razguliaevs

gsk8

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Jun 21, 2003
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Coaches and choreographers Carol Lane and Juris Razguliaevs talk with Golden Skate about 2019 Canadian silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier regarding last season, the construction of the Free Dance to "Vincent", how the coaches themselves work together as a team, the dilemma judges have on the top 10 ice dancers, and more!

Enjoy!
 
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gsk8

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Jun 21, 2003
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Notable comments by Lane
"Weaver and Poje were under-marked on the RD last year"
"Excellent skaters, beautiful to watch, nothing negative you can say..." regarding Papadakis/Cizeron "Broadway this year is going to be fun!"
"Judges are people too"

Looking forward to seeing what Gilles and Poirier have in store for next season!

What are your thoughts on Lane's take on the judging issue(s)?
 

dorispulaski

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I was more interested to hear that Piper and Paul are going to to spend some time with Marina Zueva. I want to hear what they learn from her, but I expect we never will. Perhaps some insights on how to have a great competitive mindset.

I think Carol is right that once a team has been elevated 10 points above the competing teams, that if the team makes no mistakes, the judges almost have to keep them there.

I was interested to hear Carol trying to explain how to sound impartial in commentary, when, of course, she can't be. Having Kurt ask questions, and then just replying does sound like a good strategy.
 
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LaArdilla

Medalist
Joined
Sep 21, 2017
I love how Carol does 98% of the talking :laugh:

Gosh, I just love her voice. If she ever retires from coaching and choreographing (hopefully not for many years to come) she should consider doing audiobooks. I could happily fall asleep listening to that voice. ;) And she is vegetarian, too! :luv17:
 

Skatie

On the Ice
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Jan 25, 2004
Great and interesting interview on the Team and the coaching and commentary process!
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
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Jan 25, 2013
Carol is hilarious! Great insight into their process and (unsurprisingly) candid comments. Looking forward to Piper and Paul's season, especially the opportunities they might have as the likely Canadian #1 team.
 

peepsquick

Final Flight
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Oct 26, 2016
I was more interested to hear that Piper and Paul are going to to spend some time with Marina Zueva. I wanf to hear what they learn from her, but I expect we never will. Perhaps some insights on how to have a great competitive mindset.

I think Carol is right that once a team has been elevated 10 points above the competing teams, that if the team makes no mistakes, the judges almost have to keep them there.

I was interested to hear Carol trying to explain how to sound impartial in commentary, when, of course, she can't be. Having Kurt ask questions, and then just replying does sound like a good strategy.

I liked the interview ... she is quite a character! Quirky in her own right ... she brings the originality to Piper and Paul's numbers. I was surprised as I assumed that the "quirky" came directly from them. But it's never as simple, I guess.

Still seeing the "sourness" towards P/C unfortunately ... her facial expression and the length of silence when she was asked about them was quite telling (and in contrast to her words). She deflected the "loaded" question as best she could. As for the comments at Worlds this year, I was struck by the "good guy", "bad guy" routine she had with Kurt: she was quite complimentary and he delivered all the barbs. Masterfully "sweet-sour". Whatever the "spell" P/C have the judges under, they are clearly not affected :noshake:
 

dorispulaski

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I liked the interview ... she is quite a character! Quirky in her own right ... she brings the originality to Piper and Paul's numbers. I was surprised as I assumed that the "quirky" came directly from them. But it's never as simple, I guess.

Still seeing the "sourness" towards P/C unfortunately ... her facial expression and the length of silence when she was asked about them was quite telling (and in contrast to her words). She deflected the "loaded" question as best she could. As for the comments at Worlds this year, I was struck by the "good guy", "bad guy" routine she had with Kurt: she was quite complimentary and he delivered all the barbs. Masterfully "sweet-sour". Whatever the "spell" P/C have the judges under, they are clearly not affected :noshake:

I think it is clear from the programs Carol & Juris's teams show on the ice that what she values most in a program is not what P&C's choreography shows, generally. Carol goes for innovation, for not doing stuff that looks like last year, for not doing same-old same-old moves. Even if her teams were all juniors, I think Carol would say the same about P&C that she did in the interview. She values their skill more than their program choices.
 

peepsquick

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
I think it is clear from the programs Carol & Juris's teams show on the ice that what she values most in a program is not what P&C's choreography shows, generally. Carol goes for innovation, for not doing stuff that looks like last year, for not doing same-old same-old moves. Even if her teams were all juniors, I think Carol would say the same about P&C that she did in the interview. She values their skill more than their program choices.

It is quite understandable, even though I still say that P/C's pieces to me are each very individual. It is their skating style and personal touch that people misconstrue as same old, imo. She says at some point that she values variety. I do too but I am also looking in variety among all the dance couples and I expect each of them to find their own style, the way P/C has.
 

dorispulaski

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Ultimately, what a person likes is very individual, and one should not be attacked for that difference of taste. That is true of Carol, as it is for the rest of us. Myself, I find them rather tedious, especially when I had such hopes for them after their Woodkid program.

I respect their skating, but it is just not my particular favorite style.
 
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4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
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Ultimately, what a person likes is very individual, and one should not be attacked for that difference of taste. That is true of Carol, as it is for the rest of us. Myself, I find them rather tedious, especially when I had such hopes for them after their Woodkid program.

I respect their skating, but it is just not my particular favorite style.

this is exactly my feeling. thanks for saving me a post :)
 

yuna13

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
Personally i think it's funny : her face says something but her mouth tries to be diplomatic. Nice effort carol !

I think she is underrated as a coach. She is the one behind a lot of gilles and poirier theme and music choices.
You can also see how devoted she is to them.
I don't understand why skaters don't choose to go to her school. Montreal is too crowded (for me), shpilband music choice are :noshake:.

I love what she said about vincent in this interview.
 

litenkyckling

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
I find it surprising that one of the Wheaton teams haven’t gone to Carol - C/P can’t permanently because of immigration issues (although I would love to see her choreography on them) - so it would be an advantage they would have over them. I do feel like at this point it’s probably choreo that could hold M/C back, I think Carol would make them stand out more in a crowded field.
 

gsk8

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I like the term "twiddly bits" that she uses throughout the video :laugh:

What are your thoughts on her take on judging ice dance teams and then the judges being sort of "stuck" once the teams are in the top 10?
 
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peepsquick

Final Flight
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Oct 26, 2016
I don't really understand the concept ... the explanation seems to me born out of frustration. Either you believe that the system of judging works or you don't. I've read somewhere that the skaters themselves trust the system and work very closely with their trainers and some feedback from the judges to conform to the best of their abilities to what is likely to give them the best result. Some current dance teams are excellent and consistent. As far as I am concerned they earned their place in the top 10.
Carol took the exemple of W/P's RD and as much as I loved the whole concept and their glide, I thought that they had some glitches that hampered them. They didn't always make the same mistake but their twizzles are consistently sub-par imo. As a non-skater I would be curious to know why such an excellent team was not able to master their twizzles.
 

yuna13

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
It's ice dance, this is the category where it's harder to change the ranking. It's always been like this .

Right now the three top teams are P/C,H/D and S/K. Then you have C/B G/P G/F and S/B, they are all podium worthy.
To make it to the podium and take someone place you need one of the top teams to make a mistake or you need a incredible program. Also being the national champion can't hurt.
In that regard what H/D achieved was huge. They were the n°3 team in their country and they became N°1 and not because the other two teams retire. After that they had to be perfect to get a world medal.
I think that 's what carol lane wanted to achieve with G/P cause if you listen to her commentary from season 15-16 she always said that the objective was PC 2018.

This is also why a lot of people don't like P/C cause how fast they became World champion.
When you look at all the FD that year, Mozart was a slap in the face and also it did not hurt to have male ice dancer who skates like a ballet dancer.:love:
I was a fan of P/B and yes it was fustrating to see that they didn't move fast in the ice dance hierachy and then they were stuck at 4th.

But again it's always been like this, this is why a lot of time it's fustrating to be an ice dance fan.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I liked the interview ... she is quite a character! Quirky in her own right ... she brings the originality to Piper and Paul's numbers. I was surprised as I assumed that the "quirky" came directly from them. But it's never as simple, I guess.

Still seeing the "sourness" towards P/C unfortunately ... her facial expression and the length of silence when she was asked about them was quite telling (and in contrast to her words). She deflected the "loaded" question as best she could. As for the comments at Worlds this year, I was struck by the "good guy", "bad guy" routine she had with Kurt: she was quite complimentary and he delivered all the barbs. Masterfully "sweet-sour". Whatever the "spell" P/C have the judges under, they are clearly not affected :noshake:

hmmm, I think you are reading too much into this. Carol was obviously taken a little bit by surprise about the questions concerning the French team as the interview was about her team Piper and Paul and her insight about the world of ice dance. Yes she is correct about the judges, the late great Toller Cranston had some tales about judges and how that works for or against skaters. Great interview.
 

Sugarpova

#EmpressAirlines #SinKatsapologist
Record Breaker
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Feb 19, 2015
I like the term "twiddly bits" that she uses throughout the video
I still try to understand what that means:laugh:

hmm I didnt get any sourness towards PC :think:
 

PaulE

On the Ice
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Jan 5, 2008
Country
United-States
Re: Twiddly Bits. It may refer to Slartibartfast or The Slartibartfast Test. "The test is named after a character created by Douglas Adams for The HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy. In the show/books Slartibartfast is a designer of planets. His favourite part of the job is creating coastlines, the most notable of which are the 'twiddly bits' of the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth, for which he wins an award."

I have not read the Douglas Adam's books but my late wife loved them and described them to me. The quote above is from Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:Datamgmt.
 

SarahSynchro

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Mar 7, 2014
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Canada
I am literally LIVING for this interview. I watched it three full times. Carol Lane is my spirit animal in sarcasm, wit, and general savagery. ;) :devil:
 
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