‘Setbacks’ not a problem for France’s James and Cipres

[dorispulaski]

....

On a less ouchy note, there's a new interview up on ice-dance.com with Meryl Davis and Charlie White, in which Charlie talks about what it was like choreographing for Vanessa and Morgan. The more attention they get, the more it becomes clear that they've really got themselves figured out now and come into each season with clear goals and an incredible level of preparation - no wonder they keep getting better and better.



I missed that! I know they were teaching their dance lift from the FS choreo sequence to Galyavieva and Thauron, though. It may become a part of the French pairs/ice dance repertiore...

Thank you for the link to the article, which has quite a long section dealing with Charlie's choreo work with Vanessa and Morgan! I love their Wicked Games program, and was glad to have more details on how it came to be.

And, of course, I was so pleased to read this excellent article. We don't do enough talking about Vanessa and Morgan.

 

[Sk8swan]

I agree. From the video it seems clear that Matteo managed to get his arms part way around Vanessa and cushion her fall as best he could.

Yes, he talked about that in an interview with Canadian tv (CBC?)...how he tried his best not to hurt Vanessa. I believe his *long-time* experience as a pair skater (first on rollers then on the ice) gave him excellent reflexes when it comes to save his partner from any risks and react very quickly to any dangerous situation. More than once while taking interviews Nicole herself has mentioned how safe she feels skating with him because he would rather hurt himself to protect her from any harm.

 

[cell]

The Wicked Games program was brilliant. It was the highlight of GPF for me, and pairs isn't my favorite discipline (it's ice dance... so I guess maybe the fact that Charile White chorepgraphed it is why I like it?). I think they got the loudest standing O in the event... Not sure if this was the best performance of the program? (well to me it was because I watched it live)

I think it's actually better choreographed than Sui/Han's FS, and positions in the lifts are absolutely incredible.

I don't like their short choreographed by Cizeron anywhere near as much

 

[CherylDee]

I don't like their short choreographed by Cizeron anywhere near as much

To be honest, the problem was that Vanessa and Morgan (mostly Vane ) weren't quite able to skate the program as Guillaume choreographed it, and the music was a little bland in comparison to the LP. IMO it was beautifully choreographed as seen in their first performance at ACI. It was quite good, they just couldn't pull it off. I have faith in Guillaume's choreography skills. He will be brilliant when the time is right. :agree:

 

[Casual]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=121MOokRdfs&t=0m36s

An accident. Matteo and Nicole are skating backwards across the ice and Vanessa is skating solo down the ice. To me, it looked like Matteo saw her out of the corner of his eye at the last minute and broke off his pattern, but could not avoid the collision.

Wow. That looks horrific. That's just... I'm upset.

Could have been worse though. So I guess we should be grateful.

 

[Casual]

A modernising effect on the field is a great way to put it - I don't want to simplify things too much by laying everything at the foot of their Earned It/Sounds of Silence season, but there has been something of a sea-change in the Pairs field over the past few years and I do think they seemed to spark something there in terms of music choices and presentation, the sense that Pairs didn't have to be balletic and technical first-and-foremost. Savchenko and Massot's comparatively brief but spectacular exploration of integrating ice dance elements into pairs and Duhamel and Radford's commitment to power skating the way that suited them best both brought something new and great, but I think it was really the Sounds of Silence program going viral like it did that showed not only that Pairs could be modern (or maybe contemporary is a better word?) in all ways - music choice, movement style, theme, emotion and costuming - but that it could be adored for doing so.

Pairs felt like the Cinderella discipline for so long. J/C have done a lot to make it a powerhouse one now, especially by following up SoS with Wicked Games (and the underrated Say Something). Everyone in the field seems to have taken a boost from the way they've broken out, too. It's good to see.

They've been trailblazers for sure.

It's amazing how, in term of raw artistic power, men easily trumped ladies, and pairs surpassed ice dancing.

 

[Mathman]

It's amazing how, in term of raw artistic power, men easily trumped ladies, and pairs surpassed ice dancing.

What an interesting observation.