Guidelines for the Ice Dance Rhythm Dance season 2021/22

[Andrea82]

ISU published the guidelines for the Rhythm Dance for the 2021-22 season.

Rhythms

Junior and Senior: At least two different Rhythms from the following:
"Urban Dance Rhythms" (such as hip hop, disco, swing, krump, popping, funk, etc.), jazz, reggae (reggaeton) and blues
Note: To comply with the ethical values of sports, any music chosen for Ice Dance competitions must not include aggressive and/or offending lyrics.

Pattern Dance Element, PDE- Midnight Blues for Seniors and Blues for Juniors.

Senior:

The Pattern Dance Element, Midnight Blues. May be skated to any of the announced Rhythms.
• The Tempo of the music throughout the Pattern Dance Element must be constant and in accordance with the required Tempo and character of the chosen Rhythm.
• Pattern Dance Element: Midnight Blues, range 86-96 beats per minute
• One (1) Section of Midnight Blues comprised of Steps #5-14
(The original prescribed Step #5 is the first Step of the Pattern Dance Element, and the original prescribed Step #14 is the last Step of the Pattern Dance Element),
These Steps must be placed in the rink with Step #5 on the opposite side from the Judges and with the Steps following the specified pattern for the Midnight Blues.

AND

One (1) Pattern Dance Type Step Sequence (PST): Style C
• Pattern: starting immediately after original prescribed Step #14 of the Midnight Blues
and concluding at the Short Axis (middle of the rink) on the opposite side from the Judges.
• PST skated to the same Rhythm and character chosen for the Midnight Blues. The chosen tune may be the same as for Midnight Blues or different but must have the same tempo. The Tempo of the music throughout Midnight Blues and PSt must be constant and in accordance with the required range of Tempo.

Junior:
The Pattern Dance Element, Blues. May be skated to any of the announced Rhythms.
• The Tempo of the music throughout the Pattern Dance Element must be constant and in accordance with the required Tempo and character of the chosen Rhythm.
• Pattern Dance Element: Blues, range 86-90 beats per minute.
• Two (2) sequences of Blues either skated one after the other or separately. Step #1 of each sequence must be skated on a different side of the ice surface.


Additional Elements – Senior/Junior:
One (1) Step Sequence Style B Midline/Diagonal, skated to a different Rhythm than the PDE (Midnight Blues/Blues)/PSt
One (1) Short Lift
One (1) Set of Sequential Twizz

Source: Communication 2346
https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...idelines-for-rhythm-dance-season-2021-22/file

 

[labgoat]

For those of us wanting to do some prep work...

Midnight Blues

2001

Roy Bradshaw, Sue Bradshaw, Mark Bradshaw, Julie MacDonald

Ice Skating Pattern Dance - Midnight Blues (video)
Midnight Blues - Set Pattern Dance - Krigor Studio(text)

First competed by seniors at the 2004 Worlds

Last competed at 2017 Worlds - Ice Dance Short Dance ISU full version

Followed by (what else) a list!
The last time the dancers from 2021 Worlds competed the Midnight Blues.
Skaters are listed as per SD draw from 2021 Worlds

• All skates are from 2017 Worlds unless otherwise listed.
• If no skate featuring both partners is available, I listed the partner and event.
• Bonus! also included some of the recently retired skaters.
• If no dance was found, none is listed. If you know of one, please post a link.

Ice Dance Rhythm Dance – Midnight Blues
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Ekaterina KUZNETSOVA / Oleksandr KOLOSOVSKYI AZE
2 Yuliia ZHATA / Berk AKALIN TUR
3 Viktoria SEMENJUK / Ilya YUKHIMUK BLR
4 Shira ICHILOV / Laurent ABECASSIS ISR Shira 2017 WJSC

Warm-Up Group 2
5 Chelsea VERHAEGH / Sherim van GEFFEN NED
6 Mina ZDRAVKOVA / Christopher M. DAVIS BUL
7 Carolina MOSCHENI / Francesco FIORETTI ITA
8 Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS HUN 2017 Bavarian Open

Warm-Up Group 3
9 Evgeniia LOPAREVA / Geoffrey BRISSAUD FRA
10 Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS FIN 2016 NRW Trophy
11 Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN UKR MATCH ESP
12 Natalie TASCHLEROVA / Filip TASCHLER CZE 2016 NRW Trophy

Warm-Up Group 4
13 Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO JPN
14 Tina GARABEDIAN / Simon PROULX SENECAL ARM ISU
15 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS
16 Katharina MUELLER / Tim DIECK GER 2016 NRW Trophy
17 Tiffani ZAGORSKI / Jonathan GUERREIRO FSR 2016 RC or 2017 RUS Nats

Warm-Up Group 5
18 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA CAN WJSC 2017
19 Adelina GALYAVIEVA / Louis THAURON FRA
20 Kaitlin HAWAYEK / Jean-Luc BAKER USA 2016 SC or 2016 NHK or 2017 US Nats
21 Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY / Nikolaj SORENSEN CAN ESP
22 Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS LTU Saul 2016 with Taylor Tran

Warm-Up Group 6
23 Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN ESP 2017 EC
24 Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV POL MATCH ESP
25 Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON GBR 2017 EC
26 Shiyue WANG / Xinyu LIU CHN ESP
27 Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN FSR MATCH ESP

Warm-Up Group 7
28 Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER CAN MATCH ESP NBC
29 Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI ITA MATCH ESP
30 Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES USA MATCH ESP NBC
31 Victoria SINITSINA / Nikita KATSALAPOV FSR 2016 NHK or 2017 EC
32 Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE USA MATCH ESP NBC

Others from 2016-2017:
Active:
Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron FRA MATCH NBC ESP
Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain LeGac FRA 2016 TDF
Olivia Smart/Adria Diaz ESP 2016 IN

Retired :
Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir CAN BESP CBC RESP
Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev RUS MATCH ESP
Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte ITA MATCH ESP
Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani USA APEHA
Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje CAN MATCH ESP NBC

As a regular Midnight Shift worker, I always find the name of this dance hilarious.
I also remember Toller Cranston saying about a different Compulsory (the Charleston, I believe) - That it should really be skated at 3 in the morning.
In this case - at MIDNIGHT!

May I also joke about calling it the Pandemic Blues?

 

[TontoK]

I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea, but we shall see.

 

[labgoat]

I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea, but we shall see.

How so? I thought it would be interesting to see how the teams move to the music and to re-familiarize ourselves with the Midnight Blues. How much some of the kids have grown up and how much some of them have improved.

I also was curious to see who chose blues/swing vs. blues/street music.

 

[pearly]

Why would they choose the pattern and the same (or very similar) rhythms so soon? I get one, but why both?

 

[Seven Sisters]

Why would they choose the pattern and the same (or very similar) rhythms so soon? I get one, but why both?

I think it worked pretty well the last time, and I’m sure the ISU considers this style the most likely to intrigue new, younger fans who may never have seen ice dance before.

That does not mean that this style suits all teams, or that there will not be some misfires

 

[labgoat]

That does not mean that this style suits all teams, or that there will not be some misfires

That was part of what I wanted to see. Which teams does this style suit and how do the teams who didn't compete it at Worlds fit into the picture. I had to look up some of the skates that I just did not remember. I decided to put them into a somewhat randomly seeded order. The easiest way to do that was to use the seeding from worlds which shakes up the order for the 2017 competitors.

 

[TontoK]

How so? I thought it would be interesting to see how the teams move to the music and to re-familiarize ourselves with the Midnight Blues. How much some of the kids have grown up and how much some of them have improved.

I also was curious to see who chose blues/swing vs. blues/street music.

I'm mainly thinking the street music aspect.

Most of these teams have risen through a mainly ballroom focused sport. How that's going to translate to krump... I don't know.

The cringe potential cannot be ignored.

 

[Seven Sisters]

That was part of what I wanted to see. Which teams does this style suit and how do the teams who didn't compete it at Worlds fit into the picture. I had to look up some of the skates that I just did not remember. I decided to put them into a somewhat randomly seeded order. The easiest way to do that was to use the seeding from worlds which shakes up the order for the 2017 competitors.

What did you conclude, labgoat? I’d say that Midnight Blues requires a “slinky” quality and that teams with good connection between them, and where the man has strong partnering skills, are the ones who do this style best.

I’m not going to offer any guesses as to who might excel at the street styles Looking forward to hearing others’ guesses, though.

 

[labgoat]

What did you conclude, labgoat? I’d say that Midnight Blues requires a “slinky” quality and that teams with good connection between them, and where the man has strong partnering skills, are the ones who do this style best.

I’m not going to offer any guesses as to who might excel at the street styles Looking forward to hearing others’ guesses, though.

It seems to favor those with strong edges and good interaction. I did not remember the skate of the Poles and now I know why. They should definitely not go modern. I also completely forgot about their costume change.

Both P/C and S/K went with blues and swing and it suited both of them. Interesting to see if the if the french do something different. I think S/K should stay the course. Blues seems to suit H/B, W/L, H/K and FB/S. I also think F/G will do fine. Interesting that G/F reused Greased Lightening from 2017 in their 2021 dance. I wonder what Piper & Paul will do to top themselves.

It took a lot of work but H/D, C/B and S/B also did well with hip hop. Their speed and strong edges will help Z/G do well here also. I thought N/N were underappreciated.

 

[labgoat]

I'm mainly thinking the street music aspect.

Most of these teams have risen through a mainly ballroom focused sport. How that's going to translate to krump... I don't know.

The cringe potential cannot be ignored.

I think the teams uncomfortable with krump will take the swing route as many teams did in 2017. Swing is still listed as one of the choices.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I’m intrigued now, labgoat! I’m going to go back and watch the full SD comp from 2017 when I can. Just off the top of my head, I could see FB/S as the most likely to succeed with the Midnight Blues among the Canadians. Probably H/D among the US teams. And I kind of like the idea of Z/G among the Russians!

 

[labgoat]

I’m intrigued now, labgoat! I’m going to go back and watch the full SD comp from 2017 when I can. Just off the top of my head, I could see FB/S as the most likely to succeed with the Midnight Blues among the Canadians. Probably H/D among the US teams. And I kind of like the idea of Z/G among the Russians!

I also revisited H/B as I did not remember their dance since it was only done on the GP series and at US Nationals. I was surprised at how the blues shows off how powerful they are for a smaller team and they were one of the hip-hop teams and did well. Interesting to see how maturity and world experience helps them now.

I am still a sucker for C/B doing Uptown Funk.
I still love to watch it. Not so much the bad to the bone part.

 

[labgoat]

I’m intrigued now, labgoat! I’m going to go back and watch the full SD comp from 2017 when I can. Just off the top of my head, I could see FB/S as the most likely to succeed with the Midnight Blues among the Canadians. Probably H/D among the US teams. And I kind of like the idea of Z/G among the Russians!

Don't forget the power of Paul's mustache and fro...plus disco

 

[Seven Sisters]

Don't forget the power of Paul's mustache and fro...

You know, I could see them rocking a WWII-era swing number, to the music of the Andrews sisters or something like that. With Paul in a sailor suit maybe and Piper in upswept hair and USO army khaki. They’d have to put the Midnight Blues in there somewhere, but it doesn’t need to spoil the fun

 

[labgoat]

You know, I could see them rocking a WWII-era swing number, to the music of the Andrews sisters or something like that. With Paul in a sailor suit maybe and Piper in upswept hair and USO army khaki. They’d have to put the Midnight Blues in there somewhere, but it doesn’t need to spoil the fun

Just don't borrow the unlucky sailor suit from Massimo Scali


So sad, because this really is a marvelous program.

 

[pearly]

I think it worked pretty well the last time, and I’m sure the ISU considers this style the most likely to intrigue new, younger fans who may never have seen ice dance before.

That does not mean that this style suits all teams, or that there will not be some misfires

I'm quite happy with the decision, I much prefered that RD to all the tangos, rhumbas and waltzes. And I'm a long time skating fan.

 

[labgoat]

I'm quite happy with the decision, I much prefered that RD to all the tangos, rhumbas and waltzes. And I'm a long time skating fan.

I cringed the first time it was announced, but found it to be very creative and a lot of fun.

 

[Seven Sisters]

Just had a brainstorm. There is at least one ice dancer who is absolutely 100% capable of pulling off a hip hop/street style RD, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier.

The one and only Daisuke Takahashi. Duh

I cannot wait to see what he does with this theme!

 

[PaulE]

You know, I could see them rocking a WWII-era swing number, to the music of the Andrews sisters or something like that. With Paul in a sailor suit maybe and Piper in upswept hair and USO army khaki. They’d have to put the Midnight Blues in there somewhere, but it doesn’t need to spoil the fun

For those who have never seen it, here is a link to the Andrews Sisters singing "Boogie Woogie Bugle boy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of3uhG1tCI.
And for the few oldies here who may remember some old stars of British comedy, here is a version done by Morecambe and Wise with Leonard Rossiter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKlkvzuv-G8.
My late wife who was from England was a great fan and introduced me to Morecambe and Wise as well as to Leonard Rossiter.