At the bottom of this post are some twirl gifs from Valse Triste.
Then there's this:
After this gif they stroke into the shotput lift nope, the drop the baby lift or whatever that hug-Charlie-dangle-from-trouser-leg lift is called.
If anyone thinks the stroking into the "got something on my shoe" lift is gold medal calibre, call me out and I'll gif it too. I'm aware this is all on youtube so it's not like I can use editing to fake like DW suck and keep it a secret.
Then there's this:
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| Look at all that nothing. They surge towards each other and then - no contact. There's a ton of posing, they're like oh the awesome is about to start and then - 2 foot glide with Meryl propped on him. But okay - they're just getting started. I'm sure things will improve. |
If anyone thinks the stroking into the "got something on my shoe" lift is gold medal calibre, call me out and I'll gif it too. I'm aware this is all on youtube so it's not like I can use editing to fake like DW suck and keep it a secret.
As we proceed, please note all the hard work Charlie devotes to not skating this program. He's on the street corner shaking it like the rent is due but he's not doing anything! He may as well be on some sort of dude pole in a club where women toss dollars at guys with great hair.
After Charlie swings Meryl onto his knee they stroke into the next lift - you can see which one. Which leads into the next example of fantabulous edge work above.
This is some footwork after the previous glide move. Look at the 'speed', look at the size of the curves in the ice, look at the distance between the bodies and the feet and the body lines, and look at Charlie lunge back into frame after they do a simultaneous twirl.
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| And this is what they do after the |
After Charlie swings Meryl onto his knee they stroke into the next lift - you can see which one. Which leads into the next example of fantabulous edge work above.
Continuation of previous - at the end Charlie twirls again and has to lunge to close the gap, which, let's be real, you can already pretty much drive a truck through even when they're in hold.
Tango continued in next post. To close, here are baby Scott and Tessa in their first senior Worlds where they finished 6th.
Tango continued in next post. To close, here are baby Scott and Tessa in their first senior Worlds where they finished 6th.
D/W also do as few dance holds as possible whereas V/M are constantly in hold and varying the holds at the same time. And yes, they way V/M weave their patterns on the ice and D/W are pretty much skating just back and forth and end to end of the ice surface.
ReplyDeleteOh good grief. Even at their very closest, Toddler Moir could still drive its tricycle between the Meryl and Charlie.
ReplyDeleteITA on the variations in dance hold and the amount of time spent in them.
The differences patterns the two teams make on the ice are very apparant in some of those fanvids made from the stationary POV of sitting in the audience.
So, who is this Davis and White? Will they be at the junior worlds this year? They seem like they might be contenders in 2022.
ReplyDeleteHonestly for me it's forget the quality of the hold and the miles and miles between them and even the constant 2-footing, lunging and sort of improvisational sloppiness. What the hell are they skating when they're not posing and doing ugly elements? What is going on with their feet? They're not even bothering!
ReplyDeleteAlthough you can't see me, I'm furiously nodding my head in agreement with this comment.
DeleteI think D/W's "tango" can be summed up as "What is this even?"
Hell if I know.
Seriously, if you're allegedly the best ice dance team in the world and have had a whole season to work on your program, how do you get outskated by a woman who'd given birth 4 months earlier? Answer: You're not the best ice dance team in the world. You're not even close.
Anon 7:29
DeleteBut everyone who counts (judges) say they are the best ice-dancers in the world.
I would love to hear from them and understand what they think they're seeing when DW skate. And for that matter, what the hell are they seeing when VM and DW skate in the same competition? The comparison is so clearly in favor of VM.
I wonder if skating so far apart also creates the impression of "big pattern" or long blade run. If you're skating as one, in a close hold, you are physically not occupying as much space even if your blades are carving bigger patterns and your run of blade is longer.
DeleteHow are supposedly trained judges persuaded year after year by the same set of simplistic visual tricks?
Or maybe it's not them that's meant to be persuaded, but us, so everyone has camoflage for the rip-off that's taking place.
They also do so many kicks and jumps and arm flinging that one wonders if it's just trying to make the skating itself look "BIG" - which it decidedly is not.
Delete"How are supposedly trained judges persuaded year after year by the same set of simplistic visual tricks?
DeleteOr maybe it's not them that's meant to be persuaded, but us, so everyone has camoflage for the rip-off that's taking place."
I keep coming back to this one. The judges can't be that clueless, can they, to not notice all of this?
Maybe it is the audience that's supposed to be fooled.
Yeah, I think we're not meant to see through the clutter. The skaters give the judges cover with the type of program they present, the Fed makes sure the skaters have the program that makes that possible. The audience sees a whole lot of conspicuously energetic "stuff" making a huge deal even out of literally nothing - such as that tiny hop/jump to nowhere Meryl makes towards Charlie with Charlie acting like he's about to catch a kid from a burning building in a burning building ballet - and nothing. But it was very showy. So people who just listen to the music and see all the activity think "Content". When there's a lack of real content. Even Giselle at worlds, which I'm looking at now, is incredibly, incredibly open, with the entire idea being to use the side by side hold of the polka as an excuse to do no closed holds in the whole thing. The most that passes for a closed hold is that thing where Meryl twirls, only now she finishes the twirl a foot or more from Charlie, facing him.
DeleteAlso, quite a bit of spin they tried this year - showing the same program they've done repeatedly, with the same elements as in their short, and yet having the conversation, starting with Tanith, be that they're growing and trying new things instead of being the same old Meryl and Charlie. And the spin worked.
Delete