Let's look at lots of teams

Here are more of canadablue's ice dance comparisons. Thanks canadablue.

Every time one watches Meryl skate, new weirdnesses. This time, I saw how her blade will jerk-slip-slide forward on a flat in the middle of a transition. It's as if her foot gets away from her. Watch her feet.They're ridiculous. Charlie's can be messy, and lack control, but she is on flats out of nowhere, and there are so many other instances of seemingly random what-the-fuckery with her skates constantly going on right in our face.


In the twizzles, look at the ice coverage from Tessa and Scott, and that Mery and Charlie's slow to a virtual standstill by the last rotation of the second set.

Let's also just revisit the glory of the team that stood on the top of the ice dance podium in Sochi because of this kind of "skating".

There's that technical precision that gives them the edge.
Well, not the edge, edge, but you know what I mean.

But at least in their twizzles, they're doing that super hard thing of hopping into them, an ultra challenging L4 feature seeing as how you could really hurt yourself trying to get back onto an edge. Hopping into a rotation doesn't create rotational momentum at all. That's why nobody jumps into a spin. Don't listen to actual physics. Listen to Doris Polaski's made-up physics.
In these comparisons by canadablue, I consider VM the control. Everybody, including DW fans, know VM do it. If you want to know what "it" looks like, you look at them. The only argument made is DW do it better. But the reality is, DW aren't even doing it.

I imagine Doris would argue VM aren't doing it. I imagine she might also argue that crossing your arms over your chest while spinning slows you down, instead of accelerating your rotation, because they act like an anchor on your torso. Doris is full of homemade science similar to that.

Here is Paul Islam versus Gilles Poirier.



Remember at this past Worlds, the judging panel decided G&P had better pcs.

P/I, like V/M, can skate into hold from any number of angles.They don't have to grab ahold and then get themselves in there. G&P do a lot of arms' length skating, a lot of simplistic, DW-esque hold, and very little variation in direction when in any kind of hold (which is also like DW).

In these comparisons, G/P are kicking up a lot of snow. They actually have better run of blade than Davis White (almost anybody at this level has better run of blade than Davis & White; Davis & White's is unusually cramped) but they're a bit sluggish.

This comparison is from Canadians, where P/I handily outscored, and defeated, G&P.



Here's W&P versus VM. I respect W&P a lot, because they've not only worked hard on their skating, but it's paid off and they've improved. I respect that Kaitlyn doesn't back off on herself, and goes after the steps and turns on the ice, and that she and Andrew are constantly working to execute more complex choreography with honesty. I agree with a comment I read recently that they're one of the few teams who realistically evaluates what they do well and what they don't, and I respect that they don't try to make a style out of their limitations. They work towards actually doing it instead. However, their skating skills are are not remotely in VM's ballpark, yet by Worlds they were getting 9s. VM got more than one 8 this past season.

Here's DW versus W&P. You can totally see what sets DW apart. Except you can't.



Here is P/I versus W&P at Canadians:



My impression is that W&P at this point still skated bigger, with more power, but P/I have stronger technique executed seamlessly.

And here is a very much appreciated look at P/I's development from 2011-2014.The way ice dance is going now, they may be the last team we see develop their actual skating, instead of packaging their deficiencies and calling it development.



Finally, this is a link to La Fenice and its sequenced breakdown of DW's 3 free dance lifts. La Fenice's image sequence was posted in response to an article (also scanned on La Fenice's web page) praising DW's dynamic lift entrances and exits.

DW lifts entrances and exits frame by frame


And now, HERE YOU GO, DORIS:

From The Biomechanics of skating

Generating Angular Momentum
An object does not just typically have angular momentum. Recall Newton's first law that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Well, if a figure skater is just skating straight down the ice and then needs to perform a spin or jump with several rotations in the air, he or she needs to generate angular momentum. Angular momentum is generated by the skater applying a force against the ice. The ice then applies a ground reaction force on the skater. This ground reaction force causes gives the skater angular momentum.*

The point of application and line of action of this force is critical. If the line of action of the force is directed through the skater's axis of rotation, then he or she won't spin. The force must cause a torque, or moment, which means it must be applied some distance from the axis of rotation AND have a line of action which does not go through the axis of rotation.

*And that, Doris, is why the hop helps Davis White. If they could use the power of their edges to generate rotation, that would be really difficult and demonstrate superior skating. Just hopping into it with huge, broad movements of the body makes it makes it easier. I love, though, how recreational figure skaters think because it's difficult for them to get their edge after hopping, it must be tough for Davis White. No, what is tough for Davis White is to get rotational speed off an "edge" while spinning and traveling across the ice in unison, as ice dancers are meant to do when performing twizzles.

There's also this:

The larger the force or the farther the force is from the axis of rotation, the larger the torque. The larger the torque, the greater the angular momentum.

The web page has cute interactive animations illustrating this. Take a look at the expansion of Davis White as they go into their twizzles, how wide open they are when they jump into the twizzles.