She's enjoying herself. She's loving every second out there. I never even knew Madison Chock liked to figure skate. Who could tell?
What a shame that of all their programs, this one that is actually semi-warm blooded literally crashed at the Olympics.
I've always hated both Chock and Bates' skating and their aggressively frozen performance mode. Enough with the face skating. However, Madison's face after her and Evans' fall had a quality to it that was more than sorrow - there was a naturalness to it I hadn't seen in her since her previous partnership. So I went to watch a clean version of "Imagine". Cup of China.
It *is* their best program since they teamed up, a direction they should have taken ages ago, instead of the S&M-y, dominatrix-y, we're-so-humorlessly-sexy stuff it seems they did over and over. That hard as nails shit made such an impression it feels as if that's all they ever did, although that can't be true.
Madison spends more time off her feet than I think should be permitted in ice dance, but it's the most fluid skating, and the most actual skating - well, at least the most fluid movement - they've done in forever. And what a relief not to watch Evan try to be hot.
What strikes me most is how into it she is, how much apparent joy she is taking in simply moving to that music. Every part of her body is animated to the very end of her extension with a natural flowing, confident energy. Apparently the real her was locked inside Drama Chock all this time. Why didn't they break out of it until now? Most teams make some type of contribution, have an input into their programs. I am guessing they knew they were more of a manufactured Davis White type of deal versus exceptional talents, so they went hard - so to speak - into packaging, just as Davis White did.
Noticed this also:
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| This is familiar. Not as high scoring as the L4, dumbed down, four-handed clutch job we see from the French however. |
I never thought I'd ever use Chock Bates as the positive example in a comparison.
Side thoughts: if VM's return put any kind of glitch into the Kaitlyn Weaver/Tessa Virtue bff-ness, it certainly turned out to be irrelevant.
Have I missed where Papadakis and Cizeron praise VM's skating, their skills, their musicality? Or is it mostly lip service to their resume and competitive drive? I'm just curious if we've got another one way street situation where Virtue Moir prop up their inferior competition, loading them up with praise, while the competition is like, "They're very nice people. Tessa is so stylish."
I think skaters who don’t envy will be the ones most likely to express sincere compliment and admiration. They are the ones who will push themselves to regard skating as first, mastering great skating skills and complement that with artistry. If any skater can achieve thise two in balance they will always be regarded as great (even if judges go on their whims about style/preferences). Fake chemistry will never trump real joy/emotion when it comes to dancing. So does in ice dance. Only its dancing on blades.
ReplyDeleteI think the last time C/B went more natural in a FD was their first one, the jazz arrangement of Chopin back when Marina and Igor were still together. It worked far better for them than all the harder-edged sexy Madison programs later did.
ReplyDeleteI do wish they'd let Evan wear regular-styled clothes to skate sometimes, like button-down shirts. I swear there's a determined plan to make him look as goofy as possible on the ice.