Tension in Paradise

Belated remarks:

Papadakis & Cizeron haven't confirmed their music, but this interview in May* - written by someone in the style of a mythologizing syncophant - had lots of pre-emptive sour grapes:

Gabriella: Yeah, we like to skate very fast, sometimes not so much into the details, but more…)

Yeah, I feel you Gabriella. And actually, many of your fans believe ice dance should not be defined and quantified. I think a divinity is meant to descend and anoint Papadakis Cizeron with gold upon the conclusion of their free skate, a la Bernie Sanders' bird.

Both P&C and some of their fans were dragged mercilessly on the interview thread, deservedly, so that's some sort of progress. Maybe some day a plurality of fans on skating forums will decide that real skating skills and rhythm should determine a competition's outcome, versus program composition / music selection, and I'll faint dead away.

Gabriella: I’m not a big fan of Latin for skating. I love Latin dances, I love watching Latin dances, on the floor. But on the ice… I think it’s such a different dynamic in the body that cannot really be translated on the ice, so it’s always gonna look kind of… cheap…

Guillaume: Cliché…

Understood. They can't do it, so it's not worth doing. More ice dancers than this blog can name check have ably translated Latin dance to the ice.

Gabriella: Cheap and cliché, Latin dances on the ice. Plus, there are no much possible different choices for themes and musics. Latin music always kind of sounds the same for me, with the same kind of instruments, and rhythms and… Not like this season – you could’ve had the 20ties, the 30ties, the 40ties, the 60ties, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop, there was so many difference choices you could have! Latin music? Iiiih, not so many! [she makes a squeaking sound, and then starts laughing]. So it’s hard to be original on these things.

That's a whole lot of ignorance in one paragraph.

Guillaume: The thing about the free dance is that you get to really ice dance, and not dance on the ice. You know what I mean? And the short dance is more about dancing on the ice. All those ballroom positions don’t really fit to the ice, to the material that we have. I think it’s always gonna be a struggle, because we are ice dancers, we’re not ballroom dancers.

And for me the short dance kind of feels like Dancing with the stars. You pick skaters, and you try to make them ballroom dancers, but it’s never gonna… Like if you wanna see Latin dance, go watch a ballroom… ball, you know? [laughing] So I think it always kind of looks cheap.

And that's a whole lot of mumbo jumbo bullshit. That's freedom defined as liberation from any sort of technical standard, when anyone with a clue understands technique facilitates freedom. What does he think his particular skating discipline is about if not translating dance to the ice? Well, we all know. Skating whatever the fuck, however the fuck. He's absurd.

Anyway, it was the first time I have seen fans suggesting that P&C are full of themselves. In some respects, why shouldn't they be. They know it's not what their blades are doing that gets them on the podium, so they must have decided it's legit mystical, which is perfectly ok for a sanctioned Olympic sport.

There's a lot in the article about how movement in the ranks is more possible now, without ever mentioning the superior skating skills upon which rapid upward movement is meant to be based. It's all a big mystery, per P&C and the interviewer. The interviewer attempts to say they are admired by other skaters, but P&C mostly report how they've received messages from other skaters saying something like, "Shit, if you two can be world champions without anything in your skating or previous history suggesting it, it gives me and my partner hope! Maybe we, too, can be random but fortunate pawns in a double (Olympic) cycle, multiple-Fed-engineered, quid pro quo!"

Other stuff:

Remember this? Kind of a twist lift
at the end of Virtue & Moir's Olympic OD.
20 minutes before performing the OD 
at Worlds 2010, the vaporous figure 
skating grapevine somehow conveyed 
that this same maneuver might be illegal 
to perform at Worlds. Due to to it being 
possibly a kind of twist lift.

I remember Scott complaining about how he and Tessa try to push the envelope, but get pushback. I think he should have complained instead that he's in a recognized ISU discipline, yet a maneuver they executed at the Olympics mysteriously became possibly illegal for Worlds, but, you know, up to you. That's not how any legit sport functions.

Here it is, back. 
Say nothing else about Virtue and Moir, they like the long game. 
Astrologically speaking, they may be Taurus (Tessa)
and Virgo (Scott), but as a team it's pure Scorpio.

Iliushechina Moscovitch - quad sal at the Cricket Club.
Kirsten Moore-Towers is gnashing her teeth.

Moore-Towers wants to do a quad "yesterday." Maybe the above video was this team's only decent attempt in many tries, who knows, but it's a much better quality throw than Duhamel Radford's. They don't stop skating for half the rink before launch, it's an actual throw, not an assisted jump, and, while Lubov lands with a deep knee bend, it's not a crouch. Her carriage is open, and there's run of blade on her landing. Dylan's form at take-off is a mess - off the ice, lurching forward, and a mule kick, but the judges never seem to care what the guy does. Michael Marinaro certainly isn't going to show him up.

Even if Iliushechkina blows a jump, it didn't stop Sui Han from becoming world champions last season. Often as not, pairs results are determined by which error-strewn performance manages to grind out the most points.

Finally, Bryce Davison got married in June, an event I was skeptical would ever take place. Every photo I'd seen of the happy couple seemed awkward, IMO, and lacking conviction. There was a reserve, a stiffness. Then I read that his dearly beloved was a former skater, and I found this:

Michelle Moore prior to taking the ice for Canada in 2009.

That's one of the cutest things ever, and explains a lot.

BTW, her skating skills are excellent. Just not a strong jumper. Congratulations Bryce Davison.

P.S. Excerpt from Weaver & Poje's Beverly Smith interview:

They were gleeful when the International Skating Union announced that the rhythm in the short dance for Olympic season would be Latin. “We LOVE Latin,” Weaver said. “We love the dancing in the clubs. We loved our Latin program from 2011 to 2012. It’s one of our favourite genres and styles. So without repeating ourselves, we wanted to find a way to still be exciting and entertaining.”

*Excerpted on Goldenskate.com

Look who's here

Note - for some reason the gifs of the 09 4CC turned out huge, too big for blogger, so I'm going to have to do them again later before they can be loaded onto the post. Also, while I was trying to load the huge gifs, "revert to draft" must have been hit on this entry, so it went off line until I noticed.
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Bryce helps Jessica on BOTB

Not surprised. I thought they'd bring in Bryce at some point, because BOTB loves stuff like that. But he's there.

Also here:

Bryce spotting Jessica's lift

I wasn't sure it was him at first because a few other guys involved with BOTB are also semi-tall, dark-haired and can produce five o'clock shadow every six minutes, so they look similar when they're bundled up. But the first link comments confirm it's BD. (To me, the second link looks a lot like John Kerr until it goes close-up)

If the Jessica/Scott sham were still going on, I believe this would still be what we'd see in official media and social media linked to BOTB anyway. Bryce. Not Scott. That's how it's always been. Only in strictly "personal" social media (Skate Canada's twitter is so inept I count it as personal - it's not that professional) did they sham it up.

I wonder why it's not Sebastien Wolfe helping her with her lift. :P

I've read Dube/Savage had a successful opening night, so congrats to them, but in the video of Bryce pitching in on ice, Jessica's face looks as nauseated with terror as it did most of the time when she was getting up there via Wolfe.

I had wondered how Jessica was going to navigate the aspects of the BOTB experience that didn't look like a natural fit, but if Bryce is helping out, problem solved.

If Scott/Jessica were, for those who bought it, a WTF, every time Bryce speaks, the awareness that he was with Jessica personally as well as professionally reasserts that love is one of life's biggest mysteries. Bryce is driven, analytical, reflective, straightforward, insightful and generous. I miss his skating.

In this interview he is retired, but there's a feeling he could unretire, or at least that maybe in his heart he hasn't put to rest the possibility. If he never competes again, I'd kill to see him on BOTB and that show better get it done. I bet he'd win.

My points of note from this interview. One, he says he wishes he'd gotten into coaching sooner because it would have helped his skating/competing. Coaching helps you see elements technically, puts your focus on the mechanics and not just on performance.

I don't know what tricks Bryce's memory is playing on him but I recall from numerous media quotes that he always deconstructed the mechanics of his and Jessica's skating, always focused on both components of his job - the technical and the performance. He didn't need experience as a coach for that. It was easy to see that Bryce kept himself ferociously fit, that he'd applied himself to his double axel to keep his left hip under control when landing, and that, as David Pelletier said, even though Bryce was more slightly built than many pairs guys, his lifting technique was flawless and secure. You know he was always as aware of what was going on with the nuances of Jessica's balance and stability as much as his own job, that he was sensitive to how well she was doing hers and compensated when needed. You can see the difference in her face today when she's lifted by Sebastien Wolfe. Bryce had said he's not the biggest guy out there but he uses every bit, and we could see that too.

Hindsight is futile because it wouldn't have changed anything. He wasn't the person who would have benefitted from dispassionate focus on technique. That was Jessica. I remember when she was splatting her salchow in the Olympic season, Bryce deconstructed the mechanics in the media and explained what needed adjusting. It seemed pretty basic for someone like Jessica, who'd been doing the jump for years. Not that it helped. Maybe he really feels if he'd had experience coaching, he'd have been able to help her focus on that stuff.

I just hope he doesn't mean he could have improved his own work. I think he pushed himself as far as he could push HIMSELF. As driven as he is, to literally skate for two is impossible. To push the team further, he needed more cooperation from Jessica.

The second point of interest for me is Bryce refers to the intense financial pressures/stress of a skating career. Bryce comes from a skating family. The Davisons appear to be reasonably comfortable - they have a place in Muskoka where Jessica and her family were guests of the Davisons (the Davison place in Muskoka has had a bunch of skater guests, obviously). But still, finances were a challenge.

There's an annual Jessica Dube golf fundraiser in Drummondville to help defray the cost of her skating. Jessica has worn that red strapless skating costume into the ground - costumes are expensive. She and Bryce had some local sponsors; don't know what she has now. She comes from fairly modest circumstances, perhaps more modest than the Davisons, and even taking into account the combined resources of both families during D&D's career, the financial pressure was there.

Hard to reconcile these realities with the fact that in 2009 the three Dube siblings were able to muster up the money for a 4 star Dominican resort vacation getaway fitting in with Jessica's training break, splashing out for $89-$100 additional excursion fees like ziplining and catamaran trips. Even though the DR is cost-effective for Canadians (there's an invisible pipeline in the air from Canada to DR, no lie, don't even need passports, I believe), it was still interesting how room remained in their budget for vacations with their own friends (Jessica's brother vacationed in the sort of set-up where a bunch of guys bunk in per room in the resort).

Hard to reconcile Jessica's parents being in Paris in 2009 for TEB (an expensive time of year to travel to Paris) then returning to France (Nice) in 2012, and Monte Carlo and Monaco. That money could defray a lot of skating expenses.

Maybe I'm overlooking something but there were no reports of the Davisons at TEB 2009, and I don't think they routinely traveled to see Bryce compete overseas. Hell, neither family was in Colorado when Jessica's face was slashed, but Kate Virtue was, and she was the one who was on the phone to the Davisons to pass the developments to the Dubes. If Jessica needs fundraisers to offset her skating expenses, where did the funds to fly three people to the Dominican, two people to Paris (plus hotel and meals) and at least three people to Nice come from?

The flip side

While Scott and Jessica frolicked romantically in two dimensions on social networks in front of thousands of strangers, in non-sham, legitimate media situations they observed the discretion described in an earlier post (below). Scott so zealous that if Jessica were a squirrel and he were a car backing out of the driveway, his commitment to discretion would require him to run her over.

Look how much Bryce appears to enjoy Tessa's proximity.
No worries. Scott & Jessica, OTOH, are being private.

Scott is disciplined.  Here, at the 2010 ACGM meeting, he and Jessica have barely toweled themselves off from their romantic visit to the Isla Mujeres aquatic petting zoo swim with dolphins yet you'd swear they hated each other's guts.

Barbara Underhill introduces the skaters, who will present to the awardees. First, a familiar synchro skater whose name I keep forgetting, then Jessica and Bryce:

Jessica sets the tone with her characteristically sunny demeanor.

The skaters are going to line up, so they sightline where they'll be standing and head towards it. Here comes Bryce:

Sightlining on the horizontal, as is logical, he gives  Patrick Chan, 
off stage right, the bro pistol-salute.

And here is Chiddy:*

Straight to the bosom of his teammate.

Here comes Scott and Tessa. This is the exciting part. This is where fans, learning that there's video of Scott, Tessa, Jessica, Bryce all on stage together, bolt for youtube so they can observe Scott/Jessica eye contact, smiles and byplay, as they usually only see Scott and Jessica together in stills, and for some reason those images give off a peculiar vibe. Here's a live action chance to get a handle on the dynamic.

Tessa and Scott are introduced:

Tessa materializes, somehow mid-conversation with P. Chan. She also has nice, wide
shoulders. Anyone to her left would be blocked, and here comes friendly Scott. Let's
see the physical adjustments.

I love Scott. Does a straight upstage entrance, like you do because your back is what everyone will want to see first, and keep those hands in pockets just in case anyone has a reach longer than you'd expect. His whole entrance is executed with that unstudied naturalism that makes him a phenom on the ice.

His suit is tailored very nicely across his back,wouldn't you say?
Now that he's safely comfortably upstage, out of sightline = obligatory greeting range,
Tessa faces front. Jessica has quit fronting entirely.

And so Scott does his about face and we have this lovely portrait.

This also happened, which I don't think Scott even strategized:

It toally happened by itself. Jessica might as well be something from The Sixth Sense and Scott be Toni Collette; it's not even: "Tessa, did you feel that slight breeze?"

P.S. -Would like to mention how over on fsu recently one poster critiqued Tessa as dowdy and declared it wouldn't hurt her to show a little skin.  

__________________________

*Over the past 2 and a half years Patrick Chan has put in some real OT as a utility buffer. He escorted Tessa to the Nationals 2010 banquet while Scott walked in solo even though all the other teams entered together because VM are special like that. Skate Canada skaters past and present have used Chan as their point of focus when there's a need to avoid someone else, or when there's a need to ignore someone without seeming to ignore someone. I've seen that one play out a few times in videos involving Skate Canada skaters. He can be employed as an on-the-spot best friend if you're the one being ignored, so you're not stuck with the camera watching how you have nobody to hang out with. And, in a bridge role, if you're the one doing the ignoring, you can throw him as a block at the person you're ignoring. And wasn't he also one of Rachel Flatt's escorts to her debut? I know this type of guy. Every high school needs one. I don't know if wingman even covers it. He's all-purpose, and the rule seems to be he can't say no.

Tendonitis

P.J. Kwong reports Jessica Dube has withdrawn from ladies singles at Canadians due to sudden onset tendonitis in her toe-pick leg.

I will miss Jessica's non-tendonitis jump technique in singles.

Well that's a shame.

Any moment now, I suppose she'll withdraw from the pairs competition too, since you need that toe pick for the split twist.

No? She's gonna gut it out? What a trooper.

I have to confess, when Jessica withdrew from singles, and since she spent most of her last singles competition on her ass, I thought - well, of course. She's not really training her singles skating, she was just saving face since she swore she split from Bryce due to her renewed "spark" for singles skating. And now she's over it. She had pretended it was singles skating prompting her decision - that she had no idea she'd soon have Sebastien in the bag. She certainly couldn't be all "screw singles" right away once she had a new partner. That would make her look all manipulative and stuff. She had to keep up her singles for a bit, just for form's sake. So when she withdrew from Canadians I was like - yeah, she's done.

How bad do I feel now? I had no idea a reason would actually be produced, that reason being singles skating situational tendonitis. It's kind of like the jump flu virus she suddenly came down with last year the day of her Canadians singles lp. Remember that? Her eyes were clear, her skin tone was normal, she spun like a top, spirals were smooth and steady, footwork decent and she sourpussed like a pro. But when it came to the lutz, salchow, flip - jump flu.

Here's her chance to make up for it and darn the luck - she's hit with singles foot. When she toes in for a lutz or flip in her singles program - ouch, ouch OUCH!!! When she toes in for her split double twist in pairs, everything's fine. Well, except for her being a 24 year old world bronze medalist backsliding to a double twist.

Although fans of her singles skating will be disappointed, at least her case of singles foot will not be a roadblock when she climbs the podium to receive her bronze medal in pairs.

What's Wrong With This Picture? Nothing. Just Ask Skate Canada.

Skate Canada:  We're Stupid
(since 2006)