What I really want to do is embed Paul Islam's free dance to compare with Davis White's free dance. The usual problem with comparing Davis White to much much lower ranked teams is the programs of much lower ranked teams don't often feel complete. They're a combination of what the team executes very well and other things that are raw. When I can get an embed of PI's fd, that'll be a post.
ETA - Thanks to the person who steered me to P/I's Canadians free on youtube. Here they both are - DW's and P/I's:
I was going to put DW first, then PI, but I think the difference is even more striking if you look at the "lesser" team first, and then DW. Immediately you notice DW are miles apart and are doing the most elementary in betweens, and most of their elements - not to mention the rest of it - in design and in execution - don't approach the level of difficulty of design in P/I's elements, let alone execution. Furthermore, Meryl and Charlie would come crashing to the ice if required to skate as closely together, with as much variation in direction and hold, and with as little preparation, as P/I are able to deliver so seamlessly in this performance. And please notice P/I's ice coverage. They're into the ice, they have big curves; they're covering that rink, they're not skating small.
I'm not pushing P/I here, because the same goes for VM. But it's instructive to look at a THIRD place Canadian team not anticipated to make the podium, who do every single thing better than DW.
Yet DW will win the gold, and VM will be silver, and P/I will make a "good showing." Unbelieveable. Unlike pairs, singles, etc., you still can't "move up" in dance even when you're superior. That's how it's been for decades, that's how the ISU had decided it should remain.
DW's skating is dumbed down but they've polished it, and they're rewarded for doing dumbed down stuff with polish. Lower ranked teams who combine admirable stuff with raw tend to expose themselves - lesser difficulty, or areas with good level of difficulty executed awkwardly.
In Paul Islam, we have a lower ranked team that didn't make Worlds last season, and finished third at Canadians this year. They're definitely not expected to podium in Sochi, and may possibly make top ten, but nobody anticipates top five. They are, however, complete. They have a high level of difficulty, and they're polished. They're a good point of comparison.
WHY are DW number 1? The skating at Canadians was so good, it begs the question of not just why DW are consistently beating VM, but why they're beating any number of teams.
At the moment, it's the lifts that are driving me crazy. I look at that fucking backpack, and that ridiculous fetal lift, and then look at the exquisite lifts the Canadians show in their programs, the control of their bodies in space as they execute, and the smooth run of their blades, and could just scream.
Skating fans are certainly powerless, that's for sure. More than any other sport.
I don't think skating fans (or any sports fans) should control outcomes. But a sport owes its public full explanations of results, explanations that refer to its own rule book and standards/critieria to shed light on scoring. Not abruptly claim the scoring is all about subjective arbitrary bullshit when it suits someone's agenda.
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Whatever "floating" effect it used to have
has pretty much gone down the crapper. |
With this lift, whatever audience response there is, is forced. Not so forced as when DW's own cheering section screamed on cue during the GP, but the way something is forced when people are told something is spectacular, and they don't want to be contradictory, so the cheer becomes obligatory, but lacking in real energy. He's just slapping her onto his shoulder.
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Not only have better ice dancers rotated directly
into the upside down position without curling up into a ball
and clinging onto their partner, but look at
Meryl's legs. They're crossed at the ankles. She can't
hold the position without locking herself in. Her
entire freaking body is pasted to Charlie; her core
is girdled by Charlie, and yet she can't manage her leg
position, which is merely straight up, gravity working
in her favor. That's ridiculous. |
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Paul Islam.
I mean, come on. She skates into it while changing direction,
she uses core strength and control of her body in space, and
the she also uses her OWN core as her point of rotation to
change position. There is minimal redundancy/external
stability, and she has complete control of her body/limbs.
She's completely exposed in that position. She
has to stablize her hips, core, and topline.
Her entire body is fully extended.
Great speed. Exits on a running edge. |
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All we need to know is the way Alexandra Paul changes
from the lateral position to over her partner's shoulder.
Why isn't she clutching and pushing herself up there?
How can Mitch Islam extend a free arm the immediate
instant she's in place? Don't they want to move up
in the ranks? Start clutching, you two.
P.S. - notice, when in position, how far her core
extends past the plane of Islam's shoulder, instead of what
we've seen with Meryl in past lifts using this pose - arms,
shoulders, head and neck peering over Charlie's shoulder line
while the rest of her (chest included) remains pasted against
Charlie's back.
Look where Alexandra Paul's chest is in this position.
Also, note the stability of Islam's edges in the curve. |
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I don't LOVE it, but she's rotating around her own core
instead of pulling a Meryl, which is clinging to her partner while
he in turn clutches her and hoists her up. What Kaitlyn does here is
impossible for Meryl. Meryl can't rotate into position. She
can't stablize her own body with a balance point. She needs
external resistance at multiple points and she can't work at
even a minor distance from her center of gravity. She can't control
her limbs. |
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,
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Not the greatest but skates into it, and kicks DW ass
in independent control of body and limbs. |
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Their problem is they lack the
"wow" factor. Right, Evegny? |
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What other sport can get away with
actually gaslighting the public? |
Ice dance should not be an Olympic sport. I definitely believe the sport knows it can't get away with this again for awhile, and will cloak itself in edge-centric piety in the next quad.
Also, ice dance is the only figure skating discipline with multiple instances of undefined criteria in the rulebook that the judges can use to elevate an inferior team. But WHY? The other three disciplines all have explicitly defined standards and criteria.
The one standard that is inarguable - superior stroking, blade run and ice coverage, is simply disregarded.
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P.S. - something else re lifts: In the best lifts, when the women is changing position or entering a lift, her partner "assists". He provides leverage, a point of rotation, he might assist her momentum, but it's all "assisting" something she's already generated and set in motion. This is even true, this year, of Gilles Poirier, for God's sake.
Charlie White is not "assisting" Meryl Davies. What Meryl Davies does is contort herself into a position that enables Charlie White to sling her up, actually heave her up, or muscle her up. Naturally, this means they get the highest base value for their lifts and the highest possible GOE.
