Saturday, November 13, 2010

Skate America Short Dance

Group 1
Lynn Kriengkrairut/Logan Giuletti-Schmitt, USA
  • The Trouble with Love Is by Kelly Clarkson
  • Great straight line lift with effortless position changes
  • Hop into the twizzles for extra points and nice synchronicity on their twizzle sequence
  • Golden Waltz looks smooth and fast, great shoot the duck and attitude positions for her
  • Nice split position in the spin
  • Nice speed and ice coverage on their footwork but I'd like to see them in their edges a little more
  • Nice lift position at the end
  • A little bobble into the ending pose
  • This team had a great feel to their program and skate very fluidly
29.83 TES + 22.30 PCS = 52.13 into 1st place

Stefanie Frohberg/Tim Giesen, GER
  • I like that they use their entrance to get into the character of the program before the music even starts
  • Coppelia themed program
  • One armed rotational lift with her in a pike position
  • Twizzles were good and close together but a little slow
  • The change in the middle where he kisses her and she comes to life needs to be a bit more dramatic
  • Nice shoot he duck position for her
  • The Golden Waltz seems a little bouncy for them and the hold changes seem a little too placed and don't really flow through
  • He has a better performance quality during the step sequence than her--she looks a little tentative and the steps seem a little slow
25.24TES +18.79 PCS =44.03 new season best and into 2nd place

Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Trachenko, RUS
  • His giant tie and patterned vest may be a little too much
  • Nice fluid step sequence but they could use a bit more extension through their free legs
  • She should think of adding some color to her dress so she doesn't blend into the ice
  • Golden Waltz looks flid, great shoot the duck position, she makes great use of her upper body during this section but could use some more extension of her free leg and point her toes a little harder
  • Hop into their twizzles, good unison
  • Great rotational lift which requires a lot of ab strength from her but the exit was a little messy
28.49 TES +27.03 PCS = 55.52 into 1st place

Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland, GBR
  • This is one of those Frankendances with a waltz and tango section that seem like two separate programs
  • Rotational lift with one arm and her in a split position--she needs to point her toes a little more
  • Golden Waltz is a little bouncy,, she has a nice shoot the duck position, her arms flow nicely through the section
  • She puts her foot down early on the first set of twizzles and they're off sync on the second set
  • Nice unison on the step sequence but I want them to really want them to attack it more since they went with the tango option
  • Transitional lift at the end is nice but she needs to stretch her legs more
  • Nice ending position but it looks like she may have had a bit of a bobble getting into it

28.17 TES + 21.26 PCS =49.43 new personal best and into 3rd place

Group 2
Cathy Reed/Chris Reed, JPN
  • One of two teams using Addams Family this year
  • Start with their straight line lift with him on the knee but it's a huge crotch shot for her
  • Nice flow through the GW, nice shoot the duck and attitude positions for her,
  • He goes way out of control on the twizzle and misses some of the rotationas and turns out of then
  • Into their tango section now
  • They're very close together on their footwork which is good
  • On the last transitional lift she needs to stretch through her legs
23.43 TES + 21.97 PCS -1.00 = 44.40 and into 4th place

Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani, USA
  • I absolutely adore Maia and she looks so grown up this year.  I especially love her dress and hipe there are no problems this time
  • Nice fast twizzles with great unison, they do 3 sets for the extra points
  • Nice step sequence with some good edge work
  • Into the Golden Waltz and she has a huge smile on her face, they really flow through this section, great shoot the duck position (no skirt problem!) but a little bobble on the position where her back is paralle to the ice
  • She steps up onto his leg and hits a nice arch for their curve lift
  • Great transitional lift at the end as well
  • One little bobble but overall I think this was much better than NHK
  • I'm surprised Zueva is here since Shpilband normally travels with Davis/White and she was at the most recent Grand Prix with her teams
30.08 TES + 26.38 PCS = 56.46 new seasons best and into 1st place

Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje, CAN
  • Another team and another short program I adore
  • Everything about them is very classy
  • Great opening straight line lift and she does a much better job of keeping her legs together than at NHK
  • Into the Golden Waltz and it fits perfectly with their music and she really uses her upper body to float through this section
  • And we're fox trotting, their twizzles are solid but lack the speed of the Shibutanis
  • Straight line step sequence with lots of arm movements that play up the character of the program
  • Transitional lift is nice and goes into the ending pose
  • They look like they're having a ball the whole time they're out there and have a great connection

32.42 TES + 27.06 PCS = 59.48 new seasons best and into 1st place

Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier, CAN
  • She's still wearing the heinous white dress that is way too tight on her but this hair style is much better
  • This first roational lift is insane with her upside down
  • This version of Fallin sounds really weird but maybe its how they messed with the tempo
  • Golden Waltz doesn't flow the way some other teams execute it but they hit all the points just fine
  • Nice step sequence but I would like to see her have a little bit softer arms through this section
  • Transitional lift into their final twizzle element and they get slightly off unison  but are very close together
  • I'd like to see them connect to the music more--she has a big smile on her face the whole time and I'd like to see her emote more of the confusion evident in the song
30.92 TES + 29.49 PCS = 60.41 into 1st place

Meryl Davis/Charlie White, USA
  • I love her dress--I think it might be different from NHK, I also love how relaxed Charlie is before they take the ice
  • I love how committed Meryl is to her characters and performances and you can see it in her eyes before she even starts
  • Very fast twizzles and great unison on the first set but he loses control on the 2nd and puts a hand down
  • I like their movement and reltionship to each other in their step sequence
  • Great speed and positions through the Golden Waltz but I'd like to see her let her upper body flow a little more instead of hitting all the positions with her arms
  • Nice rotational lift with difficult hold changes and position changes for Meryl
  • Her hands on the ending pose are a little awkward
  • All in all a solid, well skated program for Meryl and Charlie.  They should easily go into 1st place.
30.00 TES + 33.62 PCS = 63.62 into 1st place

Top three are Davis/White, Crone/Poirier and Weaver/Poje
Weaver/Poje have the highest technical element score.
Davis/White have the highest program component score.

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