ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Cup of China Short Dance

I didn't watch the live broadcast so these are just scores and standings, but I will post my commentary once the short dance is available on-demand.

1) Isabella Cannuscio & Ian Lorello (USA)
    Music: Piano Man by Billy Joel

• They seem just slightly out of sync on all of their unison elements
• Their edges seem flat on the golden waltz sections
• I liked the position in the lift, but it looked labored
• The ending pose is too much, took too much work to get into for what we get out of it
• SD Score: 19.05 (technical) + 19.29 (presentation) = 38.34

2) Xueting Guan & Meng Wang (China)

    Music: Waltz

• She exits the first twizzle a full rotation before he does
• Golden Waltz looks "calculated" and not "danced" if that makes sense
• This seems more like practice than a performance to me
• They really lose speed later in the program
• I like the nice crisp ending with the music as opposed to the elaborate poses of other teams
• SD Score: 21.36 (technical) + 18.83 (presentation) = 40.19

3) Xiaoyang Yu & Chen Wang (China)

    Music: Waltz & Tango

• I really like the way these two costumes complement one another
• This may be an odd question, but does anyone else feel like the  musical selections of these Chinese teams sound more like music for Pairs?
• I must admit today is my first time seeing a Chinese Ice Dance team and I'm wondering if they are simply trying to piggyback on their success in Pairs by breaking into dance
• I had these awkward transitions from Waltz to Tango as they do not make a cohesive program and a costume suited for waltz never suits tango, and vice versa
• I like this ending post as well
• SD Score: 23.99 (technical) + 21.34 (presentation) = 45.33

4) Nora Hoffman & Maxim Zavozin (Hungary)

    Music: Waltz

• I think its interesting that Maxim used to compete for the United States, I knew his name sounded familiar when I was looking at the entries for this competition
• My video footage went spotty during the twizzles, but I thought they went a little out of sync
• What is with this camera work?
• I've decided that its unfair for me to really criticize any one team because I just think this category of the "Short Dance" needs a lot of work
• SD Score: 26.28 (technical) + 26.41 (presentation) = 52.69

5) Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill (Canada)**

    Music: Ten Minutes Ago by Richard Rogers

•  Ahh The King and I, I just love all of the musical theatre on the Grand Prix this year
• This is wonderful music for them
• I love their fluidity and speed across the ice
• The holds in the Golden Waltz are very close and the edges and knees are very deep
• This piece is really making me smile, this team is just so joyful in their skating
• SD Score: 25.01 (technical) + 23.09 (presentation) = 48.10

6) Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev (Russia) **

    Music: Delilah by Tom Jones

• I love her costume so much
• This starts out with such intensity that I'm wondering how it will transition into the Golden Waltz
• He looks very out of control on the twizzles, lost balance and almost fell
• I like their energy, but they are scaring me a bit because they are on the verge of being out of control
• I wanted her to point her feel and straighten her legs on the rotational lift
• I like this program a lot, but there are a lot of details they can work out before Europeans and Worlds
• SD Score: 27.93 (technical) + 28.92 (presentation) -1.00 (deduction) = 55.85

7) Xintong Huang & Xun Zheng (China)

    Music: Waltz No. 2

• There was something happening character-wise at the beginning of this piece but I don't really understand what it was; should clarify that before next competition
• Twizzles look slow, out of sync, and sloppy overall
• I do not like his costume, it looks sloppy
• The edges and knees could be much much deeper in the Golden
• The overhead lift was interesting, but he nearly came to a standstill while he was lifting her and they bobbled the exit
• That was an okay routine, but it didn't really "dance" for me
• SD Score: 25.08 (technical) + 24.62 (presentation) = 49.70

8) Madison Hubbell & Keiffer Hubbell (USA)

    Music: The Adams Family, Machismo Tango

• I love their rotational lift with her in the scorpion position
• This is a nice, smooth, elegant program so far
• She hits a nice low position on that shoot the duck
• This may be one case where the costumes work for both the waltz and the tango
• Oh wow, he falls during footwork and she trips over him, thats a very tough fall and totally breaks their concentration
• They lose focus after the falls and lose synchronization on the final twizzle sequence
• SD Score: 23.29 (technical) + 24.18 (presentation) - 3.00 (deduction) = 44.47
• I only saw 2 falls, the duel fall with both of them, so I don't know where the 3 point deduction comes in
  

9) Federica Faiella & Massimo Scali (Italy) **

    Music: My Fair Lady

• Holy costumes, is Federica's bow big enough?
• I love this music, so perfect for ice dance
• I may need to do a whole post on the use of musical theatre in Ice Dance
• They seem tentative, I think they could give it more energy 
• Oh wow, his blade catches her dress and almost trips him up, but they stay on their feet
• Ice dance has to have, far and away, the most costume malfunctions of any discipline
• Like the Hubbells with their fall, I think this costume malfunction broke their focus for the rest of the program
• I love the closing pose here, it really reflects the character of the dance
• I just love the coach's fur coat, its very Tatiana Tarasova
• SD Score: 26.28 (technical) + 30.93 (presentation) = 57.21

10) Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat (France) **

      Music: Dr. Zhivago

• Faiella and Scali definitely left room for this team to pass them with a great skate
  
• She exited the twizzles before him on each position in the opening sequence
• Their opening looks sloppy with one finishing slightly before the other on almost every unison element
• They definitely start to look cleaner and more polished as the program continues
• If I hadn't already looked at the scores, I'd expect the Italians to be closer, when in actuality this team is nearly 7 points ahead after the short dance
• SD Score: 32.71 (technical) + 31.41 (presentation) = 64.12

Leaderboard:

1) Pechalat/Bourzat            64.12

2) Faiella/Scali                   57.21

3) Bobrova/Soloviev             55.85

4) Hoffmann/Zavozin           52.69
5) Huang/Zheng                 49.70

6) Ralph/Hill                      48.10

7) Yu/Wang                       45.33
8) Hubbell/Hubbell              44.47
9) Guan/Wang                   40.19
10) Cannuscio/Lorello         38.34