Thursday, March 26, 2015

Who Killed It and Who Fell Off the Combo: The Free Dance

Killed It!: These teams brought the beauty, the excitement, the intrigue
  • Papadakis and Cizeron for captivating my attention and leaving me hypnotized 
  • Ilinykh as the heavyweight diva of contemporary ice dancing 
  • Madison Chock chewing the scenery
  • Weaver & Poje leaving it all on the ice 
  • The smoothness of the Shibs' skating
  • I'm living for Paul & Islam's free skate, that contemporary feel was on point
  • Monko & Khaliavin's controlled upside down lift 
  • The long, lithe bodies of Stepanove and Bukin, plus the sitting twizzles, oh the abdominal control! 
  • The exuberance of Guignard and Fabbri was entertaining at least
  • The chemistry of Hubbell and Donohue, plus their rotational lift 
  • The quiet fabulousness of Marie-France 
  • The ease with which Andria Diaz moves, it's all so effortless
  • The joy on Yinyu Liu's face 

Fell Off The Combo: These teams missed the mark
  • Ilinykh's twizzle mishap
  • Marina's reign at the top
  • The Russian obsession with Sarabande 
  • Self-indulgent entrances of any kind
  • Enough bent legs and lazy feet to last a lifetime
  • Hot mess interwoven twizzle patterns 
  • Mozart Rock Opera....enough said
  • An a la seconde twizzle at 45 degrees......it's 90 or bust! 
  • That moment when the Ukranian team destroyed Bach
  • Carolina Moscheni's dance team smile during a dark piece

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Who Killed It and Who Fell Off the Combo: The Short Dance

Killed It!: These teams brought the beauty, the excitement, the intrigue
  • Every blessed thing about Guillaume Cizeron
  • If you take off the skates, Cizeron is the only natural dancer in the entire event
  • The choreographic specificity of the entire group 5
  • Andrew Poje's entire presentation 
  • The fire and precision of the Shibutanis
  • Madison Chock's perfect bun
  • The dramatic build up to group 6
  • Paul & Islam's rotational lift 
  • Paul Poirier's amazing butt
  • Hubbell & Donohue's smoothness 
  • Stepanova & Bukin's sit spin twizzled.....that abdominal control! 
  • Monko & Khaliavin's matching free leg in the twizzle sequence
  • The grace, poise, and carriage of Marie-France 
  • The Hurtado and Diaz counterbalance 
  • Federica Testa's strapless number 
  • Barbara Fusar-Poli 
  • Elena Ilinykh's overall diva qualities
  • The energy and spunk of Wang and Liu 
  • Juri Karakin's hairography 


Fell Off The Combo: These teams missed the mark
  • Gabriella Papadakis' detached-looking bun 
  • Kaitlyn Weaver's saggy bun
  • Marina's political clout
  • Anna Cappellini's carriage-simultaneously stiff and wild 
  • So many women with sloppy, uneven buns 
  • Guignard & Fabri falling on the choreographic spinning movement 
  • Gilles & Poirier's overly dramatic entrances and exits
  • Piper Gilles' drag queen eye makeup 
  • Donohue's damn twizzle
  • Elena Ilinykh paired with Ruslan Zhiganshin who looks like little brother
  • Kirill Minov's hair.....honey please  
  • Any low or intermediate team doing interweaving twizzle patterns 
  • Viktoria Kavaliova's "Whatever Lola Wants" gloves
  • Smart & Buckland's twizzles
  • The Finnish team's twizzles 
  • Natalia Kaliszek's hideous dress/croptop getup 
  • Bent free legs (multiple offenders)