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| World Championships 2005 Free Dance |
| Before you read, a disclaimer:
I am not infallible, I cannot guarantee not to have made any mistakes and since it’s impossible to mention everything, there are bound to be some omissions. If you have any comments, disagreements or corrections, feel free to contact me, I’ll appreciate any input. Since these reports are based on Eurosport TV broadcast, I can never be sure about the issues like speed or ice coverage. A lot of the routines looked like the skaters were just focusing on the elements and not actually dancing and I hope that the technical committee will look at the rules and try to improve them before next season. Commentating on British Eurosport, Sinead Kerr said that so many upside down and split lifts will not be allowed anymore, which is a step in the right direction, since at this event, as well as throughout the whole season, everyone was doing the same lifts and repeating the same positions. The reviews are arranged according to the starting order. Full results can be found by clicking on one of the links below: Free Dance – Official Results Ice Dance - Final Results 1. Julia Golovina/Oleg Voiko /UKR/ Unfortunately they were cut from the broadcast. 2. Aleksandra Kauc/Michal Zych /POL/ combination spin – quite fast one hand rotational lift straight line step sequence – not very difficult crouching lift with her in a split sit+catchfoot/sit+camel - ok hydroblade lift tw…ctw – she did messy three-turns spread eagle lift into one foot lift circular step sequence - reverse rotational lift with her horizontal into a split tw…ctw – both stepped out at end, messy, she was doing three-turns This was neither a good program, nor a good skate. Lack of speed, not enough attack, lacking in interesting choreography touches and an overall concept. On the other hand, I assume that just like in CD and OD, they planned to go safe but clean, and although the whole thing looked messy and ragged and the elements weren’t very difficult, at least they didn’t fall and weren’t all over the place like in previous competitions this season. The highlights of the program were two spins, which were probably the best of the competition. 3. Alessia Aureli/Andrea Vaturi /ITA/ tw…tw hydroblade lift – not held at all weird cut from ballad into fast pace suddenly diagonal step sequence – lots on two-feet, quite slow, heavy footwork rotational lift with her in a split tw…tw – most of them three-turned spread eagle lift into rotational her in a catchfoot position his trouser strap came undone, he got a pair of scissors, cut it off and they continue where they stopped serpentine lift to one foot to spread eagle – messy on one foot bit upright+sit/upright vars – slow serpentine step sequence lift with her hand on his boot to one foot – insecure I didn’t see a great deal of improvement since last year. Their character came through very well at the closing fast section but throughout the dance everything looked unextended, unpolished and insecure. 4. Christina Beier/William Beier /GER/ tw…ctw – first set in sit spin position spread eagle serpentine lift with her wrapped round his torso camel/sit – quite slow hydroblade moves circular step sequence rotational lift with her in a split tw…ctw – all three-turned slow combination spin crouching lift with her in a split spread eagle lift her in a split at the end diagonal step sequence – not very difficult spread eagle lift with her in a catchfoot How many spread eagle lifts can you pack in one program? Their lines and extensions seemed weak and all the ruffled fabric on their horrific costumes made this impression even stronger. The program had a strong “Native American” concept but the choreography looked messy, it didn’t hold together and they just didn’t have enough quality to pull it off. But technically, it was the strongest performance so far. 5. Fang Yang/Chongbo Gao /CHN/ spread eagle lift – not held long at all diagonal step sequence – quite slow camel/sit – quite slow shoot-the-duck lift – ok serpentine lift to spread eagle to one foot – changing positions tw…ctw – the latter obviously three-turned tw…ctw – much better spin – quite slow rotational lift on one arm her in a bielmann with change of position and hold circular step sequence – slow and ragged into messy rotational lift Weird, random music cuts: Goldfrapp to Turandot to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. No surprise that their technical mark was so low because this was all over the place and very possibly he hasn’t held the lifts long enough to achieve higher levels. 6. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabien Bourzat /FRA/ rotational lift circular step sequence spread eagle lift with her in a split tw…ctw – off-synch sit+upright/upright – quite slow shoot-the-duck lift tw…ctw – first set off-synch spin spread eagle lift with her in a split into hydroblade lift diagonal step sequence spread eagle lift into rotational lift with her in a split Quite a large rise in the standard here. Great concept of the program (“Cats”), starting with some very nice feline movements. They skated on very deep edges and I thought that apart from problems with synchronisation on the twizzles, performed this dance very well. Since they didn’t place well at all, I tried to get other feedback on them and was told that they had big stamina problems at the end. 7. Nora Hoffmann/Atilla Elek /HUN/ spread eagle lift with her in a catchfoot into rotational rotational lift with her in a catchfoot (because now everyone’s repeating the same lifts, sigh) circular step sequence tw…ctw – not very secure up+sit vars/sit vars spread eagle serpentine lift hydroblade lift with her in a catchfoot ctw…tw – he stepped out of first set and put hand down shoot-the-duck lift – not held 3 seconds sit vars/upright straight line step sequence – looking messy I assume that Nora’s patience is very close to running out, as Atilla lets them down again. Other than him messing up one twizzle set, they skated it well, and as Chris pointed out, had constant changes of hold on the step sequences. The problem with that dance was that, although they attacked it and were selling it well, they just looked so messy, with especially Nora, not being able to keep in control of her posture and lines throughout the dance. 8. Anastasia Gerbenkina/Vazgen Azrojan /ARM/ tw…ctw – she three-turned both sets shoot-the-duck lift – her in a split, not held long rotational lift with her in a split into spread eagle – coming into dead stop at end sit/kneeling upright – very slow after position change circular step sequence – good edgework serpentine lift on one foot to spread eagle, her in a catchfoot position spread eagle her wrapped round him sit+kneel upright ctw…tw straight line step sequence rotational lift with her in a split They went for a lot of difficulty, sacrificing everything else in the process. There was hardly any interpretation or chorographical touches in the program and no overall concept, binding everything together. It’s one example of how CoP can go completely wrong. 9. Natalia Gudina/Alexei Beletski /ISR/ straight line step sequence circular step sequence “furball lift” with her in a ball, held with one hand tw…ctw – off-synch and messy arabesque lift on one foot bent leg camel/sit – quite slow lift with her upside down to one foot, front then back – shaky on back lift difficult serpentine lift camel/sit+Y – slow tw…ctw – insecure and second set probably three-turned lift in a split into rotational Very difficult lifts but, as usual with them, it was quite an open dance and similarly to the Armenians, but to a lesser extent, their striving for highest levels, meant that the quality of the execution and the flow of the performance suffered. They were focusing on the elements to the detriment of the “dance feel” and the choreography. 10. Nozomi Watanabe/Akiyuki Kido /JPN/ lift with her upside down to one foot circular step sequence – strong they seem very fast rotational lift with change of position into v. slow reverse rotation – messy combination spin lift to one foot into rotational shoot-the-duck lift to one foot tw…ctw – all three-turned sit var+camel – quite slow tw…ctw – all three-turned diagonal step sequence – far apart, too many open holds rotational lift with her upside down – messy A very strong opening section and lots of attack and speed throughout but all achieved thanks to a lot of stroking and skating far apart and in open holds most of the time. Sadly, it got much weaker and messier later, maybe due to stamina problems, since he looked very exhausted at the end. 11. Sinead Kerr/John Kerr /GBR/ very sharp straight from the start, much better form than at Europeans lift with her back arched to one foot into spread eagle lift hydro move into sit/kneel upright+camel – lost speed changing positions tw…ctw – ok shoot-the-duck lift to one foot hydroblade lift to one hand rotational tw…ctw – slightly mess first set from her but ok overall circular step sequence – quite slow rotational lift with her in a split with position change sit+upright var/upright diagonal step sequence – not very fast spread eagle lift with her upside down That was in a class of its own so far. A much better performance than at Europeans and although they lost the stamina at the end, and Sinead almost gave it too much and had some insecure moments at the start, it was very good overall. They went for it, attacked it and kept selling it until the end. 12. Melissa Gregory/Denis Petukhov /RUS/ spread eagle lift with her upside down hands on his knees one hand rotational lift tw…ctw – she three-turned her serpentine lift changing position into her wrapped round him in spread eagle spin – quite slow shoot-the-duck lift into one hand rotational circular step sequence – good flow sit+camel/upright+V – quite slow ctw…tw – she possibly three-turned again straight line step sequence – messy and ragged spread eagle lift with her in a split Not a very good idea to choose the fastest beat right at the end. They didn’t have enough stamina to live up to it but other than that last section, I though they skated very well. Very nice skating skills and I got the impression that their overall quality was better than that of Kerrs, although one of my knowledgeable friends pointed out that their lines did not look very good and once they lost their stamina they got slouched and lost the quality of their edges, so I might be wrong here. They kept skating on their heels all the time, showing off the freedom blades, which I personally found very annoying. 13. Kristin Fraser/Igor Lukanin /AZE/ lift with her upside down on his back to one foot circular step sequence – bent leg camel/kneel upright+catch – very slow tw…ctw – drifted apart on first set spread eagle on both edges – strong lift with her in a catchfoot to rotational tw…ctw – she wobbled on first set, second looked three-turned shoot-the-duck lift to one foot straight line step sequence – rotational lift with her in a split spin/upright - slow It seemed they improved this dance since Europeans and this time it had much more of a tango feel. She had a really distracting psychedelic black and white zebra dress which made my head spin. 14. Svetlana Kulikova/Vitali Novikov /RUS/ spread eagle lift with her lying on his knee to her in a split on different edge spin tw…ctw – all three-turned, very messy second set for him circular step sequence – ragged, small wobble from him tw…ctw – he three-turned both sets back spiral lift with her upside down spread eagle lift with her upside down to rotational lift with her in a split hydroblade lift with her in a split to one foot sit+camel/upright – fast first position straight line step sequence – messy rotational lift with her in a split It seemed to have been skated very fast but they just looked so messy, with very poor lines. Chris pointed out that all the difficult elements were done with little speed. They skate every dance like it was “Carmina Burrana” with uber drama and theatrics, and while it more or less fitted this music, I would like to see some more variation in the style and interpretation. 15. Marie-France Dubreil/Patrice Lauzon /CAN/ tw…ctw – all three-turned “totem lift” with her standing up to one foot to one hand rotational sit/up+v – quite slow one hand rotational lift with her in a split tw…ctw – much better circular step sequence – one hand reverse rotational lift diagonal step sequence – quite messy shoot the duck lift – she held by leg sit/kneel+camel – slow after change of position spread eagle lift with change of position It is a spectacular dance, a very interesting concept, but they didn’t skate it as well as they can, both step sequences looked quite weak and even some of the lifts didn’t look as strong as polished as they are capable of. 16. Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski /ISR/ shoot the duck lift to one foot rotational lift with her in a split – very fast circular step sequence – good footwork sit+up var/up+cam vars – quite slow posing tw…ctw – all three-turned camel/up var – wobble at the end spread eagle lift with her upside down to one foot lift diagonal step sequence – X twizzles – all probably three turned lift rotational lift on one hand with her horizontal into spread eagle lift – coming to a stop at the end Very fast but I wonder if they could build that much speed if they skated most of the dance in a closed hold. ;) There were some interesting transitions but, they were more “cool” and entertaining than difficult. This also looked messier than in some other performances I watched this season. 17. Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin /RUS/ sit+up/upright – quite slow tw... – I must have missed first set, that one looked possibly three-turned especially by him step sequence shoot the duck lift – her with back arched spread eagle lift with her upside down in a split ctw…tw – slightly insecure spread eagle lift to rotational with her in catchfoot sit+upright/up vars – slow after position change circular step sequence – he is on two feet most of the time spread eagle lift rotational lift with her upside down in a split Interesting, well choreographed program but it didn’t flow very well, which was probably the price paid for the high level of difficulty. Lots of repetitive lifts, which satisfied the criteria for highest levels, but were not aesthetically pleasing or elegant at all. 18. Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe /CAN/ spin – slow hydroblade lift – didn’t go down in the knee at all circular step sequence – difficult footwork rotational lift with her in a split into reverse with her wrapped round his torso tw…ctw – possibly three-turned shoot the duck lift with her in a split – again, he didn’t go down at all spread eagle lift with position change into rotational lift sit+upright/upright – quite slow some transitions tw…ctw – first set with hand above head, second possibly three-turned straight line step sequence – slow, some runs from him in the middle rotational lift with position change – weak This wasn’t a good performance at all, the elements just weren’t polished enough, they lacked power and there was nothing original about the program or the choreography. It was just plain, old Zorba, which has been done many times before (I found Jeanette’s Zorba on crack much more interesting, for example ;). I would definitely have this below the Kerrs, Gregory/Petukhov and Fraser/Lukanin. 19. Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali /ITA/ sit vars/upright – fast first position, slow second rotational lift with her in a split to horizontal diagonal step sequence – not too difficult tw…ctw – he wobbled, she put foot down on second set shoot the duck lift with her in a split up+cam/up+V – slow serpentine spread eagle lift with her lying down into catchfoot spread eagle lift where she lifts and he is upside down tw…ctw – he put his foot down one turn earlier than she circular step sequence – with crossovers in the middle (!), changing hold straight into spread eagle lift with her in catchfoot It is their first free dance, which isn’t a Latin dance and their usually high entertainment value somehow got lost. Maybe they couldn’t interpret this rhythm as well or maybe they were just focusing too much on elements, as a result of the new judging system. As Gwendal said at Europeans, “I don’t understand the costumes” – the program just didn’t seem to work overall but that’s obviously a very subjective impression. Technically they have already improved but as you can see from the comments above, there is still a lot to work on. They need more strength, more power, more solid elements and if they will be able to couple that with an interesting program, sold as they only know how to, they’ll get up there among the medals. 20. Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviski /BUL/ lift with her upside down into rotational with her wrapped round his neck spread eagle lift with her upside down circular step sequence – quite slow but detailed footwork tw...ctw – he travelled on second set nice entry into sit+camel/change up vars serpentine spread eagle lift with her in a split shoot the duck lift with her knee on his boots tw….ctw – he travelled on first set into spin with two positions – ok diagonal step sequence rotational lift with her upside down in a split – messy dismount The idea for this routine was definitely original but whether it worked or not is up to the question. The problem with this dance was that it was very open, with lots of stroking between the required elements. While this was probably the case with most teams at this event, you expect much more from a team, which is supposed to challenge for a medal. 21. Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov /RUS/ tw…ctw – second set surely three-turned spin – average shoot the duck lift with elegant dismount reverse rotational lift with two changes of position spread eagle lift with change of position – insecure sit+bent camel/upright – quite slow circular step sequence nice entry into diagonal step sequence tw…ctw – first with hand above the head, messy second set, he puts foot down quickly spread eagle lift with her upside down rotational lift with position change This was a much better skate than at Europeans where they were all over the place. It is by far their most difficult program so far, very detailed with hardly any stroking and lots of transitions. The step sequences are definitely not the best of the night but the overall quality probably was. 22. Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto /USA/ sit+catch into upright tw…ctw – best twizzles of the event shoot the duck lift circular step sequence – his footwork wasn’t very difficult sit+camel var/sit+up var – slow spread eagle into split position into hydroblade tw…ctw – slightly messy second set, not as good as at start of the program lift to one hand rotational hydroblade lift diagonal step sequence – some toe-pushing on his part and her footwork much more difficult spread eagle lift – not held long enough rotational lift with a change of position They really attacked the program but their transitions were more open than Navka/Kostomarov’s, they don’t have their quality yet and their step sequences were unbalanced as well, so I don’t think that there is any competition between them and the Russians yet. 23. Elena Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov /UKR/ sit+bielmann/upright shoot the duck lift to one foot, with her upside down circular step sequence – seems slow hydroblade lift to one foot tw…ctw – second set three-turned by both one hand rotational lift one foot lift with her upside down into one foot hydroblade lift sit+cam/upright+V – quite slow tw…ctw – three-turned diagonal step sequence – again quite slow footwork lift to one hand with her upside down in a split to rotational lift They skated and sold it really well, better than at Europeans and although the skating skills need improvement, you could see that they were struggling to come up with decent speed on their step sequences, their lines and extensions were excellent. 24. Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder /FRA/ camel/mishkutenok shoot the duck lift transitions into straight line step sequence – difficult rotational lift with her in a split tw…ctw – legs crossed behind on first set, possible three-turns on second spread eagle lift with her upside down to lying on his knee spread eagle lift with her in a split sit vars/upright+bielmann circular step sequence – difficult tw…ctw – finished right to beat of the music spread eagle lift into one foot with her upside down into one had rotational It was almost a repeat of Europeans. Good performance and they had clearly the most difficult program of the night, which was reflected in them receiving the highest technical score, by two points. According to Chris, they were really fast as well and if only the judges went with them on the components, they could be up there at the top. But as it stands now, they supposedly have worse skating skills than Grushina/Goncharov. |