Tuesday, March 25 - Ice Dance Compulsory Dance
My Amazing Calm
I took a short power nap after the end of the dance practice and before the Compulsory Dance event. These naps usually only serve to make me more tired, but this one seemed to do the trick. I got up and grabbed a bite to eat on the way to the CD. It was an ice dance event during the day in the United States of America, so I was confident that I would have no problems getting a good seat. I wound up again in the section next to the Kiss & Cry area. This time I was in the first row where I would be able to remain for the entire Compulsory Dance. It was divine. I happen to like compulsory dances quite a bit, mostly because this is the ice dance event that is shown the least on American TV. Plus, it's so dancey, it made me feel like getting up and dancing the entire afternoon. And, yes, I understand that this is atypical. I loved the waltz music arrangements, so I was bouncy the whole time. Or maybe I was just glad to be at my first live ice dance competition event, as it is my favorite discipline. I had a printout of the Austrian Waltz description, step chart and pattern design in order to be prepared to try to learn about the dance. I'm afraid I don't have many comments on technique.
Compulsory Dance A
Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan of Armenia: She wore a dress with a black and gray top and a white billowy skirt. He wore black pants and white top with buttons going down. They put their arms around each other at the end.
Tech: 3.4-3.6
Pres: 3.5-3.8
Nora Hoffmann and Attila Elek of Hungary: She was in a white dress that dips in the back, and he was in a tux. It seemed well skated as far as flow. Nora has nice positions.
Tech: 3.7-4.6
Pres: 3.9-4.8
Nozomi Watanabe and Akiyuki Kido of Japan: She wore the sea blue, flowing dress with sparkles, and he wore a tuxedo. Kido did a nice knee slide at the beginning beats where each team can choreograph their own moves.
Tech: 3.2-4.3
Pres: 3.5-4.7
Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine: All white costumes worn for both.
Tech: 5.2-5.5
Pres: 5.3-5.6
Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe of Canada: She wore a cream dress while he wore a tux. Overall good. A few positions where the leg line did not match.
Tech: 4.1-4.7
Pres: 4.1-4.9
Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev of U.S.A.: She was in a pink dress, and he in a tux.
Tech: 4.7-5.3
Pres: 5.0-5.3
Veronika Moravkova and Jiri Prochazka of Czech Republic: She wore a white dress with a v-neck front. He wore a tux.
Tech: 3.9-4.7
Pres: 4.1-5.0
Jessica Huot and Juha Valkama of Finland: She in a white dress with black and green designs, and he in a tux. Ending pose close to the judges - he dipped her backward.
Tech: 3.2-4.0
Pres: 3.4-4.3
Isabel Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France: She wore a backless white dress with a sheer skirt. Muriel could be seen by the boards rocking to their music as they skated.
Tech: 4.7-5.4
Pres: 5.1-5.5
Ice resurfacing after the first two groups. I learned the secret as to why sometimes the online results take so long to refresh and seemed to be 'locked up' sometimes during the competitions. Sometimes, the ice resurfacing process takes longer than normal. And, the zamboni has left, but the skaters have not been let back onto the ice. There seemed to be a rather long break during this transition.
Tatiana Siniaver and Tomike Tukvadze of Georgia: Purple flowing costumes for both of them - he wore dark purple velvet pants.
Tech: 2.9-3.6
Pres: 3.2-3.9
Agnieszka Dulej and Slawonir Janicki of Poland: She was in a lovely cream dress with spaghetti straps, and he was in a tux. They had an interesting lift in the closing portion where they choreograph their own moves.
Tech: 2.8-4.0
Pres: 3.3-4.4
Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin of Azerbaijan: She wore a peach dress, and he a tux. Good swinging horizontal lift at the end.
Tech: 4.1-4.8
Pres: 4.1-5.0
Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel: She wore a teal dress with sequins on the bodice. A hug for coach Evgeny Platov as they entered Kiss & Cry area.
Tech: 4.9-5.5
Pres: 5.2-5.6
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia: She wore an orange dress with material hanging from the sleeves. The skirt has some purple in it as well. Ilia was in all white.
Tech: 5.4-5.7
Pres: 5.6-5.8
Compulsory Dance B
Roxanne Petetin and Mathieu Jost of France: She wore white with material hanging from the skirt and arms. He wore a tux.
Tech: 3.6-4.0
Pres: 3.6-4.2
Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada: She was in a white dress with illusionary skirt. The waltz is a dance that suits their edges and peppiness.
Tech: 5.4-5.8
Pres: 5.6-5.8
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia: They were in all white.
Tech: 5.2-5.6
Pres: 5.4-5.6
Weina Zhang and Xianming Cao of China. She wore the pink dress with double ruffle, and he wore all white. She had a nice knee bend and was carrying that big smile throughout the dance again.
Tech: 3.8-4.4
Pres: 3.8-4.6
Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of U.S.A.: She wore a lovely lilac dress with sequins.
Tech: 5.0-5.3
Pres: 5.1-5.5
Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada: She wore an elegant white dress with white sequins, spaghetti straps and sort of a sheer white scarf attached. He wore a tuxedo with a white bow tie. More on their post-skate at the end of CD notes.
Tech: 4.7-5.3
Pres: 4.6-5.4
Next to skate were Pamela O'Connor and Jonathon O'Dougherty of Great Britain and Marina Timofeieva and Evgeni Striganov of Estonia.
Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski of Bulgaria: She was in a light green dress with a pattern, and he in a forest green tux made out of velvet-like material. Bold colors. They looked confident.
Tech: 5.3-5.7
Pres: 5.4-5.6
Natalia Gudina and Alexei Beletski of Israel: She wore a bright orange dress. Also, a vivid color choice.
Tech: 4.4-4.8
Pres: 4.3-5.0
Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy: She was in a yellow dress, he in tux. A bird appeared that flew around and tried to land on the ice during their skate. It jumped into the camera pit near Kiss & Cry area. And, the photographers tried to shift and take a picture of it, as it perched momentarily on the boards. Luckily, Federica and Massimo were working a pattern on the opposite end of the ice at the time the bird was threatening interference.
Tech: 4.6-4.9
Pres: 4.5-5.2
Natalie Buck and Trent Nelson-Bond of Australia: She wore a pale yellow dress, and he a tux. The hair has changed from recent years - hers is red, and he grew a ponytail. They had a nice ending lift with her back curved and her legs arched behind her. They finished a few seconds behind the music. It looked like they had to concentrate throughout the dance - a little tight. Natalie looked upset when they greeted Natalia Dubova and coaches in Kiss & Cry.
Tech: 2.7-3.8
Pres: 2.6-3.8
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia: She wore a two-toned cream and peach dress that is mostly cream on the top and mostly peach on the bottom. He wore a peach top and black pants. Her hair is in a flip. They continue the trend of the judging panel in Group B - Several of the teams have received a minimum presentation mark that is .1 lower than the lowest technical mark in the range of scores.
Tech: 4.3-4.8
Pres: 4.2-5.2
Clover Mory Zatzman and Aurimas Radisauskas of Lithuania: She was in a hot pink dress with silver sequins, and he in tux. She had a smile pasted to her face during the dance. Alexander Zhulin greeted them at the door to Kiss & Cry.
Tech: 2.4-3.8
Pres: 2.2-3.9
Julia Golovina and Oleg Voiko of Ukraine: She wore a tannish brown dress while he wore a tux.
Tech: 3.9-4.4
Pres: 3.8-4.6
Well, I did it. I decided to get my shyness over with during the compulsory dance. I brought puppies under my coat. They were Labradors - one black and one yellow. I had become bolder because they were more towards mid-sized stuffed animals. Accompanying them, I had made a booklet for Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon on what I liked in their skating, programs and how I became a fan. So, after they bowed, I just stood up which wasn't too hard since I was sitting in the front row. They were skating momentarily toward the entrance gate that they had come out of until they turned back and started heading for the Kiss & Cry swinging door. Marie-France spotted me, a tad startled as to why I was standing until I raised the 4 inch by 6 inch Canadian flag that I had in one hand and waved it briefly. I also raised the contents I had in my other hand. I was amazingly calm and not really anxiety filled like before. They came right over, and I handed her the booklet with the dogs standing on it. They have a black dog with a white vest as a pet. Quiet had fallen over the rink, so I could speak to them in earshot. I told them they are a beautiful team and had done a good job, and they both said thank you. Marie-France then gave me the kiss on both cheeks that I really had to follow along and learn because I had not done this before. Basically you hold your cheek briefly to the other person's cheek and then do the same thing on the other side. Patrice was next giving me the kiss on both cheeks. They were off to sit in Kiss & Cry where they held hands and waved to the cameras. I was happy I had encountered them, shocked I had been able to keep standing there, and ready to dance after the compulsory groupings finished as the Austrian Waltz selections still played in my head.
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