With the ending of the 2017-2018 season, a new cycle towards the 2022 Olympic Games begins. As such, this post will have all off-season regarding music for the 2018-2019 season, along with news of coaching changes, retirements and new teams. First and foremost, the short dance is now called the Rhythm Dance. I really don’t like the change of name, but we’ll have to go along with it. I still remember when there was the compuslsory and the original dance, and I kind of wish they would have kept the name compulsory dance (since the pattern dance is not chosen by the athletes) in the first place. But now I was grown used to say “short dance” and it was a good choice to be cohesive with single and pair skating, so I don’t understand the name change. But on more important news, the chosen pattern dance is the Argentine Tango for Juniors and Tango Romantica for the seniors. Excited? I love tango, so I guess I am, even though I have a feeling that a lot of the programs with be quite similar. I truly hope I am wrong. Also, for the 2019-2020 season the pattern dance for juniors will be the Tea Time Foxtrot. The seniors will be able to choose between Quickstep, Blues, March, Polka or Foxtrot. The theme for that season is “Musical, Operetta, Broadway”. In this post I will be adding any news concerning announcements that the teams may make. Post updated on August 6th Music Announcements: CANADA Carolane Soucisse & Shane Firus FD: Earned It, by TheWeeknd Nadiia Bashynska & Peter Beaumont RD: Carmen Suite, No. V, Carmen’s Entrance and Habanera; Carmen Suite, No. VI, Scene (Carmen, comp. Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin) FD: Fairy Godmother; La Valse Champagne; Pumpkin Pursuit; Courage and Kindness (Cinderella, comp. Patrick Doyle) Jessica-Lee Behiel & Jackson Behiel RD: El Choclo - Cello Project FD: Amarcord (Amarcord, comp. Nino Rota); La Passerella Di Addio (8 & 1/2, comp. Nino Rota); Amarcord Suite (Amarcord) Amelia Boone & Malcolm Kowan RD: La Cumparsita [Questo Tango] (Milva) FD: Le Temps Des Cathédrales; Belle; Déchiré (Notre-Dame de Paris, perf. Bruno Pelletier, Patrick Fiori, Garou, Daniel Lavoie) Emmy Bronsard & Aissa Bouaraguia RD: El Choclo; Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Nat King Cole) FD: Tightrope; The Greatest Show (The Greatest Showman, perf. Michelle Williams, Hugh Jackman) Natalie D’Alessandro & Bruce Waddell RD: Querer; Toreador by Rene Dupere - Cirque du Soleil FD: Carmen Suite, No. I: Introduction (comp. Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin); Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer RD A Evaristo Carriego; Obertuna (Forever Tango): FD: Quand On N’a Que L’amour (Catherine Major); Quand On N’a Que L’amour (Daniel Boucher, Marie-Jo Thériault, Pierre Lapointe) Ellie Fisher & Simon-Pierre Malette-Paquette RD: Tango D’Amor (Tango Jointz feat. Bellma Cespedes); Verano Portena (perf. Tango Quattro) FD: Look Down (Les Miserables, perf. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe); I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables, perf. Glee Cast); Les Miserables Orchestral Instrumental Medley (Les Miserables, comp. Claude-Michel Schönberg) Irina Galiyanova & Grayson Lochhead RD: Los Pájaros Perdidos - Contramarca FD: Hurt - Agrupacion LatinHits; Hurt - Christina Aguilera Erin Gillies & Joshua Tarry RD: All’osteria (Milva); Milonga de Mis Amores (Quartango) FD: Un Giorno Per Noi (perf. Josh Groban); Fortune’s Fool (Romeo & Juliet, comp. Abel Korzeniowski) Shaelene Katrayan & Jordan Derochie RD: Solamente Ella (Orquesta Romantica Milonguera); Tango Nada (Danilo Venturi) FD: Summer Lovin’; Hopelessly Devoted to You; You’re the One That I Want - Grease soundtrack Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha FD: Warsaw Concerto - Richard Addinsell Bridget Le Donne & Jakub Smal RD: Adios Nonino - Astor Piazzolla Jasmine Levesque & Olivier Poupart RD: Solo Por Hoy (Carlos Libedinsky); Lado C (Narcotango) FD: Sun on Sunday; Same Mistake (James Blunt) Miku Makita & Tyler Gunara RD: El Huracán (Florindo Sassone y Su Orquesta); Tus Ojos de Cielo (Forever Tango) FD: First Date (Edvin Marton); Rain (Simply Three) Cassidy McFarlane & Alexandre Faucher RD: Tu Sentimiento - Tango Jointz feat. Bellma Cespedes FD: Evgeni’s Waltz; Satin Birds; Dance for Me Wallis (W.E., comp. Abel Korzeniowski) Olivia McIsaac & Corey Circelli RD: Cell Block Tango; All That Jazz - Chicago soundtrack FD: There Will Be Time (Mumford & Sons and Baaba Maal) Yuka Orihara & Lee Royer RD: Infiltrado - Bajofondo FD: I Was Made for Loving You - Tori Kelly; Give Me Love - Ed Sheeran Katrine Roy & Oliver Zhang RD: Peligro [Lagartijeando Remix]; Peligro (Gotan Project) FD: Mia and Sebastian’s Theme; Planetarium; Another Day of Sun (La La Land, comp. Justin Hurwitz) Sophia Simitsakos & Jeffrey Wong RD: Tango Till They’re Sore (Madeleine Peyroux); Milonga de Mis Amores (Quartango) FD: Paint It Black (perf. Escala); As Tears Go By; Paint It Black (The Rolling Stones) Ashlynne Stairs & Elliott Graham RD: Lastima Grande (Glover Gill); Tanguera (Forever Tango) FD: Welcome to Burlesque (Burlesque, Cher); Bound to You; Something’s Got a Hold On Me (Christina Aguilera) Colleen Tordoff & Vladimir Tchernov RD: Assassin’s Tango (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, comp. John Powell) FD: Cheek to Cheek; Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Ella Fitzgerald); Anything Goes (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga) CHINA NEW Shiyue Wang & Xinyu Liu RD: Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack FD: "Meant" by Elizaveta FRANCE Natacha Lagouge & Corentin Rahier FD: Camelot Soundtrack Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac RD: Chicago Soundtrack (x) FD: Bruno Mars medley GERMANY Charise Matthaei & Maximilian Pfisterer NEW RD: Flamenco: Spanish Flame by Maxime Rodriguez; Argentine Tango: Tango d'Amor; Flamenco: Farrucas by Pepe Romero FD: This World Will Remember Me by Frank Wildhorn, Don Black; How 'bout A Dance (reprise) by Frank Wildhorn, Don Black Lara Luft & Asaf Kazimov NEW RD: Argentine Tango: Tango de Besame performed by Benise; Waltz: Corazon d'Oro by Lalo Shifrin FD: Say Something by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera; Sixth Breath by Ezio Bosso; The Last Breath by Ezio Bosso GREAT BRITAIN Emily Rose Brown & James Hernandez NEW RD: Tango Instrumental - Mgzavebi by Roni Benise, Bamboleo by Gypsy Kings FD: "Happy" by C2C (Coups 2 Cross), "Stand By Me" performed by Ben E. King, "Happy" by C2C (Coups 2 Cross) ISRAEL Shira Ichilov & Vadim Davidovich RD: Chicago soundtrack ITALY Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri FD: La La Land Soundtrack JAPAN Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto FD: Love Story RUSSIA Sofia Evdokimova & Egor Bazin FD: Sarabande Suite (Aeternae), by Globus Betina Popova & Sergey Mozgov RD: Tango in a Madhouse - by Alfred Schnittke FD: Master and Margarita by Igor Korniliuk Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov FD: Air, Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major - Bach Sofya Tyutyunina & Alexander Shustitskiy NEW RD: Tango Gosselin by Quatro Nuevo FD: Time of the Season by The Zombies; She's not Here by The Zombies Elizaveta Shanaeva & Devid Naryzhnyk NEW RD: Tango d'Amor by Tango Jointz; Maria de Buenos Aires FD: Samson and Dalilah by Camille Saint-Saens Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva & Nikita Nazarov NEW RD: Tango Amore by Edvin Marton FD: Human (Acoustic) by Rag'n'Bone Man; Human by Rag'n'Bone Man; Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine Polina Ivanenko & Daniil Karpov NEW RD: Tango FD: Peter Gunn soundtrack Ekaterina Andreeva & Ivan Desyatov NEW RD: Charleston; Tango FD: Sherlock Holmes (soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer Sofia Shevchenko & Igor Eremenko NEW RD: La Cumparsita FD: Intro by Onuka; Witchdoctor by Camo & Krooked; Lijo by Alina Orlova Eva Kuts & Dmitrii Mikhailov NEW RD: Prelude and Ricercare performed by Nuevo Tango Orchestra FD: Every Other Freckle by alt-J SPAIN Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khaliavin RD: Libertango FD: Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd; Sign of the times - Harry Styles UKRAINE Alexandra Nazarova & Maxim Nikitin RD: Chicago soundtrack FD: City Lights - Charlie Chaplin Darya Popova & Volodymyr Byelikov NEW RD: Waltz: Larrons en foire by Raphael Beau; Tango FD: Chopin Nocturne performed by David Garrett; Run by Ludovico Einaudi Anna Cherniavska & Volodymyr Horovyi NEW RD: Epoca by Gotan Project; Diabolique by Raphael Beau FD: Money (from "Cabaret") by John Kander, Fred Ebb USA Alina Efimova & Alexander Petrov FD: Who Wants to Live Forever- Queen Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko RD: Jealousy Tango, Yo Soy Maria (choreo by Igor Shpilband, Pasquale Camerlengo) FD: Tokio Myers versions of Clair de Lune, Bloodstream, Angel (choreo Igor Shpilband, Pasquale Camerlengo) Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter RD: Desde El Alma FD: Porz Goret - Yann Tiersen Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons RD: Vuelvo Al Sur FD: To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra Eliana Gropman & Ian Sommerville RD: "Nuevo tango" by Cuarteto Nuevo Tango; "La Cascada" FD: "Le Bien qui fait mal" by Mozart Opera Rock Coaching Changes: CHINA Hong Chen & Zhuoming Sun will train with Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haugenauer Shiyue Wang & Xinyu Liu will train with Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haugenauer GERMANY Katharina Muller & Tim Dieck left Canton and will train in Moscow with Gorshkov JAPAN Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto will train with Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haugenauer RUSSIA Betina Popova & Sergey Mozgov will train with Krylova and Chaikovskaia US Madison Chock & Evan Bates will train at Gadbois with Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haugenauer Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker will train with Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haugenauer Splits/Retirements: ARMENIA Tina Garabedian & Simon Proulx Senecal AUSTRALIA Adele Morrison & Demid Rokachev NEW CANADA Vanessa Chartrand & Alexander Seidel Jolie Che & Paul Ayer Ravie Cunningham & Cedar Bridgewood Kaitlyn Chubb & Alex Gunther (x) Natascha Collier & Phillippe Marchand Leia Dozzi & Liam Fawcett Alicia Fabbri & Claudio Pietrantonio Irina Galiyanova & Tommy Tang (x) Keelee Gringrich & Parker Brown – both retired Olivia Han & Grayson Lochhead Jade McCue & Gabriel Clemente Cassidy McFarlane & Kameron Jeromkin Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham Théadora Sauvé & Alexandre Faucher Elysia-Marie Campbell & Philippe Granger Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer Valerie Taillefer & Jason Chan CHINA Hong Chen & Yan Zhao Linshu Song & Zhuoming Sun CZECH REPUBLIC Lucy Burton & Thomas Ingall FRANCE Angelique Abachkina & Louis Thauron - split (x) Julia Wagret & Mathieu Couyras Adelina Galayavieva & Laurent Abecassis Lorenza Alessandrini & Pierre Souquet - Alessandini retired (x) GERMANY Kavita Lorenz & Joti Polizoakis - Lorenz retired (x) GREAT BRITAIN Olivia Dufour & Luke Russel ITALY Alice Rossi & Marco Cilli KOREA Yura Min & Alexander Gamelin (x) LITHUANIA Guoste Damuleviciute & Deividas Kizala MEXICO Megumi Tsutsumi & Devin Dickey POLAND Yohanna Broker & Yann Thayalan RUSSIA Ksenia Konkina & Grigory Yakushev Alla Lodoba & Pavel Drodz NEW Evgeniia Lopareva & Alexey Karpushov Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov (x) SLOVAKIA Lucie Mysliveckova & Lukas Csolley (x) SPAIN Celia Robledo & Luis Fenero – both retired (x) SWITZERLAND Cindy-Lilli Zimmerli & Volodymyr Nakisko TURKEY Alisa Agafonova & Alper Ucar – both retired (x) UKRAINE Olga Giglava & Yegor Yegorov USA Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit – Benoit retired (x) Julia Biechler & Damian Dodge Ashley Bain & Oleg Altukhov Nicolette Fey & Caleb Niva Amanda Miller & Daniel Tsarik Daria Popova & Cameron Colucci New Partnerships: CANADA Irina Galiyanova & Grayson Lochhead (x) Olivia McIsaac & Corey Circelli (x) Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer (x) Cassidy McFarlane & Alexandre Faucher (x) Ashlynne Stairs & Elliott Graham (x) NEW Yuka Orihara & Lee Royer (x) NEW Cassidy McFarlane & Alexandre Faucher (x) NEW CHINA Hong Chen & Zhuoming Sun FRANCE Julia Wagret & Pierre Souquet (x) Adelina Galayavieva & Louis Thauron - training with Krylova Angelique Abachkina and Alexey Shchepetov (x) RUSSIA Ksenia Konkina & Alexander Vakhnov Sofia Polishuk & Grigory Yakushev Daria Drozd & Deividas Kizala (may be for Lithuania) SWEDEN Anna Pettersson & TJ Cary USA Sara Zhao & Caleb Niva Other news:
Canada: Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen stop representing Denmark and start representing Canada Canada: Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje to sit out Grand Prix season NEW USA: Maia and Alex Shibutani will sit out the 2018-2019 season USA: Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are moving to seniors Coaching News: Greg Zuerlein is leaving Novi (x) and will coach in Wheaton. Krylova is coaching in Russia. Maxim Stavisky is working with in this group. Camerlengo is working with Shpilband.
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This week two challenger events took place.
Here are the results of the ice dance event at Autumn Classic International: Alonside the Lombardia Trophy, the US International FS Classic took place last week.
Here are the results of the ice dance event: With the end of the season, I decided to explore what colour trends can be observed in the short and free dances, both from senior teams (on the left) and junior ones (on the right). Includes the couples present at the U. S. International Figure Skating Classic, Autumn Classic, Nebelhorn Trophy, Onderj Nepela and Finlandia Trophy, Grand Prix Events, U.S. Nationals, Canadian Nationals, Russian Nationals, European Championships, Four Continents and World Championships in the case of the senior couples. For junior teams, it includes the Grand Prix Series, U.S. Nationals, Canadian Nationals, Russian Nationals and the World Junior Championships. The reported colours correspond to the one the woman of the partnership wore, in the last version of the costumes presented. Concerning the senior teams, black was the choice to make in the short dance, followed by blue and red (42%, 22% and 18%, respectively). The choice of black turned out to be quite relevant, not only because most teams that chose hip hop wore it, but also because teams doing swing also chose it (to mind comes Bobrova and Soloviev, for instance). One thing to note through this analysis, though, is that the preferences are just the dominant colours of the costumes; that is, a costume can be black and have other colours like red or green, for instance, and it will show up classified as black as it is the dominant colour. Therefore, this does not mean that 42% of the costumes were exclusively black (they may have had other colours, like Tessa Virtue’s which shows up as black in these statistics). Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships; Photo Source: Zimbio Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev at the 2016 Grand Prix Final; Photo Source: @fs_evolution If we look at the choices made by the junior couples, black is once again the main choice (44%). And yet again, it is followed by blue (19%) and red (11%). In their case however, purple has a slightly higher importance than in seniors, and white (which was only used by 1% of the senior teams) shows up as the choice of 7% of the couples. Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter at the 2017 U.S. Nationals; Photo Source: Two for the Ice Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko at the 2017 U.S. Nationals; Photo Source: Two for the Ice Moving on to the free dance, Black, Red and Blue are tied at the top of the choices of senior teams with 21%. Other colours showed up as choices, with purple and rose/pink with 12% each. However, the same is not observed in junior couples, where red making a statement, being used by 28% of the girls. Black and Blue follow with 19% and 16%, respectively. Hence, these three colours are chosen by around 60% of the teams in both junior and senior ranks. Curiously, in juniors purple and rose/pink emerge also as the colours that are most used when excluding the favourite three aforementioned. The main difference between ranks comes from the others component. Firstly, in juniors it amount to 15% whereas in seniors it is only 4%. This comes from the fact that while seniors have three other colours in this component (Brown, Green and Yellow), juniors have six (Brown, Yellow, Silver, Grey, Orange and Gold). Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships; Photo Source: Zimbio Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen at the 2017 European Figure Skating Championships; Photo Source: Getty Images Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons at the 2017 U.S. Nationals; Photo Source: Two for the Ice Anastasia Shpilevaya and Grigory Smirnov at the 2017 World Junior Championships; Photo Source: Getty Images Can we expect that these trends are verified next season? On what concerns the short dance, I expect black not to have such an expressive amount of teams picking it, since it will be danced to latin rhythms. Nonetheless, it will be present. Actually, the last time the rhumba pattern was chosen I was surprised that a number of themes decided on black dresses. In my view, teams should try to depart from that since black was heavily used this season and teams surely do not was to look the same year after year. Regarding the free dance and the fact that it is the Olympic season, I am expecting blue, black and red to continue their dominance, as teams will likely not take colour risks. It will also be interesting to see if purple and rose/pink rise in percentage or not. After all, in 2016 one of the colour of the year from Pantone was the rose quartz, which was seen in figure skating (the tone of Tessa Virtue’s Free Dance dress, as well as Meagan Duhamel’s Free Program dress, among others). All in all, I expect a wide range of colours in the short dance for next season and a distribution of colours for the free dance identical to the one observed this year. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships; Photo Source: Zimbio Obs: In this analysis, purple includes violet and lilac; orange includes peach.
The 2016-2017 season might be over but figure skating fans tend to pay plenty of attention to any news in the off-season related to their favourite teams, particularly regarding music anouncements for their programs of the following season. Furthermore, excitement is quite large this year, since the Olympic Winter Games will take place next year.
So, the first thing to know is that all teams will have a Latin Short Dance, since the pattern dance chosen for this season for the senior couples is the Rhumba, to which can be added any of the following rhythms: Cha Cha, Samba, Mambo, Meringue, Salsa, Bachata and any closely related Latin American or Caribbean Rhythms. On what concerns the junior teams, the pattern dance is the Cha Cha Congelado and they can add any of the rhythms mentioned above. In this post I will be adding any news concerning anouncements that the teams may make. Music Announcements: AUSTRALIA Kimberly Hew-Low & Timothy McKernan SD: Safari J Balvin, ft. Pharrell Williams, BIA, Sky FD: Exogenesis Matilda Friend & William Badaoui FD: Love Story AZERBAIJAN Anastasia Galyeta & Avidan Brown FD: Cabaret BELARUS Adelina Zvezdova & Uladzimir Zaitsau SD: Apologize - Justin Timberlake; Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps - The Pussycat Dolls FD: Lexus (The Pursuit of Perfection) - Ralf Kempen, Mark Joggerst; Tema Celeste - Roberto Cacciapaglia Karina Sidarenka & Maksim Yalenich NEW SD: Ambientscapes; Let's get loud FD: Horchat Hai Caliptus - Ishtar; Pistolero - Juno Reactor CANADA Alicia Fabbri & Claudio Pietrantonio SD: Historia de un Amor - Nana Mouskouri; Sweet Like Cola - Lou Bega FD: El Tango de Roxanne; Come What May (Moulin Rouge!, comp. Craig Armstrong) Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer SD: El Beso del Final - Rudy Perez, performed by Christina Aguilera; I Like It Like That - Pete Rodriguez, Tony Pabon FD: Un monstre a Paris - Sean Lennon; La Seine - Matthieu Chedid, Sean Lennon (A Monster in Paris) Carolane Soucisse & Shane Firus SD: Bailando, El perdedor, Let me be your lover - Enrique Iglesias FD: Cheek to cheek & I won't dance - Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett Cassidy McFarlane & Kameron Jeromkin SD: Sway Ellie Fisher & Simon Pierre Malette-Paquette SD: Amado Mio; Donde Estas, Yolanda - Pink Martini FD: La Strada (comp. Nino Rota) Gina Cipriano & Jake Richardso SD: Come; Makeba - Jain FD: Merry Go Round (Howl’s Moving Castle, comp. Joe Hisaichi) Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker NEW SD: Cuéntame Que Te Pasó - Rosario FD: Love Theme - Robin and Marian, comp. John Barry; Merry Men - Robin Hood, comp. Marc Streitenfeld; The Ride to Sherwood/The Ride to Nottingham - Robin and Marian, comp. John Barry Irina Galiyanova & Tommy Tang SD: Dance With Me - Debelah Morgan; La vida loca - Francisco Cespedes FD: Time in a Bottle - Sim Croce; Lost in the Forest - Shin Jae Young Jade McCue & Gabriel Clemente SD: Maria (Ricky Martin); Ole Ole Ole (Ricky Martin); I Need to Know (Marc Anthony) FD: Another Day of Sun; City of Stars (Duet); Someone in the Crowd (La La Land, comp. Justin Hurwitz) Jessica-Lee Behiel & Jackson Behiel NEW SD: Let’s Get Loud; Theme from Mahogany; On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez FD: Amarcord; 8 and 1/2; Amarcord Suite - comp. Nino Rota Jessica Li & Jacob Richmond SD: Broadway Mambo - Perez Prado; Asi Es La Vida - Clandestinos FD: Runaway; Conqueror (Aurora) Jolie Che & Paul Ayer FD: Sarabande Suite Kaitlyn Chubb & Alex Gunther SD: Whatever Happens - Michael Jackson; Sway - Michael Buble FD: True colors by Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick; September by Earth, Wind and Fire Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje FD: Spartacus (comp. Aram Khachaturian); choreography by Lori Nichol and Linda Garneau Katerina Kasatkin & Corey Circelli SD: Mujer Latina (Thalia) FD: Faded (Alan Walker feat. Iselin Solheim) Katrine Roy & Oliver Zhang SD: Cha Cha Cha - Mo’ Horizons; Amado Mio - Cinema Serenade Ensemble FD: Assassin’s Tango - Mr. and Mrs. Smith, comp. John Powell; Tanguera - Sexteto Mayor Keelee Gingrich & Parker Brown SD: Europa [Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile]; Smooth - Santana FD: The Curse - Agnes Obel; Neverland - Takenobu Leia Dozzi & Liam Fawcett SD: Addicted to You ; Don’t Stop the Party (Pitbull feat. TJR) FD: Vinegar & Salt; Amalfi (Hooverphonic) Lily Hensen & Nathan Lickers SD: Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps; Por Arriba, Por Abajo - Ricky Martin FD: Who wants to live forever - Queen; performed by The Tenors Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha SD: Bla Bla Bla Cha Cha Cha - Petty Booka; Tu Picadura - Gary Tesca FD: Dream - Imagine Dragons; Nemesis - Benjamin Clementine (x) Molly Lanaghan & Dmitre Razgulajevs SD: Samba Vocalizado - Luciano Perrone; Lo So Che Finirà - Anna Tatangelo; Johnny’s Mambo - Michael Lloyd NEW FD: Selections from Mary Poppins (comp. the Sherman Brothers) Natalie D'Alessandro & Bruce Waddell SD: I Need to Know - Marc Anthony; Let’s Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez FD: Your Song - Elton John, Bernie Taupin; Your Song (Ellie Goulding); Your Song (Moulin Rouge!, perf. Ewan McGregor); Original Arrangement/A Wonderful Love - Karl Hugo Natascha Collier & Philippe Marchand SD: India - Yan Amor; Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Pussycat Dolls FD: Overture; Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast, comp. Alan Menken) Nina Mizuki & Veniamins Volskis SD: Que La Detengan NEW FD: Arrietty’s Song; Sho’s Song (Arrietty, Cecile Corbel) Olivia Han & Grayson Lochhead SD: I Need to Know; Quítate Tú Pa Ponerme Yo - Marc Anthony FD: Selections from Pirates of the Caribbean (comp. Hans Zimmer) Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham SD: Quizás, Quizás, Quizás - Pink Martini ; Angelina - Lou Bega FD: Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne; What I Wouldn’t Do - Serena Ryder Ravie Cunningham & Cedar Bridgewood NEW SD: Where Do I Begin - Shirley Bassey [Away Team Remix] FD: Johanna; A Little Priest - Sweeney Todd, comp. Stephen Sondheim Sarah Arnold & Thomas Williams SD: Besame Mucho FD: Fall for You (Leela James); If I Ain’t Got You (Alicia Keys feat. Usher) Theadora Sauve & Alexandre Faucher SD: Sway - Pink Martini; Beautiful Maria of My Soul - perf. Mambo All-Stars feat. Antonio Banderas; Copacabana - perf. Copacabana Original London Cast FD: Anything Goes; But Beautiful; It Don’t Mean a Thing - perf. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga Valerie Taillefer & Jason Chan SD: Con Mi Sombra - S-Tone Inc; Skip to the Bip [Brazil Mix] - Club Des Belugas FD: Closer Than Sisters (Penny Dreadful, comp. Abel Korzeniowski); A Boat to Argentina (Amen, comp. Armand Amar) Vanessa Chartrand & Alexander Seidel SD: Samba Pa’ Ti; Oye Como Va (Santana) FD: Lament; You Must Love Me; Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (Evita, comp. Andrew Lloyd Webber) CZECH REPUBLIC Nicole Kuzmichova & Alexandr Sinicyn SD: Magalenha - Antonio Carlos; Fly Love - Jamie Fox; Mas Que Nada - Jorge Ben FD: Cabaret (Willkommen; Money; Mein Herr) - John Kander Natalie Taschlerova & Filip Taschler SD: Cha Charanga - El Rubio Loco; Temptation - Tom Waits; Bailar -Elvis Crespo, Erick Orrosquieta, Robert Fernandez FD: Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg; In This Shirt - Jamie McDermott, performed by The Irrepressibles FINLAND Cecilia Torn & Jussiville Partanen NEW FD: Funny Face; I've Got A Crush On You FRANCE Marie Dupayage & Thomas Nabais NEW SD: Take It Easy My Brother Charles - Jorg Ben Jor; Un Canto a mi tierra - Quantic and his Combo Barbaro; Real in Rio - Real Copa FD: Yesterday - Tangoloco, Daiel Garcia Quinteto; Grand Guignol - Bajo Fondo Marie Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac SD: "September" & "How deep is your love" FD: Another one bites the dust; You Take My Breath Away - Queen Angélique Abachkina & Louis Thauron NEW FD: Je suis malade - Lara Fabien; Mariage D'Amor - Richard Clayderman Loicia Demougeot & Théo Le Mercier SD: El Pescador by Totó La Momposina; La Collegiala by Rodolfo y su Tipica; Onda Tropica - Punkero Sonidero NEW FD: Light of the Seven by David de Miguel; Strange by Apollo G'eeze Natacha Lagouge & Corentin Rahier NEW SD: Medley - Cafe Latino; Frío Sin Ti - Navajita Plateá ft. Buika; Samba Beach - Danny Davis, Peter Weitz FD: Theme : the life of Coco Chanel [Little Black Baby - Scott Joplin (ragtime); Tango A Meta - Fabrizio Biondi; Tema per una donna sola by Ennio Morricone; Casino de Deauville - Alexandre Desplat; Cocomotion by El Coco (disco) GERMANY Katharina Müller & Tim Dieck SD: Dibby Dibby (Samba); I am not the only one - Sam Smith (Rhumba); Campo Grande (Samba) FD: Bodyguard musical soundtrack Kavita Lorenz & Joti Polizoakis SD: Aguanile - M. Anthony (Salsa); Mil Pasos - Soha (Remix) (Rhumba); Quimbara - C. Cruz (Salsa) GREAT BRITAIN Penny Coomes & Nicholas Buckand SD: Remix of Rhumba D'Amour by Torvill and Dean, choreography by Christopher Dean FD: Battle Remembered - Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, choreography by Christopher Dean Sasha Fear & George Waddell FD: Coldplay Medley (Sky full of stars; Fix You; Viva la vida) Emily Rose Brown & James Hernandez SD: I Wanna Dance With Somebody; One Moment in Time - Whitney Houston FD: Who Wants To Live Forever - Brian May, performed by The Tenors Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson FD: West Side Story Leticia Marsh & Elliot Verburg NEW SD: Bones Bugalu - Gabriel Rios; Lo So Che Finra - Erik Satie, performed by Tataneglo; Ven a bailar - Bilal Haiji, performed by Jennifer Lopez FD: Moulin Rouge soundtrack [Sparking Diamonds; El Tango de Roxanne; Come What May] HONG KONG Valerie So & Marcus Yao NEW SD: Samba; Despacito - Luis Fonsi FD: Singing in the Rain; Walking on Sunshine ISRAEL Isabella Tobias & Ilia Tkachenko SD: Shape of You - Ed Sheeran ; She Will Be Loved - Rhythms del Mundo ; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Samson et Dalila-Camille Saint-Saëns ITALY Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri SD: Salsa; Rhumba; Samba FD: Exogenesis Symphony Part III - Muse Jasmine Tessari & Francesco Fioretti FD: La Tosca - G. Puccini JAPAN Kana Muramoto & Chris Reed SD: I like it like that - Pete Rodriguez; Mondo Bongo - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros; Batucada - DJ dero NEW FD: Music Medley from Ryuichi Sakamoto Yuka Orihara & Kanata Mori NEW SD: Hoy Es Adios, A Gozar Timbero FD: Planetarium & Epilogue from La La Land soundtrack Rikako Fukase & Aru Tateno NEW SD: Senorita Bonita; Tequila; Que Rico Mambo Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto SD: Ahora Quien - Marc Anthony; Samba do Brasil (Radio Remix) - Bellini FD: Yentl soundtrack (“Where is it Written?” and “A Piece of the Sky”); Sabrina soundtrack ( John Williams’ instrumental End Credits) LATVIA Aurelija Ippolito & Malcolm Jones FD: Alex Clare - Damn Your Eyes; Cover of Tainted Love LITHUANIA Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius FD: Stairway to Heaven POLAND Natalia Kaliszek & Maksym Spodyriev SD: mix of Luis Fonsi, Prince Royce & Shakira FD: swing, quickstep and foxtrot or waltz RUSSIA Anastasia Shpilevaya & Grigory Smirnov SD: Cha Cha (Tom Jones Kiss) and samba (Dominó-Baila Baila Comigo) FD: Love Story; choreographer Irina Zhuk Anastasia Skoptsova & Kirill Aleshin SD: rhumba, Cha-cha, salsa FD: Tango (Vuelvo Al Sur, Paris, Texas – Gotan Project) Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva & Nikita Nazarov SD: cha cha; samba FD: Ghost (musical soundtrack) - Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard Eva Kuts & Dmitrii Mikhailov NEW SD: Cha Cha - Michael Jackson; Juan Magan - Mariah FD: Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse Evgeniia Lopareva & Alexey Karpushov NEW SD: Kiss; In Style and Rhythm - Tom Jones FD: Moldavian Song - Emir Kusturica; Maki Maki - Goran Bregovic; Mesecina - Goran Bregovic Ksenia Konkina & Grigory Yakushev NEW SD: Cuentame - Caribbean Kings Band; Lick It; Samba FD: El Choclo Polina Ivanenko & Daniil Karpov NEW SD: Rhumba; Cha Cha; Samba FD: L'Immersita - Il Volo Sofia Evdokimova & Egor Bazin FD: Ave Maria Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov NEW SD: Chilly Cha Cha - Jessica Jay; Hip Hip Chin Chin - Club des Belugas FD: Black Swan (soundtrack) - Clint Mansell Sofia Shevchenko & Igor Eremenko SD: Let's Cha Cha - MC Mario; Happy - Max Sedgley FD: Heart Cry - Drehz ; La Boulange - Yann Tiersen Tiffany Zahorski & Jonathan Guerreiro NEW FD: Muse medley Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov FD: Vocalise, Piano concerto nr.2 - Rachmaninoff SOUTH KOREA Yura Min & Alexander Gamelin SD: Despacito - Luis Fonsi; My All - Mariah Carey; Mujer Latina - Thalia FD: Arirang Alone - Sohyang SPAIN Olivia Smart & Adria Diaz SD: Despacito - Luis Fonsi FD: "A Mans World" & "Natural Woman" sneak-peak Celia Robledo & Luis Fenero SD: Shakira medley (Hips Don't Lie;...) FD: The Skin I Live In; Flamenco Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khalyavin SD: Santana FD: Don Quixote (Flamenco), Choreography by Antonio Najarro SWITZERLAND Victoria Manni & Carlo Rothlisberger NEW SD: I Like It Like That; Beautiful Maria; Do You Only Wanna Dance FD: Sixteen Tons; ZZ Top's Tush UKRAINE Alexandra Nazarova & Maxim Nikitin SD: Cucurrucucú Paloma; Pink Panther Mambo (?) FD: Pirates of the caribbean soundtrack Maria Golubtsova & Kirill Belobrov NEW SD: Kaboom - Ursula 1000; Love Freedom - DJ Maksy; Hip Hip Chin Chin - DJ Maksy FD: Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen Olga Giglava & Yegor Yegorov SD: Besame Mucho - Michael Bolton; Shall We Dance - John Altman; Can I Tico Tico You - Abreu/Bega FD: Daydreams - Abel Korzeniowski; The Adjustment Bureau (soundtrack) - Audiomachine; Akkadian Empire - Audiomachine USA Alina Efimova & Alexander Petrov Somerville FD: Umbrellas of Cherbourg Allie Rose & JT Michel FD: Bonnie and Clyde theme Amanda Miller & Daniel Tsarik FD: Four Seasons Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik SD: cha cha, rhumba, and mambo rhythms FD: West Side Story Caroline Green & Gordon Green SD: Chilled Mambo - the Mambo Molly and the 5 Alarms; Donde Esta Tu Amor - Son By Four; Music from Samba Latina soundtrack FD: Music from Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor - Alexander Borodin; Stranger in Paradise - Sarah Brightman Chloe Lewis & Logan Bye SD: Carino - Jennifer Lopez; Como Ama Una Mujer - Jennifer Lopez; On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull FD: Child of Light OST by Coeur de Pirate ("Final Breath; "Place de République" and "Metal Gleamed in Twilight") Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko SD: Quizas, Quizas, Quizas - Sarita Monitel; Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps - Pussycat Dolls; Conga - Gloria Estefan FD: Dance for Me Wallis; Abdication (from "W.E." soundtrack) - Abel Korzeniowski Claire Purnell & Lucas Purnell FD: Fiddler on the Roof Daria Popova & Cameron Colucci FD: La La Land soundtrack Eliana Gropman & Ian Somerville SD: Mas Que Suerte - Beatriz Luengo; De Hombre A Mujer - Donato & Estéfano; Samba Hey - El General FD: Zavedi Me - Hari Mata Hare; Nyah - Hector Teixeira Pereira & Hans Zimmer; No Ronees Das Conmigo - Tangos De La Reponpa - Susi Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit SD: "Baddest Girl in Town" (Pitbull feat. Mohombi and Wisin);"Lo So Che Finera" (Anna Tatangelo); "Bailar" (Deorro feat. Elvis Crespo) FD: Desire (Rock Blues) [I Put a Spell on You (perf. Annie Lennox); original composition] Emma Gunter & Caleb Wein SD: Se Escaparon - Bombon; Huele A Peligro - Myriam Hernandez; Pasame La Botella - Banda Agua Caliente FD: I Give Up - Elija Bossenbroek; Crimson Sky - Calm Music for Studying Isabella Amoia & Luka Becker SD: Caramelo; Angel de mi corazon; Caramelo (Sugar's Dance Remix) - Olga Tanon FD: Code Name Vivaldi; Arwen's Vigil; Michael Meets Mozart - Piano Guys Jocelyn Haines & James Koszuta FD: Sinatra Medley Julia Biechler & Damien Dodge SD: Into You (Rhumba remix) - Ariana Grande; I Know You Want Me -Pitbull FD: American Woman - Lenny Kravitz; I Put a Spell On You - Joe Cocker; Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker SD: Get Busy - Sean Paul; Soha Mil Pasos - Isabelle & Félicien; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Liebestraum (last season's FD) Karina Manta & Joseph Johnson SD: Right Now -Pussycat Dolls; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Moulin Rouge ("One Day I'll Fly Away" and "Your Song" - perf. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman); Choreography by Christopher Dean Katarina DelCamp & Maxwell Gart FD: Motown music ("I Feel Good" and "Try a Little Tenderness") Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter SD: Mambo Italiano - Orietta Berti; El Perdedor - Enrique Iglesias; Big Bagz - Alex Romano FD: Anime Contro Vento by Medialuna Tango Project Madison Chock & Evan Bates NEW SD: Marc Anthony medley FD: "Imagine" by John Lennon Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue SD: "Cuando Calienta el Sol" - Talya Ferro; "Le Serpent" - Guem; "Sambando (Los Ritmos Calientes)" (x) sneak-peak FD: Across the Sky Instrumental - Rag N' Bone Man; Caught Out In the Rain - Beth Hart sneak-peak Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani SD: Perez Prado FD: Coldplay: Paradise Molly Cesanek & Nikolay Usanov FD: Romeo & Juliet Nicolette Fey & Caleb Niva FD: A Thousand Years - Christina Perri Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons NEW SD: Mambo Molly - Mambo Molly; Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - Zuchero FD: La Partida - Victor Jara; Sikuridadas & Quiaquenpita - Inti-Illimani[South American music, based on the contemporary ballet “Ghost Dances”] Sophia Elder & Christopher Elder FD: Alice in Wonderland soundtrack Coaching Changes: GERMANY Kavita Lorenz and Joti Polizoakis will train with Marina Zoueva (previously coached by Igor Shpilband) ISRAEL Isabella Tobias and Ilia Tkachenko will train with Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein, Massimo Scali and Johnny Johns (previously coached by Igor Shpilband and Adrienne Lenda) RUSSIA Tiffany Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro will train with Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alekseeva (they were previously coached by Alexander Zhulin) Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will train with Alexander Zhulin (they were previously coached by Elena Chaikovskaia, Marina Zueva and Massimo Scali. Splits/Retirements: CANADA Elysia-Marie Campbell & Philippe Granger Sabrina Bédard & George Waddell Priya Ramesh & Brandon Labelle Mira Samoisette & Dominic Barthe Yohanna Broker & Matthew Korkoian Alexa Linden & Addison Voldeng (x) JAPAN Emi Hirai & Marien de la Asuncion (x) KOREA Lee Ho-jung & Richard Kang-in-Kam (x) LITHUANIA Taylor Tran & Saulius Ambrulevicius (x) RUSSIA Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin (x) USA Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus (x) Danielle Thomas & Daniel Eaton Charlotte Maxwell & Ryan Devereaux (x) New Partnerships: AUSTRALIA Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds (x) CANADA Molly Lanaghan & Dmitre Razgulajevs (x) Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham (x) Ellie Fisher & Simon Pierre Mallet Paquette (x) GEORGIA (?) Diana Davis & Fedor Varlamov (x) GREAT BRITAIN Sasha Fear & George Waddell Eleanor Hirst & Adam Miller (x) Tish Marsh & Elliot Verburg (x) LITHUANIA Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius MEXICO Megumi Tsutsumi & Devin Dickey RUSSIA Alisa Lozko & Adian Pitkeev (x) Elena Ilinykh & Anton Shibnev (x) USA Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik Isabella Amoia & Luca Becker Allie Rose & JT Michel Daria Popova & Cameron Colucci Nicolette Fey & Caleb Niva Amanda Miller & Danile Tsarik Competition Schedules: Challenger Series
Maximum Scores: Junior SD: 80.20; Junior FD: 106.50; Junior Total: 186.70 (x) Senior SD: 85.30; Senior FD: 124.70; Senior Total: 210.00 (x) Other news: Spain: Olivia Smart and Kirill Khaliavin got spanish nationality South Korea: Alexander Gamelin is eligible for the Olympic Games Denmark: Help Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen so that they can participate at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games; UPDATE: The appeal was not successful (x) Poland: Kaliszek/Spodyriev - Injury news Russia: Stepanova/Bukin will have choreography from Tchernyshev whereas Sinitsina and Katsalapov's will be from Zhulin; Bobrova/Soloviev working with Radu Poklitaru for Free Dance Minto Summer Skate 2017: Junior SD FD / Senior SD FD Chesapeake Open Results (x) Lake Placid Results (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Brisbane (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Salzburg (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Riga (x) NEW The most important competition of the season took place in Helsinki between March 29th and April 2nd. While the podium may have ended up as most people predicted, as well as the teams present in the top ten, there was a great deal of unpredictability in how these results came about. All in all, it was quite an exciting event. Here are the results: The most important competition of the year, the World Championships, begin on the 29th. However, the short dance takes place on the 31st of March, with the free dance happening on the 1st of April. Predictions of this event where extremely hard to come up with, since the field is deep and anything can happen. Virtue and Moir are chasing their 3rd World Title, but so are Papadakis and Cizeron. Many medalists are present, like Maia and Alex Shibutani, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje or even the 2014 World Champs Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. Here are my predictions:
Other couples to watch:
There are a couple of other couples I will be keeping an eye on. Starting with Guginard & Fabbri and Tobias & Tkachenko who may challenge the top 10. Also, I am extremely curious to see how well will the Spanish team of Olivia Smart and Adria Diaz place. Moreover, I really like the programs of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen of Denmark, particularly their short dance. The Chinese team of Shiyue Wang & Xinyu Liu is another one to keep an eye on, and so is the Korean team of Yura Min and Alexander Gamelin. The second French team of Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac is another one to watch: they have an amazing skating quality. Additionally, the Turkish team of Alisa Agafonova & Alper Ucar has been having great results this season. Lastly, I have really liked the British team ever since the Lombardia Trophy, so I will be watching Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson. The World Championships are right around the corner, so I decided to compile the median results that some of the most relevant teams on the field have achieved this season. Why the median and not the average? Because the median is less sensitive to outliers (either a really high or low score), being a better measure of what the couples may earn in PCS. On what concerns the short dance, no surprises occur in the top 3 teams. However, the most striking event is that Chock and Bates show up only in 7th place in PCS, with Hubbell and Donohue a point behind them. Also, Gilles and Poirier are placed below Stepanova/Bukin. This is somewhat enlightning to what may happen, since these values where obtained as the median of the most relevant competitions these teams entered (Grand Prix Events, Final, Europeans and/or Four Continents). However, since nothing is complete without the techinal component, all may change depending on the base values these teams are able to achieve. Nevertheless, a question I find relevant is what would happen is all teams achieve the same levels? Who will have the largest TES? Putting it differently, which team is receiving more GOE's by the technical pannel? For that, I came up with a simple formula: (TES-Base Value)/(Base Value). Why this and not simply looking at the amount of GOE? Well, because I would be comparing teams with different base values which may be the source of lower GOE's. Therefore, this formula is the "growth rate" that the panel of judges implements over the base value, being comparable across teams (and time, but that analysis I will save for another day). So here are the results from the median "GOE factor" that the couples achieved in the aforementioned competitions, along with the average: Here, there are surprises. The judges are giving a higher growth rate to Papadakis and Cizeron, followed by the Shibutanis and Virtue and Moir in the short dance. Moreover, Chock and Bates show up in 7th again and Hubbell/Donohue in 10th! And what to say about Gilles and Poirier in 12th... In this case, there is a somewhat relevant difference between the median and the average. Just look at Weaver and Poje, for instance. Hence, if things go smoothly, we may have the outcome of the first column. Let's look at the Free Dance statistics: On what PCS are concerned, there isn't a huge surprise. Maybe the placement of Weaver and Poje vs Chock and Bates, but that ordering is actually a plausible one to happen. What about GOE's? In the Free Dance case, it is not as surprising as in the short. However, Chock and Bates show up in 8th, which together with the sixth place in PCS may be evidence that things may not be in their favour this season. Another thing to notice is that here, Gilles and Poirier are aheah of Weaver and Poje. I am not going to take many conclusions regarding this (even though it did help me decide on my prediction of who will be in the top ten. The ordering still remains unknown. However, this may shed light on any surprising results that may take place.
In the deepest field of ice dance of a couple of years, anything can happen. And the data is showing us just that. The European Championships took place between the 25th and the 29th of January. While the winners of the Ice Dance event were the ones expected, it did not come as easily as one might have thought. The podium was easy to guess, even though the distinction between silver and bronze was minimal.
Some surprises were in store for the Russian teams, with the second and third places at Russian Nationals having lower results than expected. For Israel, however, this championships turned out to be quite successful. The results are presented below: The European Championships started yesterday with the ladies and pairs short programs. Today, the dance event begins with the short dance. Hence, let’s take a look at the most prominent couples in this competition. 1st: Being two times European and world champions, Gabriella and Guillaume are the front runners to get the gold medal. This season, they have only lost to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, which are not present here. In fact, their main competitors are North American teams, which causes little doubt that they will be the winners, being, in my opinion, light years ahead of any of the other partnerships in this competition. However, it will be interesting to see what changes did they make to both their short and free dances, since they are playing catch-up to the Canadian team. The scores they get here will have to make a statement that they will be going to worlds to win, so great performances from them are to be expected. 2nd: The World Champions of 2014 did not have a great start of the season, mainly because they encountered Virtue/Moir and Chock/Bates in Skate Canada and both Virtue/Moir and Papadakis/Cizeron in the NHK Trophy, missing the grand prix final. However, they had enough time to improve both dances. Moreover, their free dance is endearing, receiving a great deal of support from the audience. They will be battling the silver alongside Bobrova/Soloviev. The reason I put they first is because, even if they fall behind in the short dance, I’m expecting them to move ahead in the free dance. 3rd: This team won the Russian Nationals again, being the first in line to place well at Worlds. As a result, they will want to score higher than their best achieved at the Rostelecom Cup this season. However, falling short of this in the Grand Prix Final may pose a question mark as to how they will do here. Having improved a lot since the beginning of the season, they are going to make it difficult for the Italian team to get the silver. 4th: Another team with great progress this season, Stepanova/Bukin will likely get the fourth place here. This is a team to keep an eye on. After all, they are the second Russian team and they have been getting better and better scores. They still have a lot to improve, but the speed with which they perform each element is quite impressive, aiming at getting higher grades of execution. 5th: This is a risky prediction, putting them in front of Sinitsina and Katsalapov. Nevertheless, the latter got the place here in a non-incontestable way. If you ask me, Ilinykh/Zhiganshin would likely do better here. This Italian team has been proving its value, with a fantastic free dance last season and great programs this season, showing how versatile they are. If they manage to get great levels in their elements, they will likely end up in fifth. 6th: Another team that got good results this season, Tobias and Tkachenko have two very different programs that are worth watching. Even though the free dance is set to the same tune as Guignard and Fabbri, they are quite different. The Italians got a better result at Skate America, and I am expecting the same to happen here. 7th: Having a not so great season, barely making it to this year’s Europeans, this Russian team wants to prove that the federation should send them to World instead of Stepanova/Bukin. Even though that seems highly unlikely, we never know. Moreover, they want to prove they are a force of Russian ice dance, proving the choice of sending them and not Ilinykh/Zhiganshin to be the right one. While Sinitsina is quite good in the short dance, having surprising me with a great midnight blues, the free dance did not have, until now, the perfection necessary to get solid results. Let’s see how much better did they become since Nationals. 8th: This Polish team has been impressing me throughout the season. While I love the Danish team better, I think the Polish will be ahead. But, who knows, I might be surprised. 9th: As much as I want them to place higher, they will have to nail their levels in the short dance, as they did in the Autumn Classic, and that they have not been able to repeat since. That being said, it is a quite entertaining and lovely short dance and they have a fantastic free dance. If they manage to get their levels, who knows, maybe they place ahead of Sinitsina/Katsalapov (a little delusional, I know). 10th: This will likely not happen, but I decided to risk it and predict that the second French team in the Nationals will close the top ten. Why? I really like their skating quality and they have been showing promise. If they manage to connect more with each other during their programs, they may end up higher than expected. So, I guess placing them here is not that farfetched as it may seem. They actually may be close to this placement. Other teams to watch: |
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