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you hear about him chewing his nails and plastic bottle tops, but she chews her fingers on the show too

that’s her wrist in the right pic. it’s probably a common bracelet, but i never noticed they’re wearing a very similar one

their schedule for the 2013-14 season Aug 19-21 "Bruce Craven -working on mechanics" 🥺 this is the physio guy who taught her how to use her legs to hurt less 22nd-26th off 27th media interview

Sep 4-7 Skate Canada High Performance Camp 9th Skate Canada intensive training [wait, did the show fudge this timeline? they made it sound like he left right after the 2nd day of HPC, but the 6th was Friday, the 9th is Monday, when he said they’d be in Canton] 10th-18th off 19th monitoring session 28th-29th England? (what's this?)

Oct 3-6 competition Finland [Finlandia] 7-22nd off (14th Thanksgiving) 23rd fly to St. John [Skate Canada] 24th practice in St. John 25-27th St. John Competition

Nov 1st-12th off 13th fly to Paris 15th-17th The Trophee Eric Bompard, ISU Grand Prize, Paris France 18th fly to Toronto 19th-30th off

Dec 1st-4th off 5th-8th Grand Prix Final Fukuoka Japan 9th-31st off 25th Christmas

Jan 1st -31st nothing scheduled

Feb 1st-6th nothing scheduled 7th-23rd OLYMPICS 24th-28th

"off" seems to mean they don't have outside stuff, not that they're not training. and lol that Canadian Nationals is "nothing scheduled" in January

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according to someone on reddit who ran into Michael a couple weeks, they already have their programs and it sounds like JLB was involved to some extent. There were also apparently Reasons that Michael asked the poster not to disclose about why last season went so poorly, and he and Caroline believe this year will be very different.

oh i did see that thread- the poster was asked directly about whether JL choreographed for them but wouldn’t confirm or deny so it promptly left my head, awaiting concrete info 😅

“seems to think they will have decent fed backing” made me🤔 like i’m so curious how those conversations with the fed go

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Any sign of Jean-Luc doing any more choreography for anyone? I wonder if MIDA would consider it for Green/Parsons. He and Kaitlin would be a good match for them considering that they kind of also deal with being similar height etc. and created beautiful programs that showed off their strengths.

not yet, but almost no dance teams have announced programs or posted with their choreographers yet - every day we get news from singles skaters, but not from our dancers

this is such a make or break season for Gr/Pa that i'd be surprised if MIDA put them into the hands of a relatively inexperienced choreographer. Charlie's so competitive, it seems like he'd be putting everything into these programs. but that's a good point about H/B being similar heights, and Jean-Luc has so much to offer, maybe he worked with Gr/Pa. but MIDA has something at stake here too

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a talk that Tessa gave at Deloitte - not saying anything about the value of the talk itself. i'm kind of horrified that they have something called "Deloitte Canada's Human Capital leader" - capital in business is different kinds of money, or your net worth in money. idg how alarm bells don't go off when you work someplace where humans are described for their worth and potential in the same terms as money

there's an unspoken " your value is in how you make us money" which, sure, that's the aim of business. maybe "Human Capital" is just saying the quiet part loud, but it feels dehumanizing

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the sponsor event they show in episode 2 where Tessa and Scott make a speech was an RBC event naming 47 athletes to their Olympic and Paralympic roster October 9, 2013 at the Billy Bishop airport in Toronto

the show messes with the timeline - they show this event before High Performance Camp when it was a month later 💀

#remember vine

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Per Tessa’s insta, a bad person doesn’t keep promises.

she said 'refuse to be mediocre. i promise to rise. good people keep promises'

turns out that was a specific reference to a speech by this soccer coach John Herdman that she related to and which helped her -- she goes into it in the last Anastasia Bucsis podcast -

she posts stuff sometimes without context, and it can be confusing - like people were kind of incredulous that other time when she said "feelings lie" on her IG - but i think in a high performance context, someone like her who could get so scared and anxious and feel like she was a "terrible skater" - those feelings didn't reflect the reality of what she was capable of

it's not anything like her elite level, but my work is kind of high pressure and performance based at times, and i know i've felt like i can't do it, i want to sink through the floor, i'm going to screw up - those things aren't the truth, they're just fears. so if she told herself in those moments, "feelings lie" - i might not put it like that, but it's understandable? it's only if you apply to the rest of your life and ignore your intuition or push down emotions because you don't want to feel them that you can get in trouble

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I want to thank you very much for all the work and effort you put in this account and the information you give to us, but mainly for the comments you made recently about TS's show, which they filmed before Sochi. I am not fluent in English and I cannot watch the show because I don't understand what they say. So, I appreciate so much when you write some comments of them and I can read them. I also appreciate your opinion, because I know that it is written with thoughtfulness and not with the intention of negative judgement. I hope you will find the time to go on with this and for the rest episodes.

i'm just talking about what strikes me this time watching the show. but i'm glad if you're enjoying them - thanks for writing

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not an ice dancer but as a ballroom dancer-nearly all of these teams are in weirdass situationships. Including the ones that seem like simply friends or business partners, often ESPECIALLY them. Partners don't even need to like each other as people to get Weird about each other.

👀 🤔

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“i’m gonna start the video on Sheri - April 12, 2024 - clearly we’re in creative zone - CPom”

#scott moir #cpom #western u #sheri moir liv alex e

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I think VM definitely did shipbait for all the years they competed senior. It was the persona Marina gave them. They leaned into their chemistry partially because they were launched into the stratosphere with it with Mahler and even Umbrellas, partially because by 2013-2014 it was one area that DW couldn’t compete with them on, and partially because of their long history together.

It seemed at the time that Scott was kind of talked into the show. Tessa was more keen because she had aspirations of using their skating fame to get endorsements and make a living as a celebrity before social media influencing was an option.

As for the show, Scott seemed to be pretty adamant that he wasn’t going to pretend to date Tessa and was pretty open about dating Cassandra. Tessa seemed to be more willing to play ball — as a people pleaser and as someone who wanted to get something out of the tv show.

But I think their relationship was complicated. Not necessarily because they crossed any lines but because they didn’t. In a nutshell, Tessa seemed to have a bit of insecurity about where she fit into Scott’s life outside skating whereas Scott seemed to believe that they had their connection but would naturally go in different directions. But we could go on for years analyzing all of that.

i do think Marina gave them romantic programs before it was appropriate, and that she and they leaned into that dynamic a lot as they got older. but shipbaiting implies they were teasing the romantic possibilities of their personal relationship for gain, and i don't think they did that in their early years

as teens, there were periods when they had more chemistry than they knew what to do with. coupled with the amount of time they spent together and how much they relied on each other, it seems confusing to navigate. the last thing you'd want would be to get a bunch of intrusive questions about it. so i would separate portraying romantic stories on the ice vs their awareness of selling that off the ice as part of their draw as a team. i just don't see them doing that until later

after the 2010 Olympics, when they're asked the relationship question, they pretty straightforwardly answer no. it's when they weren't winning or in the comeback when they needed every advantage that they got ambiguous in their answers - later in the Sochi quad and leading into PYC

this is going to come up later in the show, but i think they both had fear and insecurity about what was going to happen to their relationship after they finished skating, and i don't think it was just Tessa who was afraid the other wouldn't have a place for them in their life. but for some reason, these two don't seem to talk to the other about their fears when it counts, maybe they don't communicate well about feelings. there have been times in interviews when they each seem surprised to hear something about the other that they would have known if they were talking to each other about this stuff

personally, i don't think any of this makes sense if there were no lines crossed. platonic business partners don't get weird like this. friendship, skating partnership is more straightforward. even relationships that have been processed and moved past are more straightforward

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Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker at the 2024 Nightingales on Ice show in Kearns, Utah on April 27

#the exh in fuschia is sia elastic heart #ovalfsc ig

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Tessa and Scott: episode 2

episode 1 made a thing of Marina going to Champs Camp with Meryl and Charlie - is she giving equal time to both teams? episode 2 makes it clear she shows up for VM's High Performance Camp assessments, so while it turns out to be true that she didn't support VM equally, this isn't an example of it, producers🙃

ep. 2 focuses on HPC - how nervous Tessa is is painful to see. this is where she calls Kate with tears and throws up after their FD

"i really internalize things, just assume that i'm a terrible skater, a bad person" - on the one hand 🥺 but also, huh? i know feelings like this aren't logical, but i'm curious what being a bad person means to her? sometimes ppl think "i'm a perfectionist" "i'm so hard on myself" are a badge of honor and a way to drive yourself, but it feels like a harsh way to do it and seems to lead her to spiral

then there's the cringe moment when Ryan Pyette, the London Free Press reporter who's been covering VM since they were little kids, asks Scott, "did you get lean? you look less bulky" it's not really better seeing a guy get asked questions about his body and appearance in an intrusive way

then Tessa, plaintively - "i wish people would ask me that. all i hear is did you put on muscle? are you bulking up? no!" thankfully Scott answers, "idiots. let's eat"

but in the next scene - he's having a cheeseburger, salad, ginger ale, orange juice. she's having a skinless grilled chicken breast, a couple tomato slices and some pasta shells with not much on them in small portions 😢

then after HPC, she goes to TIFF with Chiddy (and has a moment exchanging numbers and talking about hanging out with Jian Ghomeshi, who went on trial for sexual assault the next year - god i hope this was the last time she saw him💀)

Scott goes home rather than staying, and Tessa says, "i think it was just one of those nights where he needed to get home and relax and get away from the whole skating world and maybe even me" - whyy does she think this way 😭 after the pressure of HPC and media day, instead of walking a red carpet at a film festival, getting his picture taken and socializing, he went home for the weekend. sounds normal and understandable. he says see you Monday in Canton, so they’re back on the ice bright and early, probs - i mean, doesn't she want in part to go home and recover? TIFF is more her scene than his, and they'd been to it together before:

YSL after party at TIFF in 2010 (someone pls fix his shirt 😅)

but oof, producers, not subtle - Tessa: "hopefully when we're done skating competitively i'll have more time to devote to a real relationship" - cut to:

i wonder how they pitched this to him - look out the window pensively and drink your coffee 💀this show was pretty rude to his gf

again, i’d take more footage of actual skating and feedback at HPC. i think these producers were just kind of bad at this lol VM gave them plenty of 🤔moments without resorting to this 🫠

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2024 Washington Picken Solo Ice Dance International, April 26-27, 2024 Reston Virginia

this was an ISU competition with ISU judges and tech panel. Emmy's RD was to Cyndi Lauper All Through the Night and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and she wore her RD dress from this season. her FD was Mozart Fantasia in d minor. she won 🥈, less than a point behind Lucas Appel, who was first. idk much about solo dance, but he seems to be one of two solo dancers whose name you see a lot, the other being Brooke Tufts, who wasn't in this event

they do Edge Elements (Ee on the protocol) in place of lifts - these can be spread eagles, hydroblades, Ina Bauers, spirals - you get 5.45 points in BV for a level 4

i love that there's no separate women and men's categories - everyone competes together ❤️

#some pretty skating #emmy is always lovely

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Jordyn Lewis moving to Montreal to skate synchro

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Re: the "one year ago" carnival -- Tessa and Scott performed at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in summer 2012 (there are still videos on YouTube from it), so it's probably supposed to have been filmed then.

ohh interesting - somehow i never registered that CNE is in Toronto lol but "supposed to" - do you mean that footage isn't from 2012?

i guess either way, i have questions - if it's from August 2012, they knew a year prior that they'd do the reality show? before Carmen season

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Tessa and Scott episode 1 (pt 1 pt 2) sorry i'm not giving any useful context if you've never seen it - it's a good (bad lol) piece of VM history the opening at the carnival in Toronto says "one year ago" - it looks like warm weather, but the show premiered Jan 2, 2014, so when did they film that?

the first performance of DALD 🥺 (seriously, who has those hard drives with the footage lol). interesting to see part of the no touch here compared to the legendary one from Sochi

Marina saying "love you love you a lot" to them when she's about to stab them in the back 💀

Jean-Marc Généreux, the dance/connection coach - Scott says they've been working with him since 2002. VM would have been 12/13 and 14/15 yo they're supposed to be playing out a romantic storyline in the SD: T: right away he (Jean-Marc) saw there was something missing J: so, i want you to look at this guy like he's uh T: like he's David Beckham? J: uhh maybe, or a piece of meat, like a good - like filet mignon - and you'd really like to have a bite (why does she do this? if it was reversed, and Jean-Marc said to Scott, look at her like you think she's attractive, and he said, oh, like she's Jennifer Lopez? that would be rude and invalidating)

i'd forgotten how strange it is, the way they talk about each other -

S: "Tessa and i have a -- *very* -- complex relationship" (arching eyebrow, significant look) ok, how 😅

T: "sometimes we are best friends, sometimes we're just business partners, there's an ebb and a flow to our relationship that is ongoing" -- spending more and less time together is normal, but does your status as best friends change so much? do your friendships work like this? these two were working so closely together, but they'd grow apart enough that she'd call it being "just business partners"? that feels off. from other stuff they've said, it feels more like there were reasons one would hold the other at arm's length and that they didn't talk these things out

Scott seems very inside himself and high key conscious of the camera. very little of the lighter side of him in this show. Tessa also very conscious of the camera but more wanting to do a good job - like watching someone inexperienced acting in a high school play - a little stilted. these producers didn't know what to do with them to get them to be more natural. too bad they wanted to make a reality show and didn't focus more on the skating and the training and let their personalities show in the process

S: VO "after this season, our lives are going to be totally different" T: "what are you going to miss the most" S: "i'll miss - i'm going to miss the structure. 5 o'clock in the mornings" T: "yeah 😐" lol not going to be baited into saying anything personal for national tv. either he thought it was going to be a different kind of show or was talked into it and never bought in. i wonder what the two of them really think of this now

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tw:

thank you for this info. both of these are very much worth the time. oooof. the W5 documentary - my heart hurts for those girls and women. it's harrowing even to read the transcript. i started watching and had to stop and read the rest. completely devastating. and at the same time infuriating

the Future of Figure Skating podcast - the process in Canada very much sounds like it shields the institutions and therefore the abusers during investigation. Amelia Cline says they've found that going outside the systems in place is often the most effective route. which is damning about the system. Abby Spadafora says complaints often aren't taken seriously, or can be kicked around from Office of Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) to the National or provincial sporting organization. they've had cases where the person reporting the abuse was put in the same room with their abuser to recount their complaint. horrific stuff. independent investigators who have conflicts of interest or are otherwise unsuited to the task, the list goes on

not only is the process itself and the timeline not made clear by OSIC to the parties involved, OSIC has strict confidentiality clauses that keep people from speaking while the process is ongoing. once a case is brought, there might be news stories in the beginning, but then there's silence because of this. no further bad press for the abuser or the institutions involved. and the victims can't speak about their own experiences for fear that it will be used against them in the case. they're saying that if you were involved in a criminal case, you'd have more right to speak than in these OSIC cases. [so this could be why we haven't heard more in the Soerensen case]

they said the solution is to treat these like any other human rights issues - in any other circumstance, it wouldn't be this hard to fire and remove adults abusing children. that the process needs to be consistent and more transparent and public. that there needs to be a top down, bottom up reassessment of the entire system so it can be figured out where and how it's broken. they started out investigating gymnastics and found the same stories in so many other sports - that it's an issue in all sport

OSIC was modeled after the US Center for Safe Sport which is a system they have no confidence in. this is an in depth discussion where they bring up so many facets - like how it would be important for role models and more of the public to speak up, to say they believe survivors - and not just the famous ones - when these survivors risk so much in speaking out

#gymnasts for change canada #future of figure skating