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icedanceupstarts · 6 years

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JGP Ostrava and Nebelhorn Trophy

JGP Ostrava:

Khudaiberdieva/Nazarov RD FD won easily as expected and have qualified to JGPF. Their tango has been sharp since the beginning, and this was another great showing of it here. In the free dance they made some changes since their first outing week one, most notably swapping the placement of their choreographic spin and straight line lift. They ran into some issues with their combination spin, but still set a new season’s best with improved components. We look forward to seeing their continued progress in December!

Kazakova/Reviya RD FD had an excellent JGP debut in their second season as a team, utilizing their speed and flair for drama to grab silver. We love that stationary choreographic lift they close out their free dance with. They’re both such expressive and committed performers that they would be a delight even if their technique wasn’t as strong as it is.

Davis/Smolkin RD FD

As you may have heard, Davis is Eteri Tutberidze's daughter, and they made a very solid JGP debut here. You can tell they're lacking in experience compared to the teams that placed above them when it comes to interpretation, but they make up for it with commitment and some admirably difficult tech content. They had some solid lifts and speed and a good deal of expressiveness even if their interpretation was not always enhancing the music, and their enthusiasm and energy were palpable.

Bronsard/Bouaraguia RD FD

A great JGP debut for this highly charming team. We would have liked their tango to have a little more tango in it, and we still aren't a fan of mixing rhythms, but their quickstep was very strong and showed off their personalities well. Bouaraguia is a very strong partner with a solid presence and a good lead, and they've both got a real sense of showmanship, which is fortuitous with their free dance being what it is. It's an even better vehicle for them than the rhythm dance, since the whole thing is molded to their strengths, whereas they didn't seem to quite get the tango section in the same way. They're a very promising team and we wish them luck over the rest of the season.

Nebelhorn Trophy:

Gilles/Poirier RD FD

Gilles/Poirier are, as always, entirely themselves, artistic and creative and constantly innovating. We've already written about how they've pushed the boundaries of the sport and predicted trends, and they continued that here. Their twizzles need a little practice to make it clear that the unique, difficult positions are intended and not mistakes that they're just rolling with, and there are a couple tricky transitions they get stuck in in both programs, but overall this is some of their strongest packaging to date. Their tango manages to be different from their very successful free dance from two seasons back as well as different from the rest of the field while still maintaining the feel of a tango. Their free dance has a few rough spots but was lovely and fascinating and should grow into a powerful vehicle soon enough.

Parsons RD

They started off strong with a tango that showed off the polish, maturity, and experience that they gained in the year they've been seniors that helped them secure the silver. Unfortunately for the second competition in a row their free dance is unavailable on youtube, and we haven't been able to find an alternative link, but they showed off their warm, natural sibling connection and stayed uncannily linked throughout, minus a small bobble at the end where she lost her balance that counted as a fall. They're really making this music their own and we're glad that they had such a strong performance of a program that holds such meaning to them. They finally cleaned up their levels on their fourth international outing of the season and look strong and prepared for their grand prix events.

Carreira/Ponomarenko RD FD

Carreira/Ponomarenko continued their solid senior debut with two more strong skates, including a level 4 on the first section of the tango romantica pattern. Carreira also was the only ice dancer in the event to achieve a level 4 on the one foot step sequence. Their programs are technically ambitious and should continue to grow with every outing, and their speed and dynamic energy is already fully present. They continue to utilize their strong, versatile chemistry in both programs, and they're really settling into the interpretation and nuances of their music. We can't wait to see them continue to develop throughout the season.

Fear/Gibson RD FD

Bringing the fun back to ice dance! The music alone would brighten our day, but they show off their stamina by keeping up the energy all the way through, combined with some difficult elements and some seriously fun knee slides. While their disco free dance is the real star, their tango is very solid as well and we'll be intrigued to see them again at Skate America in a few weeks where they'll be facing their domestic rivals Tweedale/Buckland.

Koch/Nuchtern FD

Their tango needs a little more tango feeling, but is a solid program, although apparently not worthy enough to appear on youtube. We have a big soft spot for Notre Dame de Paris, and they milk every ounce of drama from it. They use the highs and lows very well, letting the program build and build until they finish off with a big choreographic lift where she shakes her fists at the sky before swooning into his arms so he can cradle her dying form as her body goes limp in one of the best on ice deaths we've seen recently. Although we would suggest a minor tweak in his hold in the end pose, because at the moment it kind of looks like he's feeling up her corpse which is frowned upon in most societies.

Muller/Dieck RD FD In the wake of Lorenz/Polizoakis' split, they are trying to push the limits to become German #1. Very good tango, the best tango feel of the German teams, just an unfortunate fall from him at the end of the diagonal step sequence. As for the free dance, we're not quite sure that four minutes reflecting on our own mortality is quite what we're looking for in ice dance, but its certainly unique and attention grabbing. They made a coaching change to Gorshkov over the summer and you can already begin to see the improvements in their skating skills. Slightly wish that they would bring back their free dance from last year, ice dance needs more Whitney, and with the field increasingly trending towards moodiness we'd prefer to see a fun dance party on ice rather than somewhat distracting voiceovers declaring YOUR TIME IS LIMITED. But this is clearly a meaningful program for them, and we hope to see them continue to grow into Memento Mori On Ice.

Kaliszek/Spodiriev RD FD

Kaliszek/Spodiriev could have fought for a medal but took themselves out of contention in the RD when she fell on the twizzles. We love the commitment though-- pre-skate posing including a slap to get into character is the kind of unselfconscious theatricality that ice dance could use more of. Shout out to Spodiriev for winning the deep V contest we didn't even know was happening, and she looks like a beautiful leaf in her unusual tango dress. Fantastic rotational lift to open their free dance. Some struggles on the twizzles and the one foot sequence couldn’t take away from the innovativeness and potential of this program. We hope they have a stronger outing in a few weeks at Skate America!

Nazarova/Nikitin RD FD

This is one team that never fails to push the boundaries and show off their quirky personalities, but unfortunately they didn't have a great competition. They fell early on in the pattern in the rhythm dance and got rattled and never quite got back into it. Perhaps Nikitin would have stayed on his feet better if there weren't a pair of disembodied hands strangling him? The free dance went somewhat better, but all in all not their best skates. If you look beyond the messiness, though, you'll find a lot to like. Even when scrambling they're incredibly fun performers, and have loads of difficult, interesting transitions. Their lifts are as great as always, with acrobatic and eye catching and utilizing their flexibility and balance as well as strength. Shout out to Nazarova for smashing the gender binary with her black boots, and we hope they pull it together in time for Skate America.

#ice dance #nebelhorn trophy 2018 #jgp ostrava 2018 #jgp 2018 #review #season: 2018 2019

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