Anonymous asked:
do you think moulin rouge was best at the olympics? i dont know how to judge ice dance beyond vibes so i would never really know what makes performances better besides no obvious mistakes
I was trying to decide if you meant āwas this their own best performance of MR, compared to their other performancesā or 'was MR the best performed program, compared to other teamās performancesā.
If itās the latter, then this blogās whole basic theme gives me away as someone who would say 'yesā.
If itās the former, itās more complicated, LOL.
Obviously, MR was a program that changed extensively through the season, with the most striking change occurring between GPF and Nationals. But every outing of the program, as often is the case with VM programs, had at least some small changes from the previous version. Still, trying to judge the MR programs as a whole, is almost like looking at two completely separate visions and almost impossible to compare, as an apples to apples situation.
With that in mind, there were four performances of the first version of their MR - Autumn Classic International, Skate Canada International, NHK, and Grand Prix Final. Ā Out of those, my personal feeling was that I liked Skate Canada International the best. Ā I donāt know if the scores reflect that, LOL, but in terms of performance alone, itās my favourite, in any case.
(I couldnāt resist and went back to look - while officially, their score went up at each competition, their NHK performance had a stronger base level - an extra step sequence at level 4 - but was judged more harshly on GOE, and consequently only squeaked by SCI and was lower than GPF.)
I felt like this Skate Canada version was still a program that was⦠ātheirsā.Ā Theyād performed it for an audience already, but this was their first major competition. Ā The scores were great, but they had yet to face the reality that PC would be scoring higher. Ā I felt like later at NHK and then at GPF in particular, they were still technically sound but perhaps pushing the performance side a little too hard.Ā I know that I drill the technical side of ice dance for its importance, because it is sport and needs to be rewarded on technical difficulty; but, it is still also a judged sport, and sometimes on aspects that canāt even be quantified by the way the ISU has spelled out.Ā And so, for me, Skate Canada still is the one Iād pick, overall.
I know that some people had trouble believing that MR, in itās early versions, could win the Olympics; and with the changes that VM and their team made, itās impossible to know what would have been if they hadnāt. I personally loved the early version, and have made no secret that I was shocked at Nationals when I stood in that practice arena and the music played and was suddenly in an completely different direction, LOL.Ā I was rather disappointed that they hadnāt seen the original through; and yet, it was obvious that the crescendo of the music was highly effective in creating a mood that could help sway audience and even judges in their favour.Ā Ā
Which brings us to the second version of their program, which was performed 3 times in competition - Nationals, the Olympic Team Event, and the Individual event, though I think itās safe to say that between the Olympics and the following tours, it is the version that is most likely to be remembered by all of us.Ā Ā
And yet, if I were to choose either the Olympic individual event or the Nationals program, I would go with Nationals.Ā Itās not entirely a surprise; I almost always choose a Nationals program as my favourite version.Ā I think that at Nationals, it has usually had enough time that it is running pretty smoothly, in a technical sense, and yet, I still the emotional rawness that can come with an earlier program, and probably the comfort level of performing at a Nationals in which there is less pressure from a medals standpoint.Ā Ā
The Olympic individual event was incredible, from both a technical standpoint and from a performance level, but yeah, itās still Nationals for me.Ā (Is it just that I was there?Ā Hmm.)Ā But I will give the Olympic programs this - that crescendo and curve lift that just⦠electrified the audience?Ā Unmatched.
I know I didnāt answer anything beyond what you calledĀ āvibesā - but sometimes, thatās what we have to go on, unless weāre intending on sitting down and analyzing edges and marks.Ā (Which can be fun too, not gonna lie.)Ā But thereās nothing wrong with how you vibe with a program⦠as long as you donāt assume that your personal vibes mean that a program should get gold. ;)















