some musings

Art on Ice 2015 — Zurich — Feb. 5 2015

OK REAL QUICK:

1) The arena is very small which makes for a super lovely and intimate show. Our seats were realllly great in that regard. It was the BEST. 

2) How Will I Know gave me an excessive amount of feelings. It’s beautifulllll and Jeff Buttle did such a good job. There is a lift in there similar to the Jack and Diane lift where in Tessa runs into Scott’s arms and he catches her but ughhhhh it is SO MUCH WORSE THAN the Jack and Diane lift because it is DESPERATE AND SAD. And then there’s this whole little bit afterwards where it’s just basically them with their faces smooshed together and I am pretty sure Katryna and I wanted to DIE from feelings. I’m trying to fully understand the concept behind the program cause I’m not 100% sure what the underlying message is. It starts off with Scott and Tessa coming onto the ice with their arms around each other and Tessa pulls away, but Scott still stays skating as if his arm is around her. And it ends like this, too. We discussed it on the car and came up with pretty thin theories. I would love to hear a breakdown from T/S or Jeff. 

3) GOOD KISSER. GOOD KISSSSSSER. OK. How Will I Know is amazing and heartbreakingly emotional, but GOOD KISSER. GOOD GRIEF, is more like it. It’s hot guys, there’s no other way to describe it. Straight up all over each other the entire program. The choreo is REALLY fun and it’s so great to see them put the moves they learned in Montreal onto ice. They both move incredibly well, though a little differently (Tessa’s hip hop movements are really precise where as Scott’s movements are a little more fluid? It’s a good contrast). So much fun choreo when I think back on it. The music they are skating to is actually a mash up of three versions of the song. A female version of Good Kisser starts it off with Tessa beginning the number (and I’m not 100% sure who it is by) and then a ton of the original by Usher and a tiny bit of the Disclosure remix at the end. 

It’s amazing. So different from anything they’ve done and it’s incredible. Also, I think there might be a new lift in it? Neither myself nor Katryna had seen it before and I’m not even sure what happened except one minute Tessa was upside down and the next she was upright and then she was over Scott’s shoulder and I DON’T KNOW. 

4) There were no group numbers or anything aside from the finale. It was set to God Only Knows by idk which version it was. But it was cute. At one point during the, ‘God only knows what I’d be without you,’ Scott glanced over at Tessa and gave her this smile/look and it was CUTE AS HELL. They were directly in front of me for their bows and they did a really cute little high five/handshake thing as the finale wrapped up.

ANYWAYS, THEY WERE AMAZING. I was a little unsure what to expect since it’s been so long since they’ve been on the ice, but their chemistry is insaneee (even more so I’d think than when I saw them at SOI last year) and their programs already seem to be coming a long way. 

Uh, other stuff: Nam Nguyen lands his jumps SO CLEANLY and lightly that if I was Patrick Chan, I would be shaking in my boots. That kid is so talented it’s nuts, especially for his age. CANNOT HANDLE IT. Andrew and Kaitlyn are gorgeous. Also when uhhhhh god, I can’t remember who was performing now, but W/P and V/M were all standing in the wings watching the performance. Though it was hard for me to make out V/M cause my eyesight is garbage.

3) GOOD KISSER! I LOVED the way they used every single subdivided beat of music for purposeful movement. Tessa really shines in this number, I think. There was NO downtime in the entire program but it was in a totally different way than "normal" for them. The new lift looked like 3 (?) changes of position for Tessa? I think this is my favourite ex from them. They looked SO into it and their connection fit the music perfectly. 

4) Also cute as hell: Scott and Tessa being the only ones in the synchro skating circle to instinctually grab each others hands, just because. 

Why, Anon? Just. WHY?

Ugh, this is going to hurt to even list cause I hate seeing them sad. OK. Here goes.

1. I hateeee reliving this competition because they are just so unhappy and it breaks my heart. But Scott at the 2013 4CC medal ceremony? He’s amazing. He only takes his hand off of Tessa’s hip when he needs to shake hands with people. So much so, that the camera guy notices it. This competition was really tough for them and this show of support and unity was really nice.

2. After the first time they performed Carmen at the SCI 2012 when Scott hugged Tessa from behind as they came off the ice. And then later when he pressed his forehead to her temple in the kiss and cry. Guys, IDK, Scott Moir is pretty great. 

3. This moment from the Team Event in Sochi. 

They were clearly not happy with their performances and Scott in particular seemed pretty moody about it and I love how Tessa is just like, “:( Give me your hand, you idiot. I’ve got you.”

4. That time Scott punched Tessa in the face by accident at the beginning of a program and then kissed her arm to make up for it. Not really comforting, but yoou know. Also lol, this program is SUCH a mess at this point that it’s crazy to me that it eventually grew into my favourite SD. 

5. These images from after the Team Event SD. Ugh, have I ever talked about how hard this event was to watch for me? I watched the SD on my phone outside of a bank a few doors down from the place where I was interning. I remember it was FREEZING and someone came up to me halfway through it and asked me for a cigarette and I wanted to kill them. I had about six different people texting me as it was happening and it was just such a sad experience watching cause they just weren’t on their game and IDK. I watched the FD from the comfort of my living room with my parents the next day and it was just as hard. 

She’s in London. In school. Online courses this month because she’s (they’re) travelling so much

Q: You said “untouchable”. Why was it so? After all, you and other strong coaches had enough time to try to catch up with those teams, and maybe even get ahead of one of them.

A: I have no answer to this question. I always knew that while Tessa and Scott were natural born dancers, Meryl had never mastered such skating skills and never had such natural talent. Behind her achievements in ice dance, there is a tremendous amount of incredibly hard work, iron discipline and determination. No one else had ever executed such complex elements with such ease. And year after year, they kept working even harder. As a coach, I was amazed. The Canadians had relaxed when they won the 2012 World championships. They decided that they were always going to be first. I think, it was mostly Tessa who had relaxed. Q: Do you mean the season when Virtue had noticeably gained weight and couldn’t get back in shape for a while?

A: Of course. What does additional weight mean? It means immediate imbalance of all the elements, loss of ease, loss of levels of difficulty, the lifts. If you want to be first, you have to be impeccable in every way. Q: How difficult is it to say to the American or Canadian athletes that he or she has gained weight?

A: Of course, it’s a littlle bit easier in Russia. But I say that to my skaters openly. And immediately. If an athlete is going to fight for medals, he must be aware from the very beginning what elite sport is. That there should be discipline, strict control and so on. That the right attitude is a very big part of success. If a skater is not able to control his condition himself, I resort to tough measures. Q: And how does it look?

A: I begin to weigh him every day, to say unpleasant things, to scold him. It works. Q: I cannot imagine you being irritated.

A: Well, training process and competition are two different things. Competition is hard for an athlete as it is. Scolding him at that moment would only add the stress.

HMMM….