#2018 gpf

Rhythm Dance

Sinitsina/Katsalapov opened the senior rhythm dance with their powerful, intricate tango that was our favorite of the event. They skate really close together, and very smoothly and cohesively, a towering testament to how far their partnering has come in four years.

This was not the first time they've struggled with levels on that rotational lift, cool as it is. They also received a level 2 at Skate Canada. It's a difficult, eye catching lift, but Nikita fell short of six rotations here, dropping the level to a 2. He's always been a somewhat shaky rotator, being especially notorious for messing up on his twizzles, though he's improved leaps and bounds there.  Sometimes a little shakiness creeps in, as it did here, but the rotation was smooth and confident a couple weeks ago at IdF. It's a really good lift, and well choreographed for the tango, so we really hope they can get their rotations consistent because we'd hate to see them take it out. Had they received a level 4, they would have been second in the rhythm dance, a point out of first.

Hawayek/Baker had a tough act to follow, but they performed admirably at their first GPF. This was a tough tech panel, so Hawayek/Baker managing to avoid getting basic calls on either section of the pattern for the first time this season is better than it appears. They've developed a really nice maturity in their fifth senior season that only emphasizes their natural musicality.

One thing we like about this tango is how it's choreographed so that the music for the step sequence increases in tempo as they go through the element. It's very difficult to portray the shift in expression and movement mid element, and it's an admirable challenge they've set for themselves. It might be a more climactic ending to their program than their lift, as nicely timed to the music as it is.

While they weren't as on fire as they were at NHK, Zagorski/Guerreiro still delivered a solid performance here at their first GPF. Considering the drama of his skates arriving late, they should feel proud of their decent skate here. With how long and complicated the tango romantica is, it's hard to get the keypoints in the second half if you miss your timing in the first section, so kudos there. They opened with great twizzles, fast and with lots of ice coverage. There's a nice warm tension between them throughout, and they make good use of their long lines to accent the music.

Bringing their usual drama but not their best tech were Stepanova/Bukin, who were a little disappointed by their fourth place finish in this segment. They opened with a strong set of twizzles that thankfully weren't the popular yet small sit twizzle variation they've been struggling to execute at a high level for several years. The ones they used here have much stronger ice coverage and got them off to a great start that carried through their midline step sequence, if unfortunately not their pattern. There have been complaints all season that levels don't matter-- well they did here. Getting just one key point is so crucial when the teams are this close, as the point loss between a level 1 and a base level is nearly three times as much as between a level 2 and a level 1. We really love this program, and their performance was still on point. They use her ridiculously long legs to great effect, and the intensity of their expression and their musicality is just perfect. We really hope they can bring the technical proficiency they showed at Helsinki at Nationals next week.

We were very interested to see what Hubbell/Donohue have been up to, as they've had the longest to prepare, and even more so after we heard of the changes they were making. The original version of their tango was going for something more subtle and tense, but the revamped version allows them to let loose and better utilize their power and amplitude. The tension of the first half could be a little better utilized for greater impact when it breaks and they go into their dynamic midline steps, but the changes definitely are a more natural fit for their powerful, dramatic skating style. There are still a few tweaks they could make to the transitions and overall feel, but they skated very well.

We'd say we weren't feeling a little smug about Guignard/Fabbri coming second in the rhythm dance, but we cannot tell a lie. They've been very technically strong and consistent all season, which as we pointed out would come more into play at GPF where the differences between PCS and GOE were smaller. With no music mishap to distract them or saddle them with a bogus music deduction they came in a strong second, ahead of the Russians(which, again, we previously noted was possible, and would have happened at Helsinki had it not been for the music issues). There's a real level of maturity and polish to them, and a confidence that many of their fellow competitors did not share. The tango suits them really well, and all their movements are precise, placed, and finished. They don't have quite the same level of speed and ice coverage as the other medal contenders and so had to be better in the other aspects of their skating to fight for a medal, and they did just that.

Free Dance

Hawayek/Baker may be a little disappointed with their placement here, but someone had to come #actuallylast, and they still performed extremely well, the best they have thus far this season. There's been some debate over whether this free dance is Hawayek/Baker's style, or Montreal style, and your mods would like to humbly put forward that it is both. The general style is the sort of light, emotional, lyrical genre that they've explored various aspects of over the past few years (Amelie, Romeo and Juliet, The Theory of Everything, Liebestraum, Liebestraum: Once More With Feeling), but in terms of choreography it's like Gadbois threw up on them. It feels a little like what would happen if you forced a bot to watch hours and hours of Montreal programs and then had it create one itself. Which is not to say it's a bad program-- the structuring is very nice, the elements are well integrated into the choreography, it builds well, and there are some really nice choreographic touches like his slide or their spread eagles. What we still struggle with is the interpretation. While this was their most engaged, expressive performance yet, it made the program more emotionally confusing and incoherent. They clearly love this program and their joy is infectious, but also a very odd choice with how mournful the lyrics are. We can't tell what the storyline is supposed to be or what they're trying to convey to us. It may be that they're interpreting the music rather than the lyrics, which is a valid choice, but then they need to take out the lyrics so we're not jarred out of the performance when the singer is going on about how their love is gone and he's lost and Kaitlin and Jean-Luc look downright ecstatic. But if you can get past that it's a gripping performance of a program suited to their style of skating.

Stepanova/Bukin gave a fiery performance but were unable to make up the gap. This was good but not the best they've performed it. We love this program and they definitely had the crowd going, but the entire time we couldn't help but feel like they'd skated this better in the past. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what was off. There was Ivan's twizzlol which cost them around two points, if not more, which would have at least gotten them a medal. Combined with their pattern issues from the rhythm dance and the tough break of skating in the first group for the free, several points were left on the table in a competition where absolutely every point and fraction of a point mattered. But Stepanova/Bukin have never been a team to wallow in disappointment, and just last season came back at Worlds (where we promise they didn’t flop!) after not getting the invite they needed for the Olympics with performances at the level of their personal bests set at a home Europeans. We fully expect to see them looking better than ever at Nationals, ready to fight like hell for their National title.

There are a lot of weird coincidences in skating, such as at least three different skaters using In This Shirt or Tokio Myer's Bloodstream, but two tall, leggy Russian teams in all black skating blues free dances back to back is further proof that the skating hivemind is real. With a smaller lead over Hawayek/Baker than they had at NHK, Zagorski/Guerreiro needed to substantially improve their execution of their free dance in order to place #notlast, and they rose to the occasion. It's still very much a work in progress, but this was their smoothest outing yet. Still some slight shakiness going into the opening combination lift, but the position is striking and perfect for the mood once they get into it, and the transition to the stationary portion was a lot smoother. They're such a tall, striking team, and this free dance does a lot to show off their lines and strong body shaping. We don't love this music but we love the way they interpret it. For the most part we just think this program needs further cleaning up, but we do take issue with the ending pose. It's certainly unique, but it's also a little wobbly and way more than a little weird. Surely there is a final pose they can find where it doesn't look like she's drunk and can't stand up.

Sinitsina/Katsalapov reminded everyone who assumed they'd slot neatly into Russia #2 without a fight that they beat Hubbell/Donohue in the free dance at Skate Canada and their Season's Best score going into this event was near identical to both Hubbell/Donohue and Stepanova/Bukin, and not to count them out. They've always been a couple with potential but it's really astonishing to see how far they've come, both in terms of actual skating and competitive mettle. Even hanging on through a slight loss of balance in their opening straight line lift. There is some great choreo through the first section (except okay why does Nikita stick his head in Vika's back while she flourishes her arms beautifully? the world may never know) if not the most exciting music choice. The last minute really picks up with some wild chaos in a way that makes us kind of wish the whole program was like that. Last season’s free dance was probably the best one of their partnership, but you know what, they fully commit to this program and it’s great to see them skating so well and looking happy with their performances.

Much like in the rhythm dance, we were eager to see the changes Hubbell/Donohue made to the free dance, and there certainly were changes. We're not quite sure how to feel about them yet simply because the program feels unfinished, in an inbetween stage. It's like the skating equivalent of a molting chicken. We think the more dramatic O, Verona piece is much better suited to their powerful skating, but you can definitely feel that the program has been hastily reworked. With the new more dramatic opening, we'd think a more climactic finish would tie things together and give the piece a stronger, defined storyline and emotional progression. As it is currently, it feels somewhat unfocused and meandering. Their basic skating quality is undeniably top notch, however, and they sold the program from the start.

As we may have mentioned the result here didn't surprise us, but what did was just how genuinely thrilled we were for Guignard/Fabbri. They've been dismissed and overlooked and underestimated for so long and have worked so hard for this result, and we couldn't be happier for them. We genuinely like this free dance too. It feels like a throwback in the best possible way, and the upbeat dancey section in the middle is so charming and refreshing. In an era where some argue that there's not enough acrobatic, obvious difficulty in lifts, Guignard/Fabbri give you no cause to complain, and just assume that we're always raving about their twizzle entry.

So this weekend generated some controversy as you have probably noticed! Honestly we're not sure we feel like bothering getting into it that much again. The new system has done Things to scoring! Some of them good, several bad, and some of them five point knee slides, which is to say ???!?!?!?? Time will tell as to how many of these actually last more than a season. We're just really not sure what more there is to say about it at this point. We are as always interested to see where ice dance goes from here, and what changes are made after this season, but also what happens at worlds where we suspect those levels will make or break it for several teams.

For the record, we don't actually think that Gadbois has some sort of strategy where they're purposefully ignoring levels. No coaching group has exactly been crushing it and Gadbois has always been a little stronger at picking up GOE than BV. With the upping of requirements for levels combined with smaller differences in levels and the new GOE system, it's led to this result. And the teams this weekend generally didn't bring their best tech, regardless of coaching group. One reason it would be foolish to ignore levels is that it's very easy for a level 1 on the pattern to turn into a Basic call, which is killer as Stepanova/Bukin learned. It's something a top team can get away with in weaker fields, sure, but if Hubbell/Donohue had gotten a B instead of a level 1 on the second half of their pattern, they could have been in big trouble. Stepanova/Bukin and Hubbell/Donohue both hit three key points and missed five, but missing all four on one side hurt Stepanova/Bukin more. Final standings could have looked different just changing a level or two rendering them Still Important, particularly in close fields, no matter the scoring.

We have expressed numerous objections to the scoring system this season, but we feel obligated to point out that while the champions winning with the lowest BV is less than ideal, the difference was three points. If you don't think a world medalist team would have been able to overcome a three point BV difference on the strength of their GOE and PCS in previous seasons, we have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Additionally, while we can't say that Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is one of our favorites of this season, or even this field, it's a position we're so often in that it doesn't even register at this point. Our tastes in programs and teams often run against the more popular opinions, if we declared a result illegitimate because we didn't personally care for a program, we'd have to throw out a lot of competitions. We're extremely used to analyzing and praising the strengths of teams and programs we'd cheerfully never watch again for the rest of our lives.