Figure Skating

[Libby]

The World championships are going on now. There are some winners already, of course. I will be somewhat absent on Facebook again to avoid spoilage. LOL I will hopefully be revealing my other favorite ice dance pair soon after. They're not likely to win, but they have a chance at a medal, maybe. But anyway, I won't be posting here again till Sunday or Monday.

[Libby]

Never mind about not posting till tomorrow. There's only one event left, and the news hasn't been broadcasted so much as the Olympics were, so I haven't really had anything spoiled. So I didn't avoid FB as much as I thought I would.

For one thing, I had to share this video. This is Jeremy Abbott, a 4 time US National champion. He's a wonderful men's skater, known for his beautiful programs, often choreographed in part by himself. He has had a lot of problems with consistency in the past few years. He didn't even make it to Worlds last year, so it was that much more exciting when he not only won Nationals for the last time, he also made it to the Olympics. Unfortunately, at the Olympics, he made costly mistakes in both the team event and singles, so he only placed 12th overall. However, here at the Worlds in Saitama, Japan, he performed beautifully in the free skate, moving him up from 8th to 5th place. But since it was his last competition, the placement wasn't really that important. The Japanese skating fans adore Jeremy, and I think that helped him a lot here.

Skating exquisitely to Muse's Exogenesis Symphony, Redemption, here is Jeremy Abbott:



And for good measure, here is his program to Bring Him Home. He skated to this in competition last season, and has used Alfie Boe's version in exhibition. Again, exquisite choreography:

[Joe]

Hi Libby,

Many thanks for posting the skating vids from worlds, there is virtually no coverage anywhere.

How https://i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifo you feel about the "running technical score" on-screen during the routine?  NBC also had used it.   I found myself watching those numbers after a huge jump etc.   mixed feeling for me.

  

[Libby]

I've learned to ignore it, but I agree it's distracting. I don't really understand it enough for it to mean anything. I guess if you see what the bottom number says at the end of their program, you can see whether the skater is likely to move ahead of the current leader or not. But I'd rather it be more of a surprise.

[Libby]

I'm ready to post about my other favorite ice dancers, but it appears I have lost my main audience, for the time being, anyway. So, not sure whether to bother.

[Libby]

Okay, at last, here are my other favorite ice dancers. They are Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje of Canada. Kaitlyn is actually American, originally from Houston, Texas. She moved to Canada to train with Andrew in 2006, after a trial training session of course. In order to be eligible for the 2010 Olympics, Kaitlyn obtained her Canadian citizenship in 2009 (this is a very common occurrence in the ice dancing/pairs world). However, back then, only 2 Canadian ice dance couples could be sent to the Olympics, and Kaitlyn & Andrew missed the 2nd spot by a very slim margin. They (especially Kaitlyn) were devastated, and have worked very hard ever since. They went on to win the 2010 Four Continents championships. Then, they went from placing 18th at the 2008 Worlds, to not going at all in 2009 or 2010, to getting 5th place at 2011 Worlds! They then got 4th the next season, with the routine that really got them noticed (which I'm about to post below). The next season, on the very bad day of December 14, 2012 (same day as the elementary school shooting in Connecticut), Kaitlyn broke a bone just above her ankle. It was very upsetting for her. However, miraculously, through intensive rehabilitation, Kailtyn was healed enough just in time to make it to the 2013 Worlds, and they finished 5th!

This year, they finally made it to the Olympics, and placed 7th. Then, at the Worlds in Saitama, Japan, in the absence of Meryl & Charlie and Tessa & Scott (as well as slight failures of other teams), Kaitlyn & Andrew won the silver medal, missing the gold by a mere .02 points!!! They almost won! I think they will win one of these years, too!

Okay, enough stories.

First, here is the wonderful free dance that made me a fan, from the 2012 Worlds in Nice, France. The song, Je Suis Malade by Lara Fabian, was actually a request made by a fan on their website! How great is that!





Now, here is their beautiful, silver medal-winning free dance to the operetta, Maria de Buenos Aires at this year's Worlds:

[Jillian]

Hi Libby,

I love Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. I've started following them on Twitter and they seem really nice! Great dancers too.

I really like their performance to 'Shake it Out' by Florence and the Machine for Canada's Stars on Ice. Starts at 13 minutes and 9 seconds in (just in case the video doesn't automatically jump forward).

[Libby]

Great! I'm glad you like them! And anything you've seen I've most likely already seen, too. And I already knew about the 13 minutes thing. Plus, I saw the whole show on CBC last year when it aired.

And yes! Shake it Out is one of my favorites. I watched them perform it live at Skate America 2012 (same event I saw Meryl & Charlie do their Notre Dame de Paris & Giselle programs).

Also, if you're interested, I recommend watching the videos I posted of Jeremy Abbott, the 4 time US men's champion. His choreography is always so perfect.

Plus, in case you haven't seen it yet, here's Kaitlyn & Andrew's beautiful free dance from last season. This is when Kaitlyn was miraculously recovered just barely in time to train for Worlds 2013, because of her broken fibula. They not only came back, but got 5th place, only one placement below from the previous year. This is "Humanity in Motion", a contemporary dance to music from Legion of Xtreme Dancers. Kaitlyn is supposed to be a statue that temporarily comes to life, and Andrew is the sculptor, of course.

[Jillian]

We'll probably hear more from Weaver and Poje over the next year. Just saw that Virtue and Moir have confirmed that they won't be competing 'in this calendar year' and have booked themselves up with various skating shows -- so it seems that the focus may now be on Weaver and Poje in Canada.

I'm quite sad that I just came in at the end of Virtue and Moir's career. Although, I do hope that they become a bit like Jeffrey Buttle -- doing a heap of professional shows so everyone can still see them skate. I wonder if they might, as they are crowd favourites and seem to really enjoy doing shows.

I'm also wondering what Charlie and Meryl will do next. I think a bit of that depends on the outcome of DWTS -- I really do think that Meryl has an excellent chance of winning it.

[Libby]

Haha, I've been hearing about them for some time now. LOL But I know what you mean. You'll probably think this is mean, but I'm rejoicing that Tessa & Scott are not competing, and I hope they don't come back, either. I even think it would be silly for Meryl & Charlie to come back. I don't think they will, either, especially since they aren't bitter like certain other people are. I think those people should get over it, realize how well they've actually done, and move on. Olympic champions, especially ones who have won Olympic medals before, don't often go on for years, and most reasonable fans don't expect skaters to go on forever. It's not as if they have anything more to prove. It's time to let other dancers have their time to shine, and I think it's Weaver & Poje's turn.

Here's another absolutely gorgeous program by Kaitlyn & Andrew. I've mentioned somewhere before that Meryl & Charlie's gala programs mostly bore me. However, I always find K & A's programs beautiful, touching, fun, etc. I've never been bored with a single one of them, least of all this one. Oh, they skated to Josh & Charlotte's The Prayer before, but there aren't any good videos of it.

This is Vole by Celine Dion. I get chills everytime, and for some reason, that child crying out in the middle of it adds to it and gives me even more chills. Well, it sounds like it's about a child "fly, fly, my little wing?", so I think maybe it is.



Andrew actually lost his grandmother that year, but I'm not sure if this program was before or after that. It may actually be a coincidence that they skated to the song.

[Jillian]

Another dance I love is Nikita Katsalapov and Elena Ilinykh's 2014 short dance.



It's been quite interesting following them since their split and the resultant Russian 'partner swap' between Elena Ilynikh/ Nikita Katsalapov/ Ruslan Zhiganshin/ Victoria Sinitsina. (For those that don't know, the two top Russian ice dance pairs split and then swapped partners).

I honestly can't wait to see how the two new teams go at their next competition. There'll be some real competition there for sure. I also am really interested to find out what caused the split -- although I do get the impression that Elena and Nikitta didn't like each other very much in the end.

Things must have been pretty bad by the 2014 Worlds, because Nikita Katsalapov had a total meltdown during the twizzles at 3:29.



Some photos have turned up of Elena and her new partner Ruslan Zhiganshin. But I haven't seen any of Nikita and Victoria yet.

[Libby]

How did you get to be such an expert on skating all of a sudden? i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif You're talking as if you've been watching for years! And I thought you were new to the sport!

I'm just hoping the new partnerships work in K & A's favor. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Then all we'll have to worry about is the Italians. And since K & A only lost to them by .02 points, it shouldn't be a problem!

[Jillian]

I've been doing my homework, Libby! ha ha ha ha Seriously, you got me hooked!

[Libby]

Good, then I have some more "homework" for you. LOL Your assignment for today is to watch the 2 videos of Jeremy Abbott I posted above. LOL The 2nd post from the top.

P.S. In particular, in the first video, my favorite moment in the program is at 5:10-12, and the very Jeremy-literate Japanese audience applaud, and it gives me chills (it does anyway).

[Libby]

I just wanted to share this video with you all, particularly the British members. Penny Coomes & Nick Buckland, your ice dancing team, just won their first medal on the Grand Prix series, a bronze at the Rostelcom Cup in Russia! I really enjoyed their free dance to selections from Muse's (Exogenesis Symphony, I'm pretty sure), with a butterfly theme. Wonderful lifts!