2018 Olympics Ice Dance Event Rewatch
As mentioned before, I spent my current sick leave watching some skating, and specfically I watched the 2018 Olympics SD & FD events (top 10 only) and I was honestly really surprised by how different ice dance look now, and for the most part not for the better. Some of the takeaways were about specific teams and some about the programs and structure of the programs, and just how much ice dance is suffering from the new outline of elements.
Breaking down the FD for example:
2018: includes 9 elements - twizzles, 3 lifts (one can be combo), 2 step sequences, spin, 2 choreographic elements.
2025: includes 10 elements - twizzles, 3 lifts (one can be combo), 2 step sequences but one has to be a one-foot, spin, 3 choreographic elements (inc. the intoduction of assisted jumps and choregraphic steps).
On paper, it doesn't sound like a major change, however imo it resulted in FDs that are much less musical and fluid and much more structured and repatative and you can clearly see that start and finish point of each element and the transition between them. You can clearly see when a team is setting up a one-foot sequence or when they are stopping in order to start a character step sequence. There's no real flow anymore and no real way to effectively structure a free dance (even a good one). Watching some of the FDs in 2018, while not all were as well crafted, it did feel like the flow made much more sense, and the choreography and transitions (also something that we see very little of now) felt more cohesive. I also attribute it to not being able to stop during the FD for the most part, in retrospect, adding the ability to stop mid-program also hurts the flow.
In the RD it's overall slightly less noticeable since we still have 5 elements, the midline, lift, and twizzles remain the same, the partial step sequence is mostly the same, and of course, we lost the pattern for the weird character rhythm steps. The last change is the most crucial one, as we went from all teams doing the same element and needing to hit their edges to get the levels and be compared apples to apples, to a level 1 element with massive GOE potential. That part alone is catastrophic and results in the veteran teams scoring big in the RD for no good reason whatsoever.
When it comes to the skaters, things are more complex. Overall, to my surprise, I think that for the most part, the basic skating level of 2025 worlds top 10 is higher than the level of the top 10 at 2018 Olympics, outside of the top 4 at both. It was surprising to watch teams like C/L, B/S, W/P, and G/P back then and realize that they were worse than I remembered. C/L were a team I adored (and still do), but they were running on ice and generating all of their speed with their toepeaks, B/S were given horrible programs from Zhulin, and in general looked worse than a team that finished 12th at this year's worlds. W/P looked sloppy and outdated, their twizzles were messy, and their overall basics weren't even at the level of a young team like current L/L. I truly didn't remember how kind of bad they were? Obviously though, the top 4 were a different story and were, for the most part, much better than the current top 4 in almost every parameter.
Having rewatched the programs, the first thing that stood out for me was how shameful the scoring in the SD was. With all of my sympathy to Gabi's costume malfunction, P/C's last three elements deserved +1 GOE at best, yet some of the judges gave them +2 and even +3. Their twizzles were A MESS, they nearly collided and Gabi was wobbly, yet three judges gave them +3 and the rest +2, they botched the end of their partial step sequence, yet six (!!!) judges gave them +3 and the rest +2 (for reference Tessa and Scott nailed theirs and got only one more +3 compared to P/C), and Gabi nearly feel in the lift yet six judges once again gave them +3. P/C had visible errors that were noticeable even to an untrained eye, and they should have scored 76 at best, them getting almost 82 for the very messy SD they had and outscore Tessa and Scott in PCS remains one of the most shameful political scoring I've seen.
But focusing on the positive, both SD and FD from Tessa and Scott were in a league of their own. Yes, I have a bias for sure, but I'm not talking about their execution of it. The amount of transitions and lack of crossovers is what really stood out for me. When you watch Moulin Rouge, if you are highly familiar with ice dance, you'll be able to break it to its elements, but for a general viewer, it's much harder. They set the tone from the first second, their stationary lift is complex with super difficult entry and exit, and for the most par,t if doesn't even feel like a lift. It's theatrical, and on the music, and by the time they finish their twizzles, perfectly on the correct note in the music, the entire theme of the program has been set. They move from element to element easily and with flow, they don't stop (aside from in the spin), and they have so many transitions you can barely find the elements.
And lastly, it's their close hold for me. In both the SD and the FD they skate so close to each other that I was legit shocked to see it. I got so used to skaters not being able to skate so close to each other that I forgot it's possible. I don't think I've ever seen any team that skates as close to each other as they did. There are many things I'd like to see come back to ice dance, and close hold is right there in the top 3.
The changes that have been made to ice dance are bad for the sport, though the skating level of the young teams only increases (so we can only imagine how good they can be while skating in close hold and with patterns and fewer choreographic elements). Oh, and Tess and Scott are by far the GOATs.
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