For any Yuzu fans heading to 4CC I have some stickers and buttons with me, I’ll likely arrive sometime for ladies practice this morning but will definitely be there for the ladies and men SP later today so send me a message if you’d like one.
In which nothing went as expected and your exhausted mods got a jolt of energy. The tech panel giveth and the tech panel taketh away.
Before we get into the dramas of the top teams, we'd like to give a couple shout outs to some of the teams that wound up in the bottom half. China's dance program is really picking up, with not only fan favorites Wang/Liu, but also their teammates Chen/Sun and Ning/Wang making huge strides over just this season. You can see the inexperience of both, but Chen/Sun scored extremely well, and Ning/Wang show a lot of potential as well, with her in particular giving good face.
We also want to tip our hats to Andrew Dodds and his ridiculous schedule, competing all four days of 4CC and setting all new personal bests in both singles and dance. Kerry/Dodds have progressed a lot in what is just their second season together, and we hope they continue to work hard in the future. You can see the newness in the transitions in and out of lifts, or how they don't yet have an automatic feel for where the other is on the ice, but you can see the potential. As ice dance lovers first and foremost, selfishly we sort of hope Andrew decides to focus on dance, but regardless he should feel very proud of what he accomplished here, and of course Chantelle should as well.
Komatsubara/Koleto are doing well for themselves as Japan's top dance team, with lovely chemistry and a strong sense of partnering. They'll want to improve on their tech to achieve new personal bests at their worlds debut at home but they’ve shown great progress this season. Their free dance in particular, taking us from sighing over Love Story’s warhorse status in skating to oh but a beautiful program!
In the battle of US #3 and Canadian #3, Hawayek/Baker came out on top, but it was close, and the Canadanes will have the opportunity for a rematch at worlds.
Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen had a good international(and 4CC of course!) debut as Canadians, particularly in the rhythm dance where we thought they could have stood to place fifth by a hair. This program is such a good match for them and their skating, sleek and elegant and showing off their great chemistry. They have a fantastic lift entry to the twizzles and still end up so close together it would be frightening if they weren't so in control. They had some bobbles in their flamenco free dance, and honestly we think we preferred the original incarnation, but it was still a good performance. They have fantastic detail and maturity in their skating, great expression, and skirt action galore. She slipped on the otherwise excellent choreographic slide, and in general it wasn't perfect, but they should feel very good about their reception by the judges.
Reigning 4CC champions Hawayek/Baker had little hope of even medaling, much less defending their title, but they had two strong performances and personal best scores. They'll really want to strengthen their technical performance for worlds, particularly in the rhythm dance. They have great projection and emotion in their skating which contributes to their high PCS, but it's going to be a tight fight for the top ten at worlds and they can't afford to give up points if they want to continue to make their mark. Since moving to Gadbois they've noticeably improved their twizzles, and they have more power to their skating, which enhances the maturity they had already spent the last quad in the senior ranks cultivating. It's clear from the scoring here that the judges like them and their programs, and if they can hit their levels in the final competition of the season, they can go a long way.
Gilles/Poirier beat Weaver/Poje in the free dance for the second competition in a row, but the rhythm dance had them behind(also for the second competition in a row) even if they hadn't received that lift deduction in the free. They're getting closer though, and they should be especially happy with their 2nd place PCS in the FD. They had their best tango performance of the season here while maintaining their usual distinctive flair. Even when they're being fairly normal, everything they do feels unique. They have such beautiful shaping and interesting, complex transitions in their programs, and they really tell a story. Never more true than in their Vincent FD, drawing on all their strengths as a team and building on so many daring and innovative programs in their repertoire.
Weaver/Poje's rhythm dance might be slightly too soft for our personal tastes, but it's undeniable that it's perfect for them. They have a mature, romantic connection, and one of the best integrated patterns of the field. They might have even beaten Chock/Bates in that segment had it not been for a bobble on the twizzles. Their twizzles have long been a bit of an issue for them, easily their weakest element, and lag behind the rest of the field. Even so, they're difficult and well placed to the music in both programs. They'll want to earn a little more GOE in the elements of their emotional free dance, as Gilles/Poirier beat them in TES while having a lower base value. But this is one of their best free dances, drawing out every bit of emotion and ending on three strong choreo elements, so it will be interesting to see how things stack up next month at Worlds.
Chock/Bates continued their comeback trail with first a fantastic rhythm dance with both great tech(highest of the event!) and performance. We really enjoy this tango on them, and they absolutely nail this style. With tons of expression and detailed choreography, they keep your attention all the way through their ending, eye catching rotational lift. We'll admit to some, ah, slight skepticism when it was announced in the fall that they would be skating an Elvis free dance, but they just keeping getting better with each performance. Their performance was engaging and confident, and this is just a really nice program. The choreography is full of great moments, including little details like Evan booping her nose, and who can forget those lifts? Even as remarkably well-trained as they are for missing ten months, there's still room to grow in the weeks before worlds. They could use a little more speed in the final minute, and to smooth out the transitions of their stunning choreographic lift. If they can tighten up those details while continuing to deliver compelling performances like the ones they had this weekend, they have every chance of earning their third world medal in Saitama.
Chock/Bates’ serpentine lift was initially mistakenly entered into the system as just a curve lift, causing your mods some mini heart attacks as their TES hovered at a dangerously low 63 before jumping up seven points. The release of that dramatic tension turned out to be foreshadowing as the exact opposite thing happened to their rivals Hubbell/Donohue. When watching live we vaguely noticed that their now infamous stationary lift needed a passport, but we were worn out after a long week of competition and assumed that it was fine. Turns out it was very much Not Fine! Even the lift aside, they seemed tight and had some bobbles, and their free dance in general is just not suited to them. Their quality of skating is as high as it's always been, but the program is not constructed in a way that best shows off their power, flow, or edges, and it may be a matter of personal taste, but Kissing You kind of drags on into an eternal saccharine dirge. We were genuinely surprised when we checked the timestamps and discovered that Kissing You really only lasts half the program, where we would have guessed closer to three quarters. It's kind of a sad, deflating balloon of a second half and just doesn't go anywhere. Their rhythm dance is better for them, but they had more struggles on the levels of their step sequences there than they did in the free dance.
We've seen some conspiracy theories regarding Hubbell/Donohue's calls here(a number of them involving Jonathan Guerreiro's mother for reasons that have not been adequately explained to us?) but not only were their calls fair, if anything they were kind. We've gone over that first lift, and the tech panel would have been within their rights to call it as a combination Stationary B + Rotational B lift, which would have murdered their score dead. And they received a rare level 4 on the midline step sequence for the first time this season, and while that was understandably overshadowed by the uh, rest of the protocol, that's a great achievement and one they should feel proud of. A bigger concern for us is their spin levels. They got a level 2 call at GPF, and have at competitions in the past, such as Nationals last season. It looks to us like they tend to rush their positions and are a little sloppy getting in and out of them, so they're falling just short of the needed rotations. Zach's camel position in particular looks a little iffy to us, and his lack of stability there could be what's costing them. Even if they had gotten their lift levels, that spin would have had them in second place, so it's not a mistake they can afford to make again at Worlds, where the scores will be tight through a good portion of the top ten. As unpleasant as this no doubt was for them, they have every opportunity to fix these errors, skate lights out at Worlds, and earn their second world medal. While our personal opinions of their programs are lukewarm at best, and we don't think are showing off their skills to the best effect, they still are fantastic skaters who will have a fire lit under them after this disappointing result.
