going back into the archives but how was papadakis/cizeron's 2018-2019 free dance rotational lift a level 4?? she's just clinging to him the whole time like a baby
Q #192:
Hi anon,
Sorry for the delay typed this all out and then forgot to save as a draft 🫡. Rotational lifts are judged differently than the other three categories where the lifter rotating 6 times essentially acts as one of the difficult features and then 2 extra features are necessary for level 4.
P/C opted for the option 2 without Gabi doing a difficult position or change of pose and relied on an exit feature and a rotational lift extra feature.
In this case the RoLi specific extra feature is Gui completing a rotation on one foot, and their exit feature is the sbs spread eagles. IMO I would’ve liked to see an additional linking step like a twizzle or C-step. You could also make a case for the jump being a significant transitional movement I guess but to me it doesn’t meet that threshold. Theoretically this lift could be attempted as a one-arm RoLi as Gabi is actually the one lifting herself the majority of the rotations but Gui would not be allowed to grab her at any point on the entrance or exit which he does in this version of the lift.
In either case, they don’t have to attempt a lift where Gabi’s position qualifies as difficult, and that’s why you see a lot of teams opt for more basic carry style rotational lifts where they won’t in a curve or stationary.
Hope this helps!
