Ravensburger Waltz
Evening Note:
So here's the upshot. I've been working on this blog entry about half the day. There are still bits missing and I'm beat. This was a day from hell... the one where you find out that someone from Lower Slobovia has been using your debit card since November and has stolen $611.23 cents from you and then you have to chase around and do all the identity theft things... Yeah, THAT kind of day!
Not to mention I have TWO, count 'em, TWO work days when I am not volunteering and not doing the insane amount of laundry, dishes and housework this place seems to require just to stay marginally sanitary. And yes, THIS wasn't one of my two work days. I spent it making phone calls and filing reports instead of working.
Tonight, I have added links to several videos. Video links are beside each team's names. Eventually, I'll have links to almost everyone from Belbin and Agosto onward. Tonight, I'm just uploading the important ones from the top performers, because then I am going to go to bed and leave this miserable day behind me. Look later tomorrow for other videos.
These video files are upwards of 15MB each. You need broadband (cable/DSL/T1)to download them. For some reason, they do not play on Macs. Before anyone howls about that, please realize that my primary machine IS a Mac and if I COULD make the files work in RealPlayer for the Mac, I would.
(edited: 25 Sept 0-6. I have found videos of some of these skaters on YouTube and as long as they stay there, the links will work. They now play on the Mac.)
Standings thus far:
1 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON CAN 38.31 Video
him short black tails with white trim Her: silver chiffon with Ginger Rogers scarf (nice touch) but this costume is too see through for my tastes.
nice speed. clean feet. nice swingy swings. nice TW. far apart on MH nice even chasses. so so unison in back half. nice waltz ending. They had decent character. GOSH, their feet are CLEAN.... not even a hint of spray. His turns are also rather neat (though he doesn't get much to do in this one).
He looks like the love child of Brad Paisley and Orlando Bloom.
18.93 + 19.38 = 38.31
2 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 37.30 Video
Him: LONG black tails. Her pink sequins and chiffon knee length dress with some pathetic ostrich feathery crap.
nice waltz opening. low swings not swingy okay TW far apart in MH even high chasses pattern a weird shape across the back. her TW is just weird to me... awkward. better TW in the L3 it may be that their lobes are deeper because they skate faster and cover the ice better. One thing it's really hard to tell on TV or webcast is if they are getting good ice coverage and if they have nice deep lobes. Replay shows he slipped behind one of her TW.
He thinks they did a good job. I'm not so impressed.
18.35 + 18.95 = 37.30
3 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 34.77 3 Video
Him short black tails her: white dress w/ sheer handkerchief skirt
far apart MH, uneasy chasses wild swings on swingy part TW are okay. They are pushing and you can tell. They don't have much character to speak of. In replay their edges are kind of wobbly and they throw a fair amount of ice spray. He has a REALLY bad colorist... very cheesy looking stripes in his hair. Hers looks great.
Ah, Zhenya Platov in the K&C is as hot as ever. Some guys age and get un sexy (like Sasha Zhulin) other guys age and just get hotter. And Zhenya's old enough to drool over and not feel guilty. Unfortunately, Z's hairline is receding. I suppose all good things must come to an end.
17.14 + 17.63 = 34.77
4 Anastasia GREBENKINA / Vazgen AZROJAN ARM 25.17
Begin live coverage...
5 Olga AKIMOVA / Alexander SHAKALOV UZB 23.67
I thought the UZB were better than they got credit for. They had clean feet, good unison and good speed, half decent character... I guess "skating while Uzbecki" is like "skating while Polish." not a good thing.
6 Alexandra KAUC / Michal ZYCH POL
him: long tails her: light yellow lace strapless w/ illusion dress with criss crossy back fading to white at knee length hem
a Gidget sort of cute opener. nice unison on 1st lobe swings, nice and close on center mohawk. eh unison on the back half. decent TW. he has high, even chasses on lobe 3. a bit uncontrolled on the back half. They are PUSHING and you can tell. Their edges weren't hugely deep, but they are pleasant dancers. He's ADORABLE.
15.09 + 11.73 = 26.82
7 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
him: long tails. Her: backless black halter dress with black sequins and cow patches on sides
not very waltzy opener. low swings on 1st lobe. hard to see if close on center mohawk, camera angle sucks. swings are wild. TW okay. his chasses are AWFUL on L3, irregular and trippy. everything about this couple is irregular. Sometimes they swing at this height, sometimes they swing at that height. They are very imprecise. They throw a fair amount of snow from the blade. Her skirt is too heavy for waltz. Their hydroblade closer was kind of pathetic. If you can't hydro... DON'T.
Gosh, he looks like Elijah Wood with hair.
16.78 + 15.82 = 32.60
AH, they are not being held up like they were at the Olympics.
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
him: long black tails and huge white ruffle down front and cuffs shirt. her: nice pink satinish and chiffon dress with handkerchief ends of her sleeves. nice costumes.
not very swings swings L1. far apart on mohowk L2. not great unison on back part. chasses that aren't on L3. her Tws are merely okay. a so so dance all the way through. Was this a waltz? Do they have a clue HOW to waltz?
14.30 + 11.41 = 25.71
They were ABOVE the Uzbeckis? Sheesh.
9 Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND AUS
him long black tails, her Pink sequined dress with satin hankerchief skirt
not so great swings of different heights, icky half-hopped TW. uneven chasses on him. poor unison in the back section. she doesn't point her toes at all. she's pulling him and his tails are a real distraction. They have no waltz character to speak of.
He looks like Jerry Louis.
12.32 + 9.09 = 21.41
I am having some bad buffering problems, so I'll probably miss the Munana's for now. I'll try to go back and get them from Russian TV... if the Russians show them.
10 Laura MUNANA / Luke MUNANA MEX
him: short black tails her: teal waltz chiffon with tea length skirt
Russian TV joins the CD live in progress.
Warm-Up Group 3
11 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN
Chacked...
15.30 + 13.17 = 28.47
12 Nora HOFFMANN / Attila ELEK HUN
White dress with uneven deep V neck and black boa around the longer skirt
15.16 + 13.31 = 28.47
Chacked...
She is happy to be in 6th.
13 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA Video
him: long black tails her: white lace dress fading to light blue
nice opener. nice swings. nice and close MH. nice unison in the back half. nice TW L1. nice even chasses from him. good speed. very good character. replay shows a good bit of ice spray on every stroke. Hate to say it, but I'd put them behind Dubreuil. Their character was better, but D&L were more precise.
18.55 + 19.04 = 37.59
14 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS Video
him: long black tails her: bright pink not waltz dress...
And unfortunately, I MUST go get the kids at school. I am recording this from webcast, so when I get home, I'll fill in...
Please come back later and look.
15 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR Video
Warm-Up Group 4
16 Elena ROMANOVSKAYA / Alexander GRACHEV RUS Video
17 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE Video
18 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR Video
19 Kamila HAJKOVA / David VINCOUR CZE Video
20 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR Video
I'm back live now. I'll be filling in Group 4 from recording later.
Warm-Up Group 5
21 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA Video
Him: long black tails Her: turquoise dress with the "wrap me in ribbon and pretend I'm not naked" bodice and the diagonal chiffon skirt that is too pouffy.
awful opening. nice swings, even and swingy. did she TW? nice MH close together HUGE chasses, uneven. okay back section. NICE TW so fast I missed it. they are pushing. or she is. he trails. in replay, he jumps his turns and they both spray a LOT of ice. She needs braces (I'm so American sometimes). He doesn't need anything except maybe the key to my room. Tssssst! Hot hot hot!
15.75 + 13.56 = 29.31
22 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS Video
White on white in white. IE Attack of the Good Humor Man and the Ice Cream Woman.... too bad, cause I like Shabby and the chick he skates with. She has bleached her hair very light... platinum. might even look good on her. Unwaltzy dress!
nice swings and good TW good MH lovely chasses. okay back half. Nice speed but pushing in the second round. They are spraying ice going into the third turn, especially him. I think he slipped a bit. She tripped some on one of her TW too. In the K&C she is not looking happy. They made mistakes.
17.04 + 17.04 = 34.11
And get held up.
23 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR Video
black pants and white shirt with BIG shoulder pads. Her white lace dress with deep diagonal V and half GR scarf. On half of her dress is lacey seashells and she looks half naked.
First round was nice, swingy swings, decent TW, sos so MH. eh chasses. spraying ice into the 3rd corner. awkward on the back half. Second round was slower, even less precise. Nothing to write home about.
14.94 + 11.09 = 26.03
The coaches look really disappointed but the team doesn't much.
24 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU Video
Him: black pants and draw green renassance vest with split in the back, white shirt. White lace crop top and odd gored knee length skirt Kind of renaissance feeling... kinda ... I like ti but damned if I can say WHAT it is.
nice swings. bobble on the TW. okay MH uneven chasses. nice 3rd corner. okay back half. losing character in the second round. very good speed though and not visibly pushing. They do look a TAD off balance. ON reply, they hop their turns and vary from a tiny bit to quite a bit of ice spray.
Maybe ahead of BelAgo but behind DubLau
17.89 + 18.63 = 36.52 In 4th... maybe that's right.
WAY behind BelAgo
25 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN Video
Him: black pants cream shirt. Her: gold dress that looks MUCH better in person. I love how her dress moves. It looks very waltzy in person.
okay swings okay TW slow center pretty clean feet in 3rd corner. bobble on TW in L1 round 2. uneven chasses. poor unison on back half.
They close up on Megan in a replay. Did Aaron have his teeth "done" they look chickletty...
17.05 + 15.85 = 32.90
Warm-Up Group 6
26 Alisa ALLAPACH / Peter KONGKASEM THA Video
Him: black long tails. Her Wine Red dress, backless, strapless w/illusion and deep v nice skirt though.
hopped poor swings, nice MH though close. uneven chasses. wobbly 3rd corner turns. eh TW. so so L3 TW. poor unison on the back half. Not awful character.
I LOVE her dress and she's a real doll... simply adorable... and the color was great on her... but they were pretty bad. They aren't Transplanted Americans, are they? He looks a lot like a friend of mine from college who wasn't from Thailand.
12.36 + 8.86 = 21.22
She's not too happy, but he's clapping and smiling... "we're just happy to be here" kind of thing. Good sport he is. Good sport.
27 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVISKI BUL Video
The green and purple nightmare again!
Now... i MUST remember to watch her TW... otherwise I'll just watch him.
nice swings nice MH. okay chasse. slip going into 3rd corner okay back half. nice TW trip coming out? another trip in the 3rd corner?? They have great speed and pretty nice waltz character... but it offends my sense of propriety to dress a stud like him (short though he may be) in a frou-frou outfit like that. She jumps her turns a little bit too and they spray a lot of ice.
I'd put them above DroVan and below BelAgo... above DelSho? Maybe... six of one half doz f another.
19.17 + 19.29 = 38.46
In first? I would NOT have put them in first. No way. Period. 3rd, maybe. But not first.
28 Morgan MATTHEWS / Maxim ZAVOZIN USA Video
black pants and smoking jacket. her pink satinish tip and chiffon skirt with darker underskirt.
low un-unison swings slow across the ice. not great coverage/ poor unison on back half. poor unison on swings. icky TW. barely there chasses but nice and even. in replay, lots of ice spray in some moves, almost none in others... that's better.
She's too tall for him and their swings are never going to match in this dance. This is exactly the problem Ben yammers about DelScho (he's too tall for her they never match, wrong lines). She has TOO MUCH bronzer!!! He has too little. Looks pasty.
15.43 + 13.66 = 29.09
A good start for them at their first worlds!
29 Melissa GREGORY / Denis PETUKHOV USA Video
Him: black long tails. her: white with ostrich and low back. I found his tails distracting
nice TW eh MH. nice chasse. smooth C3. not great back half. swings don't swing much no character to speak of. but nice TW. better coverage this round. They actually gained speed into the second round. Showy ending, very traditional waltz. They had a bobble in the 4th corner, she trips slightly. He needs to bleach his roots.
16.85 + 15.52 = 32.37 in 10th so likely a top 10 finish for them in the CD.
30 Christina BEIER / William BEIER Video
black bolero jacket white shirt. her: black halter dress with pink under skirt VERY NICE.
I tend to like this team better than the judges.
nice opener. so so TW. okay MH ick chassee. okay 3C. so so back ha;f. slowing. poor TW slow in L1. slow TW in L3 too. slip in L4? This team is slow and they don't cover much ice. They do have a nice waltz quality even if they don't get the rise and fall quite right. Their steps are hoppy, but their blades are clean. They don't throw a lot of spray.
He's a cutie and she has no eyebrows!
15.97 + 13.70 = 29.67 (13th)
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