Lalique 2000

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Saturday November 24th

Dance Free Dance
Group 1:

This first group was boring, and I don't think any of these skaters can make a world final one day or another. The japanese did ok with their flamenco, but they lack speed and difficulty.
The french did last years free program, but I don't understand how on earth they got Lalique AND NHK. They should belong to minor competitions IMO. I know some judges went to talk to Muriel about them and told her they should not come to any GP next year since they don't have it AT ALL.
The italians have the it factor, but it still doesn't show in their skating. They did "Blues for clock" at the beginning. I preferred them to the french thought they don't have their difficulties yet.
The chinese did a waltz medley, and have improved since last year but are lacking something. Boring all along.

Group 2:
All skaters except the french had red costumes!!!
1. Wing & Lowe - CAN
Skated to Ameno by Era. Their program highlights their strengh: Line, extensions and edges. But they lacked speed and lifts, and it was a bit monotonous by the end.. Olivier Chapuis, who was skated next to me, told me he thinks they are better than Dubreuil and Lauzon in the free dance because D&L don't have those smooth and nice edges.
2. The brits
I hated their program, as well as Olivier. She is such a good skater it is painful to watch her skate with him. They lack speed, consistancy in their footwork and lifts.
3. The Hugentoblers - SWI
They did West Side Story, but I hated their program too. Nothing difficult at all in this dance, and she does nothing at all. He pushes the expression too much. Should have been behind the canadians but ice dance is ice dance!
4. Delobel & Schoenfelder - FRA
They rocked the place, and skated the program at 150% of what they've done in practice. Great program, with great lifts and innovations, their step sequences is the best I've seen so far this season, they twizzle a lot. They lack at least one lift to be a big danger to the top couples. They'll add two for europeans, that's a promise from Isabelle. After they finished, the public gave them a standing ovation and everyone was on his feet.
Since Olivier was sitting next to me, I was as nervous as him. More over, Tatiana Tarassova and Nicolaï Morozov came to watch them, just in front of us, and Philippe Pélissier, who does the Eurosport commentaries was just behind us. Tatiana was clapping all along their program, and she was cheering them up. You can see she loves them a lot, and that Nicolaï put his "soul" in this program. Tatiana was not happy with their placement at all, and even referee Courtney Jones had them in 2nd.
Music is "Vivre pour le Meilleur", a famous song in France, from wich the lyrics were taken out by Maxime Rodriguez :) Costumes are Memorial clones, and you can understand it.

Group 3:
1. Kati & Rene - GER
Did I tell you how much I love him ? :o) He is such a handsome skater you can forgive him anything. every one sitting next to me could tell you I was in awe at him.
Well it shows that they haven't work a lot on this program, though I love the idea of it. They will probably ready in time for Worlds and Europeans, but so far, it was lacking content and expression.
2. Irina & Ilya - RUS
My reaction was : What's this *shit*? Everyone else, Tatiana, Nicolaï, Pélissier and Olivier agreed with me. The costumes were frankly disgusting and noone saw what their theme was.
We were digusted with the costumes, and frankly, this dance is another step backwards for them. It's so easy it's not difficult to have their speed. All their lifts look great, but they are "showy" and veryyyyy easy. I can't understand Linitchuk here. 5.9 or even 5.6 in artistic impression ? What the heck??
IMO, the israelis, the canadians B&K and D&V are better than them this year. Even FP&M are better to give you my opinion. Everyone sitting next to me or behind me agreed so I wasn't the only one to think so.
3. Marina & Gwendal - FRA
Well let me first tell you they secured this program, skating it at 50% of what they showed us in practice morning.
They skated it 100% better than at Skate Canada thought. Marina already feels the program while Gwendal is still searching himself into it.
Program is filled with complex footwork, great lifts, good spins and wonderful twizzles. They had better practice outfits (he all in black, her in gold) than what they had here. They wore nearly the same costumes as in Skate Canada, without the PQ they both had. Marina's dress is also without the illusion fabric so...
They might wore the outfits in practice from now on, and the gold one in competition.
They received a polite standing ovation, not as great as Isa and Olivier had before.
4. Naomi & Peter - USA
This dance is so sad it brought tears in my eyes. I loved the feel they give to it.
The only thing is that she cannot keep up with him. She is always in the air, and 8 lifts is way above the rules. They also had 3 major stumbles, wich disrupted the program a great deal. Everyone but the judges put them in 5th place tonight, thought they have greater difficulty than the german. Look at the swiss judges marks for them :)

Well Ice dance will be very interesting with it.
Bourne and Kraatz have a shot at 4th place. The only thing is that they are marked down because Shae is doing the twizzles on two feet. The israelis are frantic, but I liked it. Delobel and Schoenfelder may surprise every one this year since their compulsories and FD have really improved. I just wish they could go full time to Tarassova, but there is a problem about it on Olivier's side, who can't go away from Europe, and also with the FFSG who doesn't want its top athletes to go elsewhere... No comment.

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