Cup of China 2023 Rhythm Dance - “Wake Me Up Before You Goe-Goe”

[skatingguy]

Green, Caroline/Parsons, Michael
Coach: Charlie White, Tanith White, Greg Zuerlein
Music: Still Loving You, Rock You Like a Hurricane

Patten Step Sequence 3
Straight Line Lift 4
MiStW4+MiStM4 (both 3 after review)
SqTwW4 (3 after review)+SqTwM3 (4 after review)- Michael struggled on the 2nd set
Choreo Rhythm Sequence

I like this program more here than I did at Skate America - could be the extra couple weeks of practice with what was a new program at Skate America. He's still not a believable rocker. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done to make him a little greasier, and less clean cut. His 2nd twizzle appeared to be a bit of spin.

76.07 = 2nd Place

 

[Karen-W]

GreenP - TES would indicate they're going slot in for bronze here, which I suppose is fair, that they're ahead of both PateBye and BraSom of the US teams.

 

[skatingguy]

Gilles, Piper/Poirier, Paul
Coach: Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs, Jon Lane
Music: No More I Love You’s, Addicted to Love

 

[Amy L]

Hey look at me I made it all the way to Piper's shiny butt!

I also have a raging headache from watching too many screens at night (I'm such an old now gosh) so I probably can't fall asleep any time soon anyways

 

[Jay42]

Ooh Piper lost her balance a bit in the twizzles

 

[Bunny Hop]

Thank you to Piper for doing her fashion research.

I do not know how they pull off that fall down and get up move so smoothly!

Eeeek!!!! Piper's twizzles went badly wrong.

Great energy throughout. I think that will still lead despite the error.....or maybe not.

 

[skatfan]

This RD is growing on me.

 

[skatingguy]

Gilles, Piper/Poirier, Paul
Coach: Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs, Jon Lane
Music: No More I Love You’s, Addicted to Love

Pattern Step Sequence 3 (2 after review)
MiStW3+MiStM3
SqTwW3+SqTwM4 - Piper was all over the shop on the 2nd set
Choreo Rhythm Sequence
Rotational Lift 4

Twizzles were a bit of mess from Piper. This program really does a great job of highlighting their use of unusual positions, and they know how to create an 80's feel with their choreography.

81.04 = 2nd Place

 

[Karen-W]

GilPoir - well, with Piper biffing the twizzles, they certainly won't be scoring as high as they did at SCI. Beyond that, I find the first half of the program to be excruciatingly slow. Sure, Mark, you can demonstrate great control when you're skating as slow as they were.

 

[Barbara Manatee]

Piper/Paul are really entertaining. Shame about the twizzle.

 

[leilaofpaper]

Pleasantly surprised Lajoie/Lagha ended up in first.

 

[victorskid]

The results after the RD

​

1​	Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA	CAN	82.02​	46.87​		35.15​	8.82​	8.93​	8.68​	0.00​	#7​
2​	Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER	CAN	81.04​	44.46​		36.58​	9.21​	9.11​	9.18​	0.00​	#9​
3​	Caroline GREEN / Michael PARSONS	USA	76.07​	42.77​		33.30​	8.32​	8.32​	8.39​	0.00​	#8​
4​	Eva PATE / Logan BYE	USA	73.29​	41.42​		31.87​	7.96​	8.11​	7.89​	0.00​	#4​
5​	Emily BRATTI / Ian SOMERVILLE	USA	71.17​	40.20​		30.97​	7.86​	7.79​	7.64​	0.00​	#3​
6​	Maria KAZAKOVA / Giorgi REVIA	GEO	70.58​	38.94​		31.64​	7.93​	8.04​	7.82​	0.00​	#5​
7​	Loicia DEMOUGEOT / Theo le MERCIER	FRA	70.18​	39.89​		31.29​	7.96​	7.68​	7.89​	1.00​	#6​
8​	Xizi CHEN / Jianing XING	CHN	62.05​	35.07​		26.98​	6.86​	6.75​	6.68​	0.00​	#2​
9​	Shang SHI / Nan WU	CHN	51.80​	26.81​		24.99​	6.43​	6.18​	6.18​	0.00​	#1​

Protocols link: http://www.isuresults.com/results/s...------QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

 

[Karen-W]

Wow! The judges actually went there and put LajLag in 1st! Good for them!

 

[skatfan]

Alright I’m off to sleep. Enjoy everyone!

 

[Gris]

I enjoyed the vibe of the 1st part of Gi/Po’s RD but they looked slow to me too. Plus Piper’s shaky twizzles. I do think L/L looked the best here, especially in speed and attack and deserve their lead.

 

[Frau Muller]

Ah, a little surprise here due to Piper’s twizzle troubles! LaLa into first.

 

[marbri]

So Chen/Xing were fun. He is quite the personality, star potential there.

Watching these three US teams I found myself comparing US ice dance to Eteri's stable of girls. Just seems to be a conveyor belt of very competent TES teams with decent presentation but I can barely tell them apart. Not a diss, if they were my kid I would be proud of their accomplishment, but there is nothing particularly interesting or unique about most of them. But in the end I guess it's not a bad problem to have federation wise.

Piper/Paul I have concluded have one of the most authentic 80's programs out there in that it really captures what was unique to the 80's. Not just the nod to new wave but the way the program is choreographed gives an authentic vibe. I think what some people see as slow is attributed to them using more holds and multidirectional skating than most others.

But WOW for Lajoie/Lagha. They skated a blinder, well executed with great speed. That is a really well designed RD and for someone who hates MJ if you had to do MJ a straight up nod to Thriller was the best choice. Great score for them as well.

For me it's the two Canadian teams here that bring me back to the 80's and the early years of MTV more than any other team here. So 10/10 for fulfilling that requirement of capturing the spirit of the 80's.

 

[Wyliefan]

I tried to do dance unspoiled, but so many of you were hinting at a big surprise, I couldn't stand it. I literally paused Piper and Paul and came to the thread to see what was going to happen. Kudos to them for looking understanding, not shocked. They knew that was fair.

 

[Spikefan]

I ended up watching this on my phone while DH drove, couldn’t wait based on hints in another thread. I am actually pleased with how this turned out, could we continue this the rest of the season?

Who am I kidding, there is probably just a blue moon in China right now.

 

[her grace]

Review

Bratti/Somerville: Very nice technique and their movement was matched well. Performance-wise, they need to do a lot more. The only thing I got from the program is that they were smiling and having fun. No variation of mood or expression. Acting classes could be in order? They seem made to waltz, but they need to be able to showcase the many other styles of dance.

Pate/Bye: While technically weaker than B/S, they showed more ability to move with the rhythm and perform. And their technique was competent enough.

Kazakova/Reyvia: Eyecatching costume (or lack thereof ) from him. Good ability to create a mood. Very slow out there.

Demougeot/le Mercier: Nice technical ability combined with unique choreo and good variety of pacing and mood. What kind of highway robbery was that score? They were at least better than the Georgians. France has no politiks after FRA #1.

Lajoie/Lagha: Fantastic!!! The very best technique, blazing speed with good control. Fastest twizzles. Good showmanship.

Green/Parsons: Smooth movement (except lift still felt more step-by-step). Green is a believable rocker. Twizzle error from him. More polishing to do to try to move to the next level.

Gilles/Poirier: Good emoting and lots of intracacies. Slower than their compatriots. I'm not enamored with the fall down move in the step sequence. Slows things down way too much. Twizzle error from her. I was about to about judges never letting the lower-ranked teams defeat the higher-ranked ones even when their performance is clearly better, but the judges did get the order right. There should probably be a larger point gap, though.

 

[Rukia]

lol I woke up and went to check results and omg max chaos I cannot wait to watch this

 

[4rkidz]

Just catching up - I'm a huge Piper/Paul fan but that was really good judging. For me could have even been a little bit more of a gap - the pure skating talent of Lala is undeniable.

 

[Frau Muller]

Davis/Smolkin might be beating Kazakova/Revia at Georgian Nationals this year. Just judging by what I’ve seen this early season.

 

[tony]

Davis/Smolkin might be beating Kazakova/Revia at Georgian Nationals this year. Just judging by what I’ve seen this early season.

Is that a surprise to anyone besides you? They were already ranking way ahead of K/R in competition prior to the Russia ban.

 

[Frau Muller]

Is that a surprise to anyone besides you? They were already ranking way ahead of K/R in competition prior to the Russia ban.

What should I have said? I was judging what I saw today versus D/S’ recent CS events. The two teams aren’t as close as I had thought.

 

[Rukia]

Ok I watched and just a few things:

L/L and Gilles/Poirer are exactly where they should be. L/L absolutely slayed that rd. I liked G/P's rd better than at Skate Canada though, so I guess that's something.

Xizi Chen killed the Dynasty look complete with blue eye shadow.

Bratti looks like she's rushing to keep up with Sommerville the whole time.

I still don't get P/B's scores for that rd but I'm sure their youth pastor is thrilled.

The goe on Green/Parson's lift is silly. It still looks labored and awkward. Everything else looked improved though, so good for them.

I know we knew this would happen, but truly most of the programs could be done to any music and this is such a poorly thought out rd theme.

 

[PRlady]

So watched on delay.

I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into LaLa fandom. That RD was super.

G/P have lots of choreo but not much excitement. I predict they will lose that segment to G/F.

Caroline and Michael look much better but then I’m a Scorpions uber. The French, meh. L/B much much better.

Ian I’m really sorry, you need another partner.

 

[Matryeshka]

Shi/Wu, they do like to point their fingers out. I guess they're showing everyone where the demons are. Or dragons as the case may be. Aside from that I'm pretty sure that I forgot the program as they were skating it

Chen/Xing What is this mother of the bride dress Chen is wearing? I mean, it is a definite type of 80s. It is so giving off nice, evening wedding in Midwest USA vibes. I mean, who didn't boogie to Celebrate in the 80s? This is 80s realness right here. Blue eye shadow and messy curl ponytail on point. And umm, the skating wasn't horrible. GIVE THEM ALL THE POINTS.

____/Somerville. I'm sure Bratti is a lovely girl, but he's better now than she'll ever be. He needs to go to Canada and skate and camp with Gage Brown. IT WILL HAPPEN.

Pate/Bye. Watching Pate/Bye is like watching my highly Wonder Bread-esque high school dance team trying to make high ponytails and sparkles fit with modern hip hop. I like Walk this Way, but they are not the team to pull this off. It's giving off Mormon trying coffee vibes. This is not a vibe anyone wants.

Kazakov/Revia This program needs to be a lot trashier than it is to live up to his outfit and those music cuts, and I'm fairly sure the trash potential of these two are high. As it stands right now, it's a little Sandy at the end of Grease trying to be "bad".

Demougeot/Le Mercier HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm sorry...but WTF? JE SUIS FRANCAIS. JE DO WHAT JE WANT. I mean, clearly, this is a surrealist take on the excesses and absurdities on the consumer culture of the 80s. And purple.

LaLas. I really don't need to see this RD again. They are just so...shiny. But they skated it really, really well, so good job. I don't think they did such a great job that they should be ahead of G/P, but I'm sure it will right itself in the FD.

GreenP OK. I have this figured out. So, Emily Bratti is the main character in an ABC after school special and wants to get the guy, who she feels is so much better and above her (and to be fair, he is) and she feels like if she looked more like Kazakova, she would be popular, and Caroline Green is her intro/spirit guide into this new world. Her bestie Eva tells her not to, stay in her lane, but what will she do? Will she study for the SATs or will she go to the party? Find out after these commercial sponsors! Later, Piper will come out and give an epic speech and show her the True Path and The Way and we'll all apologize to each other and share a Coke.

Boitano on a Bike, Hawayek and Baker really need to get it together and come back.

G/P. Stupid twizzle. Shiny mermaid butt should get at least a one-mistake forgiveness.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I thought G/P were fairly scored for their mistake but I still don't actually enjoy Lajoie and Lagha. They are just so boring and bland to me in every program despite their technical ability.

 

[PRlady]

I thought G/P were fairly scored for their mistake but I still don't actually enjoy Lajoie and Lagha. They are just so boring and bland to me in every program despite their technical ability.

See that was me up til now. Or, the difference in affect made them seem like two strangers in a rink forced to skate together.

But their programs this year are so good, and Zach is forcing himself to emote, and they really are fine technicians. So….