2023-24 Pairs General Discussion - Join the SBS Double Salchow Club!

[Belsornia]

I won't really be surprised if some, or even most, of the changes aren't passed, with an understanding that they will be in 2026 once the committee has defined them better, and giving skaters, coaches and choreographers more time to prepare. If not, seems like next season has the potential to be very messy.

 

[Karen-W]

I won't really be surprised if some, or even most, of the changes aren't passed, with an understanding that they will be in 2026 once the committee has defined them better, and giving skaters, coaches and choreographers more time to prepare. If not, seems like next season has the potential to be very messy.

This is where I hope Eric Radford really speaks up in support of the pairs skaters who are going to be dramatically impacted by this rather sudden shift. Fabio Bianchetti's rationale - that these proposed changes need to be implemented immediately - employs some pretty faulty logic.

“Bureaucratically, it is very complicated,” he continued, “because we have to propose everything one year before the Congress, and we have to organize the idea one year before the proposal. If we implement everything two years after the Congress that means that every new idea has to be implemented nearly four years after it was thought of. When it is implemented, it is already old.”

If you have to propose everything one year before the Congress then why were the discussions with the skaters & coaches only held this past winter at Euros and Worlds? Shouldn't those discussions have taken place in 2023, with the Tech Committee going back and tweaking their proposals based upon the feedback received then? Furthermore, it's not a full four years from "idea to implementation" as he is implying if they wait to implement anything until the 2026-27 season, but rather three years. It all feels just very rushed and sort of just going "well, Ice Dance really has gotten better with the addition of these non-leveled choreo elements that are GOE-whores, so how can we incorporate them into Singles and Pairs?" And while I think that the proposed changes for Singles are fine, I'm not at all convinced that the Singles & Pairs Tech Committee has much of a clue about Pairs and what SHOULD matter for the discipline.

I made the comment over in GSD and I'll stick it in here too - I'd have rather they eliminated the SBS solo jumping pass in the FS and only allowed one SBS jump combo/sequence in the FS.. I'm also, the more I think about it, not much of a fan of losing the necessity to demonstrate mastery of both the SBS spins and the Pairs Spin Combo by alternating those two elements in the SP and FS every season. Losing the SBS solo jumps would open up space for another choreo element - whether that be a non-leveled choreo lift, choreo spin, choreo step sequence, or choreo field moves sequence - it could be the team's choice and that would open up some degree of variety in the programs that doesn't exist at the moment.

But really, I think we all need to form a prayer circle that the Pairs Tech Committee proposal passes.

 

[Sylvia]

And... representing France - Flavien Giniaux & Chloe Panetta (previously skated for Canada with Kieran Thrasher) - training in Caen with Bruno Massot and in Oakville with Bruno Marcotte.

Meet Chloe & Flavien:

AJustrainer on Instagram: "🎙 l L’interview de l’athlète 🥇 l Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons le couple de patineurs artistique Chloé et Flavien @chn_acsel_caen #ajustrainer #preparationphysique #preparateurphysique #coaching #training #caen #calva

109 likes, 3 comments - ajustrainer on May 2, 2024: "🎙 l L’interview de l’athlète 🥇 l Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons le couple de patineurs artistique Chloé et Flavien @ch...".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Also, IceLab is apparently holding another Pairs Seminar this week

2-min. IceLab COE video of moments from “The Artful Duo” pairs seminar in Bergamo, Italy:

Ice Lab - Center of Excellence on Instagram: "The Artful Duo - Pairs Seminar 2024 Highlights part 1 #icelab #icelabcenterofexcellence #theartfulduo #isudevelopment"

126 likes, 1 comments - icelab_coe on May 5, 2024: "The Artful Duo - Pairs Seminar 2024 Highlights part 1 #icelab #icelabcenterofexcellence #theartfulduo #isudevelopment".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Sandra Bezic, who skated pairs with her brother Val, talks about the top pairs at 2024 Worlds in part 2 of Anna Kellar's "The Future of Future Skating" podcast conversation with her (May 6): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWs3q0_TZ0g

Part 2 of my conversation with choreographer, director, and producer Sandra Bezic! We talked about the World Championships in Montreal and the moments that made Sandra more optimistic about pairs skating and the future of the sport. We also got into the proposals from the ISU Technical Committee for Singles and Pairs to add a choreographic lift and spin to the pairs free skate.