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Nations Cup 2001 - Free Dance
Watanabe & Kido (Japan)
Black costumes with some colored applications. The colors were rather strange. This team definitely had the ugliest costumes of the whole competition. Hectic music: "Two Guitars - Russian Gypsy music". They were rather fast. Lots of wild, hectic movements. Extreme over the top expression, both in arm movements and facial expressions, especially watching his face was rather amusing. They looked quite powerful and seemed secure and confident. I liked this free dance better than the Compulsory Dances and Original Dance. They definitely were never boring to watch!
TM: 4.0-4.3
Pres: 4.2-4.4
Vernekohl & Kurakin (Germany)
His costume was black with pink and purple, hers was purple. Didn't like them. Music: "Carmina Burana". They were slower than the Japanese before them. They didn't really have much flow. The music and movements were very dramatic, but she smiled throughout much of the program. Basically they had a nice choreography, but they lack polish and especially she looks stiff and unexpressive sometimes. Still the program was quite nice to watch. Afterwards some people in the audience sang "Happy Birthday" for Jill.
TM: 4.0-4.3
Pres: 4.2-4.4
Rauer & Rauer (Germany)
She wore a turquoise dress, he was in black and turquoise. The costumes were ok, but I would have preferred another color. They skated to a "Grease" medley. The program didn't really look smooth and polished yet, but they skated it quite good and definitely much better than in the morning practice. The music suits them really well. Her dress seemed to add weight. They looked quite fast, without being to hectic and they had some nice elements, like a good spin towards the end of their program. Their expression was quite good too. I liked it better than their CD and OD. They moved up 2 places, from 9th to 7th. Their weak OD might hurt them throughout the season though.
TM: 4.1-4.5
Pres: 4.3-4.7
Mosenkova & Sychov (Estonia)
Anna Mosenkova is Dimitri Kurakin's former partner, who is now skating for Germany with Jill Vernekohl. They wore really ugly blue costumes. Music: "When I close my eyes". Romantic program, that didn't look very difficult. It was nice to watch, but didn't really have any highlights. Some nice spings though and they are musical, especially her, they were good in the character of the music. They looked quite harmonic, although I don't think they've been skating together for a long time. Have to improve their speed and difficulty.
TM: 3.8-4.1
Pres: 4.1-4.4
Blazowska & Kozubek (Poland)
She wore a beautiful brown dress with some gold, he wore dark brown pants and a white shirt. Music: "Jolly Mukherjee by Kirwani-Budmarsh and Shri". Quite dramatic, strange music that I really liked. We had seen them in practice in the morning and the program looked fantastic there, so we were really looking forward to seeing it in competition. Unfortunately they skated it much worse there. Still it was a good program. They did lots of interesting moves that showed her flexibility. They're very musical and expressive. I really liked the choreography of this program, it had some cool and innovative movements. I noted down that the ending was really cool, but I don't remember how it looked like now. They didn't skate with enough confidence and seemed a little rough and shaky.
TM: 4.4-4.7
Pres: 4.6-4.8
Romaniuta & Barantsev (Russia)
Costumes in black and velvet, they were ok. Music: "Xotica by Rene Dupre". They had a nice choreography and were quite fast and powerful. They are expressive skaters. They had a little stumble and the lifts weren't very difficult.
TM: 4.6-5.1
Pres: 5.1-5.3
Anselmi & Pedrazzini (Italy)
Costumes in green and yellow, ok. Music: "Lord of the Dance and Riverdance". When we watched them in practice in the morning I really hated their music. So I wasn't expecting to like their program, but to my surprise I really liked it when everything was put together. They were fast and looked confident. Especially the first fast part of the program looked really good. They looked quite polished and energetic and expressive. Good performance!
TM: 4.5-4.7
Pres: 4.7-4.9
Fusar-Poli & Margaglio (Italy)
He wore a black suit that looked very 70's and a shirt underneath in the color of Barbara's dress. Barbara wore a nice, little dress in pink, red and yellow in a 70's pattern. Very nice. They were similar costumes in the morning practice though, that I liked even better, her dress was a little longer with a beautiful cut, similar colors as the one in competition, just lighter. I hope they wear this one in competition instead. Music: "I will survive". Also a slow part in the middle that I didn't recognize. Their first lift was cool. It's definitely a departure from last year's program, very plain choreography, very dancy, no dramatics. As always they were very expressive. Very good spins. Less posing than in last year's program, lots of twizzles, very fast, many turns. I really liked the program, they should try to improve their lifts though, only the first one was really impressive. They didn't skate very confident yet and it didn't look really polished yet (they also were better in the morning practice), some small wobbles.
TM: 5.6-5.8
Pres: 5.8-5.9
Quabdelsselam & Delmas (France)
Ugly costumes in black and blue. Fast dramatic music, then very slow music with vocals, then dramatic music with a hard beat and chanting. They had a little stumble. There was nothing outstanding about their program, no highlights. The choreography was ok. They didn't have one program in the whole competition that I really liked, not even the exhibition.
TM: 4.8-5.0
Pres: 4.9-5.1
Dubreuil & Lauzon (Canada)
She wore a red dress with really long tatters on her arms and a really big white loop made of toilet-paper-like material on her back. Still the costumes looked great and fit the program perfectly, but it was much too distracting. He wore beige pants and a white shirt. Music: "Madame Butterfly". Cool starting pose. Cool lift in a Chinese looking style. Good spin. Good expression, I liked this program much better than the OD. Nice creative elements, lovely to watch, very charming. Good program. They seemed to have an enormous amount of lifts and spins though, hardly any footwork and real dancing.
TM: 5.3-5.5
Pres: 5.4-5.7
Final Standings Ice Dance
