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Nebelhorn Trophy 2003 - Free Dance

On to the last competition part of Nebelhorn Trophy, the event went by soooooooo fast :wuzrobbed

Dulej & Janicki were first and they did a "Cabaret" Free Dance. Their costumes looked very "typical" and similar to the ones Winkler & Lohse had had for their OD. They did a slow circular step sequence and also looked rather slow overall and their ice coverage was also weak. I also thought their skating lacked flow. They seemed to be "fighting" with every element, concentrating on completing it successfully, therefor they had no time and ability left to actually dance, express the music and sell the program. Maybe trying an a bit easier program and executing it better might work a bit better for them? They had a rather nice final rotational lift. The choreography was quite nice too.

Binczyk & Tomashevsky continued the Polish bloc, skating to music from the "Black Cat White Cat" soundtrack. Well I absolutely adore the music from that soundtrack, but I didn't really like what B&T made out of the dance choreographically and style-wise. I think the music (and the movie) Black Cat White Cat simply asks for doing something comedic/humoric/playful with a bit of a folk-dance touch, but B&T were just doing a ballroom-style to that music, which didn't fit together all that well IMHO. Skating-wise they had good flow and better speed than Dulej & Janicki and they skated zestfully. She stumbled at the end of their footwork sequence. There were some posing moments in the program. I found the slow part of the program a bit long.

Buck & Nelson-Bond were skating to "Storm" by Vanessa Mae. They started off with ok speed and then did a good life. They had rather good flow in this dance, but quite screwed up their twizzles. On to a rather good spin and a slow music part. He irritatingly seems to have only one static (open-mouthed) facial expression. My notes say something like "fighting on one part of circular footwork". Hmmm, I guess that means that they had some kind of problem with it or looked struggling at least. Their next twizzles were completely out of synch. I liked this program much better than their OD overall, it was a nice traditional classical program and I liked the overall mood they created.

Doherty & Myles skated to music that was called "Overcoming" and "The Pain of Life". They did a rather nice rotational lift and their speed wasn't bad. I noted down another "nice lift" (maybe I should try to be a bit more descriptive sometimes :P ). Their twizzles were rather well-synchronized. They then did a lift similar to the one FP&M used to do in their Braveheart program and also some others, where she is upside down. I thought the programs were a bit "highlights-orientated", skating from one impressing element to the next. Their straightline step sequence was quite nice. I noted down a good final rotational lift. The last minute of the program was really nice to watch, I found the first 2 a bit boring, but overall it was a harmonic program. I guess I must have been quite impressed with their lifts, because I noted so many of them down as "nice".

Manon & O' Meara also had a "Cabaret" FD. I thought their costumes were a bit conventional for Cabaret. They started with good speed. Overall I thought they were a bit to conventional expression-wise too, I mean it's Cabaret, I think that asks for being a bit more "sassy" and sexy. The first part of the music was perky. After a good spin, it went on to a slow part. Their twizzles were out of synch. They now had some music that the first team also had used (I think it was "Money makes the world go round, world go round, world go round...". There was nothing particularily creative or original in the choreography. The music now went back to a slow part. I noted down another nice rotational lift and that they were a bit shaky going into their straightline step sequence. Overall I found it a bit boring, for the reasons mentioned above, I just would have liked to see a bit more spark. But it was a rather well-skated program.

Kerr & Kerr had a program to "The Matrix". They had a "cool start" (why do I keep noting down things that are completely non-descriptive and therefor completely useless :P ), but he completely screwed up his twizzles. Their speed in this program was not that great, they were lacking flow a bit. The music now went to a slow part. Their second twizzles were out of synch. What was most outstanding about this program were the really great and creative lifts. They had several positions that I had never seen before and they suited the modern futuristic style of the FD really well, they also had lots of other original moves. Their straightline step sequence was quite good and they finished with a good spin. Overall it was a really cool program with a cool choreography, but they did not skate it as well as the OD, it was simply not as polished yet and looked a bit "unready" compared to the great OD.

Longpre & Zukiwsky skated to some music that was called "Be or not to be" according to the music info. They started with good speed and flow and did a death spiral like hydroblading move. I found their music to be rather drippy. Their circular step sequence looked quite good, but they screwed up their twizzles. The music now got more upbeat, they did a straightline step sequence and seemed to be losing speed. Somehow I didn't find their lifts very impressive, they were kind of generic. Well I really was not impressed with this dance, I thought the music was boring and the choreography didn't have any highlights, the whole dance just seemed to go on forever on the same level.

Kulikova & Novikov had chosen "Carmina Burana" as their program. Their costumes were mostly red and/or orange, but rather "conventional" and usual, at least in comparison to the OD, I had hoped for more costume voids :P But the start of their FD was really voidy at least, she kind of kneeled on the ice, he standing behind her, then he grabbed her head and started to shake it as if he was going to rip it off or break her neck, wheeee :lol: I even got a photo of the moment, but tragically :P it's blurry :wuzrobbed Anyway, their twizzles looked rather synchronized, the dance was not similar to Anissina & Peizerat, more extravagant and they used a rather long techno part. I enjoyed the choreography, but I think in order to make the dance seem REALLY impressive, they need to improve their speed, because at the moment they are really pretty slow overall and it is a problem in regards to the "wow-factor" in the same way as Grushina & Goncharov had last year. But other than that I liked their FD. I think they definitely are a team who has still to improve some aspects of their skating, but they are new and definitely already immensly entertaining and look good together anyway :D And I still think he's more expressive than Markov :HA!: :P

Moxley & Kirsanov's music was Charlie Chaplin and the song "Smile" as a slow part. Unfortunately it was a very sappy male singer version of the song (yes there are some not-sappy versions of it :P ), even though not the same one as Bourne & Kraatz used. The whole dance had a "cute" choreography. Hmmm, I noted down a "strange lift", again very informative...Their twizzles were out of synch (actually I'm not sure there was a couple in the competition who's twizzles were not out of synch). They skated quite zestful, but also a bit sloppy.

Khoklova & Novitsky had my favorite Free Dance choreography-wise. Their music were the "Polovetsian Dances", a music I like very much. Again they skated with nice speed and flow. They did a lift that I found really cool. Their music including some female chanting vocals. They did a good spin and a nice fast circular step sequence. The music got more dramatic in the second half and they did a good straightline step sequence. What I liked best about that dance were the very "flexible" lifts with interesting positions and the overall choreography that was really well-done and harmonious. I liked them much better than in the OD, they are nice to watch, even if they are still a bit juniorish.

Kauc & Zych skated a Latin FD to music by Ricky Martin that was choreographed by Igor Shpilband (I guess he wouldn't have survived the season without choreographing a Latin FD for someone :D ). They were some "typical" dancy Latin moves at the beginning of the dance, but other than that they didn't exactly project any Latin Feeling during the dance and there wasn't too much going on choreographically, the dance was a bit empty. Their speed was good and their first twizzles ok, rather well synchronized. I found the slow part a bit boring. Then they went on to a Ricky Martin Samba, they did another set of ok twizzles, hers were better. I think they weren't expressive enough to really pull off the music of this dance, but they are certainly looking good for such a new team.