by Jacquelyn Thayer
The free dance at 2016 Skate Canada International showcased little movement from the short — but did feature a range of high-scoring performances and more than a few technical twists.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir successfully completed their Grand Prix comeback debut, winning their sixth Skate Canada International title with a total of 189.06. While their lyrical free to “Pilgrims on a Long Journey” and “Latch” was largely executed to their high standards, a bobble for Virtue on the first set of twizzles knocked that element to a Level 3, which, joined by Level 3s on both footwork sequences and their concluding straight line lift, delivered a free dance score of 111.83, though the couple won the night on PCS with 56.62.
“Tessa and I were pretty excited about our week this week,” said Moir. “It wasn’t the free dance that we’ve been doing in practice, but we’re excited that we fought through it and we know it’s a stepping stone.”
Pressure remained a keyword for the team, and it’s a pressure they attribute to their own goals and expectations, particularly in seeking to bring a more show-oriented style to the competitive arena. “You know, I think that pure emotion that you saw at the end of the program was a little bit of relief that we handled the pressure so well,” said Moir.
“We’ve been training so well,” said Virtue, “and I think with that comes great expectations because we’ve been nailing this at home and just feeling like every day gets stronger and stronger, so we expect that of ourselves.”
Still, the imperfect return to the major stage serves its uses. “We can only learn from this, so we’re going to walk away with so many notes and so much material to take home and really grasp hold of and understand ourselves better,” said Virtue.
But it was the team with the actual “Under Pressure” free dance who took the segment’s top mark of 112.03 as Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates picked up silver overall with a personal best total of 188.24. Two previous — and inconsistent – outings of that program led to a more technically sound performance here, nabbing Level 4s on all non-choreographic elements but a Level 3 serpentine step sequence, and presenting a good lead-in for their second consecutive event at Rostelecom Cup.
“Our program still has some room to grow for us and we’re definitely going to keep practicing and work harder to build the ending and be more consistent, and this was a great start to the Grand Prix series for us,” said Chock. “We’re excited to go to Russia next week.”
“Next week? Tuesday,” quipped Bates.
Two weeks of off-season work with choreographer Christopher Dean on their rock-based program conferred a fresh look at the team’s style and approach, something they felt was well needed five years into their partnership.
“I think just with the depth of ice dance, in order to stand out, I think you have to do something different,” said Bates. “Now we feel like we’re really kind of stamping our signature on what it is that we’re setting on the ice, what our style is, and these two programs, both the short and free this year, are doing that for us.”
Bronze medalist Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, whose 110.45 in the free dance, and 182.57 total, were new ISU personal bests, also took a new approach for their free material this season, tackling a traditional tango choreographed by coaches Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs — a difference from some of the more abstract programs of previous seasons and a distinction, too, from their high-energy disco short.
Setting the program is Ernesto Baffa’s “Con Buena Onda,” a somewhat more subdued tango than conventionally used for ice dance. The team aimed for a single piece, rather than cutting together multiple selections. “This music, when we found it, just hit every note that we wanted and we knew right away, because the elements kind of did themselves as we started choreographing the program,” said Gilles.
“And I think, too, this music is nice because it has two motifs — a faster motif and a slower motif — and it cycles between the two,” added Poirier. “I think that allowed us to build a lot of emotional layers in the program, where it’s the same motif repeated over and over again with different instrumentations, different intensities, so when it gets to the second repetition of the slow motif with the piano and when we do our circular footwork, that really allowed us to create a highlight because the music was already familiar instead of it being a brand-new slow thing that no one had heard.”
As ultimate podium placements remained unchanged from the short dance, so too with those across the standings. In sixth with a personal best total of 162.19, Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker overcame some treacherous warm-up and practice sessions on the Hershey Centre’s NHL-sized ice surface to accomplish most of what they set out to achieve here. While their free dance score of 97.18 was a hair below the personal best set at Autumn Classic International, their TES was essentially identical.
“I feel like we definitely built in some particular spots and some we want to definitely still focus on,” said Baker of the couple’s development since that event. “We worked really hard on trying to increase not only our artistic ability but trying to get more power.”
The few weeks between competition have been useful for technical refocusing across programs, as the team noted before the start of this event. “It’s really difficult, because we got called on a couple of things at Autumn Classic on rules that weren’t even published yet,” said Baker. “The tech panel knew what it was, but we hadn’t even seen it in writing yet. And they’re like ‘Oh, well, we thought it was common knowledge.’”
And the team’s musical selection of Franz Liszt’s Liebestraum offered an unlikely confluence of little-used classical selections in this free dance event — between a set of former Detroit training mates, no less.
For Hawayek and Baker, the piece, choreographed by coach Pasquale Camerlengo, thematically offered a contrast from last season’s contemporary and narratively-structured Theory of Everything. “We’re very much focusing on just trying to make it so enjoyable for not even the judges, but the audience to just enjoy pure skating, and that’s what we’ve really focused on, I think,” said Baker.
Meanwhile at Gadbois Centre, Canadians Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam found Liebestraum among a few music options offered by coach Marie-France Dubreuil, a piece they ultimately paired with the composer’s Hungarian Rhapsody to create a more uptempo final sequence and his “Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto” for a conclusive finish. “It’s one of those things that kind of suited our style, but also at the same time we’ve never done classical in a classical sense,” said Islam. “It’s obviously a more well-known piece than maybe some other pieces, but it hasn’t been done in a long time and it hasn’t really been done by a dance team in a long time.”
“Other than this year,” interjected Paul.
“That was actually funny,” continued Islam. “We’re really close with them, so it was one of those things, it was like, oh God, what did we do to each other.”
“We both thought we were being so innovative, picking this music, and then we talked to each other and it was like ‘Uh…oops,’” said Paul.
A free dance score of 86.02 was a one-point reduction from their debut season score at U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, due to a 2.55-point hit on TES. The program uses a collection of lifts successful in previous programs, after errors on new lifts at one or two crucial events — including last season’s national championships — suggested the potential risk inherent in overreaching. “We just want to have sure lifts and sure elements and sometimes the best way to do that is to go back to old things,” said Islam.
Ironically, the oldest of those lifts, a straight line originating with their 2010-11 free dance, received only a Level 1 — losing the team up to 2.5 points in base value — likely due to a failure to hold the necessary difficult poses for a mandated three seconds.
But though finishing eighth overall with 144.85, the two agree their focus this season is more on performance and growth than results.
“Obviously, there were a couple of little bobbles, and I think the older we get, the more we realize that those bobbles leave the door open and they give the judges the opportunity to maybe put you down a couple more marks than you think you might deserve,” said Islam. “But we’re really happy with our performance and that’s what we’re focusing on moving forward.”
Full results and protocols from Skate Canada International available here. The Grand Prix continues with this week’s Rostelecom Cup.