Dance This season, Two for the Ice is adding to its analytical series by tracking first events to first events* — how leading dance teams fared in 2014-15’s debut against this season’s. As a matter of further interest, the four top U.S. and Canadian dance couples who competed at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic…
Category: Analysis
Analysis, Competition, Ice Dance, News, Pairs
The Pre-Season Primer: BC SummerSkate and the JGP
by Jacquelyn Thayer British Columbia/Yukon Territory Super Series SummerSkate BC SummerSkate is unusual among the pre-season regional competitions for — like a regular season event — holding short and free segments as a combined event; this is due to its status as part of the BC/YT Super Series. For our purposes, it might also be…
Analysis, Competition, Feature, Ice Dance, Pairs
The Pre-Season Primer: Skate Canada COS Summer Skate
by Jacquelyn Thayer Note: On-site impressions, supplemental to coverage afforded by livestream, were provided by two sources who wish to remain anonymous. Additional teams were contacted for comment, and the article will be updated to reflect their quotes if provided. Senior Short Dance Protocols Senior Free Dance Protocols Senior dance at the Skate Canada Central…
Analysis, Competition, Feature, Ice Dance, On-Site Coverage
2015 Quebec Summer Championships: The Dancers
by Jacquelyn Thayer Though also well-represented in junior dance (discussed later), the senior dance event at the 2015 Quebec Summer Championships (Championnats québécois d’été 2015) in Pierrefonds was overwhelmed with entries from the Gadbois Centre — five of seven couples in each segment hailed from the school led by Dubreuil, Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer, and…
Analysis, Competition, Pairs
2015 Quebec Summer Championships: The Pairs
by Jacquelyn Thayer Though almost wholly comprising duos from the popular camp at CPA St. Leonard, led by coaches Bruno Marcotte and Richard Gauthier, the senior pairs event at the 2015 Quebec Summer Championships (Championnats québécois d’été) was particularly highlighted by a very strong season’s debut for Canadian bronze medalists — and World Junior silver…
Analysis, Competition, Ice Dance
The Pre-Season Primer: Minto Summer Skate
This year, as in many others, Ottawa’s Minto Summer Skate presented the first major outing for many of Ontario’s dance teams at all levels — including national and international medalists at both junior and senior. With Grand Prix and national silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier debuting their free dance — a piece, per…
Analysis, Competition, Ice Dance, Pairs
The Pre-Season Primer: Skate Detroit and Lake Placid
As the summer off-season transitions into what’s really become a pre-season — with a significant number of elite competitors across all disciplines tackling summer competitions in preparation for the Grand Prix and Challenger Series of the fall — Two for the Ice will be presenting a series of event recaps, from quick analysis to on-site…
Analysis, Ice Dance
PCS: Connecting the Dots #5. Thinking Categorically at 4CC
With the Four Continents Championships (4CC) the first significant showdown among five of the six North American dance couples bound for Worlds (Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue did not compete there, while Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker will not compete in Shanghai), we’ll take a look now at how the judges assessed those teams against…
Analysis, Ice Dance, Pairs
PCS: Connecting the Dots #4. The Weight of the Worlds
While our previous entries have focused exclusively on the question of PCS, an overall evaluation of fall results has prompted a secondary question: what relationship, if any, exists between the role of PCS and that of the ostensibly more objective TES? *Note: Deductions when present have been added back to total scores to allow for…
Analysis, Ice Dance
PCS: Connecting the Dots #3. Where We Stand
As the Grand Prix series concludes prior to the Final, the establishment of a field in the absence of the world-leading dance teams of the previous quad has begun to emerge. To that end, a review of the development, from last season through most recent international competitions, of PCS as assigned to those senior American…