Group 1 – the Aliona effect
We arrived back at the rink right in the middle of group 1 of the ice dance free dance. That’s why we were watching Urban & Steffan’s performance next to the boards. I’m still fascinated by Jennifer’s facial expression. She’s very dramatic. After they had finished, we were trying to find two empty seats which actually wasn’t that easy. I called it „the Aliona effect“. There were so many more spectators at all parts of the competition. IMO, this must be due to Savchenko & Massot’s gold medal at the Olympics.
Fear & Gibson – gotta love his facial expression 😀
Fear & Gibson from Great Britain left me kind of speechless. An ice dance team not skating to some kind of monotonous music without a peak? That’s a sensation these days. I could not stop thinking: „This is exactly our kind of music!“ So cool, they used songs by Donna Summer and „Earth, Wind & Fire“.
Group 2 – a rant about today’s ice dance
Müller & Dieck – drama, baby, dama
The theme of Müller & Dieck’s free dance had already hit the news beforehand: it’s about the disease „cancer“. Okay, on the one hand a „good cause“, on the other hand, is an ice dance competition the right place for such a serious topic? Especially for a mediocre ice dance team? If you’re not told about the cancer theme, you will most definitely just see a dramatic ice dance program. With screams of „Hope!“ „Love!“ etc. in between. I actually liked the program better than expected.
Koch & Nüchtern
Shari Koch – great costume, great hair
Koch & Nüchtern turned into my favorite German ice dance team during this competition. They just have this look of „real“ ice dancers. Tall. Long lines. Shari is very beautiful with great hair. I like. Their dramatic free dance to music from the musical „The Hunchback of Notre Dame“ made me think of Anissina & Peizerat. „Danse Mon Esmeralda…“
Carreira & Ponomarenko – gotta love his hair 😀
Carreira & Ponomarenko – how romantic
Theoretically, I really like Carreira & Ponomarenko. They make a striking couple. Unfortunately, their free dance seemed to be very, very, very inspired by a certain French ice dance team. Monotonous. Artificially artsy. Boring. Argh. Dear ice dance god make Papadakis & Cizeron skate successfully to ABBA. Or „I Will Survive“. Or Robbie Williams. Something upbeat and fun. Just something to stop the current ice dance trend.
The Parsons
Parsons & Parsons looked even more French than their teammates.
Gilles & Poirier
At first, I was a bit disappointed about Gilles & Poirier also having chosen a ballad. But there is something special which sets them apart from the rest of today’s ice dancers: they have such original elements, they can make monotonous music look interesting. That’s why I like their free dance.
All in all a very nice ice dance competition.
Conclusion of the event
We went to the „Trattoria“ close to the rink to meet our friends and have dinner there. I was positively surprised by how yummy the pizza tasted (as I didn’t like the risotto that much last year). We also met Alaine Chartrand and her team. She looked so tired but her companions didn’t look like they wanted to call it a night anytime soon. Poor girl…
