Mia Villasenor Thank you so much I’ve been looking for this!

I was looking for this too. The Shpilband interview is 54: 45 ish though :-)

WOOPS haha thanks for the correction! I was tired

Davis & White had very difficult lifts especially the curve lift in their 2014 Olympic gold medal winning performance. No one has every attempted anything nearly as difficult as that - even V/M. D/W pushed the envelope technically and artistically in my opinion. I miss them a lot!

starsmoon0216 That Davis/White curved lift for its Olympic season is one of the most impressive I've seen. But I disagree about V/M. They have had lifts of the same difficulty, and a clear example of this is their straight line lift of their original dance of the 2008/2009 season. In addition Scott Moir, like Maxim Shabalin, Zachary Donohue, etc, is one of the skaters who has received the most credit, for working with a skater like Tessa Virtue (almost her size and not so thin in comparison with Meryl Davis, or Gabriella Papadakis), for him means to combine the technique, strength and perfect artistic component to not seem awkward/clumsy and/or weak. The problem is that now anyone is given level 4 of dificulty, by lifts that really should be Junior level (example Papadakis/Cizeron lift in a straight line of their 2017/18 free program)

I just don't Scott Moir in terms of artistry. Even the die hard VM fans say he looks good because he dances next to Tessa who imo is a genuinely beautiful dancer. I don't know about technicality but for me Scott Moir is not even anywhere near the top ten in terms of grace in movement.

Scott Moir is a bit more built than the other men - it's easy to look at someone like Guillaume and say he's a beautiful skater...but really it's because he's skinny. Compare their edges, their posture, their lines and dance ability. Scott owns the field every time and I think he'll be remembered as the greatest male ice dancer of his generation

lol who's looking at Guillaume? For me neither are near the top ten or even just beautiful dancers as a matter of fact. Especially watch them spin. Both their postures are so unattractive IMO. Idk what it is - maybe because their federations are powerful and/or they come from countries where there are die hard fans in this sport that they get favoured. Otherwise I can name endless male figure skaters/ice dancers who are better - in their generation.

Her enthusiasm really came through :) Thank you for the videos!!

Anya Srikureja You are correct! My apologies.

I mean I kinda agree with Igor…I know there’s a lot of praise for teams like papadakis/cizeron and hubberl/Donohue…but their lifts are legit lacking technically. Someone discussed Madi weighing the same as Zach which could set them back. Also I think PC’s lift incident that ended up giving her a concussion might have scared them off from doing anything that might warrant another injury But I do hope we can see a revolution in lifts and twizzles… Virtue and Moir & Davis and White’s lifts, even today, is still better than the rest of the field IMO

according to their interviews, it wasn't on a lift that she fell and got a concussion, it was while doing steps. canton teams (Shibutanis and V/M in particular) always put in difficult elements to set them apart and get rewarded with low GOE. see for example the Shibutanis' 16-17 fd straight-line lift on one foot that had to have extraneous exit features added onto it to get level 4 despite being possibly the most difficult element of the competition. this is also the same lift V/M never got comfortable in during the 13-14 season (they took it out for the olympics).

I agree, there isn’t enough incentive to do more advanced lifts and it hinders ice dance’s progress as a sport. There needs to be better ways to differentiate between lifts in terms of base value.

True. But even if there isn't enough incentive to do difficult lifts, that's what separates the GREAT skaters from the good skaters. Look at the Olympics SD this year. VM skated could've easily maintained a level 4 lift with a much simpler lift than the rotational one at the end. But they knew it was their last Olympics and they didn't phone it in or play it safe...pushing the boundaries, even when not required, is what sport is all about

As long as the judges continue to award Level 4s and positive GOE for less difficult lifts then there's no incentive for teams to try them. Not to mention that like Igor said most teams don't have the ability to do the lifts that VM or DW could do. I mean come on Tessa Virtue's core strength is out of this world. None of the other top female ice dancers last season even came close to being able to hold themselves in lifts the way that she did which is key. I mean there's a reason Scott always said that Tessa did most of the work in their lifts.

Gracie doesn't have the same track record as Simone though

MsJubjubbird Nobody does haha, I just used Simone as an example because she recently made a comeback. I believe “lesser” gymnasts are able to petition as well.

Actually, they require gymnasts to show at least one event at US Classics if they are not already qualified to nationals and want to petition. They also must have a reason not to compete, such as coming back from injury. For example, Livvy Dunne was recovering from an ankle injury and only showed bars at the Classic, then submitted a petition and it was accepted.

And yes, I think this was Scott's return year after the time off for the first bout with cancer.

The truly are incredible and stars on the rise!

if they did stay with Igor, who would done their choreography?

I think they decided to stay because they would appear to be the weaker team if they left. It doesn't look good if it's clear that your own coach believes more in another team. So they stayed and pretended everything was peachy and hoped that rumours wouldn't hurt their reputation and that they would be able to pull it off without full coaching support. I also think it must have been very messy then... Marina at least had the financial support of USFSA (or so I've read) and she kept her training quarters, but it must have been hell for Igor that first year, not the ideal coaching/training environment.

I heard that too. Something about Marina having her legal fees paid swiftly by the USFSA ... hence she owed it to the US to make Davis and White come out on top. Apparently Tessa tried warning Scott 2013-ish about Marina's loyalty, but he wouldn't believe her until it was too late.

B X Whaaaaa??? But... Helsinki! But... Pyeongchang!

Wally Young I did! Thank you!

AGREED!!

I wonder if that's what usually happens when the coach is not a choreographer at all, way more focus on technical aspects. That also seems to be a skating club where the coaches try to do a lot by themselves. I mean, maybe they would benefit from having a team of experts around often enough, as part of the ongoing training plan, from dance to mental prep to whatnot. I guess it worked fairly well so far, but perhaps it could give their skaters an edge in the future?

but they have a whole team though with Tracy Wilson and David Wilson and other experts, like i think they have hiphop classes etc. but the result is they still look like the focus is on elements and tech and not on the finishing touches because those details don't matter in terms of points. I don't think they have incentive to focus on those so they are ignored. I just personally don't enjoy that kind of skating.

"never focus on the finishing details," says the P/C fan of all people I have seen you say a bunch of shit about V/M on goldenskate. You're telling me you don't enjoy the likes of V/M, yuzuru, javi and yuna's skating and perfer watching P/C over all of them? get some taste you pseudo-ballet expert annoying eurotrash bitch. you stan junior lift using, messy twizzles having entitled douchebag skaters.

get psychiatry help please.

get some taste please and stop undermining and talking trash about the greatest ice dance team of this generation while supporting a junior lift level having, crappy twizzles, poor sportsmanship, terrible SD program having team that is P/C. maybe since all three of you dislike V/M so much and talk shit about them and are so bitter and jealous you could start a little eurotrash V/M hate club. like skater like fan.

My understanding is that the nose fracture was an extra issue, but they are not ready due to the recovery from the injury that kept her out of Worlds.

Elizabeth Swift My Mom has worked full time in libraries since the mid 90s. She isn’t technically a librarian, but she runs the staff, goes to conferences, orders the fiction books, plans the themes and events, and is very passionate about it. She will be there when she is 90. At this point, it would be easier to just call her a librarian. Her degree is actually in accounting.

Great! I am too. My ears perked up at your description of your mom's job. Love your channel.

BiYu Wu Igor left the Soviet Union to come to the United States when the country was still under communist rule.