Introduction
Back at the beginning of the month, I was intrigued when twice in the span of a few days I read that Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron's execution of the Ravensburger Waltz pattern in their winning Short Dance at the 2016 World Championships was superior beyond belief.Gadbois' junior Japanese team Rikako Fukase/Aru Tateno gave the following quote (translated by Google) in this interview published on September 2. (They then go on to praise the unison and ability for expressive movement they believe Papadakis/Cizeron possess.)
"Tateno: They are going up to top speed in two to three steps. I'm I'm not pushing, but I become the story of the growth of skating = "glide (move to slide)", it is already amazing.
Fukase: it is the odd large pattern dance! Other athletes also I'm very clean, Gabriela and Guillaume, the size of the pattern is completely different.
Tateno: This is an order of magnitude larger.
Interviewer: It is that is the same time in the distance and are = much slipped take than the other set.
Tateno: That's right..."
V/M's return has meant skating discussion getting restarted in earnest over at the dubemoir watering hole, and a comment claiming that P/C's basic skating was superior to Virtue/Moir's included this example:
"...P/C's pattern in the SD was so, so much bigger than any other team's pattern. It was like there was no friction to slow them down, so they could glide and make the pattern as large as they wanted. I've never seen anything like it."
The breathless enthusiasm that has surrounded P/C the last two seasons has given rise to countless claims of extraordinary talent, but not many as specific as this one. I was skeptical, when struggling to maintain speed when faced with difficulty, is a clear weakness of theirs. (Watch how many crossovers, simple stepping and pausing on two feet they do in their Free Dance from the same competition. There is a floaty quality to their skating which seems to mesmerize people - and certainly a team being able to glide on an edge is a novelty after the horror show that was Davis/White - but P/C get sluggish and messy when it really counts.) However, when I actually compared the Ravensburgers of the SD segment, I was surprised to find that, although the claim that P/C's covered the most ice by far - or even overall - was incorrect, with a handful of teams having a pattern of similar size, it is indeed true that theirs was one of the largest, and arguably a little bigger than that of Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani and Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje.
I found this quite curious. How does a team that minimizes complexity and being close in hold in their choreography- presumably because of how bogged down they get when doing anything that approaches intricacy - accomplish this feat? I decided to take a look at the accuracy of their steps, as well as the quality of holds and general ease of movement. Was everything clean and close, like should be the case with a brilliant team? Or could this evidence of their superiority actually be a result of gaining an advantage through cutting corners? Could their height also a contributing factor?
What started as a quest to understand the size of their pattern has since expanded into a more in-depth project of using this element to break down their skating. For now, I'm going to set the issue of comparative ice coverage aside, but will return to it in a future post.
Part 1: Versus the Shibutanis, Steps #1-6
Fortunately, the camera angles of P/C's performance match up almost perfectly to that of Shibutani/Shibutani, the team present at this competition who I consider to have the best skating skills, so that is where I am going to begin. I'm going to start by working through Section 1 of the RW to examine the general technique of the teams in question. The Key Points and issue of timing and musicality will be dealt with later in this series, along with a closer look at the requirements for Grade of Execution and Program Components. A table of scores relevant to the first section of the pattern is below. Section 1 comprises steps #1-19, but this post will only cover part of the section, with the rest being looked at in part 2.
Three Important Notes
1) The overall element is the same length for the teams (the difference is less than a tenth of a second), so I've made the assumption that the tempo chosen is essentially the same (a range of 195 to 201 beats per minute is acceptable[1]). All .gifs (video and slideshows) have therefore been cued with video software from the beginning of the pattern, with the reasoning that if both teams are executing the timing correctly they should be generally synchronized with each other. The slow motion speed is noted in the captions. Paired screencaps depicting the same step/movement are not necessarily taken at the exact same point. Broadcast replays are of varying speed, and have been cut to match the performance footage as appropriate.2) There are eight possible edges in skating (2 feet x 2 directions x 2 sides = 8) and the standard abbreviations will be used in this analysis.
3) The following excerpts from the "General requirements" section of the Handbook for Officials for Pattern Dances [2], which is used to judge international novice competitions, gives a good idea of what one should be looking for in good compulsory skating. Pay particular attention to the part about Skating Skills - emphasis is mine.
"a) Accuracy – The steps, edges, elements/movements and dance holds must be in accordance with the dance description and the Rules. Subject to general conformity with the basic requirements, some latitude is given to allow a Couple to demonstrate their own individual style. This is usually accomplished by the use of a variety of arm and/or leg movements. Movements or positions of arms and/or hands, which differ from those specified in the descriptions of the required dance holds are permitted, provided that the Leading Hand of the Man remains in the prescribed position for the hold"
"c) Skating Skills – Good basic skating quality is required: Deep edges should be skated with speed, flow and easy glide in an effortless manner. Cleanness and sureness of steps, edges and lobe transitions should be evident. The Skater must carry the weight over the skating foot. Footwork must be neat and precise. Two-footed skating must be avoided except where it is required. Good and equal technical ability are required for both partners. The knee of the skating leg should be flexible with a rhythmic rise and fall. On Chassés and Progressives the feet should be lifted a small distance from the ice"
"e) Style - Carriage should be upright but not stiff with the head held up. All actions should be easy and flowing and performed in an elegant manner. The Dance Holds (see Rule 605), should be firm and the fingers neither spread nor clenched. There should be no apparent struggle for speed and speed should not be obtained at the expense of good style. The free leg should be extended, the foot turned out and pointed down;
f) Unison - The Couple should skate as close together as possible keeping a constant distance between them. All movements such as leg swings, knee bends and lean should be equal and well coordinated and their performance should be balanced. The partners should move as one. The Man should show his ability to lead and the Lady to follow"
Rule 605 mentioned above defines the dance holds relevant to this post [3]. Both Closed/Waltz Hold and Open/Foxtrot Hold are characterized by the familiar closed circle formed by the following hand placements:
"The Man's right hand is placed firmly on his partner's back at the shoulder blade with the elbow raised and the arm bent sufficiently to hold the Lady close to him. The left hand of the Lady is placed at/on the shoulder of the Man so that her arm rests comfortably, elbow to elbow, on his upper arm. The left arm of the Man and the right arm of the Lady are extended comfortably at shoulder height. Their shoulders remain parallel."
The difference is that in Waltz Hold one partner is skating backwards and one forwards, and in Foxtrot Hold the partners are skating in the same direction. I find the alternate names of Closed and Open unhelpful, as in ice dance, "open" is almost always a negative adjective, even though "Open Hold" as defined is relatively good and difficult. In casual conversation (and in most of my work) "close(d) hold" is usually used to mean Waltz OR Foxtrot hold, or the very short distance between bodies in any hold; "open hold" to mean hand holds or Kilian; and "open" to mean not being in hold at all or a program that overall has very little face-to-face hold. Therefore to avoid confusion I will always specify the defined holds as either Waltz or Foxtrot rather than Closed or Open.
Steps #1-3
We begin with a slideshow of screencaps of the first stroke. Note that the teams begin at a different place on the ice, so adjust any judgement of ice coverage accordingly. |
| The push onto step #1 |
"Good form... consists of upright posture without any bending or breaking at the waist or hips, controlled bend and rise of the skating knee... a free foot always turned out and pointed, a free leg under constant control, and a head held erect... Anything either stiff or jerky is a fault in style. All the movement should be graceful and even in flow and tempo."
The Ravensburger Waltz [5] pattern begins with three steps that are held for 6 beats each, with all requiring the familiar swing movement of the free leg. (Although I'm not going to analyze with sound until later, I find it helps to visualize the pattern, and get a sense of how relatively long steps should be held for, by following the natural groupings formed by required timing.) The man's step #1 and #3 and woman's step #2 will be a "Three Turn", which means that after holding the edge they initially step onto, their blades will move sharply inwards in the same direction as they were curving. They will then switch to the opposite side of the blade while changing direction from forwards to backwards (or backwards to forwards, in other cases), and then continue along the larger original curve. The name of the turn comes from the fact that a tracing similar to a shallow number 3 (or a backwards 3 depending on the angle) will be left on the ice. In these particular steps, they will switch from a RFI to a RBO.
Below, on the left, are illustrations of how step #1 and step #2 will proceed, with a corresponding look at the other team's Foxtrot Hold on the right. The Foxtrot Hold in step #2, with the skaters skating in the direction of their clasped hands, has a characteristic look (with the skaters turned away from each other slightly [3]) that makes it is easy to distinguish from Waltz Hold. In step #1, it looks more similar to Waltz Hold, but the skaters skating in the same direction is what classifies it as Foxtrot Hold. During the Three Turn, the skaters will stay in hold, and after the turn is complete, the man will be facing backwards, and so the hold will have become Waltz Hold. Note the stronger shape created by S/S's frame and the tenseness shown by P/C's spread fingers.
These Three Turns, however, should be a special kind in which the motion of the free leg and timing of the turn are imperative. The definition of "Ravensburger-type" Three Turns is below [6]. (Please note that a "Swing Three Turn" is a different step.)
"An inside Three Turn that begins... with the free leg extended over the tracing and left behind during the turn, and swings through after its completion in front of the tracing before being brought back beside the skating foot in time for the next step."
The toe and hip should be "well turned out and held over the tracing" [7]. In this pattern, the RFI should be held for 2 beats with the turn happening on the 3rd, and the RBO being held for another bar of 3 beats. During these steps, the other partner will perform a Swing Roll, which
means holding an edge -in this case, a LFO - while executing the swing
motion with the free leg [8]. In this dance, the swing is done in time with
the other partner, and the edge is held for the whole 6 beats. The man's knee should rise as the Three Turn is executed [9], and the skating legs should straighten as the free leg swings through.
In order to judge the general form of the teams on these three long initial steps, the first three video .gifs have a half second overlap between them in order to show the execution of the whole steps. It becomes immediately apparent that one of the team's timing is off. This will be investigated in detail and with sound in a later post. Below is step #1.
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| Step #1 (.5x) |
As already mentioned above, S/S don't bend forward to start the step but maintain excellent posture throughout. They also show more strength and fluidity with both their knee bend and change into Waltz Hold. There's something odd about Papadakis' knee on the Swing Roll, as it remains bent as the leg swings through and suddenly straightens afterwards.
As shown below, at the beginning of step #2, P/C are noticeably behind S/S despite the initial step being skated in synch. P/C's untidy lines are especially visible here. You can clearly see the soft flexibility of S/S's knees, whereas Papadakis' execution of the Three Turn is rather stiff. You may also notice that P/C's initial edge placement tends to be shallower than that of S/S, the difference being especially clear between the two men on this step.
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| Step #2 (.5x) |
The screencaps below are taken immediately before the lady executes her Three Turn. Note how much closer S/S are skating.
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| Middle of step #2 (before the Three Turn) |
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| Middle of step #2 (before the Three Turn) |
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| Beginning of step #3 |
The teams clearly have different approaches to knee bend here. S/S's four knees are bent deeply in preparation as they step on to the new edge, with their stroking leg straightening immediately as they push and and their skating legs softly starting to rise in preparation for the next bend. Their posture remains upright as their weight moves smoothly onto the new skating foot. P/C step with shallower knees and shift their weight forward by bending towards the ice rather than from one foot to the other. They deepen their skating knees after the stroke is in progress - in fact, the distance between each skater's feet seems to suggest something is off in how they're timing their stroke, with Cizeron's weight appearing still too centred and the angle between Papadakis' legs being rather absurd - and they appear a bit tensed, remaining lower as they hold the initial edges instead of naturally starting to come out of the bend. Information from four different sources would seem to indicate that S/S's execution is correct. Deep knee and ankle bend from the beginning of the step rather than once the push-off is already happening, while maintaining proper posture, is the key to having a powerful and efficient stroke.
"Using greater knee and ankle bend to lengthen the stroke increases a skater's power and speed. The bend should increase before the stroke occurs. The primary push begins with the feet together. First, the ankle and knee bend forward, with the upper body straight and the back erect. Then the push-off leg straightens as the foot presses against the ice..."[10]
"Power comes from pushing from one foot to the other using a deeply bent knee that straightens as the foot leaves the ice. The skating knee is almost always bent as the skaters pushes on to that foot..." [11]
"Ice dancing, in particular, requires good posture to help achieve balance. Not only does balance assist with the aesthetic we require of ice dancers, it is also key in developing power and thrust... I prefer to focus more on having skaters bend their ankles. Stand up and try this: bend your knees without bending your ankles. What does that do to your posture? I guarantee that if you bend your ankles your knees will follow. Bending your ankles will allow you to achieve glide and thrust in a balanced position... Proper alignment of the hips will improve balance and glide as well as make the stroke more efficient.... Thinking of all these things while ‘bending and pushing’ will lead to strong basic skating. The viewer should be looking for depth of knee and ankle bend... "
Vinson-Owen [12] also instructs that both knees should be "strongly bent" before the free foot touches the ice:
"This will put you in a sort of a squat position that seems awkward in slow motion but in continuous movement is not. At any rate it is essential to a powerful stroke."
Now certainly forward stroking, which much of the above pertains to, is not the same situation as a complex pattern dance, but it seems only logical that the basics of knee bend would translate into more advanced contexts. Below is step #3 in full. You can see the increased power S/S get out of their push, and the rhythmic rise and fall that is created by proper technique. S/S move effortlessly into the Foxtrot Hold of step #4. Once again, P/C are behind S/S by the end of the step, and are also out of synch with each other.
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| Step #3 (.5x) |
The screencaps below show a similar distance between the teams, but note the difference in unison and overall elegance.
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| Middle of step #3 (after the Three Turn) |
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| Middle of step #3 (after the Three Turn) |
Chassés & Mohawks
The next 6 beats occur during steps #4 through #7, and include Chassés and a Mohawk.
A Chassé is a step in which the free foot is brought from the usual extended leg position to beside the skating foot, and the blade is placed down onto a parallel (and therefore opposite side) edge. The skater transfers their weight and lifts their free foot a short distance off the ice, and then steps back onto the original edge. The transfers should happen with the skates directly adjacent to each other (not ahead or behind), and the blade of the free foot should ideally be parallel to the ice [8]. The exact distance to lift the free foot is not officially specified beyond a "small distance" [2], but instructions from another source suggest 2-3 inches, and the free foot should be lifted on the beat.
Below is a demonstration of the step from, if I'm not mistaken, an official ISU compilation video. This is a RFI Chassé, like the first one we will encounter and the edges are LFO to RFI to LFO.
A Mohawk is a turn that has five main features:
1) The skater will change from one foot to the other.
2) The skater will change direction from forwards to backwards, or backwards to forwards.
3) The entry edge and exit edge will be of the same side - both inside or both outside.
4) The weight transfer happens immediately, with virtually no time spent on two feet at once.
5) The position of the feet relative to one another is key, and depends on whether the Mohawk is Open or Closed.
The Mohawks in this pattern are Open ones. The proper foot placement is as follows [6]:
"...the heel of the free foot is placed on the ice at the inner side of the skating foot, the angle between the two feet being optional. Following the weight transfer, the immediate position of the new free foot is behind the heel of the new skating foot."
The back of the new skating foot should be placed somewhere between the instep and heel of the old skating foot, and the feet should be as close as possible but not necessarily touching [13]. Below is a demonstration from a YouTube video by current American team Kseniya Ponomaryova/Oleg Altukhov. (There are dozens of great instructional videos on that channel, I highly recommend it.) Both of these are RFI Mohawks, shown from a different angle. It is the same as the first Mohawk of the pattern - by switching foot and direction, but not side, she ends up on a LBI.
Steps #4-6
For step #4, the lady steps onto a RFI on beat 1 and performs a Twizzle of one revolution from that starting edge on beat 2. The man should hold a LFO during those 2 beats for his step #4. Between beats 2 & 3, the lady performs an Open Mohawk that starts from the RFI exit edge of the Twizzle. The Mohawk will end in a LBI - this is step #5 and skated on beat 3. The man's step #5 is a RFI Chassé, so his LFO should leave the ground on beat 3, but remain close to his skating foot instead of pushing off.Below are screencaps taken before the Twizzle showing what should happen when the Lady exits it and performs the Mohawk that will result in step #5. She will be travelling forwards on her right foot, and should place her left foot on the ice backwards and on an inside edge. When the left foot becomes the skating foot, it should curve and take the skater in the same general direction she was going in, but she will have "changed direction" from forwards to backwards.
After this is completed, Step #6 is taken on beat 1 of the next bar. The lady steps from the LBI of the Mohawk onto a RBO. The man finishes his Chassé by stepping back to the LFO and pushing off. Below are a summary table and video of what was just discussed.
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| Steps #4-6 (.5x) |
The only word for S/S's frame and change of hold here is gorgeous. P/C are behind S/S at the start of this section, but Papadakis immediately turns the Twizzle after pushing off instead of holding the RFI for a beat, which contributes to the teams finishing this section much closer together. Next, the first part of step #4 before the Mohawk is shown again, at a slower speed.
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| Step #4 (.125x) |
Papadakis begins step #4 noticeably ahead of Cizeron, and yet they push off (quite tepidly) nearly together. Once again, we see the strong in-synch knees of S/S. Both men put the right foot down before the ladies exit their Twizzles, which is incorrect - their LFOs should last until the lady is beginning to execute her Mohawk. Alex S. pauses briefly on both feet, I'm guessing because he knows he stepped early and is trying to keep time with
Maia S..
Below is the end of step #4 through to the beginning of #6, again at a slower speed. Alex narrows the gap between his and Maia's timing, but he still lifts his left foot ahead of her lifting her right foot, which should be simultaneous on beat 3 as the weight transfers complete. Although Cizeron's lifts his free foot more immediately, his Chassé is rather anemic and also well out of time with Papadakis' change of foot. Both men start step #6 slightly ahead of the lady, but the teams each push off in unison.
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| Steps #5-6 (.125x) |
Above, you can easily see which lady is more over her skates and in control of her upper body. The pattern dictates that the lady should twirl under the man's left arm, and then turn into a Waltz Hold during the Mohawk. Papadakis is ragged all around, whereas Maia is able to add a graceful arm flourish. Both ladies appear to have correct edges, and the atypical nature of this Mohawk, coming directly out of a Twizzle, makes the weight transfer understandably less crisp. There's something a little weird, however, about Papadakis' right foot as it becomes the free foot. It appears to drag along the ice a little bit.
Their broadcast replay included footage of this step, and it is very revealing. Keep in mind that we don't know exactly what S/S looked like from this angle at the same moment, but I think it's fair to say this isn't pretty:
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| Steps #4-6 (.25x of replay footage) |
This shows that Papadakis' Mohawk is in fact incorrectly executed as the front of her blade touches the ice before it is facing backwards, and slams down onto the ice rather than being placed on the edge. Her right foot does leave the ice to complete the weight transfer, but then drops back to the ice and skids briefly along the surface before being lifted again in preparation for the RBO. The snow flying, while not categorically a negative sign (as sometimes the ice quality affects all teams in such a way), it is certainly not a positive one. Generally speaking, I've observed that it's a common step for ladies to lose a bit of control on, and here it's not a key point. Moving forward, however, we will see that such errors are not uncharacteristic for Papadakis, but rather representative. We also see above that Cizeron starts the LFO of step #4 as a inside edge, with it rocking unsteadily until finishing briefly on a shallow outside, and also that his free foot is far from parallel with the ice during the Chassé.
Part 2 will follow shortly and continue onward, taking a look at steps #7 to... not sure yet. So far we've seen poor form, suspect timing, and glitchy
footwork from P/C, but perhaps not much to indicate intentional
cutting of corners rather than an "off" start to this element. What I consider to be "fudging" of steps, however, will become apparent in what comes next.
References:
1. Communication No.1932 - pg. 2
also found in 2014 Special Regulations & Technical Rules - pg. 127-128
3. 2012 Special Regulations & Technical Rules - pg. 129
The rule was changed from number 605 to 705 in the 2014 edition. - pg. 123
6. 2015-16 Handbook for Technical Panels - pg. 10
7. 2014 Special Regulations & Technical Rules - pg. 117-118
8. 2015-16 Handbook for Technical Panels - pg. 11
11. Culture on Ice by Ellyn Kestnbaum (2003) - pg. 275
Edited Sept 23/16 - the paragraphs above and after the slideshow of step #3 were edited for clarity, and a fourth quote was added to the discussion of knee bend timing
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