Crystal Skate

The ice dance final in Grenoble will likely follow the lead of all the other ice dance finals we've seen this season. This means the gold is reserved for one couple only, while the rest of them can only fight for the remaining two positions of the podium. This will help determine some of the couples who can attend the Grand Prix Final. So let's get started: France's Angelique Abachkina & Louis Thauron made a great impression in Grenoble Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev  are first to go. They have a lovely style, but there's not as much storytelling as there is dancing to the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby . They're the second ice dance couple I've seen to do what I call the Sui/Han combo spin position. Their score: 89.19 . Overall: 147.77 . Lorenza Alessandrini/Pierre Souquet  have chosen a modern medley for the free. The contemporary style comes through in the simple costumes as well. A lot of their lifts are quite basic, compared to those of the o...

The ice dancers got the party started in Moscow, quite literally, with tunes from the likes of Elvis Presley and  Grease  that got people moving their feet. Let's see what the top five couples of the competition brought to the game. Tiffany Zahorski/Jonathan Guerreiro  ended up in 5th place with music by Christina Aguilera and Parov Stelar. I have to say I'm not a big fan of this musical combo. The first part was super sexy, but the second was silly and completely destroyed the vibe they had going at the beginning. They also still need to work on their chemistry, but this is their debut at the Grand Prix Series, so there's time for that. Their score: 64.28 . Madison and Evan's dance was the grittiest of the day Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri 's concept was at an entirely different level. They chose to skate to the soundtrack of Grease , and everything about the concept, from the costumes to the rock 'n roll touches of the choreography, was perfect. Absol...

Privet, everyone, or  привет!  Think it's too early for me to Google how to say Hello in Russian? Well, so did I before discovering Rostelecom Cup had moved out of its usual place in the Grand Prix Series. The trip to Moscow comes early this season, but it's not leaving any of its drama behind. By drama, I actually mean, difficulty level and by difficulty level I mean, Hello, world medalists! Sorry, I meant Privet, world medalists! So, who to look for? In no particular order... Shoma Uno after his victory as Skate America 2016 Photograph:  Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America MEN Javier Fernandez  - the double World champion and his Elvis Presley routine pretty much have this in the back of his pocket if everything goes according to plan. Shoma Uno  - the future of Japanese male skating just got a new Personal Best Total Score (279.34), so he's in everyone's predictions for a spot on the podium. Mikhail Kolyada  - Russia's best known athlet...

The sun is burning, the fan is spinning like crazy and we're wearing flip flops. It must be that time of the year when we can but reminisce about colder days and figure skating. And reminisce I shall, with my first post of a series I've decided to call The Mighty Five. Each discipline gets five mighty programmes each season that will rock the world of figure skating. I've decided to take a look at my favourite five programmes of each discipline in 2015/2016. First up: the short dance. Another season, another waltz? Not really. Last season's Ravensburger waltz felt fresh, not only due to the variety of themes the ISU has been coming up with lately for the SD, but also due to the couples' creativity. Here are my personal choices for the mighty five Ravensburger waltzes: 1) Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje's The Blue Danube & Annenpolka Every season there is a textbook-perfect short dance, and I think last season's came from the top Canadian couple....

The Four Continents usually get overlooked by a lot of top skaters because they'd rather 'focus on the Worlds.' This is why in recent years this competition has proven to be the place for the underdogs to shine in every discipline but ice-dance. Ice dancers, no matter how high they get on other podiums, seem bent on not over-looking the Four Continents, and thank God for it. It provides them with a chance to compare their routines against some of their toughest rivals' and therefore polish whatever rusty parts they may still have. For the people in the stands (and in front of the screens), it's a spectacle not to be missed. Couples like  Emi Hirai/Marien de la Asuncion  are one of the reasons I enjoy watching the Four Continents. It gives me the chance to become familiar with some skaters I otherwise rarely see on ice. She loses her balance during the twizzles, which is probably why she seems rather rigid during the Ravensburger waltz section. Their score: 47.09...

It's day one of the 2015 Rostelecom Cup, and as all the attention is directed at the skaters, Russian fans must be at a loss. Who to cheer for - Sinitsina/Katsalapov or Ilinikh/Zighansin? Past history aside, they're the best the host has got competing in Moscow, and the decision must be hard. Not that picking a favourite couple for the gold medal is any easier. Weaver/Poje and Cappellini/Lanotte have both been outstanding this season. The ruling will likely be in the details. We start with Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov , who are very literally at home in Moscow. Their routine is a classic Russian waltz with music by Tchaikovski and balletic costumes. Although elegant, it's not as sharp as at Skate America. The twizzles, in particular, are messy. Their score: 63.63 . Rebeka Kim/Kirill Minov  choose a Parisian theme for the short. Not good, not bad, they have a few cute moments in the choreography. Nice twizzles and rotational lift. They get 51.83  points. Elena ...

The waltz part of this event left us dreaming about handsome princes spinning their ladies in brilliant ballrooms, but the competition gets real tonight. Canada, the US and Russia are the top three couples right now. Will their order change? Elisabeth Paradis/Francois-Xavier Ouelette  skate to the peaceful Bridge Over Troubled Water . Their minimalist outfits go very well with the style of the music. Their score: 83.28 . Overall: 131.05 . Another simple routine, from Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nicolaj Sorensen . Their is more dramatic, but the lifts and step sequence could be more difficult. He messes up the twizzles again. Unluckily, he also cuts his finger. They get 81.29  points. Overall: 134.94 . This is the first time Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin  have stood out for me. The routine is dark, but uplifting, modern, but epic. The lifts are daring even though they are not very complicated. Their s 90.13 . Overall: 147.57 . Kaitlyn & Andrew look at the Canadi...

It's time to get ourselves in the ballroom! This season's imposed rhythms for the ice-dancers' short programme are waltz combined with march/polka, so expect to see lots of gorgeous gowns and men in tuxedos and military uniforms. Cue sadness! Elisabeth Paradis/Francois-Xavier Ouelette  tell the story of a soldier who dies in battle and the girl left at home waiting for him. The first half of it is quite touching, but the song they use for the march takes something away from the melancholy mood. The lift is also messy as he loses his balance mid-way - luckily, no fall. Their score: 47.77 . Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev  skate very early due to missing last season entirely because of a serious injury. Their waltz is beautiful, but because they do classical music 90% of the time, I feel like I've seen it before. It just doesn't stand out to me. They get 64.38  points. Best waltz costumes of the season? Yes, I believe so! Photograph: Skate Canada Internatio...

In figure skating, exhibitions are like that nice glass of red wine one might enjoy at the end of a really pesky day of work. They're the long satisfied breath you let out or the triumphant fist bump in the air that means: 'I've done it!' Concurrently, they are also a way to show off. Sure, it's nice to be able to throw the rules out the window for a change and skate to whatever, in whatever, however you want it. But figure skaters like being in the spotlight, and what better time to shine than when there is nothing restraining you from showing your full potential? What that means is that some athletes will go to unbelievable lengths to put on a show, like when Adelina Sotnikova  did rhythmic gymnastics on ice,  or when Javier Fernandez  made a mix-tape to get us to get off our butts and join the gym.  These programmes were so good, they will never be forgotten. But they wouldn't have been as fantastic had they not benefited from some terrific costume choices....

Sometimes more is less, and although this doesn't usually apply to figure skating ('the more spectacular, the better' is how the motto goes here), this saying certainly seems to summarise the ice dancers' approach to their free dance costumes this season. Choosing to dial down the theatrics in the free dance might have been a consequence of this being the first season after the Olympic Games. Skaters tried so hard to impress last season, that they might have felt they needed to take a breather this time around. Or perhaps they kept it simple because the paso doble was flamboyant enough to draw attention on its own. Whatever the reason, this season was, costume-wise, one of the plainest. There were a few exemptions from the rule, of course, and they stood out like gems in a bowl of rocks. That's not to say that the simpler costumes were ugly, even ordinary rocks have their own wild-sort-of-beauty after all, but they simply couldn't compare to the more sophist...

Ever since Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet that 'the apparel oft proclaims the man', this phrase has been circling the globe, confusing people as to whether they should translate it into modern English as 'clothes make the man,' which is what it means literally, or 'clothes don't make the man,' which is what Shakespeare truly meant. Figure skating has distanced itself from this dilemma as it can only translate it as  'the costumes always make the figure skater.' Costumes are as significant in figure skating as they are in theatre because both skaters and actors put on a performance and often play a role. So if an actor cannot play Hamlet in a clown costume, neither can a figure skater skate to its soundtrack in one. To celebrate the beauty and originality of figure skating costumes, I decided to write a series of blog entries which take a look at the best and worst costumes of the glorious season that has just ended. The best costumes in figure skati...

The ice dancers' short programme left us reminiscing the results Chock and Bates received at the Four Continents Championships, when they finished ahead of Weaver and Poje, despite the fact that the Canadians had begun the competition as favourites. Will history repeat itself and help them snatch their first place back from the Americans? The Shibutanis' fifth place doesn't take anything away from their talent Source: Xiaolu Ghu/Getty Images Asia Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani 's elegant waltz is set to Roses from the South  and The Blue Danube . Their twizzles are diverse and different than others', but the programme as a whole is too similar to a short dance for me. Their score: 102.71 . Overall: 172.03 . Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje try to do their best on Max Richter's arrangement of The Four Seasons , but it does come off as rather uptight. There are no mistakes though, just pure lyrical magic for three and a half minutes. They get 106.74  points. Over...

The first event of these World Championships is the ice dancers' short programme. The main contenders for the gold medal seem to be Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, but they will have to skate better than the new European championships, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, to win it. Madison Chock and Evan Bates are also looking for as high a place on the podium as possible. Let's see how they do. Elena Ilinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin 's debut at the Worlds is not as explosive as we've seen their routine be. Perhaps it's because of the early morning (it's about 10 am), but they seem slower and more cautious than before. Their twizzles are not in perfect unison either. Their score: 69.46 . Rising stars Federica Testa/Lucas Csolley  are beginning to make themselves noticed. The curve lift that made the audience gasp at the Europeans because it looked as if he had dropped her is a roaring success in Shanghai as well. Their side-by-side step sequence is slightly ...

Patricia Marx once said about Shanghai that you don't have to spend much time in it before you start to think about the meaning of authenticity. China's most populated city is a hub of innovation, which is why it makes sense that when time came for China to host its first ever world figure skating championships, Shanghai was picked as the host city. Over the next few days, the city will see a fair share of originality and innovation, as the world's best figure skaters will step on the ice of the Shanghai Oriental Sports Centre. Most of them are incredibly young and are looking to win their first world title, so the audience will get the chance to see history being made. Out of all the favourites for the gold medal, Yuzuru Hanyu is the only one who has won the World Championships before. He comes here after a nightmarish season filled with health problems and a nasty collision that occurred in the very venue the Worlds are held in. Let's hope that doesn't affect ...

The short dance of the ice dancers began as most figure skating competitions do, with a well-defined if predictable idea of who should end on which place. Weaver & Poje had come to Seoul to take the gold, after all, and they were unlikely to be satisfied with less. But something quite inexplicable made the judges put them on third place at the end of the event. Thus, the first stage of the competition ended, ironically so, in a predictably unpredictable result. Why predictably unpredictable? Because this has happened so many times this season, I've learnt to expect it. Let's see how the three best couples did: The Shibutani siblings dazzle with their waltz Photograph: Streeter Lecka / Getty Images North America There are apparently 25 pages of rules in the short dance guideline, but  Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje  looked like they knew every single one of them by heart. From where I stood, they did nothing wrong with the paso doble. The judges however were less enthu...

A royal cast of figure skaters is heading this week to Seoul, South Korea. For the first time ever, I'll take a look at the action and blog about all the events of the competition. Choosing South Korea as the host country of the Four Continents Championships (FCC) was most appropriate, given that Yuna Kim lives here. Now, I doubt that I have to explain to you who Yuna Kim is, but just in case some of you have just discovered your passion for this sport: she is widely regarded as the best figure skater of the decade. I believe that's a title she ought to share with skaters such as Mao Asada or Carolina Kostner, but the fact remains that through her achievements and mind-blowing talent, she has convinced South Korea to get as involved in this sport as possible. They have more skaters competing on the international scene than ever before and they are hosting spotlight events like the FCC because of her. Seoul, South Korea, home of Yuna Kim Photograph: www.hotelroomsearch.net...

Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje are very close to accomplishing their lifelong dream of winning a Grand Prix Final. Starting the final on second, Madison Chock & Evan Bates can do little to prevent the Canadians' win, but they will try. Meanwhile, the Shibutanis are back up there with the top couples and will hope to remain in that position. Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron  are not just dancing to Mozart's Adagio from Concerto No. 23 , they've created a love story to go with it. It is complex by being both uplifting and heartbreaking. Their score: 100.91 . Overall: 162.39 . Is this podium a preview of the World Championships? Photograph: David Ramos/ Getty Images Europe It doesn't get closer to a ballroom atmosphere than Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani 's waltz. And perhaps that's a bit of a problem; the music doesn't really allow them to express any real emotions (unless you're counting the smiles glued to their faces like a Halloween...