Crystal Skate

The ice-dance podium The Rhythmic Dance left us all with bright hopes for this season, as couples who have been in the shadows until now took the first step to making a name for themselves. However, it was the final that validated those newly formed reputations as the future of ice dance. We were off to a good start with  Carolane Soucisse & Sha ne Firus  from Canada. Skating to Earned It  and Dirty Diana , they stayed perfectly in sync with the music throughout the routine, which made all their transitions and elements really good. The only tiny problem happened during the second position of the twizzles, when Shane struggled with balance. Score: 99.64  -> 156.74 . Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker  also used contemporary music, but with Celine Dion behind the microphone, theirs was a more romantic routine. They had a bit of trouble with synchronicity during the second part of the twizzles. Also, apart from the last one, none of their lifts w...

The ice-dancers' short programme saw Madison Chock & Evan Bates waltz their way effortlessly to the first position, but that's something we all saw coming. The pleasant surprise was the second place of Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov, who are indeed trying to improve their image after last season's fiasco. On third came the always-innovating Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier from Canada. Let's see what happens in the free: I am amazed at how much I love Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Wang 's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon . My only experience with this story is Stolbova/Klimov's free skate from last season, which is probably why I like the dance version more. It's more complex in terms of story and music, displaying a softness I wouldn't have thought existed. I'm very glad they kept the Chinese lyrics. Their score: 80.22 . Overall: 129.59 . I need to make a note to count the positions in Alexandra Nazarova/Maxim Nikitin 's straight-line lift b...

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...

Tonight's dance final will surely be a preview of the epic battles we'll witness in years to come, as all the top couples competing here have what it takes to become tomorrow's superstars. Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron might even achieve that status tonight if they manage to win the French Grand Prix. As for Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier versus Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, their countries' rivalry has been taking figure skating to a new level for years now, and there's no reason for them not to continue the tradition. Rebeka Kim/Kirill Minov  are still too fresh on the senior stage to pull off that vital chemistry that have made other Phantom of the Opera  routines mind-blowing. They also have a mishap here as she falls out of the blue during a transition. Their score: 70.29 . Overall: 115.95 . I'm still waiting for Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam 's breakthrough moment. I used to think it might be brought about by more daring routines,...

After defeating the world champions merely two weeks ago, France's new ice dance couple, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, are certain to win their first French Grand Prix gold in Bordeaux. The second and third places will most likely go to Canada and the US. Paso doble doesn't get more authentic than Sara Hurtado/Adria Diaz 's version. They know exactly what it is about, being from Spain and all, so it makes me wonder if his strange pants are how a toreador's pants should really look like. Their score: 57.64 . Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam  are amazingly fast, which makes their routine masterful and difficult. My only problem with them is that they do the same circular lift in every short programme. They get 55.17  points. Last time we saw Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri , they were close to disastrous. Their paso doble is much improved here, especially on the mirrored twizzles. Their score:  56.57 . Gilles & Poirier's gorgeous costumes Photog...