Davis & White & etc.
I want to like Davis & White more than I do. They are so very quick with the complex footwork, and have such incredible speed across the ice. Their spins in particular are quite impressive, I think.
(Fun fact: It's harder to spin in dance blades. Something to do with how thin they are compared to freestyle blades, I think. It's harder to jump in them as well, given the less aggressive toe picks [less to pick with] and shorter length [less to land on].
...Fun fact the second: High level ice dancers use a different type of blade than singles and pairs skaters!)
But every time I watch D&W I just keep thinking how much they resemble robots. Technically perfect, with some very nice choreography, and yet absolutely soulless. I just can't care about their dancing aside from appreciating the technique. They are a textbook, with facts and figures; other teams are novels, with characters I care about.
It also bothers me that they don't seem to get very deep into their edges. It's like they're skating over the ice rather than digging in to it. I'm a sucker for a deep, deeeeeep edge held forever so I can appreciate it, though, even if it means slower skating.
That said, DAMN but the entrance to this lift is impressive: This should take you to 0:36.
Did Meryl Davis figure out how to levitate? Did they perhaps install an anti-gravity device in her skates? Can she fly?? Seriously, I cannot wrap my brain around how a normal human being could enter that lift from the position she's in.
*
In further amusements on the intertubes, check out ski ballet. W. T. F.
Also, a very cool skating clip from 1946: Belita Jepsen-Turner in Suspense. Proof that over-the-boot tights are not a hideous invention of the past twenty years, but have been around much, much longer. (The horror, the horror!) Also, duuuuuuude, that series of turns on her toe picks makes me cringe just thinking about it.
This entry was originally posted at http://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/931887.html. It has
comments over there.
(Fun fact: It's harder to spin in dance blades. Something to do with how thin they are compared to freestyle blades, I think. It's harder to jump in them as well, given the less aggressive toe picks [less to pick with] and shorter length [less to land on].
...Fun fact the second: High level ice dancers use a different type of blade than singles and pairs skaters!)
But every time I watch D&W I just keep thinking how much they resemble robots. Technically perfect, with some very nice choreography, and yet absolutely soulless. I just can't care about their dancing aside from appreciating the technique. They are a textbook, with facts and figures; other teams are novels, with characters I care about.
It also bothers me that they don't seem to get very deep into their edges. It's like they're skating over the ice rather than digging in to it. I'm a sucker for a deep, deeeeeep edge held forever so I can appreciate it, though, even if it means slower skating.
That said, DAMN but the entrance to this lift is impressive: This should take you to 0:36.
Did Meryl Davis figure out how to levitate? Did they perhaps install an anti-gravity device in her skates? Can she fly?? Seriously, I cannot wrap my brain around how a normal human being could enter that lift from the position she's in.
*
In further amusements on the intertubes, check out ski ballet. W. T. F.
Also, a very cool skating clip from 1946: Belita Jepsen-Turner in Suspense. Proof that over-the-boot tights are not a hideous invention of the past twenty years, but have been around much, much longer. (The horror, the horror!) Also, duuuuuuude, that series of turns on her toe picks makes me cringe just thinking about it.
This entry was originally posted at http://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/931887.html. It has
comments over there.