by Jacquelyn Thayer Olympic figure skating commentators tend to keep the sport’s coverage in a classic 6.0 mindset: there is a technical elements mark, obviously used to score things like jumps and twizzles, and an “artistic” or “presentation” mark — meant to score something less definable, based heavily on subjective emotions and tastes. It’s true…
by Jacquelyn Thayer We’ve written previously on the systemic circularity of funding in figure skating: money can help breed success; success yields the money that may be denied to those athletes who need it most. It is certainly a dollhouse miniature of the pitfalls that can make climbing the ladder of success in the real…
by Jacquelyn Thayer After dreaming of the Olympic Opening Ceremony as newly-minted members of Team Canada, the real thing proved no disappointment for ice dancers Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam. “It was the most unbelievable feeling, walking into that stadium, having everybody cheering, just looking up into the stands,” says Paul. “It was butterflies in…
by Jacquelyn Thayer Since its introduction under the International Judging System in 2004, the program component score (PCS) has in popular view functioned as a sort of equivalent to the previous system’s “second mark” — that score which weights the aesthetic qualities of performance, rather than difficulty and purity of technical content. This is something…
by Jacquelyn Thayer Six dance and five pairs teams representing the U.S. and Canada will take on Sochi ice in the two weeks to come (with some competing as well in the first-ever Olympic team event this weekend). As ever, the attempt here will be to take a closer look at the participants by more…
The 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, proved a great year for North American pairs, with Canada’s Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler, 1993 World champions, capturing their second Olympic bronze and Jenni Meno & Todd Sand of the U.S. finishing fifth in their first appearance together after skating with their previous partners in 1992…
In these last weeks before Sochi, we’ll be revisiting a few notable Olympics past, and the 1988 Calgary Olympics seem as fair a jumping-off point as any — delivering dance and pairs bronze for Canada and the U.S. alike in historic fashion. With their footwork-focused and rhythm-heavy “Elite Syncopations” ragtime free dance, choreographed by the…
Kelly Johnson today is known primarily as a coach and choreographer with the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, behind programs including Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam’s 2012-13 short dance. But in the 1980s Johnson was one-half of Canada’s number two ice dance team — through two partners. Johnson & Kris Barber had an excellent…
