The awkward moment when...

...you realise you haven't posted on your blog in forever! I've been having a bit of a break over the off-season but receiving a couple of emails about my blog in the last week which reminded me that there still might be some readers out there waiting for new posts! I'm so excited for to the 2011-2012 season, and there is so much to look forward to.

This year I am not attending Trophee Eric Bompard for the first time in three years....BUT I have been confirmed as a volunteer for the 2012 Europeans (eek!) which, this year, are in SHEFFIELD! (a.k.a my university town!). I'm really excited and will definitely be chronicling my experiences of volunteering at a major skating event here on Ice Addiction.

Anyway, to the off-season. The off-season has, unfortunately, been categorised by me for the number of partnerships which have ended, due to retirement, injury or personal problems. The worst offender seems to be North America, which includes Caydee Denney / Jeremy Barrett and Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirer, Madison Chock / Greg Zuerlein, Emily Samuelson / Evan Bates, Madison Hubbell / Keiffer Hubbell. This season the pairs and dance events are going to be looking very different in terms of line-up - anyone else predicting Shpilband&Zoueva dominance at US Nationals and Worlds again?

Therefore, my program of the day is in memorandum of one of my favourite pairs team - Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison (2003-2010). There have been a number of internet rumours and drama about why this partnership broke up, but essentially it seems that Bryce's injuries are serious enough that they have put his future skating career in serious jeopardy. Jessica is now skating with Sébastien Wolfe, and they have been confirmed for Skate Canada. The entire list of Canadian skaters who will be participating in Skate Canada in Mississauga, Ontario can be found here. Program of the Day is their bronze medal-winning performance from the 2008 World Championships to Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter". All videos of this LP have been disabled from embedding by request (boo!) but it can be watched here.

Day One of Worlds

So the pairs short program and the ice dance compulsories happened last night;

Pairs

Results

Questions:

Can Pang and Tong take the title, or will Kavaguti and Smirnov's "Blue Danube" end their gold medal dreams?
Will Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov EVER look happy?
Can Jessica Dube actually land a sbs triple salchow?
Can Savchenko and Szolkowy hang onto that precarious bronze medal position?
Will the American pairs come out and nail their free skates as well as they did their short programs?

Compulsories

Results

Questions:

Have Faiella and Scali made it a race for fourth, and not bronze, with their lead?
Can the Kerrs/Pechalat & Bourzat/Khoklova & Novitski move around their placings?
Does anyone have nicer costumes than the North American teams?
Will these be the last compulsories ever?
Can Davis and White take that World title?

Pairs Short Program - Highlights and Lowlights

MSo it's started! Some quick thoughts on the pairs short program.

Highlights

Shen and Zhao - These guys are just perfect.
Savchenko and Szolkowy - Whilst their short program has been criticised (the makeup and costumes, anyone?), I think they showed that this year is not just going to be the Shen and Zhao show.
Kavaguti and Smirnov - I love that program!
Evora and Ladwig - Whilst not so technically talented, I think it was just a beautiful performance. Love Actually is one of my favourite pieces of music for skaters, period.

Lowlights

Mukhortova and Trankov - He had a killer fall on the side-by-side triple toeloops; he cried at the end, which was heartbreaking, though I speculated that it was to get some sympathy from Maria, who has a history of absolutely "death-staring" him every time he screws up. Nice move, Maxim.
Dube and Davison - Her nerves really got the better of her, and Jessica fell on the side-by-side triple salchows. Sentimental favourites of mine, I really hope they can pull it out in the long, as their program, to The Way We Were is a Canadian classic.

That's my brief thoughts; who else is excited for the long tonight?

Recycling, skating style.

Program plans have already sprung up for next season, and so far the consensus seems to be that there is going to be a lot of program recycling. Brian Joubert is keeping his SP, Dube and Davison are going to use their Carmen LP again, Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur are going to keep their Romeo and Juliet LP and Patrick Chan will be keeping one of his programs, though it's yet to be confirmed which is which. And that's just for starters, as there are so many more skaters who won't be confirming music choices for a while.

Personally, I think Olympic season means new programs. Maybe the economic recession is affecting skaters (I read in an article that Tugba Karademir could only afford to have one program choreographed per season, as it is so expensive.) However, it's highly unlikely that that's the reason. Is it unreasonable to pick music, get good choreography and learn two new programs for an Olympic season, and should I be appreciative that we'll get the opportunity to see those programs again? Discuss.