Ice Dance Hocus Pocus

Fifty years after ice dancing was allowed into the Olympic schedule, the discipline has become “a whole schlemozzle,” says a former dance judge and ISU officer.

Nobody understands the scores issued by judges and technical panels, especially during the Grand Prix events this season. There seems to be a certain jockeying for position that doesn’t necessarily reflect what is happening on the ice, especially with another Olympics on the horizon.

The Olympics always brings out the worst in ice dancing judging, but this year’s incidents have reached another level of hocus pocus.

To start off with, the optics were not good when Shawn Rettstatt, an American chair of the ISU ice dance technical committee, acted as the technical controller at both Skate America – where top Olympic contenders Madison Chock and Evan Bates competed – and at Finlandia Trophy, where a couple of their major competitors – Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (France) and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (world silver medalists from Canada) were competing. Rettstatt and his panel set all the levels of difficulty up to level four, most difficult. We hardly saw any level fours.

At both events, the tech panel awarded a host of level ones (lowest difficulty) to teams that are the best in the world, unless of course, you were Chock and Bates, and another up and coming US team Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik.

Chock and Bates won Skate America with the highest total score of the season: 212.58.

Since Cizeron won the most recent Olympic gold medal with partner Gabriella Papadakis, Chock and Bates have sailed along with a stream of wins, putting the US in a strong position to win Olympic gold in dance and in the team event, too.

So it must have been unnerving when Cizeron suddenly announced his return this season with Fournier Beaudry, who just recently attained her French citizenship and can compete in Milan.

Crazy things happened at Finlandia Trophy last week.

The most bizarre: the technical panel deeming that some choreographic moves at the beginning of Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s rhythm dance was a choreographic rhythm sequence, which is supposed to take place across the short axis of the ice surface, from barrier to barrier.

The French team’s actual choreographic sequence was the last element of their dance, which the panel did not score. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron have competed this rhythm dance twice before Finlandia this season and no technical panel did such a thing.

The team did a short several-second choreography introduction at the beginning of their routine on the short axis, but not from the boards, and not in hold positions. So officials placed an exclamation mark on what they called a sequence – something I’ve never seen before this season – or ever – to show “violation of choreo restrictions.”

How could officials deem this a choreographic sequence to the point that judges awarded plus marks as high as 3? Only one judge, American John Millier, gave them a -3. But how could this score this at all?

At their first Grand Prix event, at home in France, the tech panel deemed the choreographic sequence was the one at the end, which filled all of the qualifications. Unfortunately, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had a fall during the sequence and they had minus 1.14 GOE for it. They finished third in that rhythm dance.

Does this strange dealing at Finlandia, led by Rettstatt, mean that every other team is in danger of having some little bit of choreography deemed to be their choreographic sequence to be scored?

Which leads to a broader issue: why are there choreographic sequences in ice dance at all? The 1980 Olympic men’s champion Robin Cousins recently said the ISU should forget the choreographic sequences because the entire routine is a choreographed event.

To be honest, the choreographic routines seem to be an opportunity for judges to throw out bountiful marks to place people where they want to place them, just like in the old days of the 6.0 system.

During the inception of the new judging system after the scandals of the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, a committee, including Canadian Ann Shaw, worked diligently to create a system that could be marked objectively, so nothing was just a subjective guess.

Then the ISU dance committee brought in multiple choreographic sequences, even in the short rhythm dance, which is supposed to be primarily a test of skill. The choreographic sequences don’t come with a level of difficulty. It’s not supposed to be about difficulty.

Skill has gone out the window. It doesn’t seem to be important any more.

Now there are choreographic step sequences, choreographic slide sequences, choreographic dance lifts, choreographic twizzles, choreographic assisted jumps, choreographic hydroblading, choreographic spins, choreographic lifts. There must be multiples of these in a free dance along with the choreographic step sequence. Am I forgetting any?

Assisted jumps in a dance routine? Seriously?

“I think of Hans Kutschera,” Joyce Hisey said. “He was adamant that people that were dancing, danced on the ice, not in the air. Look what everybody is doing now. All acrobatic and weird and wonderful and this kind of lift and that kind of lift. He would go bananas if he ever saw them.”

Kutschera was an Austrian who was the referee at the 1976 Olympic ice dance event. He was elected to the ice dance technical committee in the late 1960s, but was elected chairman from 1984 to 1996. He died in 2011 at the age of 85.

And just think of Chock and Bates, who some think have been overmarked over the years. At Skate America, they did not have the highest base value in the RD. They had the seventh highest base value mark of 28.95. We are talking only less than a couple of points separating all of the skaters, but guess who had the highest BV: Oona and Gate Brown at 29.92 who were blessed to get as high a level as two for their pattern step. Canada’s Lajoie and Lagha were tied for the fourth highest BV at 29.20.

Yet Chock and Bates can make their basic score blossom with GOEs to the point that they won the RD by 7.35 points. And what a score: 84.77, second highest of the season behind Gilles and Poirier with 85.38. And note that Bates lost a couple of levels on a twizzle.

Their GOE for the choreographic rhythm section alone was 6.21 points. Where do these numbers come from? On what are they based?

One long-time dance judge says she’s never liked Chock and Bates. (Others do.) At the world championships in Shanghai in 2015, Chock and Bates finished second to Papadakis and Cizeron, but they defeated Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje by .13 points in the free dance, even though the Americans had a bobble on their twizzles and lost a level and Weaver and Poje had level four, as did the French.

“They defeated Weaver and Poje after wobbling in the twizzles,” said the judge. “I couldn’t believe it. Weaver and Poje were superb dancers and consistently unlucky.” They never won a world title.

Papadakis and Cizeron won that event with 184.28 points and Weaver and Poje finished third only 1.92 points behind Chock and Bates.

Back to Finlandia, which is even more crazy. Piper Gilles got only a level B (basic) for her twizzles in the RD while Poirier got a 4. (They had originally been assessed level 1 and 3.) Gilles had some very subtle hesitations and arm drops during her twizzles, but the assessment was harsh: Bates was called level 2 for his bobbles at Skate America. You need to go through a slow-motion replay and a magnifying glass to find Gilles’ transgressions. Did the panel apply the same sort of diligence to the other teams?

After a slew of teams with level 1s on steps baffled (bless those who got any sort of level 2s), the top two teams spoke out, a rarity in ice dance, where subsequent punishment usually awaits those who criticize. And now do you complain to the ice dance technical committee when the ice dance chairman was involved in the scoring?

“Of course, I’m angry,” Cizeron told a press conference after the RD. “I see some strange games being played that are destroying ice dance. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a competition like this in my career, from a judging standpoint. We’re happy with how we skated. We worked really hard after the French leg.”

Cizeron said he and his partner were surprised when they saw the scores that everyone got in the RD. “I’m sad to see it – not even because of our scores, but because of the other couples who came here fully prepared,” he said. “Everyone’s working like crazy and now I see the disappointment on their faces. Many are giving up.”

The only teams to get as high as a level 2 in the pattern step sequence were Zingas and Kolesnik, Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck, Maia and Alex Shibutani, young Finns Yuka Orikhara and Juho Pirinen,. Two of those teams, of course, are American.

“It’s really unfortunate the top athletes in the world are getting level 1s in their pattern step,” Gilles said. “We are all working really hard but we are made to feel a bit like junior skaters….I am proud of everybody here and I hope tomorrow will be better for everyone.” (It wasn’t.)

Gilles said she and Poirier love the sport, but it is at a “crossroads” right now. That will affect the fan base, she said.

“I think the viewership is also understanding that we’re in that situation,” she said. “They don’t know what’s happening when they see an exclamation point. What the heck does that even mean, you know?

“So there are just moments in our sport that we’ve lost the connection to who’s watching and also the connection between who is controlling our fate.”

That needs to change, she said. “The judges should just what they see, the beauty and artistry of the sport.

“I hope there’s a way we can move forward and open it up and truly be creative, because I think that’s when our fans are wanting. They’re wanting to come back and support this sport, but I think if our system is still this way, I don’t think we’re going to keep bringing in the people, because we’re discouraged and the audience is discouraged.”

The rules have become convoluted and nonsensical, Cizeron said. “It’s as if the goal is top stop the creative process,” he said. “We’re all trying to come up with something unique and new – and instead of being supported, we’re essentially forced to waste countless hours on silly rules. Did we hold hands for five or six seconds? And that could cost us a huge number of points. All of this hinders our ability to work and develop normally.”

He said it’s important for current skaters to speak out for future generations about how they want to develop the sport, “where we’re headed, what interests us and what doesn’t. I have pretty high hopes that eveyrthing will go in the right direction.

“It’s important to have rules, but a balance is needed, he said. “I don’t think it’s normal to lose 8 to 10 points because you touched your partner’s shoulders. It’s not even a mistake! But that’s the reality today. It’s become difficult to skate, difficult to coach and difficult to judge, because in the end, you could end up with a line on the score sheet that doesn’t reflect your performance.”

Georgian skaters Diana Davis and Gleb Smokin are also baffled by their scores. Smolkin said they, too, got an exclamation point for their choreo rhythm sequence and “we still have no idea why,” he said. They also lost a level on their curve lift in the free dance . “I’m pretty sure it was not our mistake,” he said. “I mean, I don’t want to make headlines but I’m quite sure that the tech panel did not notice the difficult.t exits in the curve lift.”

Alex Shibutani noted that he always listens to feedback and he got some after they got level 3 for a midline step at NHK. He and Maia got higher levels at NHK than at Finlandia even though they worked really hard on the steps and improved them “and performed them in the moment much stronger than NHK, but levels were level one.”

“So sometimes what you feel and what you work on doesn’t necessarily get reflected in the score in the moment or right away,” he said.

And just notice this: in calculations of scores made by Skating Scores, the Swedish and the American judges put Zingas and Kolesnik first in the RD. Swedish judge ranked the French fourth. The US judge ranked Gilles and Poirier third, 5.48 points behind Zingas and Kolesnik.

The free dance was indeed another frustration for many teams. More of the same.

Could it be that Gilles was targeted for speaking out the day before? Cizeron and partner didn’t seem to get the same scrutiny although they emerged with some tough calls they didn’t expect: another exclamation point for a choreo step sequence, a deduction for an extended lift, levels of only 1 and 2 for the one-foot sequence, level 1s in their serpentine step sequence, loss of a couple of levels in a twizzle (for Fournier Beaudry). French judge Christine Hurth gave them their only 10.00 for components.

But Gilles? Levels dropped in cascades from the time they skated to the time when the marks came out. While Gilles and Poirier got only levels 2 and 1 for their one-foot step sequence in real time, the tech panel dropped Gilles to level 1.

While they had levels of 4 and 3 for their twizzles, the panel dropped Gilles to 2.

While they originally had a level 4 for their final stationery lift, the panel dropped them to level 3.

The only other team among the top group to have lost a level after they skated was Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck whose dance spin was dropped from 4 to 3.

And guess who got the highest base value for the free dance? Zingas and Kolesnik with 45.04. Then the Shibutanis with 44.79. Both Americans. Then in order, the Finns, Davis and Smolin. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had the fifth highest base value at 43.04. (Some say, the French were better at their first event in France.)  Gilles and Poirier were tied for eighth with Smart and Dieck. (Some say, Gilles and Poirier performed the free dance much better in Finlandia than at Skate Canada. “Effortless,” said one dance coach.)

One tech specialist says Gilles and Poirier are the most undermarked skaters out there.

And here’s another illustration of what the Canadians do. During a free dance lift, when Gilles is moving around his head, Poirier sets her down and pushes her out – and she’s on a forward outside edge. Almost everybody else – including Chock and Bates – lands from a lift on a flat edge. Do the judges know enough to realize how difficult this is?

Judges don’t know what they are looking at any more, says Hisey. So many of the top experienced, educated  judges have left because they have aged out and retired. But new ones? “They are playing games with the numbers,” Hisey said. “They are in my opinion not judging what they are seeing, which we did. In the old days, you were responsible for what you saw.

“Now you’ve got three people telling you what you saw, which doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Also are judges really judging anymore? They are putting out numbers. Now dance is this odd jumble of silliness – let’s do high energy from the 1990s for crowd appeal, with skaters decrying how much of the music just doesn’t work. Choreographic this. Choreographic that.

“I don’t really understand what it is they are marking,” Hisey said.

Take a look at the free dance total segment tallies, according to Skating Scores. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron won the free dance, but only six judges placed them first, including the US judge. The French judge, Christine Hurth, placed Gilles and Poirier fifth, lowest of all nine judges. The second lowest placing they got came from the US judge who placed Zingas and Kolesnik ahead of them. Gilles and Poirier got three first places, from the Canadian, German and Czech judges.

Zingas and Kolesnik – who skated lights out – also bumped Marjorie Lajoie and Zach Lagha out of the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya in a couple of weeks. Lajoie and Lagha are talented enough to be world champions some day. They are champs in waiting. And they have had to wait. And wait. And not for the first time.

So many people just aren’t finding this discipline interesting any more.

Olivia Smart said she would change a lot. “We’ve lost ice dance quality into what a rhythm dance used to be,” she said. “And for somebody that hasn’t’ done many pattern dances in my life, I’d like to experience that maybe before I retire.”

She just wants the quality of ice dance to come back “In terms of being in the frame, less dancing and pointing and entertaining the judges.”

She wants more connection, two people dancing together on a ballroom dance floor, that feeling. She misses the restrictions of the rhythm dance. There are many restrictions in the RD of today but “they have gone in a very different route than we all would like.”

The ISU has created a camel of a discipline, one made by committee, not necessarily by sense.

And the nineties music for the RD? Take it from Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran which blossomed most during the 1980s into the 1990s.

He said: “I feel sorry for the 1990s, because it was never able to be anything much more than the hangover to the party that was the eighties.”

We are all feeling the hangover, after Finlandia Trophy.