Wednesday, August 30, 2017

High Performance

Before the weekend I'm checking out the ethereal, free-spirited, it's not about the steps, it transcends - hell, bypasses! - conventional skating skills masterpiece Papadakis Cizeron are preparing to unveil. The rumor is Moonlight Sonata, and that sounds just about right.



How did so many people guess Virtue and Moir were doing Moulin  Rouge? Short dance music sounds ok (Rolling Stones, Eagles, Santana). Music cuts produced by Dubreuil. Does Marie France's genius have no ceiling.

From this article by Ryan Pyette (https://tinyurl.com/yaucbarb):

They brought in choreographer David Wilson again (me, thank God) and called on Sam Chouinard, who had previously helped them with hip-hop movements. They convinced their husband-and-wife coaching team of Patrice Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil the famous old cabaret in Paris was the way to go.

But this:

“Marie and Pat let us play with it a little bit,” Moir said. “Once they saw our passion, they started to come around a little bit more. We’re super-proud of our 2014 (Olympic silver in Sochi) programs, but one thing we could’ve improved upon was picking something we really connect with . . . we ended up settling below that.

Oh fuck them. So typical. When something or someone is no longer useful, it's under the bus. They are really the most hypocritical, what have you done for me lately people on the planet. Whatever fans thought of Seasons, back in 2014 Virtue and Moir repeatedly asserted, before and after the games, that every inch of that program was them, every detail hand-crafted.

I had missed this though, from 2014 Global News: (https://tinyurl.com/y7e7lplg)

Virtue and Moir also said they were frustrated but not surprised by a report in a French sports magazine that alleged U.S. and Russian judges colluded to give higher marks to skaters from their countries.

“It sort of comes with the territory. We knew what we were getting into when we signed on for this,” said Virtue. “We were hoping if we did our job and left no room for doubt that it would be hard to deny us the gold.

At least Virtue acknowledges politics could have controlled the outcome. Of course, Politics DID control the outcome, starting with a whole lot more than the U.S. and Russia. Such as Canada. Nothing bears that out more than their miraculous wins last season once they'd submitted to the imperatives of the Gadbois Center.

This year, with quotes about how they're people pleasers, and how they "ran into a little bit of that last season" (a characteristically insinuation-rich, unilluminating comment from Scott), coupled with the fact that Dubreuil Lauzon this year more blatantly than ever only nominally appear to be their coaches, Virtue and Moir might be moving past the Dubreuil-Lauzon/Virtue-Moir quid pro quo. Particularly with the remarks about assembling the right team for this season. I thought that was the whole point of Montreal last year, at least according to them then. But Scott sounds stoked - and concise - when he describes their training and their plans, which from him is always more credible. As does is the absence of weird and shifty body language. I'd almost forgotten what he sounds like when he's direct.

I liked this:
 (Tessa) It's always tricky translating ballroom movements to the ice and we really want that to read authentically so - trying to incorporate some edge work instead of just standing on the spot. (Scott) We kind of feel like we've done this Latin rhythm a couple of times. I think that's more our fault because we were in the game a long time, so we're trying to do something a little different this time.

I guess what I mean is when they talk about their preparedness this season, I believe them. They're always ready, always the best, but they don't sound as if they're pandering about either their environment or their program choice, which I was not expecting. And every other word out of their mouths isn't Marie France or Patch, so maybe they get to dial that down this season.

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The newly unveiled Virtue Moir webpage looks like their old webpage - generic Q&A and gallery. I'll set my calendar for how frequently it is updated.

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I was reading up on narcissists for non-Virtue Moir reasons, and came across a comparison between narcissists and gaslighters that brought to mind Virtue and Moir. The gaslighting description fits to a tee Virtue and Moir's original interaction with fans on their social media accounts. When they began lying to the public, their tactics conformed to actual pathology. But then again, they are perfectionist, so when they decided to scam the fans, why use half measures? To wit:

Many narcissists and gaslighters have thin skin, and can react poorly when called into account about their negative behavior. The gaslighter nearly always resorts to escalation by doubling or tripling down [snip]. Many gaslighters view relationships as inherently competitive rather than collaborative; a zero-sum game where one is either a winner or a loser, on top or at the bottom. “Offense is the best defense” is a mantra for many gaslighters, which also represents their aggressive method of relating to people.

Seems on point to me, with the Moir family conforming to the type as well.