DWTS Inspired Post: Tango Programs!

Hi everyone! As I previously mentioned, I am now motivated and inspired to bring you a lot of exciting content! One of my more recent sources of inspiration is coming from this season of Dancing With the Stars, where Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, and the infamous Tonya Harding are competing. I pretty much only watch the show when there are figure skaters competing, so this season definitely had a big draw, and Adam is killing it! He is seriously amazing. Unfortunately, Mirai got eliminated last week.

With this show going on, I thought I would write about different ballroom-influenced skating programs. I plan to post these on Sunday night or Monday morning before the show airs (this is all on US time; the times will of course be different for my international readers).

This week's theme is the tango. I'm not ranking these in any particular order; I'm just showcasing some of my favorites. Let's start out with what is now probably the most famous and talked about tango performance:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir- Tango de Roxanne

This was Tessa and Scott's Gold Medal performance from the 2018 Olympics. Absolute perfection. The edges. The musicality. The emotions. They maximized every single note and nuance in the music. While they have not officially announced their retirement, it has been widely speculated that the Olympics was their final competitive performance. If that is the case, what a way to go out!

There have been many skaters who have performed to this same piece of music, but only one other performance that can hold its own against Virtue and Moir's masterpiece. Here it is:

Yuna Kim: Tango de Roxanne

Yuna is one of those skaters that gets it right every time. She has great musicality and projection. I greatly enjoyed this performance and she carried it off beautifully.

The next couple of tangos are from some of my favorite skaters, as I love their on ice presence and personalities:

Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov: Argentine Tango Compulsory Dance

Here's a throwback to back in the day when compulsory dances were still part of the Olympics. I miss them, even though any pattern dance music is AWFUL. It was a good objective way to measure everyone's edges, rhythm, and overall dance skills. And I freakin' LOVE Angelika Krylova. She even brings the drama to the compulsory dances! When will your fave ever...

Next, we feature another Russian ice diva who can serve serious face. Because for some reason, I love that.

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov- Tango de Besame

I really like this team. It seems like their personalities balance each other out well. This was a great program, particularly for pairs, since it incorporated a lot of dance elements, and there was more musical expression than we see from a lot of pairs teams. I'm very disappointed that they did not get the opportunity to compete at the Olympics this time.

Most of the time, when we think of tango, it is seen as a sensual, romantic dance. That was seen in Virtue and Moir's performance, and I have a few more to show you:

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin- Tango Oblivion

This team is most well-known for their unfortunate mishap (and downright cringeworthy) Aboriginal Dance from the 2010 Olympic season, but they do have a lot of good performances as well, to include this one. That low lift was spectacular, and reminiscent of the "drag" seen in a ballroom Argentine tango. I love that move too! Wish I knew the technical name for it...They tell a nice story with this dance and her dress is stunning.

Anna Pogorilaya- The Scent of a Woman

I think this might be my favorite program from Anna. There was a move in the 2016/2017 season for her to transition to more mature programs than the previous seasons. This was choreographed by Misha Ge, whom everyone knows I am a huge fan of. Anna has fantastic spins, and I don't think they are talked about enough. Anna was out for the majority of the 2017/2018 season, and I haven't seen much on what she's up to. Her coach was horribly mean to her earlier this season, and I know she was looking at switching coaches. I hope everything is going well with that.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates- Blue Tango

Wow! This program is 🔥🔥🔥! Madison and Evan are actually dating, so I think this plays into their connection in this dance as well. They have taken on classic tango roles, Evan as the strong leading man, and Madison as the tempting seductress. Ok, now I'm sounding like Bruno on DWTS...
The intense staring really drives the performance home. OMG that joint spread eagle with the chair is amazing! This is intense, and you can't look away the entire time.

Daisuke Takahashi- Primavera Portena

Here we have Dai, the king of all step sequences. I could watch him skate all day; he is so amazing! He has such great lines and hold positions as well. I would love to see him do a dance-type performance with someone. I think that would be cool. I'm blown away with how quickly he moves on everything. He covers the ice so fast, and the spins are moving too! Also, this is an awesome costume.

I had a few more I wanted to include that were different from these other performances:

Karen Chen- Tango Jalousie

Karen choreographed this program herself, and she did a pretty damn good job. She is one of my favorite ladies from Team USA, and when she is on, she is one of the best in the world. She has some of the most amazing spirals. That's my favorite move to see when done well. Karen had a lot of issues with boots (plus some very ugly drama with Avanta), but that looks to have been resolved now. I'm interesting in what she will do next. I'm also kind of annoyed that Stars on Ice is not coming anywhere near me, because I have heard her show programs are awesome.

So now, I know all the Shoma fans are wondering...Where's Loco? Well, I saved the best for last.

Shoma Uno- Buenos Aires Hora Cero (AKA Loco)

This program is a fan favorite, and there have been many requests from fans to bring this program back. He went a different direction this season with a free skate to Turandot. I enjoyed it, but for Loco aficionados no other program can compare. In a lot of ways, it is similar to Takahashi's Primavera Portena. Daisuke is one of Shoma's biggest influences, so this is not surprising. He almost won the 2017 World Championships with this and his short program performance, but narrowly missed the top of the podium to Yuzuru Hanyu. This was such and awesome competition and Shoma put it all out there! Shoma is the complete package. He's mainly seen as one of the young jumpers, but he has a great sense of musicality as well. And that cantilever...🔥.

I hope you all enjoyed this post, and are enjoying Dancing With the Stars, if you're into it. Stay tuned next week, where I will feature another dance! It's a surprise for now 😉

~ Icy Trails ⛸

On My Disappearance From Blogging

Hi everyone! I'm coming back after almost a 3 month hiatus on the blog. This is the longest I have gone without writing/posting something since I started Icy Trails. Luckily, I just do this blog for fun. I don't do any ads or make any money off of it. That way I'm not swayed in my writing by a profit motive, I can write about what I want, and I can give my honest opinions. Plus getting Adsense just sounds like a giant pain in the ass...

Why have I not been writing? Well, there's a few reasons...

1) I started 3 different blog posts in this time and have not finished them. There are a few (such as my favorite programs of the season) that it's just too late to post now. I was having a hard time writing a few times because my heart just wasn't in it.

2) I have been in a roller coaster of emotions since I'm not skating at the moment, due to the often-cited "boot problems". It has at times left me uninspired to write. I plan to be skating again before the end of the year though.

3) I've been trying to limit my time on social media. Last year seemed like a much happier time across all my networks. It was a great encouragement and support system, and I got to learn about other cultures. This is still happening, and there are people I love to converse with. But things have just taken such a negative toll, particularly on Twitter. The fan wars went on for months on end after the season ended, and someone's outraged about something, skating or not, all the damn time. It's not exactly the environment I want to get into after a stressful day. Not that there isn't a lot in this world that needs to be fixed, but complaining online really isn't going to help anything. I do think a lot on things that are wrong but if I go too far down that path, I get stuck in the vortex of negativity.

4) I have actually been busy. With my job, church, and other commitments, I haven't had time to get a lot of things together.

With this break, I've been indulging in my other passions like music and makeup. This has brought me some new ideas and inspiration that I hope to incorporate into my blog. So, I'm back! More posts will be coming soon!

I will close with this most epic jam...