ICE DANCING
| Pl | Name | Nation | Points | SD | FD |
| 1 | Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE | USA | 188.55 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR | CAN | 183.34 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT | FRA | 169.69 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE | CAN | 166.07 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI | USA | 160.55 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV | RUS | 157.30 | 6 | 6 |
Well, this final was billed as the Battle of the Titans, with the current world champs Davis/White going head-to-head with the reigning Olympic champions Virtue/Moir for the first time this season. I really wanted to see who the judges would put on top if both teams skated well. Both teams did skate pretty well, but Scott Moir’s fall in the short dance meant that we will have to wait for Worlds to see who comes out on top if both teams go clean. The commentators on Universal Sports here in the US (Terry Gannon and Tanith Belbin) said it over and over, and it’s true–comparing Davis/White’s free dance to “Die Fliedermaus” and Virtue/Moir’s Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire number really is like comparing apples and oranges. Both free dances show off the best characteristics of their skaters. Davis and White’s free is technically packed and builds to a fast pace that they have the strong technique to handle seemingly with ease (although we all know it’s not as easy as they make it look). The Mozart also shows off Charlie’s natural exuberance. While I appreciated the technical difficulty of their tango free last year, I find this year’s free dance much more accessible. Virtue/Moir’s free shows off their great unison and chemistry, as well as Scott Moir’s wonderful back posture, which I think is the best in all of skating. I have a slight personal preference for Davis/White’s free, because it always leaves me smiling (how’s that for a scientific reason ;)?) Can’t wait to see them go at it again at Worlds. I know Marina Anissina was recently quoted as lamenting the “Americanization” of ice dance (see http://www.championat.com/other/_skating/news-977455.html for a Russian version), but if that means clean costume lines, lack of sturm and drang, and not needing pamphlets to explain the deep meaning of your programs, I’m all for it. Four of the six teams in the GPF this year were North American; it still seems unbelievable to me after so many years of Russian/former Soviet dominance. I found Nathalie Pechelat’s free dance costume mildly distracting and Ekaterina Bobrova’s extremely distracting, but in Bobrova’s case, it may be trying to distract observers from noticing how much she and her partner break at the waist when they skate (watch them; it’s unbelievable how much they both do it. Thank you for pointing that out, Tanith). I think Weaver/Poje’s free shows a great connection between them, and the Shibutanis are scary good for their age (and SO smooth).
