tomianina and marinin?

[cocanuts]

anyone else think they have bad presentation, and not much expression or feeling? especially the girl!!

[Kestral]

I'll go out on a limb and say they do nothing for me either. I'm not much of a pairs fan in any case, but it depresses me to no end that T&M are likely to be the next World champions, judging by the way things are going.

[Scott]

They are certainly pretty bland. But they do skate effortlessly. They certainly are not the calibre of skater that one would expect from the Russians. They definately could be beat at Worlds.

[Artemis]

I think the problem lies in their music choice. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again ... very few Russians can adequately interpret swing or blues music. Their West Side Story was similar.

Traditional Russian classical music wouldn't really suit their dynamic style either ... I can definitely see the potential in them for really good presentation, if only they can find the right vehicle.

[Xiaoxue]

Originally posted by cocanuts
anyone else think they have bad presentation, and not much expression or feeling? especially the girl!!

Cocanuts,

presentation is not just about facial expressions. That might be the most apparent feature to look for in a team's performance, but there is more to judging presentation. Judges also have to look at carriage and poise, ease of movement, synchronicity and interpretation. I guess they do poorly in the interpretation department, but T/M have very good carriage, move very fluidly across the ice, unlike the Chinese and Cdn pairs teams. They also don't have the synchronicity problems that so many other teams have. By that, i don't mean to say that they've never botched a spin; who hasn't? But they are quite consistent in that area.

Like Artemis, i believe that if they can find the right piece of music, one that makes her feel comfortable performing in, then we might see a whole new dimension of T/M that we'd never seen before. Of course, this is hypothetical, but there is so much potential for this team.

Give them some time. They might surprise you! :)