Overall impressions: A small field with some very strong moments from the top
two teams.
Compulsory
- Slattery & Connelly. I took no notes on this team. No idea why.
- The Smiths - Bigger lobes on the pattern than previous team on Viennese
Waltz. Assured and confident looking. A solid performance on both dances (Quickstep
was the other)
- Russell & Metzger - Great character & expression of the dance (Viennese
Waltz). Very fast and very neat. Little click and separation in the Quickstep,
but great knees and neat footwork.
- Scheumann & McDonough - both dances looked like they were fighting -
a lot of pushing and pulling - they completely lost count & left out one
full round on the waltz. Their back edges were scary on the Quickstep.
Original Dance
- Smiths - Smooth with nice deep lobes. Footwork was precise & controlled.
Very nice use of knee bends. Complicated dance holds.
- Slattery & Connelly - Looser, with less control that the Smiths. Not
as "finished". Uneven speed - much slower at the end. Lot of distance
between them in the face to face sections. One of their lifts I deemed "busy"
in my notes.
- Russell & Metzger - Holds were very complex. Footwork was difficult
& performed at nice speed. The whole dance had a nice sensuous feel to
it.
- Scheumann & McDonough. He fell on a sliding bit after the footwork.
Free Dance
- Slattery & Connelly - Gospel Spiritual "Carry me Home" set
to a faster pace. My notes say "Baffling. Struggle. Big break in footwork
- he fell apart about 2/3 of the way in."
- Scheumann & McDonough - Jungle music. Did a posing bit where they were
being flapping birds. Very nice lifts.
- Russell & Metzger - Hmmm.. Yet more incomprehensible notes. Classicy
Pout. S.T. with footwork off 1x. I remember that she had a cute pout, so that
part of the note I get. Classicy refers to ersatz classical music. Clearly
I felt the footwork was off. No idea what I meant by 1x..Well, It is usually
short for 1 time. But what happened 1 time I couldn't say. Of course it could
also be a single axel...but that seems unlikely.
- The Smiths - Little slower and less smooth than previous. Great dance holds.
Nice lift on one foot.