#need to find some time management skills somewhere 🔎

[tutuandscoot]

2/17 Practice deep dive analysis

Part 2

So as they are about to be called to start as the other team has finished, they stop with their little conversation they were having as they lapped the rink. It’s like when they go into dance hold, whenever they are in it they are in ‘business mode’. It’s like ‘ok no fooling around now’ (not that they do), but.. like they are in business mode and they of course are fully serious when they skate around holding hands proper (the handy holdy/pinky hold) but it’s more ‘professional’ in the stricter sense of skating. I hear it in my head (in reference to a different moment where they were switching from proper to dance hold- here they weren’t holding the going into dance hold) as him (or her) saying, ‘ok kiddo, show time. I have to be your partner now’. It’s feels odd to analys it and share my take on it since I have no clue if this is how they actually interpreted it, but it’s like the proper hand hold is more friendly, more coupley, more ‘I want to hold your as close as possible’ where as dance hold is more occupational. I just find interesting to watch them go in and out of that, like as soon as they take dance hold- specifically as they enter for their practice run through/performance, it’s like ok, serious time. And it’s beautiful because they immediately go into that zone and their roles in the partnership are immediately established and they are there to do a job. Ok what it is is: In regular hold they are equals as in best friends who see each other as equal humans who love each other equally but in dance hold they are equals in the sense of their shared responsibility and commitment to their dance partnership and the different roles they both have to execute to perfection. Also this here isn’t the only time- there have been many where they manage to change holds/take hands right in the blind spot of the camera so it’s like a magic trick they are suddenly holding 🥰

The ✨drama✨ as they present. You can tell mentally before they present they’re in it and focused, switched to the same frequency, but as they present they A R E their characters. And what I love about how they have always done this, is the subtle way they set the tone. I’m quite off put by the way many teams do it, whether it’s some ultra characterised entrance (which if it suits the program fair, but often it’s too corny) or a lot of teams would just be overly “sensual” and it didn’t feel real, then others where they had some flashy ‘thing’ as their names were announced then just slumped back over and made their way to position (I can give examples of all of these if you want me to). But with TS it’s all internal - which is the same way they’ve described how they feel and create movement together- it comes from their emotion or the psychology of the program whether it’s them or their characters’ psychology. So here they present and he’s immediately stalking her with a sinister, seductive stare, wringing his hands, feeling that sensuality in himself. Her projecting that tantalising femininity, doing so much yet so little- so much of it is coming from her eyes. It all comes from the inside out with them and because they are physically stunning athletes, so trained, so aware of how they look and relate to each other, that internal self talk/mantra, the story they have put themselves inside they can convey physically- BEFORE they even start dancing.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone talk about how impactful this opening is. I also don’t think I have ever seen them this far apart on the ice in a choreographic sense. Obviously in ice dance, there’s the general rule that you are never to be more than an arm length (so fingertips touching) from your partner (excluding static start/end poses) which to be fair most teams (that I’ve watched) do generally stick to but you do see frequently partners far apart either choreographically or bad tracking ie things like twizzles. Anyway. The fact that they start so far apart is so impactful. Obviously within seconds they get close together and touch for the first time in T H A T lift (seriously what a GOAT era way to start a program). We all rave about how powerful their connection is and they dance so close the intimacy is burning, but what’s so cool is how they can do that from this far away as well. They can quiet an arena to being able to hear a pin drop. Everyone stops what they are doing because it’s as if they are staring lasers at each other. What they can do with literally nothing, just standing 10 metres apart looking at each other.. is insane. The emotion, power, chemistry, etc they project is like nothing else and all this to say is physically this is a simple, potentially nothing opening but what they do with it even before they move or the music starts I don’t think anyone else could- make you feel conflicted between feeling like you are intruding on something very private yet simultaneously unable to look away- and they don’t want you to. 🔥

(I’m just going to use one gif to talk about this but it applies to the whole practice). Something about this run through was just so effortless. I know this is the start but by the end they are moving just as freely and energetic as the beginning. It just looks so easy. So assured. So exact and precise yet not devoid of charisma, humanity, being in the moment. And in writing this I think that’s what they meant by achieving *EXCELLENCE* instead of perfection. (BRB having a mind blown moment).

I love their movement quality; the silkyness, the way they merge out of appearing as one figure- one being and then splitting in two. In moments they do move differently and interpret movement differently- ie in the ‘roxxxANNE’ *head head* moment at the end of the twizzles- there is a slight difference (which is perfectly fine) but in moving together like this here- they were just so made to dance with each other- that statement does not take away from the COLOSSAL amount of work it took them to get to this point, but I feel like you can say they were both made for each other and worked hard to be the best the can possibly be at moving together- those two statements don’t contradict each other. Also the rhythm of the way they move. There is moving musically to the rhythm/melody/beat but then there is their internal rhythm that is connected to each other’s (and it actually is because the make damn sure it is every time before they skate) and that makes up a huge component of facilitating things like lifts- the rhythm of how lifts work and contributes to making it so seamless- neither of them is rushing or doing more or less work than they need to. They are moving together rather then either of them doing more work then the other or against what is natural for the movement to work. As I said it’s so precise and just looks so natural.

… (following on from that point and without wasting a gif bc it applies to the whole thing) the way they emote during this practice is something else. There’s practicing the emotion or faces bc it’s part of the program but then there’s being emotional bc you truly love it and love being those characters- that’s what you feel from them, that it’s so honest and the love of what they get to do just pours out of them whether it’s practice or performance. And I kind of feel like even though this is so incredibly close to perfect, them knowing they are so ready, they are kinda playing with the performance a bit. Esp from him- it feels like he’s just letting go and fully embodying his character to a point that isn’t as controlled as the actual competition performance was.. and how cool that they can do that. Most people you have to drag emotion out of but them… and (side note) there’s that bit of Scott saying (in the context of finding himself as a performer, and I’m also gonna add- not that he said it but I feel like it’s true based on other stuff- he just wanting to do his best for Tessa and be amazing for her) how he might push the acting or emotion further than what he thinks his necessary and that’s when T says ‘that’s it I love that’ 😭 (sorry just take a moment to visualise scootie getting all excited when T says she loves what he did- he always felt he wasn’t the dancer/performer she was so when she says she loves that he trusts her with his life he knows that’s what she wants and loves oh my heart❤️‍🩹). So yeah, them being the performers that actually have to be pulled back sometimes because they give so much- which I was always taught it’s so much better to have to pull back a bit that having it dragged out against your will.

(Bc I’m never gonna miss an opportunity to gif this)

I’ve probably tried to explain what this is before but just let me do it again.. I know to the laymen eye this looks like them being super sexy and seductive for the sake of it and them forgetting they are in public and don’t want people to know about their super hot and sexy secret relationship🙄.. But just use your brains for a sec and remember this isn’t some fake af reality show and in fact they are at the most important event in their athletic careers- their craft and yes, JOB they have dedicated their lives to. They are the best athletes in their sport, meticulously rehearsing the routine that will win them gold.. again. The way these practices work is their music will play in full and they will practice pre-determined sections of the routine with music then before and after do the missed sections without music. The said program they are practicing is Moulin Rouge!, a famously seductive, romantic, sex driven story in which they are portraying very complicated characters with both true and impulse- driven motivations. In their sport of ice dance, it is required of them to act and portray their characters in an understandable sense through movement and facial expressions as well as interpreting the music whether it be instrumental or with lyrics. As part of this story exploration both in the workshopping/choreographic process, and once completed, it is customary for dancers to play with movement that does not become set choreography in the piece, for exploration purposes and even as a matter of being ‘in’ the character and finishing moments off with reactions that are not choreographed, but emerge almost unprompted as a matter of being in the world you have created. THAT’s what this is. They knew they were not continuing with the choreography, so instead, because they are so ‘in it’ they continue with physically bringing to life the internal dialogue they both are reciting in their heads as they dance-dialogue that is far more complicated and nuanced that the 4 minutes of program choreography. It’s beautiful to think about them diving head first into bringing this story to life.. the most important decision of their lives was to find their perfect FD, and they did find it, and it makes me emotional to think about them every day in the early phases of creation, them just exploring everything they could do with it- the romantic parts, the violent parts, the sex and seduction.. creating something from nothing is the most beautiful thing we can do as humans and they had done that their whole lives and now got to create something that was truly setting their hearts on fire. I doubt they ever wanted to leave that place- being in the head space of that beautiful, heartbreaking story and so I don’t blame them at all for spontaneous moments of improvisation where they could just BE those characters. Then of course the moment after is the best bit- how they turn to each other and break and you know how much fun they are having. They LOVED what they got to do and it breaks my heart that people thought they couldn’t just love what they did and that was that- it couldn’t be that simple, and yet it was and the smiles on their faces say it all.

I alluded to this in my super long analysis post on this lift that when they practiced here, they almost did it too good.

What I mean by that is they kinda over popped it. They use to term ‘pop’ to describe their execution of lifts, there is a crucial moment when they both have to be in the exact right place at the right time, use their coordinated breaths, plié, trajectory etc to make the lift happen.

In saying this lift is ‘over popped’, it looks to me like Tessa got slightly more air than she usually would off the back flip launch, causing Scott to catch and rotate her slightly earlier and higher in the air, where usually, there is typically more of a forward and downwards height she is at in the dive where he would begin the anchor point and manipulation of getting her to sitting up. (All this is more easily observed in video format). In this instance any semblance of a typical ‘lifting’ motion is erased (not that this has much of a typical ‘lift’ motion to it anyway) because she has all but launched herself to the height of the (sitting up) lift position. The rest of the movement continues *excellently* and without having scrutinised it like I have it would maybe be hard to tell, but comparing it to the performance version (and this is not meant as an insult or a bad thing) this looks a bit over excited where as the performance (from a movement perspective) is controlled and calculated.

I really want to hear from them the actual decision process for both changing the lift initially for the team event, and then going back to this. I imagine when they got to Seoul for their private practice between events there was a conversation like ‘so we’re going back to the original lift?’ and someone else went ‘yep’ and then they both said ‘yeah F*ck it this is what it’s suppose to be and we want it to be so as long as we do it perfect..’.

This in general is such an incredibly beautiful moment. They’ve just been through this big, traumatic event and it’s like he’s checking her to make sure she’s ok. The way he looks at her the whole time through that circling movement, bends over so far to legitimately take her in- as I said earlier, not just doing it because it’s the choreography, but because he as both Scott as well as his character adores her and is actually taking a moment to let her rest and make sure she’s ok (😢🤧). There’s some really beautiful photos of this moment and it’s one of my favourites in the program given it comes after such a memorable, highlight moment, it’s easy to forget there are beautiful, more nuanced moments that are all critical to the story- not just fill in chore. I also really love how they tried to keep- even if it changed chronologically and choreographically a bit, the moment in the original ending- the moment from Manon when she does the falling angel arabesques then the twist into the fall back and he’s caring her dying body through its final moments, there were times where he would kiss her (body) in that moment and with this it’s a bit different given the position he’s not really able too, but they’ve kept the intention and emotion of that moment in this revised version.

Also just the way he handles her. I know I go on about it a lot and it may seem like I view it as one-sided between them, but it’s not in the respect of a hetro relationship, it’s in the respect of dance partners and duty of care the man has over his woman (and I can speak on this because I’ve had partners that treated me well and others that didn’t) and Scott treats her like a freaking angel. I’ve said before the way he holds her head and anytime he’s holding her in a position where she’s lying back, how important it is in those positions just safety wise to have your head supported properly if not by someone else then yourself, holding your posture/strength correctly as to not injure your neck- which Tessa would 100% be doing anyway because she is so strong and well trained (and now this is where a bit of body language stuff comes in I guess which I am not an expert on) but the way Scott holds her like that- holds that part of her oozes of such commitment and attentiveness to her safety- the way he holds her all the way out of that position to standing straight, like he actually putting her back to vertical, where he has all her weight anyway- she has to do almost no work to get out of it and that’s just an extra (significant) level of care he has over her physically. And yes it’s also in the way he stays so close to her and the way he looks at her with the eyebrows doing */\* thing 🥹

When I said the other day that the thing I go softest over is their utmost and constant care of each other, well also way up there is their love for dancing together. You just know they do- you don’t get a connection like their’s without loving it (T has now said a few times that for a long period of their career she didn’t *love* skating.. but I do believe she loved dancing and skating with him.. just not the sport of skating). So knowing it and being able to believe it is one thing but when it comes out- uncontrollably pours out of them like this it’s something else. The way after the spiral they are basically making each other laugh with how much they are enjoying themselves. Both unapologetically singing, how it seems to have left their stream of consciousness that this is a practice for the ..Olympics.. and not just dancing for fun. So many athletes competing at the olys- the majority know they are not competing for medals- they are there for a PB- time or score and to have fun, and I’m sure they try to soak in the experience as much as possible. For the potentially medaling athletes- the ones with a good chance or are expected to win- they are there to do a job and have a lot riding on their result- TS were the favourites in almost every competition they entered in their senior careers (except for the first couple years) and if not favourites they were never far from the top (never lower than 6th as seniors). They put their whole careers and legacy on the line with this comeback and this result mattered a lot to them, and to many others. So how intimidating must it have been for all the other teams on this practice- 2 low ranked teams, one mid-ranked and one potentially top 5/bronze contender team, to be on the ice with the greatest team in history- expected to take it all, all the pressure on them, to be having THIS MUCH FUN and enjoying themselves THIS MUCH. Being THIS good and having THIS MUCH FUN being THIS GOOD. And in writing this I’m just now remembering how they said (when they came back to competition) that when they were on their 2 year break they would go to comps and watch other teams be taking it so seriously and not seeming to be having fun, and when they came back they wanted that to be a priority. To enjoy it. And they even told each other before every (competitive/performance) skate (but I’m sure everyday in practice too) that they are so lucky to have each other and love what they share and just have so much fun spending their days together and want to enjoy every minute of it.. (Scott- or I guess Tessa, can I please borrow that bucket the rice was in to soak up my tears, please and thank you). 😭😭😭😭😭

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3