Hi hello I’m never shutting up about this whole thing and here’s why:
1. I’m sorry I didn’t want to put the Marina bit in it but I wanted to include S kissing T on the forehead.
2. Tessa jumping up and down and saying “yaaaAAAYYyyy. Omg what a freaking precious bby angel! How many times can you recall her being this excited after a skate!? And this isn’t a reaction to the marks or placement bc they haven’t even come up completely until the very end of this clip where the announcer says they are 2nd. It was a reaction to their performance. A performance it seemed they were so inside of it gave everyone chills- completely transporting everyone out of that arena and into the street of Paris. They themselves got taken away by their own storytelling and once off the ice they can’t contain the excitement of the feelings they just experienced, let alone nailing every element. She especially was just bubbling over with joy!!
3. And it seems scootie wanted a piece of that bc he brings her in and holds her so close, she’s bubbling so much she almost collapses into him and he is 100% there to feel all her joy bubbling out. This is 1000% the laugh-cry happening here, maybe the first time it’s happen or maybe there have been others before and so when he knows it’s coming he wants to experience all of it! That’s his favourite sound btw and he wants to hear her making it only for him.
4. The way he looks up to the screen as he cradles her, taking it in in time that they are making history, 11 years so far together trying to become the best and it’s actually happening. Yes, they were second over all here, but they won the FD and had the skate of their life on the world stage (the first of many’s skates of their lives). They’ve been saying that he is the one in their partnership that ‘always knew’ they were destined for greatness and would do anything for them to succeed- and now it’s actually happening and it’s the best feeling in the world.
5. The head cradle 😭 he’s already holding her so close she collapsed on him, both hands wrapped around and whispering in her ear, then he goes and makes it softer by holding her head and his hand getting lost in her hair. All of this is just one of the most perfect visual encapsulations of their friendship- their best friendship they have had for more than half their very young lives at this point. The kind of friendship many people may claim they themselves have but do they really, where you can completely let go of all inhibitions and succumb to the emotions of the moment and fall into someone knowing they will hold you until you are through it- that being good or bad. In this case just the utter joy they have for what they have achieved together. So few times they really let themselves be excited and celebrate their achievements like they deserved to. Maybe it was their relative obscurity to the world at this point. Under the microscope for their athlete prowess for a long time-yes, but not so much the fascination of these beautifully intimate dancing souls that intertwine as much on ice as they do off- in a moment like this that beautiful connection of their souls supporting each other’s.
6. With whatever he says to her, it managed to compose her enough to stand back on two feet and respond ‘yes 😁’. Making their way out of the K&c I’m sure this continued- after hugging their support staff before heading backstage- hopefully back into each other’s arms ❤️🩹
Holly Harris/Jason Chan 🇦🇺AUS
RD: Madonna, Material Girl, Into the Groove, Express Yourself
FD: Colossal Trailer Music, Ocean Lullaby; Christian Reindl, Lucie Paradis, Gefion, Freya; Christian Reindl, Lucie Paradis, Power-Haus, Vale
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil
Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer 🇨🇦CAN
RD: AC/DC, Back in Black, Hells Bells, You Shook Me All Night Long
FD: keeping FD from last season- Lewis Capaldi: Someone You Loved
choreo: Zachary Donohue RD, Marie-France Dubrueil FD
Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Nikolaj Soerensen 🇨🇦CAN
RD: Top Gun - Harold Faltemeyer, Top Gun Anthem; Kenny Loggins, Playing with the Boys; Berlin, Take My Breath Away; Miami Sound Machine, Hot Summer Nights; Kenny Loggins, Danger Zone
FD: Notre Dame de Paris - Mario Pelchat, Danse Mon Esmerelda- Acoustic; Monks of the Abbey of Notre Dame, Final Angelus Bells; Noa, Ave Maria Paien; Cirque du Soleil, Les Sans-Papiers; Garou, Danse Mon Esmerelda
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil, Romain Haguenauer, Ginette Cournoyer, Samuel Chouinard
Sandrine Gauthier/Quentin Thieren 🇨🇦CAN
RD: Joan Jett, I Love Rock n Roll; Def Leppard, Pour Some Sugar on Me; Twisted Sister, I Wanna Rock
FD: Game of Thrones
choreo:
Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain LeGac 🇨🇦CAN
RD: INXS, Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, Devil Inside
FD: Danny Elfman, Corpse Bride
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil, Romain Haguenauer, Sam Chouinard, Ginette Cournoyer
Emmy Bronsard/Jacob Richmond 🇨🇦CAN
RD: Les Rita Mitsouko, Andy, Marcia Baïla
FD: Muse, Exogenesis Symphony part 3
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil
Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu 🇨🇳CHN
RD: Falco, Rock Me Amadeus
FD: LP, Forever for Now, The One That You Love
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil
Solene Mazingue/Marjo Jevgeni Gaidajenko 🇪🇪EST
RD: Run-DMC, Walk This Way; Salt ‘n Peoa, Push It
FD: Tems, No Woman No Cry; Rihanna, Lift Me Up
Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud 🇫🇷FRA
RD: Myléne Farmer, Sans Contrefaçon, Tristana
FD: Rachmaninoff, Elegie in eb minor, Prelude in c# minor
choreo: Romain Haguenauer RD, Guillaume Cizeron FD
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson 🇬🇧GBR
RD: Eurhythmics, Sweet Dreams, Here Comes the Rain Again
FD: Rocky
choreo: Romain Haguenauer, Samuel Chouinard, Ginette Cournoyer
Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto 🇯🇵JPN
RD: Ghostbusters
FD: Loving You (from Passion) Barbara Streisand & Patrick Wilson; Love Grows (from Final Fantasy VIII) Nobuo Uematsu (choreo: Romain Haguenauer)
choreo: Romain Haguenauer, Marie-France Dubreuil, Ginette Cournoyer, Sam Chouinard, Eva Airapetian
Azusa Tanaka/Shingo Nishiyama 🇯🇵JPN
RD: Super Mario Bros.
FD: Giselle
choreo: Romain Haguenauer
Hannah Lim/Ye Quan 🇰🇷KOR
RD: Prince, When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy
FD: Umbrellas of Cherbourg
choreo: Romain Haguenauer RD, Marie-France Dubreuil FD
Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius 🇱🇹LTU
RD: Guns n' Roses, Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City
FD: Son Lux, Enough of Our Machines; Tokio Myers, Children
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil, Sam Chouinard
Kayleigh Macsymek/Felix Desmarais 🇨🇭SUI
RD: Beverly Hills Cop - Harold Faltermeyer, Axel F; Corey Hart, Hold On; Glenn Frey, The Heat is On
Mariia Holubtsova & Kyryl Bielobrov 🇺🇦UKR
RD: Bonnie Tyler, Holding out for a Hero; Bonnie Tyler, Bryan Adams, Straight From the Heart; Bonnie Tyler, Desmond Child, If I Were a Woman (and You Were a Man)
FD: Joe Hisaishi, Merry Go Round of Life, Fragile Dream, A Walk in the Skies (Howl's Moving Castle)
choreo: Romain Haguenauer, Pascal Denis, Sam Chouinard
Oona Brown/Gage Brown 🇺🇸USA
RD: Elton John, This Town, Satellite, I'm Still Standing
FD: Eric Carmen, All By Myself
choreo: Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer, Joel Dear
Madison Chock/Evan Bates 🇺🇸USA
RD: Queen, Another One Bites the Dust, Who Wants to Live Forever, I Want it All
FD: Pink Floyd, Time, Breathe, Eclipse
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker 🇺🇸USA
RD: U2, With or Without You
FD: Fred Again, Kyle (Northern Line); Charles LeClerc, AUS23 (1:1)
choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil, Kaitlin Hawayek, Jean-Luc Baker
Sara Kishimoto/Atsuhiko Tamura 🇯🇵JPN jrs
RD: Styx, Mr.Roboto
FD: keeping FD from last season - Pulp Fiction
choreo: Romain Haguenauer, Sam Chouinard, Ginette Cournoyer, Eva Airapetian
Tessa & Scott 15 Day Challenge - Countdown to Pyeongchang
Day 1: A post about the program that made you fall in love with them
I don’t really know what to say about this program that others haven’t already said. Vancouver 2010 FD was their first program I ever watched and while I loved that FD and it made me start following them, this program is what made me fall in love with them.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2007-2008 FD. “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” Curve Lift.
made a compilation of my favorite vm lift from my favorite program... i am the eurosport commentator gushing at the end. “Look at the-the link between them. Look- that’s what it’s about.”
Every time you find new VM footage you haven’t seen before it’s like waking up on Christmas morning! 🥹
A couple of things I thought watching this:
1. It gives you new/refreshed enlightenment on the fact of so much of their lives they have spent together.. the competition/performance/interview/social media posts we see and are public add up to a lot but then you find something like this that you know happens but you don’t think about and this was only 10 years into a 26+ year partnership and to think they did this everyday and their favourite thing in the world was skating together..
2. I’ve probably said it before but I thought it particularly strongly watching this that it’s like when they skate/perform they are in a movie. It’s so hard to explain because they have the strongest, burning, intense intimacy you have ever seen its truly like nobody is watching them, but then at the same time you never once feel excluded from watching them, it never feels like they don’t want us to watch them, yet if we weren’t there/watching they would go about it anyway. And so I’m starting to equate them more with being/performing like film actors bc not only have the majority of us only ever seen them through a screen, but they are performing as if they don’t know there are people watching them.. they are just telling- being in the story for each other. So so so often- I personally and unbiasedly would say with every other ID team I’ve ever watched that there is not that honesty and conviction of the story the two are both in. The majority of it is projected outwards for performative purposes.. that is a valid form of performance and can be done very well and can carry the audience, but none can do what VM do.. I’d have to ask them if any of what I’ve said is accurate but again based on several the ways they have put it- “it’s about our connection to each other, playing off each other, putting ourselves in our bubble, they only want to see each other when they perform”.. it seems to make sense that we would feel that duality of isolation from their intimacy within the boards of the rink, yet also feel invited to feel every emotion with them. They skate in front of thousands live at a time occasionally (let alone the tv audience) but they have and project the intimacy of an old movie couple you are watching in a small, pitch black theatre..
It’s been said before but it deserves repeating- that CAN NOT be taught. And to have found each other and be blessed with that ability and chemistry.. it will just never happen again like this..
Saucy, would you be able to suggest a list with the best performances of their programs from each season of VM’s senior career? I’ve seen compilations of all of their performances but not the best performance from each season. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
So obviously, these are just my opinions, and might not even be my final ones, LOL. Some were old habit answers, with definitive opinion; others I went back and looked at a couple of my options to see if my opinion still held true. I found I had the easiest, most clear decisions about their FDs; for the OD/SD I was more hesitant and especially with the earlier years. In the end, I have chosen the programs not always because it was their most technically proficient outing, but because I thought it hit the best balance between technical and performance.
Dark Eyes: Skate Canada International 2007; Umbrellas of Cherbourg: Worlds 2008
Won’t You Charleston With Me: Worlds 2007 ;Pink Floyd: Worlds 2009 (only three complete competitions this season)
Farrucas: Canadian Nationals 2010; Mahler: Vancouver Olympics 2010
Days and Nights: Worlds 2011; Latin Medley: Worlds 2011 (only one complete competition this season)
Latin short: Worlds 2012; Funny Face: Skate Canada International 2011
And the Waltz Goes On: Canadian National Championships 2013; Carmen: Canadian National Championships 2013
Dream a Little Dream: Sochi Olympics 2014; Seasons: Grand Prix Final 2013
Prince: (pick any performance!) Grand Prix Final, 2016 ; Latch: Canadian National Championships 2017
Sympathy for the Devil: Canadian National Championships 2018; Moulin Rouge: Skate Canada International 2017 or Canadian National Championships 2018 or PyeongChang Olympics 2018
things to note in my thought process:
Won’t You Charleston With Me - though not their most technically sound, I chose Worlds because it was a stronger outing performance-wise, and the footage for World Team Trophy was so awful that I couldn’t use it.
Dream a Little Dream - the GPF would work here too, as they are both stunning performances of it. Also: their most robbed program of all time.
Prince (and Latch) - the season of frustration for recordings due to music copyright, but really any outing of Prince is pretty great.
Moulin Rogue - look, I did really well for every other program by choosing a single one. Don’t make me pick for this one.
Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto 🇯🇵JPN
RD: Ghostbusters
FD: Loving You (from Passion) Barbara Streisand & Patrick Wilson; Love Grows (from Final Fantasy VIII) Nobuo Uematsu (choreo: Romain Haguenauer)
Nadiia Bashynska/Peter Beaumont 🇨🇦CAN
RD: INXS, Never Tear Us Apart; Duran Duran, Wild Boys
Miku Makita/Tyler Gunara 🇨🇦CAN
FD: choreo by Matthew Gates
Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer 🇨🇦CAN
RD: AC/DC, choreo Zach Donohue
FD: Lewis Capaldi, Someone You Loved
Sandrine Gauthier/Quentin Thieren 🇨🇦CAN
RD: Joan Jett, I Love Rock n Roll
Emma Goodstadt/Christian Bennett 🇨🇦CAN (Jrs)
RD: B-52’s, Love Shack
Hannah Lim/Ye Quan 🇰🇷KOR
RD: Prince, When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy
FD: Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik 🇺🇸USA
RD and FD choreo: Benoit Richaud
Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville 🇺🇸USA
RD: Prince, When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy
FD: Celine Dion, Ne Me Quitte Pas
choreo by Greg Zuerlein, Charlie White, Tanith White
Eva Pate/Logan Bye 🇺🇸USA
RD: Bobby Brown, My Prerogative; Run-DMC (feat. Aerosmith) Walk This Way
Katarina Wolfkostin/Dimitry Tsarevski 🇺🇸USA
RD: When in Rome, The Promise; Blondie, Call Me
Isabella Flores/Ivan Desyatov 🇺🇸USA
RD: Prince, When Doves Cry; Def Leppard, Pour Some Sugar on Me, choreo Massimo Scali
FD: West Side Story, choreo Kaitlyn Weaver
Angela Ling/Caleb Wein 🇺🇸USA
RD: Aretha Franklin, Hold on I'm Coming
Raffaella Koncius/Alexey Shchepetov 🇺🇸USA
RD: Stray Cats, Rock this Town, Stray Cat Strut
Klara Kowar/Thomas Schwappach 🇺🇸USA
RD: INXS, Never Tear Us Apart, What You Need
FD: James Bond
Leah Neset/Artem Markelov 🇺🇸USA (jrs)
RD: Scorpions, Still Loving You; Joan Jett, Hate Myself for Loving You. choreo Kaitlyn Weaver
FD: choreo Nikolai Morozov
Eliana Peal/Ethan Peal 🇺🇸USA (jrs)
RD: Janet Jackson, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Rhythm Nation
FD: Lord of the Rings
Jenna Hauer/Benjaming Starr 🇺🇸USA (jrs)
RD: Tina Turner, Simply the Best (?)
Caroline Mullen/Brendan Mullen 🇺🇸USA (jrs)
RD: Wham!, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go; George Michael, Father Figure (?)
Yahli Pederson/Jeffrey Chen 🇺🇸USA (jrs)
RD: Queen, Kind of Magic; Queen w David Bowie, Under Pressure (?)
Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan 🇩🇪GER
RD: Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil; Don't Leave Me Now, Supertramp; Runaway, Bon Jovi
FD: wild west theme
choreo: Pasquale Camerlengo for both
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez 🇬🇧GBR
RD: Prince
FD: Muse
Layla Karnes/Liam Carr 🇬🇧GBR
RD: Sweet Dreams, medley, Eurhythmics
FD: Hit the Road Jack, 2WEI
Shira Ichilov/Dmitriy Kravchenko 🇮🇱ISR
RD: Get Down on It, Yesterday, It's Raining Men
FD: ("to a singer from Montreal")
choreo: Pasquale Camerlengo, Igor Shpilband
Elizabeth Tkachenko/Alexei Kiliakov 🇮🇱ISR
RD: Yello, Oh Yeah, Desire, The Race
FD: Incantation, Ojo Azules; Inca the Peruvian Ensemble, Danzante Vasija del Barro; Inti-IllMani, Sikuriadas
choreo: Elena Novak, Jimmie Manners
Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen 🇫🇮 FIN
RD: choreo Luca Lanotte
FD: music from Chicago
choreo Massimo Scali
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus 🇮🇪IRL
RD: Rick James, Super Freak, Give It To Me Baby, Mary Jane
Mariia Holubtsova/Kyryl Bielobrov 🇺🇦UKR
RD: Bonnie Tyler, Holding Out For A Hero; Bonnie Tyler & Bryan Adams, Straight From the Heart; Bonnie Tyler & Desmond Child, If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)
FD: Joe Hisaishi, Merry Go Round of Life, Fragile Dream, A Walk in the Skies
choreo: Romain Haguenauer, Pascal Denis, Sam Chouinard
Zoe Larson/Andrii Kapran 🇺🇦UKR
RD: Pointer Sisters, I'm So Excited; Grover Washington/Bill Withers, Just the Two of Us; The Weather Girls, It's Raining Men (?)
Adrienne Carhart/Oleksandr Kolosovskyi 🇦🇿AZE
RD: Billy Ocean, Caribbean Queen
Maria Kazakova & Georgy Reviya 🇬🇪GEO RD: Queen, A Kind of Magic, Save Me, I Want To Break Free, Need Your Loving Tonight FD: Schindler's List choreo by Matteo Zanni
Natalie Taschlerova & Filip Taschler 🇨🇿CZE RD: Janet Jackson, The Knowledge; James Mtume, Juicy Fruit; The Pointer Sisters, Serious Slammin' FD: Negramaro, Bluecobalto; Havasi, Terra Rosa; Giuliano Sangiorgi, Son Felice choreo by Matteo Zanni
Nam Nguyen - SP: "Adios Nonino" by Astor Piazzolla - FS: "Mi Mancherai" by Josh Groban - Choreographer: Danielle Rose
Emily Bausback - SP: "The One I Love" by Ellen Krauss - FS: "Alla Notte (Adagio)" by Miriam Stockley - Choreographers: Joanne McLeod, Lance Vipond, Neil Wilson
Alison Schumacher - FS: Once Upon a Time in the West by Ennio Morricone - Choreographer: Joey Russell
Madeline Schizas - FS: "I Will Wait for You" (Theme from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) - Choreographer: Asher Hill
Walsh/Michaud- SP: "Natural" by Imagine Dragons - FS: "Vai Vedrai" by Cirque du Soleil Choreographers: Alison Purkiss, Eric Radford
Lajoie/Lagha - FD: Music from Rio - Choreographers: Romain Haguenauer, Gigi Cournoyer
Fournier Beaudry/Sorenson - FD: "Roots - Return to the Inner Temple"
Choreographers: Scott Moir, Marie-France Dubreuil, Romain Haguenauer, Gigi Cournoyer