A Confession

Our Love, it is so Pure and True

I have a confession to make.

I am perfectly aware that this may pernamently cause people to doubt my taste and condemn me as a philistine forever, but I must get this off my proverbial chest:

I actually find Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir rather dull.

The trouble is that the great ice dance teams of the 1980s-1990s have thoroughly spoiled me when it comes to ice dance. Freed from the exhausting constraints of jumps and often beset by a deep field of extremely talented competitors,  the top ice dancers combined technique with great range and versatility, leading to the innovation and creativity that made ice dance so thrilling to watch during this period:







Unlike the programs linked to above--and despite the hype, their excellent performances during the Olympics, etc--Virtue/Moir's programs have left me impressed by their technical prowess, but artistically and emotionally completely cold. Admittedly, I found their Umbrellas of Cherbourg FD quite charming, but since then, I haven't bothered to watch many of their other programs more than once.

Perhaps it is because ice dance has changed. Ice dance in the CoP era is now dominated by the twin spectres of twizzling and precisely-timed acrobatic lifts, elements that I am not particularly impartial to. But much of my apathy towards Virtue/Moir is caused by the *young love* shtick they effect so well...and so repeatedly. Admittedly, ice dance is the perfect figure skating vehicle for the True Romance angle--unlike pairs, the partners are much more likely to look closer in age, and unlike singles skating, there are two people on the ice, making attempts generally more amorous than onanistic. Yet the True Romance angle is such a dead horse in figure skating, a tried-and-true safe route that is original as a match in a box of matches. All this is compounded by the fact that some of  Marina Zoueva's choreography is so incredibly trite for skaters as talented as Virtue/Moir are (e.g. 0:30-40 of the video below).

By sticking to the straight and narrow, the best that can be achieved is a gorgeous sort of vanilla. And this is what Virtue/Moir are to me: polished, pleasant, and beautiful to watch. But personally, I'd look elsewhere to have a night to remember.