Music + Ice + Davis and White: Vancouver Loverliness

          Apparently my family (and the TiVo) missed the Olympic Ice Dancing Short Program this morning.

          So, here's for hoping that NBC will air it again this evening.  *le sigh*

          Until then, I thought it'd be fun to share some favorite ice dance performances from the Vancouver Olympics four years ago, to be more specific, those of U.S. pair Meryl Davis and Charlie White.  In 2010, they won the silver medal, sandwiched between their Canadian training mates, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin (remember those Aboriginal dance and costumes?)  Both Virtue/Moir and Davis/White have returned for the Sochi Olympics, and the media-hyped "rivalry" continues.

          Ice dancing is a little different from figure skating in that it's modeled after actual ballroom dancing.  It incorporates and judges according to a greater artistic bent, and focuses much less on the technical jumps and acrobatics (at least, that's how I read it.)  In execution, it seems like the pairs can have a little bit more fun with the choreography and other stylistic elements. Whatever else the differences may be, the end result is really something remarkable.  Since our family first discovered ice dancing during the 2010 Winter Olympics, I've actually come to prefer it to figure skating!

          Of course, I can't speak with any authority about how good or bad an ice dancer is; all I can say is that Davis and White's performances were, by far, our favorite part of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  The music they choose is delightful, and, unlike some teams, they have the timing, energy, and artistry to match it.  Though for the first round each team was required to dance the same piece (very neat to compare,) their round two original Indian folk dance was, if you ask me, one of the most... *cough*... original pieces during the entire competition; they really did a neat job of incorporating the Indian feel into dance itself.  For the final round, they then danced beautifully to a Phantom of the Opera medley.

Be still my heart.

YouTube won't allow me to embed these videos, but these are the links to the second and third phases, respectfully.  They're three hours a piece (!) so, to save some time, the medal-winning performances are as follows:

Ice Dance Figure Skating Full Event - Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (Full Event #2)

- 1:56:25 - Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, "Aboriginal dance" (Team Russia) - 1:56:25 -

- 2:04:50 - Davis and White, "Indian folk dance" (Team USA)

- 2:24:00 - Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, "Spanish Flamenco" (Team Canada)

Figure Skating Ice Dance Full Event - Canada Gold - Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (Full Event #3)

- 2:33:55 - Davis and White, skating to "The Phantom of the Opera" (Team USA)

- 2:49:30 - Virtue and Moir, skating to "Symphony No 5 (G. Mahler)" (Team Canada)

- 3:05:25 - Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, skating to "The Double Life of Veronique" (Team Russia)

- 3:15:50 - Final Victory/Medal Ceremony

There are many other Davis and White performances on YouTube, for anyone that's interested (even going back to 1999 when they were little kiddos!).  I sure am hoping to see them tonight on the TV also.

I even heard they're doing a "My Fair Lady" medley.

Regardless of how Sochi's Olympic Ice Dancing competition turns out, it'll be a blast if it's anything close to what it was four years ago.  The media has been slating Davis and White for a gold this year, and while I'm not a judge of ice dancing, it seems to me that it would be a long time coming, and very well earned.  Best of luck to them!