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The races of the Trophée Eric Bompard, the fifth stage the grand prix season, have yet to begin but the French team has already been invited to the press room for a conference with the media present at the event. Here are the statements made by one of the spearheads of the team, the pair of dance formed by Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat. We thank Tatjana Flade for the translation from French to English.
Thursday 14 November 2013 9 minutes reading time
As commented on the race of the Cup of China, your first stop the grand prix?
Nathalie Pechalat: E 'went well, it was a great victory and it was important. At the time we knew we had given our best but also depended on the performance of the Russians. The Cup of China gave us a great relief, a great starting point to build the season.
What can you say about the Short Dance performed on that occasion?
Nathalie Pechalat: It was not bad, we fought until the very end. There was a nice energy in the program up to the lift, which was a bit 'rushed. We have received a deduction for the fall, but there has been no fall. It 'was a shock to read the protocols of the race, it was frustrating, but the levels were lower than those of our previous large prix.Ma, in the end, they all take a low level in the short dance. The small error at the end of the program did not affect the performance in general. Only after this final difficulty was not perfect, but until then we were running a good performance, and, in fact, the error did not spoil the overall impression.
On what you have worked particularly after the Chinese stage?
Nathalie Pechalat: On the character of the foxtrot and finnstep, and even on the last lift. We were very focused on the short dance, because we had 10 work days left before this stage. We had some detailed feedback from the judges regarding the free, so we worked on free according to these observations.
Fabian Bourzat: There have been more critical of the short dance rather than free. We did not choose a classic style of ballroom dancing, we preferred the style cabaret. The judges were told that they would see more ballroom dancing in short, so we tried to focus more on what style to give them what they want to see. We had to accept some compromises still trying to keep the characters originating in the short dance. As for the free, liked the poetry of our characters, we had no technical problems during lifting or on the Chinese stage. For the Master of France had a lifting choreography like what we performed in the Short Dance on Latin rhythms (where Nathalie Tips Fabian), but we were told that would not be considered as lifting choreography, so we changed it. Now we will see how they will be accepted both of our programs in the French stage. We worked hard to make progress on the transitions, technique and expression.
Did you make many changes to the Short Dance?
Nathalie Pechalat: The Short Dance is very limited due to the regulation, we always try to offer something different but it's hard. It 'a shame because now all the short dance are equal to each other. We are always looking for something different, but we are forced to do what everyone else is doing, like robots, it is frustrating for us. One would think that the short dance is just like the original dance: you are given a theme and you can interpret it. But it is not. It 'frustrating because you do not have freedom.
How important was it for you to beat the Russian pair Bobrova / Soloviev?
Nathalie Pechalat: It was important to do better than them. The last time we faced this couple was at the World Cup, first, to the Europeans, were injured. At the Chinese stage, we presented ourselves with the desire to prove that we are not finished, we are still here and we still progress. Psychologically it was not easy for us, mentally we were not in the lead. We wanted to prove to people that he can still count on us and that we can aim for a medal at the Olympic Games.
Fabian Bourzat: Bobrova / Soloviev were placed better than we do at the World Cup, we came third and sixth. In the head of the judges, they are better than us, but despite a difficult start with the short dance during the Cup of China we were able to win with the free. It 'was very important for us, so we know that if we stand before Sochi in short, we still have a chance to medal giocandocela with the free. We would know that all is not lost, as happened at the Europeans in Sheffield where we won a second place after the short dance. The free is our showpiece, we will fight hard to the end. We are confident of our technical level, our physical condition and quality of our rink. We have the coaches at the highest level and we have no problems to do in the race that we perform every day in training.
Nathalie Pechalat: The atmosphere in the short dance is still the original one. On the one hand the judges like to see something different, but do not overdo it. For example, they wanted our costumes were a bit 'more colorful, then the Europeans will be different.
What did you do after the Cup of China?
Fabian Bourzat: we stayed for a week, since otherwise we would have to go back to Detroit and then in France. So we trained there for a week and then Wednesday we returned to Lyon. After this stage the French back in the United States, then in the final grand prix and the French national. (As regards the Olympic race)
Fabian Bourzat: The Olympics are in Russia but the judges are international, so we know that if pattiniamo at our best we will place better than the Russians. Other very strong competitors are the Americans, the Canadians, the second Canadian couple.
Nathalie Pechalat: For each event corresponds to a different panel of judges, which is why it is important to do several international competitions, to be judged by a variety of judges. The programs have been well received at the Cup of China: during the first lifting of the free (one upside down), the audience gave a standing ovation, it was nice.
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