Konner, can you wax poetic about VM's lines and posture? I've no knowledge of skating, just a response to the art and beauty they create, but I hear they were exceptional... Thank you.

Okay! So, there are certain things that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir do better than anyone else in ice dance: expression, versatility, commitment to character, lifts, the list goes on…but on the top of that pile, are their lines and their posture. 

They are quite simply unparalleled.

This goes back, I think most clearly, to Tessa’s training as a ballet dancer, she learned about how to hold herself, the stretch, turn out, extension, and holding the right kind of tension at the right moments. Scott was always amazing on his feet and with his knees and hips, and as consequence learned to match Tessa perfectly.

Even as children, they just matched well:

Their past coaches have talked about it before, how they just had this innate ability to both match each other, feel music, get in sync, etc. Even here, you can see their stroking is a full movement, they end it completely and turn their feet out together. The are upright and not leaning too far forward. When watching skaters do crossovers/cross cuts its so clear who is pushing with their legs and who is pumping with their whole body because they will lean forward and bob up and down. 

An incredibly telling program was Try from Stars on Ice. Having vm next to weapo will always highlight everything that vm do exceptionally well. For example, look at the difference between the two moves here: 

Scott holds Tessa around her middle just like Andrew does, except Andrew brings the whole side of his body down and curls into Kaytlin, whereas Scott has his chest open and his shoulders and back straight, its one full movement through his body switching from arm to arm, while Andrew is making two clear movement. Tessa, while she lets her body fall, is still very clearly holding tension. Her shoulders come back and fit against Scott, opening her whole chest and shoulders as her neck curls up with her, again one whole movement. If you look at Kaitlyn in comparison, her shoulders remain round and hunched and her head never comes up to follow through with the movement, and again, its two different moves she’s performing, not one fluid piece as Tessa does.

I think the rhumba the olympic year was a beautiful gift for them, as it showed exactly what they are so strong with: deep edges, lean, postures, and lines:

The stretch of their legs, the angle of their blades is completely perfect, you could probably bring out a protractor and measure and they’d be identical. Their upper bodies are rigid and all their power is coming from the hips down. Scott has an open chest, strong frame for the dance hold and Tessa compliments him to perfection, her arm is outstretched right to her fingertips.

I think one that helped them so much as well, is that they came up in ice dance when holds were still very important and most of the step sequences were completely done in hold. Not to mention compulsory dances which helped them immensely to work constantly and consistently on the basics. 

As teens, with amazingly deep edges, wonderful lean, huge ice coverage, matching lines, and a strong dance hold doing a relatively simple compulsory dance:

As they grew, they talked about wanting to get more speed and power, but they had to remain in close dance hold, so they worked at keeping their holds strong, but also getting deep edges, clean turns, and speed:

I think Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the perfect showing of everything they do well, it really exemplifies their strengths. Look how they weave in and out of dance hold so seamlessly while also looking at what their feet are doing, how they step in time with each other, always curving on the ice, changing directions, changing speed, keeping their toes turn out and pointed, keeping flow while their upper bodies remain so wonderfully upright.

The step sequences in this free dance are some of the best ice dancing the world has ever seen, its no wonder they completely burst onto the scene at this worlds, they just brought something the other teams were not doing, and certainly not doing nearly as well.

They have clean lines mid lift:

Certainly during the lift:

And, of course, always in hold in step sequences and dance patterns:

I am forever happy that they worked so hard on the minute details of their skating, extending and dancing from their finger tips down to their toes, holding posture and having strong frames all throughout their programs, whether competitively or in exhibition. 

I could wax poetic longer, but tumblr only allows for a maximum of ten photos/gifs on one post. Here are some other places you can cry/enjoy their lines and posture. Also, highly recommend the tango romantica from the olympics in 2010, they added extra arm movements and leg movements to increase difficulty, show off their lines, and be all around legends. Its a favourite to watch. The argentine tango, from 2008 worlds is also mind-mindbogglingly good. And finally the golden waltz both from 2010 worlds and their 2011 short dance is some of the most pristine skating ever beheld. 

Hope this shook your tambourine, anon. It was fun!