Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Valeriy Angelopol are awesome (2024)

You might have noticed that my interest in Ice Dance has returned ever since I laid my eyes on Kaganovskaya/Angelopol.
The last time I felt so strongly about a couple was when Ilinykh/Katsalapov hit the stage...and we all know how that ended...

I think K/A deserve a cheer thread.

Here is their awesome FD from this season's Russian Grand Prix Final: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMnaUpE4KsM

Moreover, they are very fan-friendly and Valera often posts videos of his everyday life. He seems to be enjoying boxing these days.
You can check his stories on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/_valeriy_angelopol_/
Vasilisa's IG is here: https://www.instagram.com/_kaganovskay_14/

I hope Russia finally stops the war or they switch countries because I really want these two on the big stage.

Bigbird said:

I don't really get them yet...I was impressed earlier...but I don't like Krylova's choreo.

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I don't love the overall program. But I like individual elements like their lifts! And they're enjoyable to watch.

They are definitely better than the current other Russian dance teams, but I'm honestly not that impressed. Even if we ignore Krylova's poor choices for their packaging and choreography, they leave an impression by doing all kinds of flashy tricks, their basics are nice and I did like the R&J FD they had in the past, but overall if I compare them to a lot of the current international teams I don't think they stand out in any way.
As for potential, I don't think they have much if they stay with Krylova, then again they will probably get sent to Zhulin anyway like the rest and that's not great either.

ETA: Reading this it might came out a bit more negative than I intended but I do think it so

angi said:

They are definitely better than the current other Russian dance teams, but I'm honestly not that impressed. Even if we ignore Krylova's poor choices for their packaging and choreography, they leave an impression by doing all kinds of flashy tricks, their basics are nice and I did like the R&J FD they had in the past, but overall if I compare them to a lot of the current international teams I don't think they stand out in any way.
As for potential, I don't think they have much if they stay with Krylova, then again they will probably get sent to Zhulin anyway like the rest and that's not great either.

ETA: Reading this it might came out a bit more negative than I intended but I do think it so

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I don't think they will leave Krylova because Angelopol wanted to be coached only by her and his uncle is Oleg Ovsyannikov, so they and Anjelika are basically family.

yurokis40 said:

They are good but another egyptian theme free dance i`ll pass

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That's not Egyptian, but the soundtrack of "Alexander".

A Q&A with Angelopol was posted today on their fan-channel on Telegram and Valeriy reposted it on his Telegram channel.

My favorite Q&A was:
"If you had the chance to skate a program as a pair with any skater you want (apart from Vasilisa), who would you skate it with?"
Answer: "Vasilisa."

Dude's a keeper. I love how they get along with each other.

rfisher said:

It makes me so sad that Putin's political ambitions cost these kids a world medal, very likely a title. I too hope they are able to compete on the world stage soon. Talent and very likeable.

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Is this sarcasm, delusion, or both? Based on these videos, these two would be fortunate to scrape into the top 12 at Worlds. They are not better than Carreira/Ponomarenko or the French.

ellenpuff said:

Is this sarcasm, delusion, or both? Based on these videos, these two would be fortunate to scrape into the top 12 at Worlds. They are not better than Carreira/Ponomarenko or the French.

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I said junior worlds. This would have been their first season as seniors. They were on their way to junior worlds when Russia was pulled out. They're still very young. Give them time.

rfisher said:

I said junior worlds. This would have been their first season as seniors. They were on their way to junior worlds when Russia was pulled out. They're still very young. Give them time.

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I see. I was not familiar with this team to realize you implied junior worlds when you said "world title".

I could see them on the podium at the past Junior Worlds—they're certainly better than the Brits—but the Czechs are better dancers at this point.