Jan. 3
Novice Ladies Short Program Practice
The Arena at Gwinnett Center is only about one mile from Ice Forum. The Gwinnett Center has various edifices, but Nationals practices and competitions were being held at the Arena. Once inside, it was free seating for all on the Saturday and Sunday events. The novice event tickets were general admission and not assigned seating. Attendance was minimal. Only the side where the judges would sit during the competition, which was also where the coaches sat during practice, was well occupied. Seats could be found quite freely on the other 3 sides of the rink.
Songs playing over the sound system in the Arena during down time included: Abba's Dancing Queen, Doobie Brothers' Listen to the Music, Carlos Santana's Maria Maria, Phil Collins' Sususudio, Steve Winwood's Higher Love, Annie Lenox's No More I Love You's, Peter Gabriel's Sledge Hammer, Gene Chandler's Duke of Earl, Cher's Shoop-Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss), The Turtles Happy Together. Overall, great music selections, since I love 1980's and 1960's music. Actually, I like those eras more than modern songs, and even some of the 1970's music that they threw in there was acceptable.
I arrived at this venue for the last couple of run-throughs of Novice Men Short Program Group B. It was much like Worlds practices where time remaining in the practice session was announced after the last man's run-through music had finished. Daisuke Murakami bowed again in center ice before he left the ice.
Novice Ladies to Watch included Katrina Hacker, Crystal Shum and Danielle Shepard.
Novice Ladies Short Program Group A:
Again, like at Worlds it was announced, 'Would the following skaters please take the ice', and the names of the girls in the practice group were read in the order that their music run-throughs would be skated.
Tenile Victorsen - brown dress
She did a nice forward spiral, backward gliding spiral, split jump and spiral catching her foot behind. She also did a double axel and a double-double combination. She executed a layback spin (travelling a little) to scratch spin. She did circular footwork, a triple flip, and final combination spin: camel to sit (head position low) change foot sit to scratch spin.
Brittany Vise - black leotard with red on the top portion
She's skating to Hernando's Hideaway. She did a double axel and a triple-double combination. She had a layback spin with changing arm positions. She did a spiral that is held a little to the side versus forward over her heel - I don't know if this is intentional or not. Also, in the sequence is a forward spiral to spiral gliding backwards. She did a combination spin that included a layback to sit to camel to egg beater position.
Christine Zukowski - red and black dress with some gold lining
Here was another Hernando's Hideaway, but this one is a different musical arrangement. She did a two jump combination. She executed a spiral while holding the free foot behind her, a spiral gliding backward, and a lunge. She also did a double axel and a combination spin of camel to sit to layback to sit with varying arm positions. She did another double jump and a camel spin at the end. She bowed to the audience before leaving the practice ice.
Juliana Cannarozzo - beige dress with silver sequins
Her music is Time to Say Goodbye instrumental. She began with a layback spin into a layback with the free foot caught and held behind her. She did a two jump combination and a double axel. She did a backward spiral holding the knee to an ina bauer. She did a double jump. She executed soft and nice pirouettes. A combination spin ended with a crossed leg scratch spin.
Molly Oberstar - red velvet dress
She began with a charlotte and layback spin with her back extended very far backward. She had a two footed landing on the double axel. She two-footed the triple of a triple-double jump combination. Her spiral sequence included forward spiral, backward gliding spiral, and forward spiral while holding the knee. She did a sit spin with the free leg resting on her knee. She did a double jump. After her run-through, she worked on the triple-double combination on the same section of ice. She had little success the first two times but nailed it the third time. She also started at one end of the ice and held the charlotte position down the length of the rink. She has got flexibility and a long body line.
Danielle Shepard - pink dress, pink gloves, black velvet skating boots
She began and did about 10 seconds of her program and executed a spiral sequence. She picked back up with a combination spin with interesting and unique positions. The free leg was folded over her knee. She began more upright and then squatted down lower to the ice and back up again while holding this leg position. Her arms were in interesting positions, almost like to form a shield. She did lunges in the choreography and had good speed. Danielle reminded me of a young Tara Lipinski. She may seem small, but was fiery in her approach and had active expression. She really attacked the jumps, too. She had a confidence that extended beyond her years. Moreover, she dared to be different as she had her own spin, skated to sassy and unique music, and I had never before seen black suede boots worn in skating. It is typically the white or off-white boots or stocking boot covers on the ladies.
Novice Ladies Short Program Group B:
Jessica Lee - maroon dress
She did a lunge in the choreography and fell on a jump in the corner. She did a double-double combination. Her combination spin included camel to layback to biellmann to sit to crossed leg sit to scratch. She did a double jump. She executed a spiral sequence and a spread eagle. She had a layback spin with good back extension.
Megan Oster - red, white and navy blue dress
Her music choice is All That Jazz. She popped the first jump. Then, her spin combination was sit to layback to crossed leg scratch. She did footwork into a single jump, a triple jump, a spiral sequence and a layback spin.
Crystal Shum - sky blue dress
Before her run-through, Crystal did ballet stretching on the boards where her leg rested on the top of the barrier. She began with a combination spin. She did a triple-double combination and then a double axel. She did shoulder shaking and ponytail shaking in the choreography. Her spirals had good extension - forward and backward gliding. She did a double jump and ended with a flying sit spin.
Lindsey Wilson - neon green dress, black sweatshirt
She popped the first jump. She did the layback spin with the free leg caught and held up behind her ears. She did a double axel. She did a camel to sit to change foot sit combination spin (her sit spin position could be a little lower). She did a spiral sequence into footwork and then a double jump.
Katrina Hacker - three tone dress with pink, purple and lavender (the dress looked better than my description sounds)
She skated to Madam Butterfly. Her spiral sequence included a backward spiral, a low forward spiral with nice stretch and another backward gliding spiral with her leg extended backward and up behind her head. She did a triple-double combination jump and then a double jump. Her combination spin included camel, sit, and egg beater positions. She executed a spiral and layback spin that evolved to the free leg held up behind her ears.
Cara Kinney - black dress with neon green straps and lining
Who Could Ask for Anything More is her music choice. She started with footwork into a double flip. She then fell on the loop jump and a double jump. She did a spiral sequence and finished with a combination spin.
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