Monday, March 24 - Ice Dance Compulsory Dance / Original Dance Practice
Don't You Wanna Dance?
Happy 6 a.m.! It was much easier rising at an early hour to go see skating versus another manic Monday getting up to go to work. I actually arrived about 10 minutes after the main gates opened, and I was in a bit of a rush. No need, as I was able to claim the same seat I had the previous morning - seat closest to the autograph wall in the second row. And, yes, sitting in the row in front of me was Lyla. We discussed the happenings of the previous day and how the children in the front row had consumed the area during the Men free skate practice. She asked how the Convention Center was, and I told her the sight lines and potential to meet skaters weren't nearly as good as at the MCI Center.
There was one drawback of sitting in the closer rows, and that was the temperature. Each day, I kept adding more insulation layers, especially when I went over to the Convention Center. But, even in the MCI Center, anywhere in the first couple of rows, the draft coming from the bottom of the boards could be felt. After several hours there at a time, I just felt chilled. I had been caught up in the changing weather to spring outside in late March. But, don't let that be deceptive because it has nothing to do with the temperature inside an ice rink. It has to be kept cold for the ice constitution purposes. So, I had cardigans, scarves, and even mittens at times tucked under my coat. I wore completely winter clothes as well. But, it's still like sitting outside in winter bundled up for one week. Be prepared, it takes the building up of an immunity to these conditions if you are not naturally from a very cold climate.
Unlike the previous day's original dance slash free dance practice where each team had to choose either the original dance or the free dance to skate, this practice provided a chance for both compulsory and original dance to be skated. Each practice group's session began with the playing of enough selections of the Austrian Waltz for each couple to have a turn. They didn't announce each couple as they took a starting position. The couples just went in the same order in which they were going to skate the original dance run-throughs. After each couple had done an Austrian Waltz run-through, the run-throughs of the original dances began.
Group 4 was on the ice when I came in. I had missed many of this group's compulsory dances.
Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder
Compulsory Dance: She wore a dress that was green on the bottom and reminded me in style at first glance of Marina Anissina's original dance dress during the 2000-2001 season. Isabelle and Olivier looked confident. She has nice back positions.
Original Dance: They have good flow in their skating. They did a small portion of the polka. They did the straight-line step sequence. Their twizzles look good. I remember their twizzles used to be very slow.
Roxanne Petetin and Mathieu Jost of France were next to skate the original dance. Roxanne wore a white dress that had additional material hanging from the arms. Mathieu wore a navy blue military suit with gold lining.
Clover Mory Zatzman and Aurimas Radisauskas of Lithuania had a nice series of pirouettes in the opening of the original dance. They then did the straight-line sequence. They had a dance spin with interesting leg positions. High leg kicks were part of the choreography. He swung her while she was in a spiral position for their lifts.
Clover is actually from the United States. Her mother was sitting near us during the practice. She was telling about how long Clover had been ice dancing and how difficult it was to search for a partner. She said there is a lot of partner switching. They match skaters into partnerships by body type.
Julia Golovina and Oleg Voiko of Ukraine - She wore a gray and gold dress, and he was in all black. She looked very happy throughout. They had a bit of an awkward landing on the second lift of the original dance.
Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine - She wore a long pink dress with a big ruffle, and he is in an all white outfit. The billowy skirt of the dress made a nice effect with their lifts.
Group 5 next up.
Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy - She wore a lovely yellow gown, and he was in a tux. They got off unison at the end of the straight-line sequence of the original dance. They did a good lift with his back to her back at the end.
Weina Zhang and Xianming Cao of China - She was in a pink dress, and he in a white suit. She tripped a little in the beginning steps of the compulsory dance run-through. For the original dance, they had a good lift where he swings her around by the arms that almost looked like the butterfly lift, but arms are held close in next to the body. In the straight-line sequence, he got a little ahead of her at the end. Weina smiled big and held her head up high throughout both dances.
Pamela O'Connor and Jonathon O'Dougherty of Great Britain - They were both in blue - she in light blue and he in dark blue. Their straight-line sequence was a little slow and off unison at the end. The swinging lift could have a little more stretch.
Marina Timofeieva and Evgeni Striganov of Estonia had the popular color pattern of woman in pink dress and man in tux.
Natalia Linichuk was walking around in the warm up area. When she came closer to the autograph wall, I pulled out my camera to try to take a picture. She looked up and saw my attempt and smiled for the camera.
Nozomi Watanabe and Akiyuki Kido came from the backstage area. Akiyuki danced, with his hands held out for an imaginary partner, to the beat of the waltz playing for the practices. He even did pirouettes with the imaginary girl. Nozomi stood nearby watching the practices. She has a curly perm.
Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon came out and decided to join the waltz party. They were dancing together off ice to the music, a short distance from Nozomi and Akiyuki.
Group 6 took to the ice.
Nora Hoffmann and Attila Elek of Hungary had fast pirouettes and circular turns in the middle section. They did a dance spin before the switch of waltz to polka. They did a swinging lift. Toe steps led into the ending pose.
Agnieszka Dulej and Slawomir Janicki of Poland - She wore pink, and he wore a tux. She looks tall for a skater, but he is tall also. They practiced the straight-line step sequence. They did a nice lift where she swings in front of him with her legs crossed. They did a dance spin with her in a spiral position at the end of the combination. For the ending pose, she has her fingertips touching above her head and arms in a dome shape.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia had good expression for the waltz. They practiced the straight-line sequence.
This was my first look at Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia. She donned a teal dress. He was in a teal top that matched her dress and white pants. They did a lift with her leaning forward. The straight-line sequence was good. They did a lift with her swinging horizontally from his neck.
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia - She wore a hot pink dress with silver sequins and beading. He wore a charcoal military suit with gold lining and buttons. They did a back to back rotational lift. She has sweeping motions in the skating to the waltz. The straight-line sequence done to the march was dramatic. They did a swinging lift with her body around his hips.
I decided it would be better to focus more on taking pictures of the skaters and observing them up close rather than collecting autographs. I guess the allure of the autograph was wearing off.
Group 1 next up.
Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada - Dress with red top and white billowy skirt for her, and maroon jumpsuit with white shirt and puffy sleeves for him. She brushed off her skirt, he pulled down her bunched up glove - this is part of the choreography opening up the waltz. He dipped her back, swung her around by the leg. They did lift number one. He held onto her ankle as they turned. They left out the middle section. They picked up with the straight-line sequence in the polka. They did the lead into the ending pose.
Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada - She was in an all white dress and held up the skirt portion at both ends for the opening pose. Victor was in a black suit with a white collar. They did some dips and slides, almost like hydroblading. Yes, in the waltz portion. They did the first lift, then lunges in unison. Next, the straight-line sequence. Another lift, and then the ending pose.
Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe of Canada - She wore a lovely cream dress and he a tux.
Jessica Huot and Juha Valkama of Finland - She wore a white dress with green and black designs while he was in a tux. They have a soft style fitting for the waltz portion. The dance was a little slow, and their positions not as sharp as they could be.
Nozomi Watanabe and Akiyuki Kido of Japan - She was in a sea blue dress. He wore black pants and a white shirt. They had lovely positions in the opening spin that finished low to the ice. They have a soft, balletic style. He was very happy throughout. They did a lift with her spinning around him. She got behind him on the straight-line sequence. They built intensity toward the final dip.
I looked over during this practice group and saw Naomi Lang watching. Later, she began stretching and warming up with her partner Peter Tchernyshev. They were a few feet away from Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto who were also stretching out. Maxim Staviyski made his way around the area and was talking to Peter, then Benjamin.
Irina Lobacheva and Tatiana Navka chatted together backstage for a while.
Alexander Zhulin could be found in the area talking to Marina Zoueva, former coach of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov.
Marie-France Dubreuil was back making her way along the autograph wall. Someone had a pen with a red fabric rose attached to the top that they handed to her for autograph signing. 'That's a nice pen,' she said and was again smiling and making conversation with people. I had obtained her autograph on Saturday, so I didn't try to get it again. I was taking a picture of her signing the autographs along the wall. She saw me trying to take a picture and would pause, look at my camera and smile. I felt badly because I didn't ask, 'Can I take your picture?' or anything, she just would stop and smile.
I called Akiyuki Kido over to sign an autograph for me. He nodded and smiled. I think Nozomi had already gone backstage. Akiyuki signed the autograph in the Japanese alphabet. I thought that was so cool because it was the only autograph I collected in other language characters.
I turned to look back into the stands. Several rows behind me near the top of my section sat Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov and Julia Golovina and Oleg Voiko. I zoomed my camera to catch a picture of them sitting in the stands. Ruslan happened to see me, even from so far down, and started waving.
Group 2 session next.
Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel - She wore a bright orange dress, and he wore a tux.
Natalie Buck and Trent Nelson-Bond of Australia - She had on a white dress and he a red military suit.
My notes are sketchy for this group and Group 3. Probably there was a lot of activity in the warm up area in which I was caught up. The men started to enter the building as the starting time of their qualifying rounds grew nearer. I saw Zoltan Toth of Hungary standing in the warm up area watching the end of ice dance Group 2.
When Group 2 came off the ice, everyone was in a rush to get Galit Chait and her autograph. I had something to tell her, so I wanted to get hers, too. I gave her the notebook and as she was signing, I told her that we have the same birthday. She was like, 'Oh, January 29th.' And, we both said January 29th at the same time. She looked surprised and made a comment like 'Go January birthdays. That seems like a popular birthday time of year.' Sergei Sakhnovsky came forward, too, and I got his autograph on the page with Galit's. Later, Galit and Sergei went up in the media booths behind the warm up area to watch the last dance group. They sat with Tatiana Tarasova, their former coach, who was already seated up there watching.
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