by Anne Calder
The 2022-2023 Ice Dance Final was held on the Skating Club of Boston from November 8-11 along side the Eastern Singles Sectional Competition. At the occasion, 13 Junior and 5 Senior groups with out byes certified for the US National Championships in San Jose, California.
Juvenile, Intermediate and Novice ice dance groups have been chosen to the National Development Team. These athletes may even be invited to take part within the High Performance National Development Camp held through the U.S. Championships.
The Ice Dance Final had a lot of tales circulating contained in the partitions of the brand new facility. For many dancers, it was their third Final, which had its genesis again in 2019 in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Balancing Act
Several athletes shared tales about mixing their skating careers with teachers and even making an attempt new genres that complement their ice dancing.
Jenna Hauer & Benjamin Starr, 2022-2023 Final Junior bronze medalists drive throughout state strains to coach whereas Starr attends Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
“It’s tough to go back and forth and then skate afterwards, so we’ve been trying to split it up,” Hauer stated. “He comes [to Connecticut] on the weekends, and I drive up during the week.”
Starr, who’s taking a full load of 5 lessons famous, “It’s tough, but I love every second of it. I know a lot of people just say that. I’m also doing a good amount of extra curricular through the school. I’m currently pushing to be a Research Assistant / Teaching Assistant.”
The crew continues to work with long-time coach Svetlana Kulikova whereas in Connecticut, but in addition trains on the Colonial Skating Club in Boxborough with Dmitri Boundoukin when in Massachusetts.
“We’re really happy we were able to bring him on to the team,” Starr stated. “He’s been a great addition.”
Junior ice dancers, Kristina Bland and Matthew Sperry are college students on the University of Michigan. Bland is a freshman in LSA and selected Russian as her required language.
“A lot of my coaches are Russian, and I know a lot of Russian skaters. I thought it would be a lot of fun if I understood their language, and I could speak it to them.”
Sperry is learning Mechanical Engineering. As a sophomore, he’s enrolled in superior lessons, one that features group constructing of robots, which together with drones is a focus he could finally pursue.
TJ Carey, senior ice dancer with associate Caroline Depietri is finishing his last semester on the Boston University School of Journalism. He is within the space of Sports Communication. Carey has posted articles on ice-dance.com.
Emilea Zingas, who companions with Vadym Kolesnik on the senior degree, is an undergraduate neuroscience main at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
“It’s going well,” stated the St. Clair Shores skater. “It’s been challenging trying to balance school and skating since ice dance is a really big time commitment, but I love it. I love being busy, and it’s going really well. I’m lucky I have people around me to help me study.”
Tyler Vollmer and associate Riona Harris prepare in Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately, the crew needed to withdraw through the Senior Free Dance on account of damage. Vollmer graduated from UCLA on the age of 19, with a double main in Geophysics and Math/Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. After being awarded the Presidential Fellowship at Georgia Tech he joined the PH.D Program in Ocean Science and Engineering. While a scholar at UCLA, Vollmer did some collegiate crew skating.
Ethan Peal has a really hectic schedule to accommodate his skating and Aeronautical Engineering main. The Peal household lives in Nashville, TN and Ethan attends lessons Tuesday – Friday morning on the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Partner, Elliana and pop, Rob drive the 2 hours south to the campus and squeeze in a 2.5 coaching session on Wednesday. The siblings skate on daily basis they’re collectively in Nashville.
“It’s been an adjustment, but I’ve gotten more used to it,” Ethan stated. “It’s hard. It’s been stressful. It’s a lot of math. Luckily I have a great support team.”
Meanwhile, Elliana has her personal unbelievable schedule. She skates each morning, attends digital highschool through the day and dances each night and weekends on the DC Dance Factory in Franklin, TN. Her dance routines are between 8-10 minutes of straight dancing, and he or she has 6-8 of them memorized.
“Dance is my own thing,” Elliana stated. “I like to be able to do dance without the involvement of family. I’m able to use my dance skills on and off the ice. Dance makes me a lot more fluid on the ice.”
Angela Ling & Caleb Wein
Caleb Wein is a fourth 12 months scholar on the University of Maryland majoring in Aeronautical Engineering.
“A while back, I took a virtual dance class as a General-Education type of thing. I got very involved with the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Last Spring I got into a piece by one of the Graduate students, so I performed in their Spring Dance Concert. Over the summer, I was asked if I would be interested in performing in two pieces for the Fall. One was by an undergraduate and the other by a graduate student named Carlo. I said “Yes” to each.”
November 17-20 three of the Department’s M.F.A. dance candidates introduced their thesis work. One was “Last Dance, Lost Dance” by Carlo Antonio Villanueva. The piece featured eight undergraduates (together with Caleb Wein), and graduate college students dancing with various pursuits and ranges of expertise plus Villanueva.
“It’s been a lot of fun and very informative in different ways. All the choreographers there have different styles and different things they’re looking for,” defined Wein. “I can take things from there and take them on the ice. They all move in different ways, so there’s different types of movement I can bring in to our programs. There’s also different approaches while we’re skating. It’s been nice.”
“They don’t have boundaries in their heads, so they think very outside the box,” added ice dance associate Angela Ling, who’s taking a “gap” 12 months between highschool commencement and school.
Boston Bits
Juliette and Lucas Shadid have been Novice bronze medalists on the first Ice Dance Final in 2019 in Hyannis, MA. Injuries saved the siblings off-ice for over two and a half years. After two disappointing competitions this previous summer season, the crew has returned and certified to take part on the U.S. Nationals in San Jose, CA.
In addition to the Ice Dance Final podium groups, Sectional winners have been additionally awarded medals for his or her achievements. “I like getting medals,” stated Juvenile gold medalist Marian Carhart. “In ice dance, you usually get one medal, but we got two. That was exciting. I really liked the ceremony when they put on the medal.”
After Hurricane Ian decimated southwest Florida, Herz Arena, residence to the Everblades FSC was used as a mega shelter to deal with a number of hundred storm refugees. For over three weeks, skaters traveled two hours to different rinks to coach.
Luke Witkowski competed and certified in each Novice Men and Novice Ice dance. Ryedin Rudedenman competed in each Intermediate Ice Dance and Novice Men.
Heard it Through the Grapevine
Ice dancer YuanShi Jin, who’s partnered with Leah Krauskopf in Seniors, visited his residence in China in January 2020, then opted to increase his journey by means of Chinese New Year. Due to the Covid border closings, he was unable to go away for 2 years.
Several of the ice dance groups are utilizing the experience of pairs coaches to help within the improvement and strengthening of their parts. Simon Shnapir works together with his former singles scholar, Caroline Depietri and associate TJ Carey with their lifts, spins and what they’re doing for the Choreographed Jumps. “Simon has made me personally a much more confident lifter and competitor,” stated Carey. “He’s helped me feel more confident when we’re out there on the ice.”
Breelie Taylor, former associate with Tyler Vollmer presently performs with Disney on Ice.
Anabelle Larson additionally travels forwards and backwards from the Florida east coast to the west coast to coach with associate Jonathan Young on the Everblades FSC in Estero, Florida.
Olivia Flores, sister of Senior ice dancer, Isabella Flores, certified in Junior Pairs with associate Luke Wang for US Nationals. The Novice singles skater completed second on the Midwestern Sectionals and certified to additionally compete on the U.S. Nationals within the Women’s division.
Every morning on the Great Park Ice Arena in Irvine, CA when Coach Christine Fowler-Binder or Coach Chris Knierim leads a stroking session, Juliette and Lucas Shadid are the lone ice dance crew within the group of pairs. “Everyone needs to skate well. Everyone needs to bend their knees and do great edges, so that part is all the same. It’s about 15 – 30 minutes of stroking with all their friends together. It’s awesome.”
Thirteen units of sibling partnerships competed within the Ice Dance Final.
On Top of the Podium
Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik
Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik used a Philip Glass medley, which incorporates “Metamorphosis”, Violin Concerto No 1, “Truman Sleeps (The Truman Show) and “Escape” (The Hours) to assert Senior gold and likewise qualify for the 2023 US Nationals in San Jose, CA. The crew trains in Michigan with Igor Shpilband’s group.
Leah Neset & Artem Markelov received gold for his or her highly effective efficiency to music from Pirates of the Caribbean. The Colorado Springs based mostly athletes are the defending Junior US National Champions and are coached by Elena Dostatni.
Sylvia Li & Rowan Le Coq’s danced to West Side Story, which included a fast costume flip from shorts to decorate for the music “Maria”. The three-time Final medalists added a Novice gold to their assortment. Kristin Fraser Lukanin and Igor Lukanin coach the athletes.
Grace & Luke Fischer danced a fast-moving Intermediate gold medal efficiency to “I Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer, “Waterfalls” by TLC and “Gonna Make You Sweat” (Everybody Dance Now). The crew is coached by Katherine Hill and Ben Agosto in Colorado Springs, CO.
Marian Carhart & Denis Bledsoe received gold within the Juvenile Division with a swish ethereal efficiency to the music of Italian Composer, Ennio Morricone from the movie Cinema Paradiso. Their coaches embrace Marina Zoueva and Ilya Tkachenko.
Senior Podium:
1. Emilea Zingas (St. Clair Shores FSC) & Vadym Kolesnik (SC of New York)
2. Isabella Flores & Ivan Desyatov (Thunderbirds FSC)
3. Angela Ling (Peninsula SC) & Caleb Wein (Washington FSC)
4. Raffaella Koncius (Los Angeles FSC) & Alexey Shchepetov (Florida Everblades FSC)
Junior Podium:
1. Leah Neset & Artem Markelov (Magic City FSC)
2. Helena Carhart & Volodymyr Horovyi (Florida Everblades FSC)
3. Jenna Hauer (All Year FSC) & Benjamin Starr (Charter Oak FSC)
4. Vanessa Pham (SC of Houston) & Jonathan Rogers (Texas Gulf Coast FSC)
Novice Podium:
1. Sylvia Li (N. Jersey FSC) & Rowan Le Coq (SC of New York)
2. Octavia Herai (All Year FSC) Michael Boutsan (Individual Member)
3. Emily Renzi (SC of New York) William Lissauer (All Year FSC)
4. Annelise Stapert & Maxim Korotcov (ION FSC)
Intermediate Podium:
1. Grace Fischer & Luke Fischer (Broadmoor SC)
2. Molli Taylorson & Kejin Peng (Carolinas FSC)
3. Sarah Yoo & Nicholas Ying (SC of Boston)
4. Celine Chen & Nathan Chen (All Year FSC)
Juvenile Podium:
1. Marian Carhart & Denis Bledsoe (Florida Everglades FSC)
2. Rylen Lukanin (All Year FSC) & Patrick O’Brien (North Jersey FSC)
3. Natalie Leitan & Nathan Leitan (Washington FSC)
4. Marina Li & Justin Liao (North Jersey FSC)