#2019 JGP Lake Placid

[sunskate]

JGP Austria ice dance -

Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy 🇩🇪GER (16/20 yo) they were 5th at the JGP Final last season and 6th in the RD at junior worlds but had to withdraw from the FD due to food poisoning. he was the engaging commentator for Nebelhorn Trophy last fall. their ISU bio hobbies are cherry pit spitting (her) and failure management (him), and their skating has personality as well 😊 he's been the stand out - lovely skater, strong partner - he draws your eye when you watch them. she was very young when they began, has lots of potential. her extension and free leg weren't quite matching his last season. their RD is to ELO, and they have a Habanera (so, Spanish themed?) FD. this is their 3rd and final junior season. the podium at worlds feels like an attainable goal for them

i wrote this before news of their accident 😢 we won't get to see them skate, but check out their previous programs if you like. hope she recovers stronger than ever and that we see them back this season

Angelina Kudryavtseva/Ilia Karankevich 🇨🇾CYP (17/19 yo) known for their creativity and flair, they had a cheerleader FD last season. every season they do something nobody else is doing (2021, 2019). i love their audacity and quirkiness - most of their programs have some surprise, their take on most styles has their stamp on it. they like no hands balance lifts where she's holding on by her heel or toe, or rotational lifts where she's spinning on top of his head. even in a lyrical program ⬆️ look. at. these. lifts! maybe not every novel thing works, but so often it does. they've been as high as 8th at junior worlds but tend to lose points on levels and twizzle errors. there are details of unison and control that they need to improve in order to move up. i'm sure they're aiming for top 5 in the world and want to make the JGPF. they're skating a Madonna RD and a Nights of Cabiria FD - if that's the Fellini film music, it's bright and jazzy but more in a characterful than cool way, 50s, kind of lush in places, and it’s the story that Sweet Charity is based on - am very interested to see what they came up with for their final junior FD

Elliana Peal/Ethan Peal 🇺🇸USA (16/19 yo) a sibling team, they've been as high as 3rd at US Nationals and have silver medals from Dallas and Lake Placid this season already. they're aiming for the worlds team for the US this season. they have a Janet Jackson RD ⬆️ and Lord of the Rings FD. they've always been coached by their dad, who went to jr worlds for US ice dance himself, but at Lake Placid, Igor was also at the boards for them although he's not officially on their team. they maybe lack speed but have good unison

Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval 🇺🇦UKR (14/19 yo) she looks more mature as a skater than her years, so they seem balanced as a team. last season was their first in int'l competition, and they had a 4th place at JGP Gdansk. this season they're skating George Benson and Pump Up the Jam for their RD, Robbie Williams and I Love Rock n' Roll for their FD, and Nazarova/Nikitin are 2 of their choreographers😭

Chloe Nguyen/Brendan Giang 🇨🇦CAN (18/20 yo) they're a newly formed team training with WIng/Lowe in Vancouver. both have been to the JGP with their previous partners. they won the Next Gen competition, have good fundamental skills, seem well matched and are off to a good start (they're at 1:09:30 ⬆️) i really hate their Aspects of Love FD music- it's from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that was a huge flop on Broadway. i'd dislike the music anyway, but what makes it worse is that the show, among a number of storylines, has 2 inappropriate relationships between an adult and a minor, and two of the songs in this FD are about those relationships. i don't know why their team would choose this for a junior program

Ashlie Slatter/Atl Ongay-Perez 🇬🇧GBR (14/16 yo) they are musical and have been vibrant performers since they were little. as their skating skills develop to catch up to their performance quality, they'll rise. levels in step sequences and patterns have been a challenge. but they have interesting choreo and i think? skate more in hold than a lot of teams. they were 18th at junior worlds in march. their RD is Run-DMC, and their FD is jazz, blues and Great Balls of Fire

Caroline Mullen/Brendan Mullen 🇺🇸 USA (17/19 yo) they had to sit out last season due to injury and also switched camps from WISA to Rockville with Dmitri Ilin but have been spending time at MIDA getting choreo as well. they have a bronze medal from Lake Placid this season, and this is their first JGP

Ambre Perrier Gianesini/Samuel Blanc Klaperman 🇫🇷 FRA (16/16 yo) this is their 2nd junior and 2nd JGP season. they medaled at some events last season and have nice qualities but also were prone to falls and twizzle errors. hopefully they got their nerves out and will have good outings here

[gogogogolev]

One year ago today Stephen took silver at 2019 JGP Lake Placid.

Credit: David W. Carmichael

[incandescentlysilver]

2019 JGP Lake Placid: Ilia Malinin + Writing on the Wall

[tanosandtwizzles]

Harshita Rawtani, 13, and Vansh Bhatia, 16, represented India at the 2019 JGP Lake Placid. They live outside New Delhi and travel two hours each way for an hour of ice time on Saturdays and Sundays.

“A lot of people within the skating community may ask, well shouldn’t there be a qualification for the Junior Grand Prix? This is the entry level for international skating. I go back to the name of a coach many people will remember, Yao Bin of China. He came to the world championships in pairs and couldn’t really do very well, just didn’t know quite what to do or how to do it. He was the coach of the Chinese Olympic pair champions. It has to start somewhere and this is not a bad place to start; giving respect to every skater and country who wants to participate in this sport (…) And talk about the courage to come on the ice surrounded by many skaters far more experienced than they are. This took a lot of courage on their part and I salute them for sure. It’s a good start to get new countries involved and who knows, just like Yao Bin maybe one day they’ll coach a skater from India to a podium position at a Junior Grand Prix or seniors, we don’t know. That’s the way history unfolds and we’ve been proven wrong many times when we think a person can’t do it.” – Ted Barton

[colonel-green]

Jessica Lin, Queen of the Fanyus, performs her free skate at the 2019 JGP Lake Placid to composer Joe Hisaishi’s “Asian Dream Song” and “View of Silence”.

[small-but-cute]

If you honestly think that skaters like Harshita Rawtani and Vansh Bati were wasting time and money at the JGP, please leave my Tumblr. There are plenty of other places you can go and have a look at a young adult posting about her favourite things

In all seriousness, they're incredibly brave competing when they've barely had any time to train and have nowhere near the same resources to train as the others. Kudos to them both for being so admirable. Sure, they didn't win. Surprise surprise. But, in terms of guts and strength of character, I think they both did themselves and India quite proud.

"I skate to express, not to impress" 😭💙 We stan here

To those who think skaters from smaller feds are a waste of time and resources, MAY I POLITELY REMIND YOU THAT JAVIER FERNANDEZ FINISHED 35TH AT HIS FIRST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. You know, two time world champion, seven time European champion, and Olympic Bronze medallist Javier Fernandez. Didn't qualify for the free skate at his first worlds. Comes from a smaller federation. And still rewrote history

So don't dismiss smaller fed skaters. Support them. Watch them grow. Encourage them and admire their tenacity. If Ted was there, what would he say?

(Thank you. Sorry for my rant)

[findthatsynchronicity]

Miku Makita/Tyler Gunara

➞ Rhythm Dance | JGP Lake Placid 2019

[mostlytiredoffs]

Azusa Tanaka || Csardas | JGP Lake Placid 2019

[sunskate]

I will collect my thoughts a bit more but this was my first season watching skating, specifically ice dance, and how exciting it was!

My favorite programs definitely included both RD and FD for LaLa, Lolo and Nik’s FD, Kaitlyn and Jean Luc’s FD, both of CPom’s programs, Green/Parsons RD, and Piper and Paul’s Evita (I know it was unpopular, Broadway really gets me feeling things and I thought they did it well even if not super innovative or complex).

I liked Lily and Nathan’s programs, hope they can get a boost next year. And Miku and Tyler at Canadian Nationals made me emotional with their FD. There were other things that I grew to like in pieces, like some parts of Lilah and Lewis’s Gaga, Charlene and Marco’s FD music, Madi C’s outright star energy on ice. I guess I liked at least a small something from most teams. Maybe I’ll develop more of a critics lens as I keep watching the sport, but I think I just appreciated what these athletes did throughout the season on the whole.

Recently, loved Hannah and Ye! They did so well at World Team Trophy. Of the other juniors, I watched a few but mostly at IAMO with Scott Moir being the head coach of the school, but I really enjoyed Noah and Jordan’s FD and liked Layla and Alex’s as well (Broadway again, yes!)

Also in general I’ve been loving watching any and all BTS from IAM and IAMO. I’ve been reflecting on how important it is to have community in general, and particularly as adults when that more easily fades away, and I’m so happy to see the community of skaters who seem to truly support each other coming out of that school. I can’t wait to see what happens in the off season, I’m not sure how long I can wait for new programs, I can’t believe the whole summer has to come and go!

Thanks for being such a fun and informative source of information this season. Looking forward to more!

Aww I love this- thanks for sharing 🥰 i get critical sometimes and disappointed by judging shenanigans, but the teams themselves, anyone competing at the senior GP level is a highly accomplished and dedicated athlete, and some are beautiful performers and artists - it makes me really happy to watch. and seeing the talent in juniors and watching their progression is also❤️

have you watched Broadway RD season??? 2019-20 and 2020-21 both were Broadway/operetta/musicals. if you love Broadway, there were so many fun programs - Lolo and Nik’s Bonnie and Clyde was my favorite those seasons, but it was a good theme for variety. Skating ISU on youtube has entire RD events still up, like from 4CC and Europeans in 2020, which adds up to most of the top teams, though you might need a vpn. maybe you know all this, but if you didn’t, you might really like it☺️

i love the sense of community and kindness and friendship the skaters at the IAM schools have too - it makes the sport better when schools foster those values. you can feel the night and day difference in women’s skating this season compared to the Eteri years. the winning at all costs mentality was so toxic that it’s like the sun came out in their absence

we don’t have to wait for the whole summer to come and go🤗 there are summer competitions 🥳 the very first ones start end of June, just over 2 months from now. the first one with a good number of dance teams is often Lake Placid International end of July, and Skate Canada has been streaming its Next Gen development camp from July sectionals around the same time. and then JGPs start Aug 23 in Bangkok this year

[gogogogolev]

Darian Kaptich and Stephen at the banquet after 2019 JGP Lake Placid.

The contrast between his expression and his outfit, with fairy lights and bead necklaces, is making me think of this. 

😂

Credit: dino_dazzar/Instagram

[ripplestitchskein]

“They know what they’ve done wrong, but they don’t always know what they’ve done right, and that’s what they need to celebrate.”

You’re. Killing. Me. Ted.

[tanosandtwizzles]

Alysa Liu (USA) lands a quad lutz and triple axel combination in her “Illumination” free skate to win gold at JGP Lake Placid.

[icedancearchive]

Avonley NGUYEN / Vadym KOLESNIK

Free Dance || JGP Lake Placid 2019

[shipwreckseemssweet]

Azusa Tanaka “Csárdás” Short Program

An homage to the beautiful performance by Azusa Tanaka at her first Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid. Coached by Mie Hamada, the 13-year-old already has many of the great traits that set apart other Hamada students. Azusa's intentional and precise movements remind me of Satoko Miyahara, but I also think of Marin Honda in how soft and light her skating is. The music choice perfectly encapsulates all these qualities.

Azusa is a very refined skater for her tender age. While she may need more experience to fully bring out the character of the music, I great enjoy her ability to "feel" her performance through pitch changes and the various accents spicing up the choreography. Her spins, skating skills and range of movements are magnificent. It's her triple jumps that just aren't fully rotated yet, bringing her chances of competing internationally again this season near zero.

Her double Axel however is very good, performed here with difficult steps going into it. There's plenty of flow coming out of the jump, too.

Azusa shows enviable ease and flow throughout the program. A quality often overlooked, she has the ability to effortlessly change the direction of her turns while keeping up the speed. I'm looking forward to seeing her progress!

Below is a series of one foot turns from the delightful step sequence.

Please watch the whole performance here. Pay attention to her plush tissue box cover: while most kids have cute dogs or cats, Azusa brought along a great white shark. Rawr!

[figureskatingbirds]

All the kids look like fashion icons and then there's my son Gogolev with his finest gray t-shirt

[kittyprincessofcats]

Me? Getting teary-eyed over everyone being so supportive of Harshita and cheering for her so hard? It’s more likely than you think.

So much respect for this brave young woman!