#the browns competed at eastern sectionals as a PAIRS team

[sunskate]

Curious of your opinions on the other US Ice dance teams. How do you think they’ll all stack up after the top 3?

After CPom and Gr/Pa, I feel like there's a gap, and then a cluster of about 5 teams: Wolfkostin/Chen and the Browns are the only other teams besides the top 4 with 2 GP assignments but have had bumpy seasons so far-

the Browns have been improving, but they're adjusting to senioring up and haven't quite looked ready to be compared on the big stage. their best competition so far was Sheffield, where they placed 7th (Season's Best score: 173.74 GP Sheffield)

Wolfkostin/Chen have a Challenger medal (🥉at Budapest Trophy), but also huge mistakes in several competitions. they said recently that they were sick and undertrained for their GPs. We'll see which version of them shows up at Nats (SB: 180.46 Budapest, GP best: 164.89)

Pate/Bye and Bratti/Somerville are in the better positions coming into Nats and are probably 4th/5th - i go back and forth on the order -ahead of B/B and W/C in the season so far.

Pate/Bye have a Riverdance FD that might play better at Nats than at GP France, where they were 4th. they've been pretty consistent, with 2 silver medals at Challengers. she's a sunbeam, and their programs use that happy energy (SB: 179.63, GP: 174.03)

Bratti/Somerville did well at Nats a year ago and placed 5th, but they had super high energy programs last season, and this year's (LaLa Land FD) don't have that excitement. But USFS just gave them a fanzone feature this week of Nats. They were 6th at Skate Canada, 4th at Lombardia and won the Ice Challenge event in Austria where Lily/Nathan won bronze (SB/GP: 179.14)

McNamara/Spiridonov's summer competition successes didn't pan out to the fall. they did win silver at the World University Games last week. i wanted to be optimistic about the programs, but that Gr/Pa knockoff FD is ott and not in a good way, for me (SB: 179.03 US Classic, GP: 167.05)

These 7 teams qualified for Nationals through the domestic route, culminating at the US Ice Dance Final in November:

Zingas/Kolesnik have been coming on strong - for a new team, they've been improving sharply. he's a former Jr World Champion and a strong partner and really commits to the performance. she's doing really well for a 1st season ice dancer. but this is her biggest competition by far. They won bronze at their Challenger behind CPom (SB: 184.1 Golden Spin)

And Flores/Desyatov who are brand new as of May - they looked promising at the Ice Dance Final, she's a natural performer, and they're high energy, if raw. We'll see if their newness gives them bumps under the pressure of Nationals, their lifts were clunky in their FD, but they are fun to watch (haven't competed internationally yet to compare scores)

Ling/Wein- 1st yr seniors- she's from Kitchener but moved for this partnership to Maryland. They train with Dmitri Ilin who used to be a WISA coach, but they also list Greg Zuerlein, and Charlie White and Greg did their choreo (SB: 140.84 Finlandia 7th)

Koncius/Shchepetov- a 2nd year team who trains with Marina Zoueva in Florida (was surprised to hear Koncius say in an interview that there are 10 teams training in Estero with Marina's coaching team) they had a bad fall in the first official practice, so idk their status. hope she's ok.

Krauskopf/Jin - she just graduated from University of Delaware. they were 5th at the Ice Dance Final

Murphy/Leavitt- they were 13th at Nats last year. Her birthday is the day of the RD. They were 6th at the IDF and train in Pittsburgh and were invited when Cesanek/Yehorov withdrew

Depietri/Carey were invited on Jan 17 to compete when H/B withdrew. he posted a goodbye to competitive skating post in November, saying the ID Final, where they placed 7th, was his last competition, so idk how much they've been training the last 2 months

[icedanceupstarts]

2019 US Junior Nationals Preview

Gold, silver, bronze and that world famous pewter are on the line here. Out of the thirteen teams that qualified to Junior Nationals, five of them are siblings, which is not a ratio you are likely to see anywhere else in the world.

As a warning to those who haven’t already heard, due to recent unfortunate events there is a brief discussion of allegations regarding sexual abuse of a minor under the cut.

Ella Ales/ Daniel Tsarik

Age: 17/17

Coach: Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Carmerlengo

Season's Best: N/A, scored 140.14 at Midwestern Sectionals

Sectionals Result: 2nd at Midwestern

Rhythm Dance: La Cumparsita

They are a new team this season and train in Novi. Ella was a singles skater until recently and this seems to be her first dance partnership, he competed with Amanda Miller last season. Until just a few years ago, he was also a competitive ballroom dancer. Look at him go!

We first saw Ales/Tsarik at Dance-Pairs Chicago, where they had some glimmers of promise but weren't even close to being soup. They're proof of just how quickly a young dance team can pull things together and show massive improvement and growth as a team in a very short amount of time. They have nice posture skating in hold, and fluid, expressive upper bodies as well as a charmingly hammy performance style. Combined with their massive technical strides over the past few months and they surprised quite a few fans by rocketing seemingly out of nowhere to grab silver at their Sectionals with fairly competitive scores. They're not likely to qualify for the junior world team, and they don't have the minimums, but they can get a great jumpstart on next season and make a statement by having a good finish here.

Oona Brown/ Gage Brown

Age: 14/16

Started Skating Together: 2012

Coach: Andrew Lavrik*** SUSPENDED

Season's Best: 133.83

Sectionals Result: 2nd at Easterns

Rhythm Dance: La Cumparsita/Tangled Up

Free Dance: Still Got the Blues

Sibling teams and color names, a US ice dance specialty! 5th at Novices last year, these two made quite the splash in their first junior season. They're great skaters with a lot of projection and maturity for their age, as tiny as they are. They've got such a great sense of showmanship and musicality, and are quite polished too. While it's their basic skating and charm that makes up the bulk of their marks, crowd pleasing elements like the hydroblading in their free dance or Oona lifting Gage while giving incredible face and sass are just a sample of great highlights that commit these two to memory. Their inexperience shows in some of their level struggles and stumbles, and they got called for a music violation in the free dance at their first JGP, and they had to rework the program from its original incarnation. It's still great even with a more obvious rhythm change, and we love their confidence and attack. With a team this young, some stumbles and mistakes are honestly more expected than not, and some low levels are not an issue either. Here's hoping that they deliver two fabulous, confident performances and start making their mark, regardless of the results.

***We have been struggling with how to address this, and it's an awful situation all around, but it would be remiss of us not to mention that while Andrew Lavrik has been their coach and choreographer all season, he has been suspended both by the rink and the Professional Skaters Association due to his arrest on January 7th for alleged sexual abuse of a minor. While we separated this section so as to try to not take the spotlight from where it's supposed to be, the Browns and their talent, it would be naive and shallow of us to say we hope that this doesn't affect them at Nationals. We do not want to speculate further, but at the very least the Browns are in a very stressful, upsetting situation as well as in the position of having to find a new credentialed coach to at least accompany them to Nationals. Our hearts go out to them and every other person affected, directly or indirectly, by Lavrik's alleged crimes.

Molly Cesanek/ Yehor Yehorov

Age: 17/19

Started Skating Together: 2018

Coach: Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov

Season's Best: N/A(142.03 at Sectionals)

Sectionals Result: 1st at Pacific Sectionals

Rhythm Dance: Mas Alla Del Sur

Free Dance: Flamenco Medley(25:00 on the video)

Another new team, Yehor previously competed for Ukraine last year. They started their season finishing third overall at Lake Placid and later pulled out a surprise victory at Pacific Sectionals over several more experienced teams who competed on the JGP this season. As a newer team their connection isn't automatic but they've really developed and are showing lots of promise. They’ve obviously been very focused on the skating and elements with that concentration on getting through the steps showing in their performance, but they’ve already managed to match each other well. They do have great energy in their free dance which helps distinguish it from their rhythm dance. If they continue their steady improvement of the past few months and continue to develop their connection and performance, they could place much higher than you might expect.

Katarina Delcamp/ Maxwell Gart

Age: 14/16

Started Skating Together: 2016

Coach: Svetlana Kulikova and Mathew Gates

Season's Best: 122.09

Sectionals Result: 4th at Midwestern

Rhythm Dance: Otra Luna/Libertango/Tango Amore

Free Dance: Italian Folk Medley

The 2017 Novice Silver medalists are one of the most charming young teams we have the pleasure of watching, but unfortunately also one of the messiest. We're not sticklers for polish, but Delcamp/Gart have a habit of slipping off their deep edges at the wrong moment and losing levels. They have incredible energy, speed, and commitment, but something about their skating lacks the innate security that makes everything feel planned, and it can leave you on the edge of your seat, and not in a good way. They are incredibly talented though, fast and expressive, with a strong connection, and they use her flexibility to create great elements and highlights in the choreography. The upbeat, chaotic energy of their free dance suits their skating very well and showcases their strengths while minimizing the areas where they're not quite as developed.

They've both been around despite their young ages, and he in particular found success with other partners, like his 2016 Intermediate silver medal with Avonley Nguyen. He was also the 2014 Juvenile silver medalist and 2015 Intermediate bronze medalist with Molly Cesanek. That previous experience does shine through for such a young, new team. They'll be looking to harness their strengths of energy and performance quality and add a refinement and maturity to make the judges sit up and make note of them for next season.

Alina Efimova/Alexander Petrov

Age: 17/20

Started Skating Together: 2016

Coach: Igor Shpilband, Pasquale Carmerlengo, and Adrienne Lenda

Season's Best: 131.50

Sectionals Result: 4th at Pacific Sectionals

Rhythm Dance: Toute Tourne/Ontra Luna/Pa Bailar

Free Dance: Who Wants to Live Forever

We've enjoyed Efimova/Petrov for the past couple seasons, and were very pleased to see them finally get a JGP in their last season of junior eligibility. They're a really fun, expressive team, and are so lovely to watch. While there have been a lot of great, enjoyable tangos this season, most of them tend to be pretty serious, whether they go for a classic drama, a more sensual elegance, or something more flamenco styled. These two have a really fun, upbeat, sassy tango that borders on downright playful at times. They clearly love their free dance and commit to every second. We personally might recommend a little less exuberant grinning for Who Wants To Live Forever, but perhaps we have found the answer to that question! It's a thrilling, engaging performance regardless. They weren't at their best at Sectionals, but they're more than capable of rebounding for a higher finish at Nationals than you might expect, and ending their junior career on a good note.

Sophia Elder/ Christopher Elder

Age: 15/17

Started Skating Together: 2011

Coach: Kelley Morris-Adair, Donald Adair, Igor Shpilband

Season's Best: 137.42

Sectionals Result: 3rd at Midwestern

Rhythm Dance: Tango Classico

Free Dance: Halo Theme

A sibling team sans color last names! Two JGP assignments this year after making their debut on the 2017 circuit and placing twelfth is a great showcase of how much young teams can improve when given the opportunity. Their programs this season are a great showcase of their flow and ease of skating together as well as a bit of drama. Their free dance is a nice step up in maturity with unique choreographic twizzles and spin matched well with the music. They have great tango posture and feel for the style, and there's drama in their movements and choreo even if they could at times bring a little more of that expression to their faces. With the added international experience under their belts, we expect these two to make a major push in the standings from their 11th place finish last season.

Caroline Green/ Gordon Green

Age: 15/17

Started Skating Together: 2009

Coach: Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov

Season's Best: No ISU SB, 157.41 at Mentor Torun Cup

Sectionals: 1st at Easterns

Rhythm Dance: "Essa" by Ostra Aires

Free Dance: The Devil Violinist

Sibling teams with color names part 2! Two time novice National champions, top 5 at their first junior Nationals in 2017 when they weren't age eligible internationally, reigning junior national silver medalists, earned bronze at both JGPs in their international debut and went on to finish sixth at their first junior worlds. An impressive resume for a team so young, and one that made them seem the obvious next top junior American team with Lewis/Bye on hiatus and Carreira/Ponomarenko moving up to the senior level. Unfortunately Caroline got sick and they were forced to miss the first half of the season, leaving Nguyen/Kolesnik to fill the gap.

Even with the late start, they're great skaters in good shape. Their performances at Sectionals and Golden Spin were a little reserved, but they got a level 4 on every element in both programs at Golden Spin. They started really coming alive at Torun, where they performed with their more customary levels of speed, expression, and attack. They've always been fast, dynamic skaters, and the tango works well with those strengths, but they've also really grown up over the past year. There's an added power and maturity in their skating this season, and their long lines are well displayed in both programs, although especially the rhythm dance. Caroline's free dance dress is literally a violin, which is a neat sartorial choice, although a trip through Wikipedia indicates that Gordon is neither the devil nor making a deal with one. It's a pretty powerful vehicle for them, and is clearly telling a story, albeit apparently not a more classical adaptation of The Devil Went Down to Georgia. There's such a natural drama to their skating which this program takes perfect advantage of. If they can marry their technical performance from Golden Spin with the more engaging performance from Torun, they have a shot at not just the junior national title, but setting themselves up for a junior world medal.

Eliana Gropman/ Ian Somerville

Age: 17/18

Started Skating Together: 2009

Coach: Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov

Season's Best: 148.51

Sectionals Result: 1st at Midwestern

Rhythm Dance: Nuevo Tango

Free Dance: Mozart L'Opera Rock

The reigning National pewter medalists will be looking to move up at least one step on the podium and make their first junior world team. Gropman/Somerville won their first JGP medal this season but were off the podium at their second assignment due to some errors. They still need to add more power and size in their skating, but they have lovely glide across the ice, and their lines and edges in the pattern dance are simply beautiful.

We've been watching Gropman/Somerville for a few years now and they have really grown up. He's such a strong lead in the tango and her movements are so placed, and they just have really fluid, seamless partnering. They're one of the teams where you can just tell that they've been together a long time. Their free dance is charmingly offbeat and clearly has a story behind all the movements. If they avoid some of the twizzle errors and other bobbles that nagged them at earlier events, they should have no trouble moving into the top 3 and making their first junior world team.

Jocelyn Haines/James Koszuta

Age: 16/20

Started Skating Together: 2016

Coach: Blanka Szijgyarto, Carly Donowick

Season's Best: 123.02

Sectionals Result: 2nd at Pacific Sectionals

Rhythm Dance: Sentemientos/ “Sweet Dreams(Are Made of This)”

Free Dance: Pearl Harbor

In ice dance, it pays to get together early, but these two are determined to succeed despite their rushed timeline. Haines/Koszuta won the 2017 Novice title in their first season together, and age out of juniors after this season. They are a team small in stature but with impressive lifts nonetheless, in particular their curve and choreographic lifts in the free dance. Their free dance in general in a great vehicle for them with a triumphant build they match in performance. They had some technical issues in the rhythm dance at Sectionals, but came roaring back in the free dance to win that portion of the competition and very nearly overall. If they can clean up their levels and skate full out, they have every chance of leaving their junior career on a high note.

Avonley Nguyen/ Vadym Kolesnik

Age: 16/17

Started Skating Together: 2017

Coach: Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Carmerlengo

Season's Best: 165.63

Sectionals Result: N/A

Rhythm Dance: Building the Bullet/Vuelvo Al Sur

Free Dance: “Demons” by Imagine Dragons/Experience by Ludovico Einaudi

The only team in the field who didn't have to qualify through Sectionals, Nguyen/Kolesnik have had a great breakout season. They were high on charm in their debut last season, but have developed enough technical prowess over the last year to challenge for the top of the junior field, and not just domestically. With the entire junior world team from the year before being absent from the junior circuit for one reason or another, they were able to take full advantage and make huge strides up the ranks, and now they're looking at their first national medal as a team, and possibly the title. They'll want to drill their tango to do that, as their size difference means their patterns are never their most comfortable element, but they make up for it with speed and charisma, and fabulous lifts. They had some issues on their twizzles at JGPF, which they'll want to avoid here to take the title. If they bring the attack and security in their elements that they displayed at JGP Ljubljana, it's going to be tough for any team to beat them out for the gold.

Katarina Wolfkostin/ Howard Zhao

Age: 14/16

Started Skating Together: 2016

Coach: Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Carmerlengo

Season's Best: 127.58

Sectionals Result: 3rd at Pacific Sectionals

Rhythm Dance: Differente

Free Dance: Dr. Zhivago

The reigning Novice national champions may not have the highest season's best, but they're definitely still a team to watch. They have a number of fantastic qualities and they're great skaters, but at the moment their technical abilities outstrip the rest of their skating, leading to lower scores. They've been losing a lot on GOE, but at JGP Ostrava their free dance BV was the highest of the entire event, and their BV in the rhythm dance was pretty solid too. There did seem to be some moments where they were more focused on making sure their edges were clean and precise than on skating as big or as fast as they could. That's perfectly fine-- they're building a strong technical base for the future, and depending on how training has been going, it could already pay off for them this week.

While you can see all the places they need to tighten up their skating in order to start raking in the GOE, they're still a wonderful team to watch. While a number of junior teams their age have approached the tango with noticeable timidity, these two attack it and give amazing face throughout. Their free dance is much softer and downright playful at times, as they toss off in sync salutes with a wink and a smile. Hopefully they've worked on smoothing out their elements and transitions, because these two are really a delight. We hope that they bring their best here to set themselves up well for next season.