#the mrazeks are competing in juniors here

[sunskate]

Dozzi and Papetti at Egna Dance Trophy in Egna, Italy Feb 9-12, 2023

This is the Taschlers to win. There should be a gap after them. Then there are a few teams in the mix- Manni/Roethlisberger, Terreaux/Perron, Leia and Pietro and maybe Luft/Pfisterer

This competition helps decide the second Italian team to go to Worlds. Manni/Roethlisberger were 2nd at their Nationals and got the slot to go to Europeans, so it's a long shot for Leia and Pietro. But they want to show up here and show their fed their progress since December

[sunskate]

JGP Bangkok dance: the 1st JGP of the season! in Thailand! this ice dance field has the 2 top teams from jr worlds who didn't senior up -

Leah Neset/Artem Markelov 🇺🇸USA (17/20 yo) they were 5th at Worlds in March, have won 2 events this season already. their RD is Scorpions and Joan Jett, and their FD to a Sarah Brightman song based on a classical piece by Albinoni. they're polished, their demeanor is professional, a mature team for juniors. their coach is so involved, you might see her jumping and dancing at the boards when they skate. they're aiming for gold at Jr Worlds this season

Celina Fradji/Jean-Hans Fourneaux 🇫🇷FRA (18/19 yo) they were 6th at both Jr Worlds and the JGPF last season. they're skating the same Scorpions song as Neset/Markelov in their RD, but with AC/DC, and they have a tango FD. this is their 8th season together, and the longevity shows in their sense of ease and equality with each other. they have a bit of a history of being stronger in the RD than the FD at big events- but we'll see what happens this season. they're looking to return to the JGPF and to medal at jr worlds

Layla Veillon/Alexander Brandys 🇨🇦CAN (17/18 yo) 5th at 🇨🇦Nats in january, could make the Jr Worlds team this season. they have a Run-DMC RD and a Chaplin FD. they've competed twice this summer, their FD is sweet and has the curve lift from Seasons, and the RD is fun and in process: the rocker foxtrot is the junior RD pattern, and in the 2nd half, the teams switch sides - what traditionally were the woman's steps are skated by the man and vice versa - L/A missed all the key points in this section in both their comps, so i'm sure they’ve been working on that. many teams are having similar issues with this 2nd half of the pattern (2RF). it feels like IAM/O have a 3 yr plan for their jr career - last season was time to learn the big stage, give them programs in their wheelhouse which were nevertheless more mature than what they had before. this season started with difficult balance lifts in both programs (the original curve lift in their RD was like a Madi and Keiffer Hubbell lift that required a lot of strength from both), dance styles and storytelling that ask a lot of them, encouraging them, especially Alex, to project more, and they are☺️

Yufei Lin/Zijian Gao CHN (18/19 yo) they were on the JGP circuit in 2019, so this is their 5th junior season? they have programs by Romain and Pascal Denis including this Sleeping Beauty FD ⬆️ - i love a good classical program, and this one is lovely- they visited IAM recently. they're promising, and it will be interesting to watch their progression. they seem to be following in Wang/Liu’s footsteps working both in China and with IAM

Jinny Kim/Namu Lee 🇰🇷KOR (15/16 yo) South Korea has competitions to decide who they send to the JGP, so here's their RD- they train with Wing/Lowe in Vancouver, and they're young, but i love when you watch a team and their skating basics look this strong- they need experience together, but there's a lot to like - they're both performers, he especially is giving 100%

Natalie Blaasova/Filip Blaas 🇨🇿CZE (15/18 yo) another sibling team from the Czech Republic, though from a different camp than the Mrazeks and Taschlers. their RD is Tina Turner and "It's Raining Men,” and their FD is Wakanda Forever

Alexia Kruk/Jan Eisenhaber 🇩🇪GER (16/18 yo) they did a variation of the goose last season in their FD ⬆️ this season, they're doing a Michael Jackson RD and a tango/flamenco FD

any team with a JGP assignment is one of the best in their whole country - good luck to them all 💙💙💙