U.S. Ice Dance 2020-21 season news & updates

[Sylvia]

Re-posting from their fan thread:

Oona and Gage will compete in the Dallas Cannon Classic, July 9-11: https://www.oonabrownandgagebrown.com/post/spring-updates

Excerpt:

As of now [May 22], we are still putting the finishing touches on both of our programs, and are very much looking forward to our first competition of the season! This competition will be the ‘Dallas Cannon Classic Dance Competition’ held in Allen, Texas from July 9th-11th!

Details here: http://www.dallascannonclassic.org

This club (non-qualifying) is a new competition for solo and partnered ice dance and looks to be the first major summer comp. for ice dancers (maybe this thread for the 2021-22 season can be started right before then?). The other appears to be the Chesapeake Open, August 4-8, at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel, Maryland.

2 of the 3 Lake Placid ice rinks are undergoing major renovations this year and so the international part of LPIDC will be hosted by the SC of Boston's new facility in Norwood, Massachusetts, August 10-15, 2021.

 

[Sylvia]

IAM updates today via Instagram stories:

Hubbell/Donohue are doing choreography with Scott Moir & Marie-France D.

Carreira/Ponomarenko are in Montreal working with Sam Chouinard.

 

[Sylvia]

Logan Bye posted UM graduation photos yesterday/on May 1st (with his parents and partner Eva Pate): https://www.instagram.com/p/COWSfDDrKMu/
"Countless hours well spent. Can’t thank everyone enough for all the support and guidance through these 5 years. Masters in Biomedical Engineering."

Fan Zone article by Darci Miller (June 2, 2021):

Logan Bye Earns Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering to Give Back to His Community - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Logan Bye is a master of self-motivation.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Excerpt:

The 23-year-old completed his master's degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan. He balanced being a full-time student with being an elite figure skater, and spent his last year-plus of college entirely online.
"It came down to self-motivation, for sure," Bye said. "It was, at times, very challenging. There was a solid two weeks within every single year that I got about four to five hours on average of sleep per night. I think you have to love learning. But the key is to just keep on track, and with doing skating on top of it all, I was able to find a balance."

Bye took an average of five classes per semester -- occasionally four, occasionally six -- and skated four hours a day, five days a week, plus an additional half hour to an hour of off-ice training each day. While he says he did not have much social time -- cooking dinner at home was one of his favorite ways to de-stress -- switching his focus from school to skating helped him excel at both.
"At times when school was stressful and I was going to skate, it was really nice because I was able to take my mind off school and academics and focus on the skating," Bye said. "And actually that relieved a lot of stress and opened up, for when I went back to school, my mind in order to complete the work that I needed to do. It wasn't, 'What do I need to do?' It was more of, 'Okay, this is step one, this is step two.' And so, with both kind of working off each other, that's how I was able to complete it in five years."

Leah Neset and Artem Markelov [J6] were added to the ISP recently - Jordan Cowan recently filmed their new Junior free dance at their home rink in Colorado Springs.
...
Choreographers: Elena Dostatni (their coach) & Joel Dear (one of the Browns' coaches)

OIP's YT video was uploaded today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Zb6KzwH-w

 

[Sylvia]

Carreira/Ponomarenko are in Montreal working with Sam Chouinard.

4 photos shared by Christina: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtfqDhpnGJ/

Thank you for the amazing week! @iceacademyofmontreal
RD
FD

 

[victorskid]

4 photos shared by Christina: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtfqDhpnGJ/

IFS has an article about them, including the move to I.AM: https://www.ifsmagazine.com/carreira-ponomarenko-quickstep-into-canada/

 

[Sylvia]

C/P Fan Zone article by Karen Rosen (June 8):

Carreira and Ponomarenko Motivated by Fresh Start with Scott Moir - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko knew that by moving to new coaches in a new training environment they would be unpacking much more than their belongings.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Excerpt:

"We just got the ball rolling for the next season," said Ponomarenko, "and then after the World Championships we officially came to Canada and did our quarantine and started training live and not over a computer screen."
Carreira said their days are now "much more structured and well-rounded. We tackle everything we have to do in a day -- every element, every transition."
Although she was born in Montreal, this is only a partial homecoming for Carreira. She will still live in Michigan as she pursues U.S. citizenship. Once Carreira moves into her own place later this month with her Maltipoo Charlie, her commute will be a little over an hour, but she said the drive will be worth it. Ponomarenko will live in London, Ontario, with his new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named George.
Alas, Carreira added, "I still don't need my French."
Well, maybe a little since they work every day with the Montreal coaches via Zoom.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

Do we know why the Lake Placid ice dance competition is being held in Boston this year?

 

[BittyBug]

The rinks in Lake Placid are down for maintenance.

 

[Sylvia]

Post #331 above :

This club (non-qualifying) is a new competition for solo and partnered ice dance [Dallas Cannon Classic] held in Allen, Texas from July 9th-11th and looks to be the first major summer comp. for ice dancers (maybe this thread for the 2021-22 season can be started right before then?). The other appears to be the Chesapeake Open, August 4-8, at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel, Maryland.

2 of the 3 Lake Placid ice rinks are undergoing major renovations this year and so the international part of LPIDC will be hosted by the SC of Boston's new facility in Norwood, Massachusetts, August 10-15, 2021.

I posted excerpts from an article about the Lake Placid (ORDA) rink renovations here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...r-orda-in-lake-placid-ny.106601/#post-6003475

 

[AliasJohnDoe]

Any word on new partners for Kolesnik or Nguyen?

 

[BittyBug]

Wasn’t Kolesnik was rumored to have a Russian partner?

 

[litenkyckling]

I thought he was rumoured to be pairing with Anya Lavrova - who I think has US citizenship?

 

[Ka3sha]

Wasn’t Kolesnik was rumored to have a Russian partner?

He was in Moscow for a try-out back in March, but no info about his potential partner or whenever the try-out was successful

 

[Jammers]

I really can't understand Nguyen not having a partner by now. She's part of the reigning World Junior ice dancing champions that should count for something.

 

[thvu]

I really can't understand Nguyen not having a partner by now. She's part of the reigning World Junior ice dancing champions that should count for something.

I wouldn’t pair up with someone who has proven to so ready and willing to implode a winning team.

It’s not even like Nguyen is some ice dance revelation with amazing skating skills. She was special with Kolesnik, but that doesn’t mean she’d have the same magic with someone else.

 

[Sylvia]

I

I wouldn’t pair up with someone who has proven to so ready and willing to implode a winning team.

General observation: I don't think it's fair to blame only one side for a winning team's split.

Avonley posted this photo with Tanith White on June 4: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtCl5XJmRv/

 

[VGThuy]

Not only that but none of us knows what happened behind the scenes. All we know is that a Junior world championship winning ice dance team had a huge enough break to break up the partnership while they were on the cusp of success. My initial reaction would be to think it had to be something serious to the point where reconciliation isn’t possible.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I am not claiming any knowledge of this specific breakup and not trying to make any accusations. I just want to say I will never automatically be dismissive of any woman suddenly leaving a partnership given USFSA's toxic issues around abuse/eating disorders. I won't assume that's the reason but I will leave room for it and encourage anyone to make a sudden break whether anyone understands it or not. There are enough reasons making that a very difficult decision under any circumstance without fans piling on.

 

[Sylvia]

There are enough reasons making that a very difficult decision under any circumstance without fans piling on.

Yes.

 

[Lara111]

They had a personal relationship and it was clear that it would very quickly bring their partnership to an end given their age and personality of these two. Their coach and parents should have managed them better.

Not only that but none of us knows what happened behind the scenes. All we know is that a Junior world championship winning ice dance team had a huge enough break to break up the partnership while they were on the cusp of success. My initial reaction would be to think it had to be something serious to the point where reconciliation isn’t possible

 

[Lara111]

I wouldn’t pair up with someone who has proven to so ready and willing to implode a winning team.

It’s not even like Nguyen is some ice dance revelation with amazing skating skills. She was special with Kolesnik, but that doesn’t mean she’d have the same magic with someone else.

The second statement applies to Kolesnik as well.

 

[litenkyckling]

Carreira and Ponomarenko did an interview with a new FS podcast - interesting insight into their coaching change etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKui_xafyA8

 

[Ka3sha]

Vadym Kolesnik gave an interview in Russian, he said he has found a new partner, they have been training together for two months in Igor Shpilband's group and Charlie & Tanith helped them with new program.
He didn't say the name, but mentioned that the girl is very talented and has progressed a lot recently.

 

[Rukia]

Vadym Kolesnik gave an interview in Russian, he said he has found a new partner, they have been training together for two months in Igor Shpilband's group and Charlie & Tanith helped them with new program.
He didn't say the name, but mentioned that the girl is very talented and has progressed a lot recently.

Here's a thread on twitter about it. He said his new partner has little competition experience (but they are competing as seniors?). He also says he doesn't want to reveal why he and Avonley split (but then says there was some friction between parents soo....).

 

[dancing_on_ice]

I'm so confused as to why he and his new partner are competing as seniors. Apparently she is very young and has no competitive ice dance experience. Just because he won junior worlds in a previous partnership doesn't mean that he can't compete junior anymore. Even though he reiterates over and over that they will only be competing domestically so no grand prixs, it feels like a recipe for poor competitive results compared to the other, far more experienced senior teams, when they could spend time in the junior ranks.

 

[jlai]

So he will be competing for Russia?

 

[Karen-W]

So he will be competing for Russia?

I don't think anyone knows since he hasn't revealed who his partner is. And we haven't heard whether or not he's been released from the US to compete for another country.

 

[tuttifrutti78]

So he will be competing for Russia?

Kolesnik wanted to compete for Russia and saw the weird pandemic season as an opportunity to sit out and upgrade to a Russian partner with influence. Unfortunately his plan didn’t work out, so he ended up having to team up with a much younger inexperienced partner.

 

[Colonel Green]

Kolesnik wanted to compete for Russia and saw the weird ********* season as an opportunity to sit out and upgrade to a Russian partner with influence. Unfortunately his plan didn’t work out, so he ended up having to team up with a much younger inexperienced partner.

A skater of Kolesnik's ability would have a ton of partner options, he would not have "had to" take their particular partner unless he was convinced it was a good potential. Nor was there ever any indication he was trying to switch countries, that was all fan speculation.

 

[tuttifrutti78]

A skater of Kolesnik's ability would have a ton of partner options, he would not have "had to" take their particular partner unless he was convinced it was a good potential. Nor was there ever any indication he was trying to switch countries, that was all fan speculation.

He gave an interview immediately after the breakup about his intent to look overseas. And has posted on Instagram story of his ability to skate for Russia based on his mother’s genealogy