U.S. Ice Dance 2026-27 Discussion - Changing of the (Skate) Guard

[skatfan]

oh wait... this should be in the canadian ice dance thread?

You’re right, I forgot!

 

[Alilou]

You’re right, I forgot!

go on, tell us the truth, it was really wishful thinking wasn't it

 

[skatfan]

go on, tell us the truth, it was really wishful thinking wasn't it

True.

 

[Sylvia]

Lake Placid Ice Dance International has 6 U.S. Senior teams (RD is this afternoon): Pate/Bye, Neset/Markelov, Cui/Rogers, Koncius/Shchepetov, Pham/Spiridonov, Mullen/Mullen.
Junior (7 teams) after RD: Aboian/Veselukhin 65.99 1st, Vaclavikova/Lissauer 60.83 2nd, Stapert/Korotcov 51.37 4th, Calhoun/Zheltyshev 50.98 5th, Kouevi/Homawoo 50.49 6th, Feige/Middlekauff 48.42 8th, Taylorson/Moore 44.35 10th.
Junior NQS (5 teams) after RD: Chen/Chitipakhovian 58.57 1st, Lukanin/O'Brien 54.98 2nd, M. Carhart/Bledsoe 50.23 3rd, Kirsanov/Peng 45.24 4th, Blackstone/Light 43.20 5th.

Someone in Lake Placid passed along the info that Aboian/Veselukhin's Junior RD music includes Doga's My Sweet and Tender Beast waltz with a tango.

 

[Wyliefan]

Hope we get some fancams!

 

[haribobo]

2026 Summer Scores- US JUNIOR DANCE

Aboian/Veselukhin 166.04 LPIDI
Vaclavikova/Lissauer 152.78 LPIDI
Chen/Chitipakhovian 148.36 Dallas
Stapert/Korotcov 138.43 Chesapeake
Calhoun/Zheltyshev 134.98 LPIDI
Kouevi/Homawoo 134.05 LPIDI
Lukanin/O'Brien 133.13 Chesapeake
Fischer/Fischer 128.74 Dallas
Feige/Middlekauff 126.01 LPIDI
Carhart/Bledsoe 124.41 LPIDC
Kirsanov/Peng 118.36 Dallas
Taylorson/Moore 112.98 LPIDI
Blackstone/Light 107.31 LPIDC

 

[haribobo]

SENIOR ICE DANCE SUMMER 2026

Cui/Rogers 176.15
Pate/Bye 165.30
Neset/Markelov 159.91
Mullen/Mullen 156.29
Koncius/Shchepetov 152.64
Peal/Peal 151.23
Flores/Jepsen 149.64
Pham/Spiridonov 141.73


Yet to compete- Zingas/Kolesnik, Bratti/Somerville, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Green/Parsons, Brown/Brown, Wolfkostin/Tsarevski

 

[spin2win]

some RD program information i came across on twitter/reddit:

• neset/markelov brought back their scorpions program from 2023-24
• pate/bye are doing pirates of the caribbean
• mullen/mullen and pham/spiridonov are both doing La La Land programs
• cui/rogers are doing some kind of tango program which seems to have worked out

 

[Sylvia]

Aboian/Veselukhin debuted their Pharoahs FD costumes in winning the Lake Placid IDI (100.05 in FD):

Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov International Skating Group on Instagram: "🥇🥈Lake Placid Junior Ice Dance International! Congratulations to all the athletes! @isufigureskating @usfigureskating #hausofdiamondsofficial #icedance #figureskating #danc

238 likes, 9 comments - hausofdiamondsofficial on July 29, 2026: "🥇🥈Lake Placid Junior Ice Dance International! Congratulations to all the athletes! @isufigureskating @usfigureskating #hausofdiamondsofficial #icedance #figureskating #dance".

www.instagram.com

 

[leilaofpaper]

some RD program information i came across on twitter/reddit:

• neset/markelov brought back their scorpions program from 2023-24
• pate/bye are doing pirates of the caribbean
• mullen/mullen and pham/spiridonov are both doing La La Land programs
• cui/rogers are doing some kind of tango program which seems to have worked out

do you mean FD?

 

[Sylvia]

do you mean FD?

LPIDI Senior FD is this afternoon.

Cui/Rogers' RD (70.93 1st!) ends with Astor Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires.

I noticed that Jonathan Rogers has a GFM linked from his Instagram profile: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jonathans-journey-to-the-2030-winter-olympics

 

[TanithandBenFan]

some RD program information i came across on twitter/reddit:

• neset/markelov brought back their scorpions program from 2023-24

Fancam clip of N/M: https://x.com/amy38620946/status/2082562276368806060?s=46&t=-4teGSabTvGXystNvsOwhQ

As someone who despises any Scorpions song, I am that they have resurrected this music.

 

[aprilediv]

I noticed that Jonathan Rogers has a GFM linked from his Instagram profile: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jonathans-journey-to-the-2030-winter-olympics

Came across this interview when Jonathan talked about how his family financially struggles to keep in skating. He sounds like a grounded and hardworking young man.

Cui & Rogers: The Journey Continues – Ice-dance.com

www.ice-dance.com

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ Thanks! I missed reading this back on June 17:

IDC interview with Cui/Rogers. They give details on their FD!

Excerpts:
AC: I absolutely ADORE our free dance choreographic step sequence! I think it really shows our versatility as a team and as performers. We had such a wonderful time collaborating with Kaitlyn Weaver, who initially proposed our Sinners program concept. She helped us weave our own touches into the choreography, and the rest all came very naturally. With our free dance this year, we get to play characters that are somewhat unsettling and unnatural. The program is outside anything I have gotten to do before, so I am very excited to put on that character and step into that world.
JR: In our free dance, I am playing a creep and it’s so different from the characters I’ve portrayed in past seasons. I think the beginning, especially, it’s so weird and so uncomfortable. The choreographic step sequence is so multi-dimensional has so many fun little shapes and nuances. It’s reminiscent of a southern jig or barn dance. It’s rough, a little edgy and so fast paced. It’s an absolute blast.
[...]
JR: I hope audiences and fans recognize the versatility of our abilities. In the past two seasons, our free dances were very balletic, and we know we can hit strong lines and beautiful positions. This year’s free dance is going to be different— more edgy, and less focused on crisp lines. We want to show we can do more than one style. Regardless, we want audiences to know they’ll be entertained. I think we’ve done a good job of that so far, and this year will be no exception.

 

[BittyBug]

Aboian/Veselukhin debuted their Pharoahs FD costumes in winning the Lake Placid IDI (100.05 in FD):

Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov International Skating Group on Instagram: "🥇🥈Lake Placid Junior Ice Dance International! Congratulations to all the athletes! @isufigureskating @usfigureskating #hausofdiamondsofficial #icedance #figureskating #danc

238 likes, 9 comments - hausofdiamondsofficial on July 29, 2026: "🥇🥈Lake Placid Junior Ice Dance International! Congratulations to all the athletes! @isufigureskating @usfigureskating #hausofdiamondsofficial #icedance #figureskating #dance".

www.instagram.com

Welcome to ice dance, where more is more and never enough. (But these two can do no wrong in my book so I’m sure it works.)

 

[Sylvia]

I saw an Instastory photo of Lorraine McNamara & husband Pierre Souquet-Basiège (https://www.instagram.com/pierre.souquet/) sitting with Kouevi/Homawoo in the Kiss & Cry in Lake Placid. Cross-posting here from the JGP general discussion thread:

And Kouevi/Homawoo are no longer in WISA. After Pierre Souquet-Basiege and Lorraine got married they started their own business. Kouevi/Homawoo are with them now.

 

[Karen-W]

USFS Int'l Assignments page has 6 teams (3 senior, 3 junior) assigned to Bolero Cup next month in Sheffield GBR.

Koncius/Shchepetov
Mullen/Mullen
Pham/Spiridonov

Carhart/Bledsoe
Feige/Middlekauff
Fugate/Fugate

 

[Wyliefan]

I thought Scorpions 1.0 was a decent program for Nes/Mark. But to bring it back and stuff a waltz into it seems ... less than optimal. I think they would have done great with a classical waltz, like Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" waltz (which I'm always wishing someone would skate to). It would be an actually workable version of what they tried to do last year with the Napoleon free dance, which had a vibe that suited them but was too choppy and not flowy enough to work well. As boundary-less as their coach is with them, sometimes it seems like she barely knows them at all. Since they turned senior, she can't seem to put music and concept and choreography together into one viable package.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I saw an Instastory photo of Lorraine McNamara & husband Pierre Souquet-Basiège (https://www.instagram.com/pierre.souquet/) sitting with Kouevi/Homawoo in the Kiss & Cry in Lake Placid. Cross-posting here from the JGP general discussion thread:

Interesting! I didn’t think anything of it when he was with them in Dallas. I just assumed he was helping out with WISA still.

 

[Marta24]

I was so sure N/M would do a classical waltz RD. Their coach did a good job in packaging them in Juniors, but it's not working since they moved up. Let's see what they can do in the FD, but POTO doesn't sound incredibly exciting to me.

 

[ndyelimbs]

USFS Int'l Assignments page has 6 teams (3 senior, 3 junior) assigned to Bolero Cup next month in Sheffield GBR.

Koncius/Shchepetov
Mullen/Mullen
Pham/Spiridonov

Carhart/Bledsoe
Feige/Middlekauff
Fugate/Fugate

Happy to see the Mullens get an international assignment. Their GW looked good from LP.

 

[Sylvia]

Lake Placid IDI top 6:
1 Amy CUI / Jonathan ROGERS USA 176.15 1 1
2 Eva PATE / Logan BYE USA 165.30 4 2
3 Leah NESET / Artem MARKELOV USA 159.91 3 3
4 Caroline MULLEN / Brendan MULLEN USA 156.29 2 5
5 Raffaella Adele KONCIUS / Alexey SHCHEPETOV USA 152.64 5 4
6 Vanessa PHAM / Anton SPIRIDONOV USA 141.73 6 6

FD protocols: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/lea...------FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf
RD protocols: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/lea...------QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Katarina Wolfkostin today (no music reveal yet):

Katarina Wolfkostin on Instagram: "Super excited for this season and our upcoming events! Big announcement coming soon! Here are some pics from Camp 2030 and some of the great people who have been helping us with our programs this year 🥰 Thank you @d

katarinawolfkostin on July 30, 2026: "Super excited for this season and our upcoming events! Big announcement coming soon! Here are some pics from Camp 2030 and some of the great people who have been helping us with our programs this year 🥰 Thank you @dmitry_chaplin @annaboogiebotunga...

www.instagram.com

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Katarina Wolfkostin today (no music reveal yet):

Katarina Wolfkostin on Instagram: "Super excited for this season and our upcoming events! Big announcement coming soon! Here are some pics from Camp 2030 and some of the great people who have been helping us with our programs this year 🥰 Thank you @d

katarinawolfkostin on July 30, 2026: "Super excited for this season and our upcoming events! Big announcement coming soon! Here are some pics from Camp 2030 and some of the great people who have been helping us with our programs this year 🥰 Thank you @dmitry_chaplin @annaboogiebotunga...

www.instagram.com

Noooo not another long skirt of doom for one of my faves.

 

[PRlady]

Should I be worried for Nes /Mark? They finished ahead of P/B and Cui/Rogers at Nats. I’m really hoping they don’t turn into another failed transition team.

 

[Rukia]

Should I be worried for Nes /Mark? They finished ahead of P/B and Cui/Rogers at Nats. I’m really hoping they don’t turn into another failed transition team.

I thought their fd last season was a step in the right direction, but one of my mutuals who was there said their music cuts for their poto fd felt disjointed and maybe wasn't showing off thier skating as well as it could (also they got 2 extended lift deductions). idk p/b always have a much stronger pre-/early season than later, and Cui/Rogers have been steadily improving, so it's hard to say what this means in the long term.

 

[tony]

Should I be worried for Nes /Mark? They finished ahead of P/B and Cui/Rogers at Nats. I’m really hoping they don’t turn into another failed transition team.

This is the thing again about just looking at results- Pate and Bye's error was so massive in the FD that it tanked them. N/M likely wouldn't have been ahead (and haven't been) without it. They weren't ahead after the RD (in St. Louis) as it was. Here's a reminder of what happened

If Cui and Rogers would have been marked appropriately, we also probably wouldn't be having this discussion. People are probably going to get tired of me hyping them but it was obvious even last year that they are the real deal IMO.

 

[Tinycities]

Happy to see this! Cui/Rogers have to be the team i’m most excited to follow this season. They looked great last season too. Here’s to hoping they’re added to Skate America. Also, seems like Igor teams getting outside choreo works out pretty well.

 

[PRlady]

Thanks, @tony. Nope I don’t have encyclopedic memory for dance competitions!

I really liked Cui/Rogers last year.

 

[her grace]

Should I be worried for Nes /Mark? They finished ahead of P/B and Cui/Rogers at Nats. I’m really hoping they don’t turn into another failed transition team.

I think N/M need a new coach. Something is missing there.

Pate/Bye are a beatable team who I think will move down the ranks this quad. USFS has too many younger teams with better long-term potential. They’re relied on incredible consistency, but when more talented teams also perform consistently, I don’t see USFS holding them up.

Cui/Rogers had the disadvantage of starting seniors with no rep (one JGP medal between them from prior partnerships) and had to spend their first couple seasons paying their dues. But their quality is undeniable. They should be in the tussle for top 4-8 and maybe eventually for the podium.

 

[Dobre]

It's my opinion that a. you always get a starter competition before I take your scores seriously and b. the folks who get out there and splat at Lake Placid are ahead of the game compared to the folks that don't get out there and show their stuff to the picky feedback people. (Also most teams at this point in the season have one program ready and one program not ready).