US Ice Dance 2024-25 News & Updates

This is the second video I've seen Avonley post about skating in recent weeks. And she's writing about it very glowingly. I wonder if she'd ever consider returning ...
Avonley Nguyen now lists Columbia University in her Instagram profile and this is the video she shared 2 weeks ago:
Love being back playing with music! Thanks @cufigureskating [Columbia U. FSC] for letting me share the ice and @_lifewithchris for being the ultimate videographer ⛸️🩵
 
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Also exciting honor for Olivia Ilin and her costume designer - her RD dress has been added to the permanent collection of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne!

 
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Three of the teams vying for the non Chock/Bates spots on the world team are skating contemporary lyrical FDs in purple, which is a funny coincidence. Maybe someone should switch to green or something by January. Of the lyrical purple off, Z/K's FD is my least favorite because Benoit and I will never understand each other, but I think it's also the most memorable which will likely matter more than my personal tastes. B/S look really strong despite her needing to take time off for injury, and I think they reworked the FD to keep it fresh, but it may lose impact by January, we'll see. G/Pa have stronger material than last season, while their scores are currently not where they want them to be for a comeback from surgery and also Michael being sick this weekend it's not bad either. The new serpentine lift is a wow.

Looking ahead to next week, Zingas/Kolesnik, Bratti/Somerville, and the Browns will be facing off with each other at Skate Canada, which will be interesting to see.
 
Unless something substantially changes, Cpom appear to be pretty . certain for the second spot. The battle is for third.

My favorites are ZK - I love their Benoit FD, a very striking program. (And I also luv Emi’s mauve bare midriff dress.) Can’t lie, I’m disappointed in Gr/P’s free. Jean-Luc’s choreography is lovely but the music never develops or goes anywhere. I don’t know that this program is the vehicle to relaunch them. We’ll see next outing when Michael is feeling better. I’m assuming the tank tee is a stand in for a long sleeved shirt not yet arrived.

B/S’s packaging is better this season. The revamped free dance works for them, especially in minimizing the lack of height difference. It may not be especially memorable but at least it’s flattering.

All these dances are gonna get tweaked during the season. (ZK’s already has.)
 
Ok I stand by my Any Given Sunday prediction on the three teams at Skate Canada. Without Ian’s fall and Oona’s twizzle error the three teams would be close. Z/K has the advantage but not much of one.
 
Mmm, there was a 10-point difference between Z/K's score and the Browns' FD score.

There was a difference of 6.16 points between the Browns' 3.98 for her B twizzle and L/B's W4/M4 +3 avg twizzles and 6.68 points between theirs and L/L's W4/M4 3's and 4's twizzles. Even if the Browns had scored in a similar range, they would have made up 2.5-3 points more than Z/K's with Z's error and their meh levels. Maybe they'd make up some of the 3-point difference in PCS, but each woman biffed the twizzles, and three PCS points is a lot in ID.
 
Ok I stand by my Any Given Sunday prediction on the three teams at Skate Canada. Without Ian’s fall and Oona’s twizzle error the three teams would be close. Z/K has the advantage but not much of one.
Fair enough. I'm really curious to see how a healthy GreenP factor into the fight for US #3. Based on their Metropole Nice scores, I kind of think they may have a slight edge over the rest of the teams. Their RD stands out from the disco brat-pack the same way CarPon's RD also sets them apart. And I enjoyed their FD - it's like a hybrid between their Martha Graham modern dance FD from a few seasons ago and a beautiful, thoughtful HawBak program. We'll see how they look at NHK up against ChoBat, CarPon and facing off against ReedAmbru again.
 
Rough competition for B/S, suboptimal for the Browns, and okay but not great for Z/K. Z/K definitely are pulling ahead with the advantage on GOE and PCS but they'll really want to work on their levels if they want to establish themselves strongly for the world team. The Browns have a really strong RD but their FD is not as effective for me, though better than last year's.

It's unlucky that B/S are going to have to dust themselves off and immediately fly to France to compete, but they'll need to post much stronger scores and beat Pate/Bye and Neset/Markelov to keep themselves in the running for Worlds. Hopefully they can do well next week and at Tallinn to keep themselves in the fight.

It's a little funny that ice dance trends in general, not just in the US, have made it so a warhorse like Carmen feels remarkably fresh. Combined with C/P's dancey RD and tendency to hit their levels, their odds of continuing to make their mark as US #2 are pretty good, and I look forward to seeing how they turn out at NHK in two weeks.
 
Rough competition for B/S, suboptimal for the Browns, and okay but not great for Z/K. Z/K definitely are pulling ahead with the advantage on GOE and PCS but they'll really want to work on their levels if they want to establish themselves strongly for the world team. The Browns have a really strong RD but their FD is not as effective for me, though better than last year's.

It's unlucky that B/S are going to have to dust themselves off and immediately fly to France to compete, but they'll need to post much stronger scores and beat Pate/Bye and Neset/Markelov to keep themselves in the running for Worlds. Hopefully they can do well next week and at Tallinn to keep themselves in the fight.

It's a little funny that ice dance trends in general, not just in the US, have made it so a warhorse like Carmen feels remarkably fresh. Combined with C/P's dancey RD and tendency to hit their levels, their odds of continuing to make their mark as US #2 are pretty good, and I look forward to seeing how they turn out at NHK in two weeks.
Ugh, did not realize B/S had back to back GPs.
N/M still have room to improve and could possibly top the US trio. Their ABBA RD was a hit with the crowd at Skate America.
 
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All right, it's confirmed that none of these teams can twizzle under pressure. I would like to discuss something more important. Bratti & Somerville's selection of 70s music for their RD. WTF. If there was ever a team that should be smiling away through a 50s RD in a poodle skirt, this is the team.
 
They are short. They aren't notably slow compared to teams with legs the same length. They are the type of team that gets lost a bit during a warmup and then gets out on the ice by themselves & makes an impression.

(I don't think I care for this FD though).
 
Ok I stand by my Any Given Sunday prediction on the three teams at Skate Canada. Without Ian’s fall and Oona’s twizzle error the three teams would be close. Z/K has the advantage but not much of one.
I missed the entire Dance event. I really wanted to see some rhythm dance…choices?
 
I was at Skate Canada - Over the practices and competition appearances I would say I would rank the three teams z/k, b/s, and then b/b.

Z&K had real potential and really went for it. Still not at the elite level, but very good.

B&S were fun to watch. Ian should focus more on partnering rather than the hair flicking and emoting to the top row of the seats. The mistakes were unfortunate, but fixable. Seemed much better in practice.

The Browns did not look like they belonged out there. I would have guessed they would have placed 10th from their practice. Poor skating skills. Slow skating (they are as fast as anyone when stroking around the rink, but as soon as they start footwork they slow right down.) Spins grind to a halt and their twizzles barely move. Side by side splits are splashy, but if you can’t spin, twizzle, or do footwork you need to go back to basics.
 
I think all three teams (Z&K, the Browns and B/S) need more mileage on their programs before we will see which teams can perform their elements and levels consistently. So far, CarPom look like they prepared very well for the season, are hitting their levels pretty consistently and have been able to focus on very effective performances. Hence, their scores are higher. My bet would be on Z&K and G/P for podium contenders for nationals. Upcoming GPs will be interesting.
 
The Browns did not look like they belonged out there. I would have guessed they would have placed 10th from their practice. Poor skating skills. Slow skating (they are as fast as anyone when stroking around the rink, but as soon as they start footwork they slow right down.) Spins grind to a halt and their twizzles barely move. Side by side splits are splashy, but if you can’t spin, twizzle, or do footwork you need to go back to basics.
Over the past 2 years, I’ve seen every active US Dance team skate live that is likely to make the Top 10 at Nationals. I finally saw the Browns at Skate Canada this weekend and I totally agree with this take although I am admittedly in no teknik for Dance. The Browns feel slow, do not leave an impact and skate very small. Height is a factor but other teams like H/B were shorter yet still skated big and filled the arena unlike the Browns. They seem very over marked to me and I would have most of the US mid tier teams ahead of them.
 
Over the past 2 years, I’ve seen every active US Dance team skate live that is likely to make the Top 10 at Nationals. I finally saw the Browns at Skate Canada this weekend and I totally agree with this take although I am admittedly in no teknik for Dance. The Browns feel slow, do not leave an impact and skate very small. Height is a factor but other teams like H/B were shorter yet still skated big and filled the arena unlike the Browns. They seem very over marked to me and I would have most of the US mid tier teams ahead of them.
Refresh my very faulty memory - you were at SkAm last week, right? At this point, we have the following teams likely to be Top 10 at Nats -

Chock/Bates

(remaming teams listed in alphabetical order)
Bratti/Somerville
Brown/Brown
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Green/Parsons
Morozov/Chen
Neset/Markelov
Pate/Bye
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski
Zingas/Kolesnik

How would you rank those 9 teams?
 
Refresh my very faulty memory - you were at SkAm last week, right? At this point, we have the following teams likely to be Top 10 at Nats -

Chock/Bates

(remaming teams listed in alphabetical order)
Bratti/Somerville
Brown/Brown
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Green/Parsons
Morozov/Chen
Neset/Markelov
Pate/Bye
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski
Zingas/Kolesnik

How would you rank those 9 teams?
Your memory is good :) Yes, I was at SkAm last week. The list of teams above is who I had in mind as the Top 10. I've seen them all compete live within the past year except for G/P whom I last saw live at Skate Canada in 2022.

That's a tough one, but right now, I would probably rank the teams as follows (not necessarily how I think they should exactly rank, but a mix of where I think the results will fall):

Chock/Bates
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Green/Parsons
Zingas/Kolesnik
Neset/Markelov
Bratti/Somerville
Pate/Bye
Brown/Brown
Morozov/Chen
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski
 
Your memory is good :) Yes, I was at SkAm last week. The list of teams above is who I had in mind as the Top 10. I've seen them all compete live within the past year except for G/P whom I last saw live at Skate Canada in 2022.

That's a tough one, but right now, I would probably rank the teams as follows (not necessarily how I think they should exactly rank, but a mix of where I think the results will fall):

Chock/Bates
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Green/Parsons
Zingas/Kolesnik
Neset/Markelov
Bratti/Somerville
Pate/Bye
Brown/Brown
Morozov/Chen
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski
That's kind of where I'm thinking the results are going to shake out.

I've only seen Green/Parsons last week at Nice and the video quality was poor, plus Michael was sick, so I'm not entirely certain they can reassert themselves as US #3, but they beat Reed/Ambrulevicius in the FD there. Neither of those teams are at full strength yet, and I thought Reed/Ambru's material for both the RD and FD this season is bad and will have them dropping behind CarPon internationally for sure, but I'm holding off on reserving final judgement until we see both of them at NHK in a couple weeks.

I think, for me, what it comes down to, since I'm also not very much in-teknik when it comes to ice dance, is that I think GreenP have better material than ZingKol this season. Something's just telling me the USFS is going to want three teams who are rock-solid for Top 10 at Worlds and if GreenP deliver, they'll get the nod over ZingKol.
 
Re-posting here:
I take it Lorraine is looking or retired? Too bad that her and Quinn could not make it work
I believe the reason Lorraine and Quinn ended their partnership was b/c he was ready to move on from skating and attend college full-time.
Lorraine still post the occasional Instagram story showing herself on the ice.
When did Anton find a new partner?
The partnership was revealed earlier this summer. Vanessa Pham/Anton Spiridonov were added to the ISP after Lake Placid IDI: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...24-25-news-updates.111843/page-3#post-6630385
 

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