Nationals Update
Wow! It has been an incredible month and half since the New Year!
We were thrilled to compete in Greensboro, NC at US National Championships and to put out two strong programs. This was our first time competing as a team nationally, (even though we competed at two Junior Grand Prix events this Fall), and it is always “The Big Show!” The event venue was great — the ice was soft, the audience was enthusiastic, and we were intrigued by the ice-cleated maintenance staff that took to the ice before every Zamboni cut.
We were 3rd in both short dance and free dance, earning a new Personal Best in each event and overall, and we ultimately claimed the US Bronze Medal in Junior Dance. Two days later, we were named to represent the country at Junior Worlds, held in Estonia in March! It has been a whirlwind experience for the past 9 months since we became partners, and we could not be more pleased with the progress that we have made in such a short amount of time. Needless to say, we could not have accomplished this without the support of our families and coaches, and the flexibility that our respective schools have shown us during our training.
Our next stop is Tallinn, Estonia! We leave on March 1st and expect to meet with some fierce competition there. Igor has added some new “tricks” to our programs, including a brand new diagonal step sequence to punctuate the dramatic ending of our free dance. While this is the longest season that either of us has experienced, by continually upgrading our programs as we’ve developed, Igor has helped us to keep each program fresh and genuine. It will be bittersweet to say goodbye to the Samba and to Swan Lake in a few weeks, but we are hoping to save our best performances of these programs for the audience in Tallinn.
Thanks for checking in to our website!
Ellie & Alex
