SENIOR COMPULSORY DANCE REPORT
Report by Daphne Backman
The sounds of the “Oh Susannah” echoed through the Xcel Energy Center as the senior dance event started with the Yankee Polka compulsory dance.
The Yankee Polka compulsory dance was first skated at the Skating Club of Wilmington in 1969 and was created by James Sladky, Judy Schwomeyer, and Ron Ludington.
Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto are one step closer to becoming five-time U.S. champions. Their performance featured great speed and expression. The duo looked at ease with the steps, even though they haven’t performed the dance in competition in some time.
“I think that was probably the most consistent run-through that we’ve done of this dance,” Belbin said. “This dance is a challenge for us. It’s not easy in a long rink to keep that pace going throughout. The last time we did this dance [in competition] was at Nationals two years ago.”
Belbin & Agosto received two +3 and a plethora of +2 GOE’s for their performance.
In second place and just 1.77 off the leaders are Meryl Davis & Charlie White, last year’s bronze medal winners. Davis & White’s performance was fast and expressive and showcased their tidy feet.
Though the team has not competed the dance before, they were able to utilize time watching their training mates working on it.
”We’ve been working on it throughout the year because some of the other teams [in our group] have been working on it, so we’ve been able to watch it and see what they put into it,” White remarked. “We’ve seen it before, so we kinda knew what to expect coming in.”
The team received all +1’s and +2’s with just one 0 GOE, and bested the leaders’ Total Element Score (TES).
Kimberly Navarro & Brent Bommentre are in third. Navarro & Bommentre received mostly +1’s and +2’s with only one negative GOE. They had one of the largest CD patterns in this phase of the event.
“I feel like this was an excellent start,” Bommentre said. “We went out there and put in a solid performance. Our goal coming into this was get a feel for the ice and have a good start and build upon it in the OD and free dance.”
Sitting in fourth are the 2007 U.S. junior champions, Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates. Samuelson & Bates seemed comfortable with the dance and had good speed. The team had to make adjustments to competing at the senior level at Nationals, including learning a new compulsory dance.
“It felt really strong,” Samuelson said “This is a new dance for us. We’ve never competed it before, and we just started working on it about months ago. It was a lot of fun.”
The team has been juggling training for their junior events while making modifications for the senior competition. They credit their training regime with their ability to be able to achieve their goals.
Jennifer Wester & Daniil Barantsev, who finished sixth at this event in 2007, are currently in fifth. Wester & Barantsev won Nebelhorn Trophy in September after waiting several seasons for Barantsev to be released from the Russian Federation. Their CD pattern was large and they skated close together.
“[It was] a little rough,” said Wester. “Overall, it went well. We had just one surprise in the center. We’re always trying to put everything out there that we can. Sometimes it doesn’t work. We’ll go for it 100% tomorrow and hope everything will be where we want it to be.”
The event continues on Thursday with the original dance event.
