2007 Central Ontario Summer Skate – Senior Original Dance

Siobhan Karam & Kevin O’Keefe – “Lord of the Dance”
This program made my week! It wasn’t perfectly executed and they made a few mistakes – for example, she came out early from the first twizzles, and he had one less rotation than her on the second, but I think this program was a fantastic choice for them. I loved how their circular footwork started with steps that were synchronized perfectly to the music – so many teams ignore the music completely as soon as the footwork starts. Their spin and rotational lift were both fast and well done, and they carried so much energy throughout the performance. This was my favourite performance from Saturday, without a doubt.

Rebecca Fowler & Michael Olson – maybe something Middle Eastern? Perhaps Israeli? But with fiddle music at the end?
Despite struggling with many of the elements in this dance and having much simpler choreography, this dance had a good performance aspect to it. He came out of the twizzle sequence way too early, resulting in a level two for that element, and the straightline footwork was extremely simple and only earned a level one. I’m not sure how it is supposed to look, but I thought that they may have dropped some steps in the first half of it. However, they smiled through the program and sold their interpretation – whatever it was that they were interpreting!

Claire Tannett & Wendell McGrath – “Turkey in the Straw”
Sporting pigtails and red and white checkered costumes, they did not let the audience down with their commitment to their interpretation of this true “country” folk number. Their twizzles also seemed short on rotations, plus she did fewer than he did, which cost them some points. They didn’t have as difficult of choreography as Siobhan & Kevin did, but their level of energy was comparable! Without the difficult steps, this program is not competitive with the top teams, but it was certainly fun to watch.