2023 U.S. Solo Dance Finals by Julia Wensley
My name is Julia Wensley and I will be competing at my second national solo dance finals in preliminary pattern dance! I am from Saint Louis, Missouri, and I am part of creve coeur figure skating club, and my ice dance coaches are Ashley Klotz and Daniel Klaber. I have been skating for ten years, but I’ve done ice dance for two years. I am so excited to be competing here!
Friday, September 16, 2023
Friday morning was the day before my event. In the morning me and my family had breakfast at our hotel. Then we went to a playground that was really fun, and my mom got her skates sharpened. After that we picked up lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and then we went to the rink.
At the rink, I watched my friend Ella compete in preliminary shadow dance. After watching Ella, I had practice ice, where I worked on my dances with coach Ashley. After practice, I got to watch the senior rhythm dance, where I saw a bunch of amazing skaters! In the afternoon we went to historic Wagner farm. We got to pet the cows there, and all the animals were so cute!
Then, we went back to the hotel, and I did some homework. My friend Rebekah and our coach came over to our hotel and we had dinner together. We also played a card game called taco cat goat cheese pizza. After that I went to my room and got ready to compete the next day.
~ Julia
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Today was the day of my event, I was very excited to compete. I ate breakfast at my Hoyt and then went to the rink for practice ice. During practice, I felt very confident in my dances and felt ready to compete! After practice me, Rebekah and our moms went to my coaches hotel, where she did our hair and makeup for the event.
Then we went back to the rink and warmed up for our event, before we skated, me, Rebekah and my coach had a tiny dance party to Taylor swift songs. Then it was time to compete, I did pretty well in my canasta tango and scored a 23. After the canasta we got lunch at subway.
After lunch, we got ready to compete our. Rhythm blues, which is my favorite dance. Before competing we had another mini dance party to Taylor swift songs. I did okay in my blues, but I ended getting off time, and I scored a 19. I ended up placing 15th.
After the event my family went to a place called funtopia that had a lot of climbing walls, which was really fun. Then, we went to get ice cream and went to a park.
Overall this was a very fun competition, and I got to see a lot of friends!
~ Julia
