Anne’s Take: 2022 Lake Placid Ice Dance International
by Anne Calder | Photos by Robin Ritoss & Jordan Cowan
Lake Placid or Bust! That was the goal IDC made in the Spring of 2020 when skating events were all being canceled. Unfortunately, the Lake Placid Ice Dance competitions also became a casualty. In 2021, the Skating Club of Boston hosted the LPIDI event. Finally, amidst massive construction, the LPIDI and Championships were held July 26-29, 2022 at the Olympic Center and newly renovated 1980 and 1932 arenas.
The Senior Rhythm Dance for the 2022-2023 season includes: One Pattern Dance Type Step Sequence (PSt) (Style D), Choreographic Rhythm Sequence (ChRs), One Short Lift, One Step Sequence and One Set of Sequential Twizzles. There is no Pattern Dance.
The Junior Rhythm Dance for the 2022-2023 season is composed of two sections of Argentine tango skated in any order or one after the other or separately. It also includes One Short Lift, One Step Sequence and One Set of Sequential Twizzles.
SENIOR LPIDI
The LPIDI Senior teams finished the Rhythm Dance in the following order: Katarina Wolfkostin & Jeffrey Chen (USA), Eva Pate & Logan Bye (USA), Lorraine McNamara & Anton Spiridonov (USA), Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville (USA), Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker (CAN),
Lily Hensen & Nathan Lickers (CAN). Mariia Nosovitskaya & Michael Nosovitsky (ISR), Elysia-Marie Campbell & Liam Fawcett, Samantha Ritter & Daniel Brykalov (AZB) and Jenna Hertenstein & Damian Binkowski.
The Free Dance scores changed the final placements and created a USA podium sweep.
McNamara & Spiridonov (USA) vaulted from third to first to win gold with their captivating performance to
“Rain, In Your Black Eyes” by Ezio Bosso. The ION based team topped their recent Dallas Classic segment score by almost nine points. The total 181.93 guaranteed them an early season second win.
“Going into this season, we weren’t happy with last year,” Spiridonov said. “We decided to completely shift gears and work twice as hard and be creative in our programs. The intent was to be first at Lake Placid, and that’s what we did. We had mistakes in both programs, and there are many things we want to improve upon and fix.”
Pate & Bye (USA) captured silver with a season debut to Riverdance choreographed by Pasquale Camerlengo. The appreciative audience encouraged the dancers by clapping along to the snappy Celtic music. The segment earned 107.86 and a total 179.46.
“We’re very proud of our performance,” Pate said. “So excited for the rest of the season.”
Wolfkostin & Chen (USA) slipped to fourth in the Free Dance, but hung on for the bronze medal. The team earned 103.50 segment points for “Light of Love” and “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + The Machine. The total score for the recent transfers to MIDA (Michigan Ice Dance Academy) totaled 175.42.
Bratti & Somerville (USA) danced to LaLa Land for 104.72 points and a third place Free Dance placement. Considering it was only the third run-through of the program, the team was happy about its potential. The MIDA based team scored 173.35 total and finished fourth.
“We’re skating to the pieces we really love – the ones you can actually dance to fully,” Somerville said.
“We think it suits us really well. Charlie (White) thinks it’s the perfect music for us. It’s our style,” Bratti added.
Sales & Wamsteeker (CAN) earned 103.48 for their lyrical interpretation of Phantom of the Opera. The I.AM team who trains in London, Ontario Canada earned a total 172.05 points and placed fifth in both the Rhythm and Free Dances.
(6) Nosovitskaya & Nosovitsky (ISR), (7) Hensen & Lickers (CAN), (8) Campbell & Fawcett (CAN), (9) Ritter & Brykalov (AZE) and (10) Hertenstein & Binkowski (POL)
JUNIOR LPIDI
The LPIDI Junior teams finished the Rhythm Dance in the following order: Helena Carhart & Volodymyr Horovyi (USA), Elizabeth Tkachenko & Alexei Kiliakov (ISR), Vanessa Pham & Jonathan Rogers (USA), Elliana Peal & Ethan Peal (USA), Kristina Bland & Matthew Sperry (USA), Madeline Freeman & Christian Bennett (USA), Harlow Stanley & Nikita Sosnenko (MEX) and Jillian Prever & Agahan Dortkol (TUR).
The Free Dance scores shuffled the final placements, with many of the teams receiving negative GOEs for their twizzle errors. Israel earned the top podium position.
Tkachenko & Kiliakov (ISR) skated to “Run Boy Run” and “Guns for Hire” composed by Woodkid. The total segment scored 88.70, and totaled 149.21. The gold medalist train at ION in Leesburg, Virginia. The team attended it’s first Junior World Championship in March 2022 representing Israel.
Pham & Rogers (USA) glided across the ice to the classical Scheherazade gathering 87.90 segment points for the Free Dance, The Houston-based team trains with Roman Zaretsky and will make its JGP debut August 24-27 in Courchevel, France. The team scored a total 145.70 points and earned the silver medal.
“We definitely performed more than at the Dallas Classic,” Rogers said. “We made sure we focused on that.”
Helena Carhart & Volodymyr Horovyi (USA) train in Estero, Florida with Marina Zueva and the International Skating Academy. The team dropped from first to fourth in the Free Dance, but their Rhythm Dance score was enough to finish third and win the bronze medal. Their segment scored 80.43 and totaled 141.83.
Elliana Peal & Ethan Peal (USA) were third with their free dance to Halo, but missed the podium by slightly over a point after an unfortunate error on the rotational lift. The segment dance scored 84.85 and totaled 140.77. The Nashville team will make its JGP debut at Courchevel, France August 24-27.
(5): Bland & Sperry (USA), (6) Freeman & Bennett (USA), (7) Stanley & Sosnenko (MEX) and (8) Prever & Dortkol (TUR).
ANNE’S ICE CHIPS
Madison Hubbell & Adrian Diaz (pictured, right), coaches at the I.AM London, Ontario Canada campus made their debut at the boards with teams from Azerbaijan, Canada and Italy. Hubbell is the 2022 Olympic ice dance bronze medalist with partner Zachary Donohue. Diaz and partner Olivia Smart represented Spain at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.They were the SCI 2021 bronze medalists.
Congratulations to Coach Svetlana Kulikova who recently received her U.S. citizenship.
Two Junior World Champions medaled in Lake Placid 2022 with different partners. Lorraine McNamara and current partner Anton Spiridonov won the senior LPIDI gold medal. McNamara won the 2016 World Junior title with Quinn Carpenter) 2016. Vadym Kolesnik and current partner Emilea Zingas won the Senior LPIDC gold medal. Kolesnik won the 2020 World Junior title with Avonley Nguyen.
Siblings Marian Carhart (Juvenile, 1st) and Helena Carhart (Junior LPIDI 3rd) medaled at the event.
Partner siblings include: Mariia Nosovitskaya & Michael Nosovitsky (senior LPIDI) Elliana & Ethan Peal (junior LPIDI), Grace & Luke Fischer (intermediate), Sophia & Nicholas Kartashov (juvenile), Natalie & Nathan Leitan (juvenile), Zoe & Jerry Stone (juvenile).