Skate Dance Dream is producing its next show in Mentor, Ohio on April 28, 2012! Watch our up and coming figure skaters and dancers from the Mentor Figure Skating Club and the Dance Stop Studio perform along side our all-star cast. The show will feature US National competitor Sean Rabbitt, 2012 US Ice Dance Pewter Medalists Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, 2012 US Bronze Medalist Ross Miner, and All-Star from Seasons 7 & 8 and Season 4 top 8 finalist from Fox’s hit reality TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” Comfort Fedoke.

For more information about the show and our cast, please check out the website! http://skatedancedream.com/

The holidays are about spending time with family, friends, and reflecting on the past year—both good times and bad. The holidays are also about inspiration, which is a big theme with Skate Dance Dream. 

When I was growing up, Michelle Kwan was my hero both on and off the ice. It’s so weird to go into a rink now, and see little girls not really know who she is. While they may not know her name, Michelle has left her legacy with today’s elite athletes, such as 2010 Olympic Champion, Kim Yuna. For today’s generation, Yuna’s name is a more familiar one just as Michelle’s was in my generation. In this video, they come together and display classic past and present figure skating. I hope you all enjoy and celebrate the heroes in your life. 

Happy holidays from the Skate Dance Dream staff!

This past weekend was a jam packed with skating with two big international competitions, Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria and Cup of China in Shanghai, China. This weekend featured two of Skate Dance Dream’s stars Richard Dornbush and Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt. 

In China, it was a tough battle with the men. Athletes suffered from either a tough free skate after a fantastic short or vise versa. In the end, it was two-time US Champion, Jeremy Abbott that took home the gold with his free skate to Muse’s “Exogenisis Symphony Part 3” that featured five clean triple jumps and high level spins and footwork. This was Abbott’s first win in two years. Nobunari Oda of Japan placed second in the free skate and second overall. He was the only athlete on the podium that did not attempt a quadruple jump. China’s Nan Song impressed the home crowd by winning the free skate and pulling up from fifth place in the short to third overall. Skate Dance Dream star, Richard Dornbush placed sixth overall. He moved up from eighth in the short with his fifth place free skate that featured a slight hand down on his quadruple toe loop and four clean triple jumps. He was one out of two skaters in the whole event that received level 4s for all his spins (the other skater being Yuzuru Hanyu). 

In pairs, US skaters Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig barely missed the podium after third place free skate effort. They moved up from fifth in the short to fourth overall with a free skate that featured a strong throw triple lutz twist lift, throw triple jumps, and their innovative, signature lifts. The title, however, went to the Russian pair, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, who outclassed the event by about 9 points. Host countrymen, Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang brought home the silver and Kristen Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch of Canada took the bronze. 

In Graz, Austria, SSD stars Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt brought home the gold after their free dance to “Walking in the Sand” by Jeff Beck and Imelda May. The sultry program featured five level 4 elements and only positive GOEs. You can watch their free dance performance with the provided link. Also bringing a dance medal back to the US was Isabella Cannuscio and Ian Lorello. The US took gold in all four senior disciplines at the event (Andrea Poapst and Chris Knierim in pairs, Stephen Carrier in men, and Caroline Zhang in ladies). 

This weekend, Kriengkrairut and Giulietti-Schmitt will compete in Japan making their Grand Series debut at the 2011 NHK Trophy. They will be joined by Maia and Alex Shibutani who are fresh of their second place finish at Cup of China, 2011 World competitor Ross Miner, 2009 US silver medalist Brandon Mroz, and 2011 Skate Canada bronze medalist Ashley Wagner, 2011 US pewter medalist Agnes Zawadski, 2009 Junior World bronze medalists Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, and the new team of Caydee Denney and John Coughlin. The event will begin on Friday, Nov. 11 with the short dance at 12:55 am EST. 

Skate Dance Dream stars Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt are competing at the 2011 Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria starting tomorrow, Nov. 3 at 12 pm EST. Live streaming of the event can be found at the following website. http://www.icechallenge.at/. They are also competing at the 2011 NHK Trophy next week in Sapporo, Japan. Lynn and Logan are also blogging about their adventures on icenetwork. You can follow their stories and pictures through the link below. 

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111102&content_id=25868750&vkey=ice_news

This week also features the third stop in the 2011 Grand Prix series, Cup of China. The event will feature Skate Dance Dream star Richard Dornbush, 2011 World bronze medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani, 2011 World Champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, and two-time US Champion Jeremy Abbott. Cup of China will also feature great US skaters such as 2010 Olympians Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, Mirai Nagasu, Christina Gao, 2011 Junior World bronze medalists Charlotte Lichtman and Dean Copley, and newly formed Emily Samuelson and Todd Gilles. The event will begin on Friday at 3:30 am EST with the short dance event. 

confessionsofashortie:

Skate with your heart and let your feet land the jumps ♥

Ah…. A statement so completely true and one that so many of us native to the ice can relate to. Funnily enough, when I was at work, a learn-to-skate parent came up to me while I was skate guarding the session. He asked if there were any tips he could give his child, and I replied with basic things like keeping the knees bent and arms out in front for balance. Then the father asked me what the first thing I learned in skating was. And with a small smirk, I replied quickly, “Falling down and getting back up again.”

Falling and rising again is a constant theme through life and it is a definite recurring thing in skating. Everyone has had those days or weeks where their hips and butts are completely bruised and sore from all the jump attempts you had on the day’s sessions. It may seem like you tried hundreds of the same thing over and over again. And then there’s the one day all of a sudden something clicks, and you successfully land your first axel, double, or triple jump. There’s nothing that takes away the feeling of pure elation; it makes all those times of falling and trying worth it. 

What makes a skater, dancer, athlete, artist continue to pursue their dream? Love and true passion. For me, I can never stop skating until it is physically impossible, and even then I know I will be by the ice forever. I know it’s like that for anyone when one truly loves what one is doing. 

UPCOMING EVENTS: The Grand Prix continues this weekend with Skate Canada starting on Friday Oct. 28 with the ladies’ short program at 1:15 pm. The competition will include world and Olympic competitors such as Patrick Chan, Daisuke Takahashi, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Mirai Nagasu. Be sure to stay tuned! 

Skate America began Friday night with the men’s short program, and what an event it was! Every competitor attacked their performance. Skate Dance Dream star, Richard Dornbush ended up 5th in the short in his Senior Grand Prix debut with only very minor errors. In the end, it was Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic, Takahiko Kozuka and Daisuke Murakami, both of Japan, that rounded out the top three in the short. Second through fifth were all less than a point apart. The free skate was going to be the make or break point for these skaters.

On the same night, the ice dancers strutted their stuff to a variety of Latin rhythms in the short dance. In the end, it was the world champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, that took the top spot, with a ten point lead over the French team, Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat. Rounding out the top three was Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Grazsi of Germany who placed second at the 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy a few weeks prior to Skate America. 

Yesterday, during the men’s free skate, it became a battle of the quads. Only two were landed successfully— Kevin Van Der Parren and SDD star, Dornbush. It was the first time Dornbush landed the quad in an ISU competition. He also landed three successful triple jumps (two of which were in combination or sequence) and gained high levels on his spins and footwork. Dornbush ended up sixth in the free skate but fourth overall. He will be competing at the 2011 Cup of China in Shanghai in two weeks. 

While most skaters faltered, Van Der Parren, winner of the free skate, stole the spotlight executing a quadruple toe loop and four clean triple jumps. Even though it is early in the season, most of the programs showed a lot of promise and room for growth as they mature and the year progresses. While he made many major errors in the free skate, it was Michal Brezina that won the Skate America title. Van Der Parren moved up from fourth to second, while Takahiko Kozuka of Japan settled for bronze.

In the free dance, Davis and White outclassed the event again with a stunning performance of their Die Fledermaus waltz.  They won the segment with about 11 points over the French, and about 22 points overall. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat skated away with the silver medal. Despite Bourzat battling a severe case of bronchitis, the team skated a clean performance to their Egyptian themed free dance. In a surprising third place finish was Isabella Tobias and Devidas Stagniunas of Lithuania. They skated to a jive medley free dance with enough spark to get the bronze medal. Another surprising team in the event, was the young team of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue. While suffering from some low levels on their technical elements in the short dance, Hubbell and Donahue wowed the crowd with a sexy performance to Joe Cocker’s “I Put a Spell On You” in the free dance to put them third in the segment. 

In celebration of great skating this weekend, I’m also providing a clip of Richard Dornbush’s short program found on Youtube. Try to tune into the ladies’ and pairs’ free skates on NBC’s Universal Sports or Icenetwork later this afternoon (4:05 EST). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AEClO6_UYs

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports. More photos from the event can be round at the provided link http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,getty:20050301:oly,photo,5105dd9f125045d20fb2aaf989a47535-getty-506710413:1)

I was looking around Tumblr and ran into this picture. The caption was about inspiration, and as I studied the picture, it made me think of all the things that inspire me. This dancer’s turnout, perfect grace in her arms and lines, the flow of the scarf around her body displays a true art form of perfection.  

When I was competing, the thing that would drive me the most was perfection— a goal that always seemed within reach, but not quite. Despite always striving for this lofty goal, it took (and still takes) very little to actually inspire me to skate and train everyday. It could take a trendy song on my iPod, a passionate dance, or even just a simple phrase said by a passerby to give me the itch to lace up my skates and hit the ice. But some of the best places for finding inspiration is looking to the best at your craft. It gives you a thirst to reach that point yourself and helps drive you to reach your ultimate potential. Tonight I leave you with two events going on in skating and dance.

This week, the skating season kicks off with Skate America and will feature the reigning 2011 World Ice Dance Champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, 2011 US Ladies Champion, Alissa Czisny, and Skate Dance Dream star, 2011 US Men’s Silver Medalist, Richard Dornbush. The action starts Friday, Oct. 21 at 10:05 pm EST on Icenetwork.com with the Men’s short program. 

Season 8 contestants of Fox’s hit show, So You Think You Can Dance, are also currently on tour. Look for shows in your local area and watch your favorites live! What better way to inspire to get out and skate and dance than watching some of the best perform? 

Before I sign, I challenge you to think of a time when you were the most inspired. Please comment or repost here and share your thoughts here! And please be sure to check out the Skate Dance Dream site for more information about the organization and our shows!

Skate Dance Dream star, Richard Dornbush, is one of three U.S. men’s competitors that will compete at the 2011 Hilton HHonors Skate America next weekend. The event will begin Friday, Oct. 21 with the men’s short program at 10:05 EST and can be viewed on icenetwork.com. In the 2010-2011 season, he won the Junior Grand Prix final, silver medal at the U.S. Championships, and placed in the top 10 at the 2011 World Championships in his senior international debut. In the provided teleconference on icenetwork, Dornbush talks about his training preparation for this season, school, and having hometown crowd at Skate America.

Please tune in next weekend for this exciting event and to cheer on Richard!  

Hey guys!

I hope your Columbus Day has been going well! If you have a Facebook, please be sure to “like” the Skate Dance Dream picture (click the link above). If we win, we will give an autographed photo of 2011 World Ice Dance Champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, to one of our amazing participants! So please show your support!

Check out this performance by Skate Dance Dream stars Gev Manoukian, Lynn Kriengkrairut, Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, and Parker Pennington!