Jessica Perino / William Avila

• Wore all black

• The music starts out with guitar and drums.

• He had a big leap in the start of the program.  The beginning section of their program was highlighted with two well executed one foot lifts aimed towards the judges.  Their circular footwork section was smooth with several separations for fast twizzles  Their diagonal footwork section also had many quick, well executed side by side twizzles.

Shannon Wingle / Ryan Devereaux

• She wore a purple dress and he wore black with a purple scorpion on the back.

• The music was operatic chant style – very powerful

• The program begins with much passion and great expression. Their first lift is a nice catch foot position with her balancing on his shoulders, which then drops into a rotational split lift

• Good spin with change of position followed by a forward no-hands lift with the man on one foot.

• Nice diagonal section in closed position dotted with many complex steps followed by a second no hands rotational lift.

Brianne Oswald / Buck Withrow

• They wore blue outfits

• skated to New Day – You Know How I Feel

• Had a nice lift where he was in a back shoot the duck while she’s in a Biellman position.  Powerful circular footwork section. She tripped towards the end of the circle.

• It was a bluesy number without much variation in the music.

Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier

• He wore a black shirt with a red tie and she wore black.

• They skated to a cabaret, big-band number.  

• He put a foot down on his twizzle.  The first lift was a one handed change of direction lift where she was upside down and he was in spread eagle. The lift finished with her flipping off his legs onto the ice.

• They choose a straight-line footwork section.  It was very curvy with many deep edges.  It took them a long time to get down the ice.

• Their program was dotted with lots of open holds.  The last section was strong.  He swung her down towards the ice right into a dance spin, lift combination where she lifted both feet off the ice while he was in a sit spin – very strong and unique.

• Their program finished with a strong serpentine footwork section.

Next warm up Group

Emily Samuelson / Evan Bates

• She wore a bright pink dress and he was in a sparkly purple shirt

• There was lots of applause from the audience as they went to take their place.

• They started strong with great side by side Latin dance moves.  Terrific expression.

• No-hand change of direction lift.  Very strong change of position dance spin where he was in a sit and she was in Biellman.

• Very fast tight positions the whole way through their serpentine footwork section. Nice highlight where she rests her foot on his while he is in spread eagle position

• Third section starts with more side by side dancing and goes right into a straight-line footwork section.  One of the most expressive teams of the event to that point.

Katie Wyble / Chad Reinhold

• This team had great looking costumes, that look like blue and green flames.

• They skate to various string/orchestral music the second half of their program is Bond.

• The program begins with her in a deep back bend.  Then they separate and he does a hydroblade move while she does a long, fast twizzle with her hands over her head.

• First element is their side by side twizzles.  The twizzles are very fast but they separated a bit on the second one.

• The dance spin had a fast first position but he set his foot down on the second position.  This went into a solid one-foot hydroblade lift.  Followed by a well-executed change of direction lift where he moved from a spread eagle, then switched directions, and finally went into a forward one foot spiral lift as she pulled into the splits.

Marissa Marschall / Justin Thelen

• He wore a white shirt and she had on an orange and red dress.

• They are skating to Fever and Crazy little Thing Called Love

• In the first lift she did a back bend while he was in a spread eagle.  There was a slight misstep on their serpentine footwork section. 

• The music changed to crazy little thing called love. They had a second misstep on the diagonal footwork section followed by a nice rotational one-handed lift.

• Overall the program has nice choreography that showed off the swing feeling well and has excellent potential.

Piper Gilles / Timothy McKernan

• Her dress was light gold with many sequins.  He wore a burgundy top. 

• French music with female vocals.

• They were powerful and expressive from the start.  There was an exciting side by side leap then a fast diagonal footwork sequence that covered the ice quickly followed by a change of direction rotational lift. The lift went right into dance spin.

• The team had good transitional skating with lots of deep edges and nice upper body expression.

• Circular footwork section was highlighted with several push-pull one-foot twizzles.

• Solid one-foot backwards lift that goes into a multi-rotation lift.  He looked very confident on one foot during the lift and even looked into the audience with a great expression.

Hilary Clegg / Simon Gagnon

• She was wearing a light blue and purple top with a headband, he had on a brown vest. 

• Skated to the soundtrack from Chocolat.

• A nice diagonal section skated mostly in hand and hand.  One-foot lift into hydroblade - a bit weak.  Side by side twizzle sequence well executed and will look even better with more practice and time.  Finished the program with a one position, one direction lift – she was in the splits and he was in a spread eagle.  Ended with some nice toe-steps.

• Overall, their speed and power will improve with more time. The steps and expression fit the music well.

Next warm-up group

Michelle Pennington / Cooper Johnston

• This team is wearing red with black sparkly layering on the skirt.

• Music is Carmen

• Start out with a change of position spin right into a twizzle section, well executed.

• Very nice hydroblade lift with good speed. He was on one-foot and she was in the splits.  Very intense side-by side dancing during a stop. Skating in many close positions.

• Great catch-foot lift with him holding on with one hand.  Their straight-line footwork start from a stop.  Nice wraparound lift where she has her in a hair-cutter position.

• This program has some great highlights.  The team shows expression and can feel the music.  Some of the in-between steps were a bit weak, but all showed great potential.

Pilar Bosley / John Corona

• This team has shirts covered in green sequins and black mesh – almost disco-like.

• Skating to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. This version was more upbeat than the previous team’s (Marissa & Justin’s) version.

• They got a big response from the audience when they took the ice.  They began with excellent side by side toe dancing that set the mood of the routine.

• Carried their speed well through their serpentine footwork section.  Second section the music slows down, execute a backwards one-foot, catch-leg lift into rotational lift.

• Fast edgy team, skated in hand and hand for much of the program. Third section starts with straight line footwork then excellent combo spin very fast with about four rotations.

• Good program, nice expression has much potential and good crowd pleaser.

Blake Rosenthal / Calvin Taylor

• Wearing white and red outfits with lines of sequins in a broken-glass pattern.

• The music is almost Indian sounding.

• Music opens with drums.

• Start with a unique rotational lift where  her body is far away from his. Side by side hop.

• Misstep at the end of the diagonal - she was supposed to do a pull-through but they were too far out of position.

• Good change of direction lift were she was in splits for first position. Serpentine footwork section into finish.

Anna Stanislavska / Michael Whitehead

• All black with silver sequins.  Long skirt with fringe.

• Skating to Summertime.

• Got speed and power very quickly with a few back crossovers. He leaps into the air and they both land facing each other in lunges, into excellent forwards one foot lift.

• In their spin she was in a camel for second position and he was low with his free foot tucked behind.  Powerful diagonal with slight unison problems on twizzles.

• Change of direction lift with no hands for her. He’s down in a spread eagle.  Excellent strong looking one-handed rotational lift.  Very strong program, and they carried their speed throughout.  Very fast paced program.