I'm still disappointed that the senior free dance has been split into two groups. I decided to type up some thoughts on the first group. I'll try to do the same for the other two groups, but I may run out of time.

Note: We got the word that Jenn & Daniil have withdrawn due to injury (Daniil's back).

Lauren Corry & Alexander Lorello
"La Donna Mobile" modern arrangement
Corry & Lorello are a new team and they've gelled more since I saw them at Lake Placid in August and Sectionals in November. When you watch them skating, you can tell that they enjoy being out there and skating together. The performance was good overall.

Jessica Perino/William Avila
"How Long Blues" by Pinetop Perkins
Perino & Avila missed last season due to injury and they, along with their coach Suzy Semanick, relocated to Aston, PA to train. They were not at Lake Placid last August, so this was the first time I was able to see their program in person. They’ve improved since I saw them at 2007 Nationals, but still need to work on their speed, but they had good energy. Different position on the first set of twizzles.

Emma Cyders & Ievgennii Krasniak
Selections from the Children of Dune soundtrack.
Cyders & Krasniak have really interesting positions on their lifts, especially on the combination straightline/rotational lift and their curve lift. Too bad about the fall at the end.

Farrell/Fishpaw
"Sarabande Suite" by Globus
Farrell & Fishpaw had nice speed an, control and positions on their dance split. Good positions and speed on their lifts and the expression has continued to grow. The team has really improved since pairing in 2007. This is the best I've seen them skate this program all season.

Ratko/Harris
Tango Selections by Bailata
I haven't seen this program yet this year. As the team hasn't competed in any events, so Nationals is their debut. Ratko is wearing knee pads or bandages, probably due to the number of knee slides in the program. Lifts are controlled, but not as seamless as some of the other teams. Nice rotational lift at the end with her in a vertical split. They still look like a new team.

For every Nationals, there is one day that there are no ice dancing events scheduled and this year Friday was the 'non-dance day.' We headed to the rink for 12:50 to watch the junior men's free skate and used the down time to play catch up on blogs and photographs, etc. We've also posted some 'IDC Extras' from other events. It was pretty low-key day for us.

Some young girl came back giggling after getting Seacrest Lite's autograph. Cute!

Prior to the last group, the announcer reminded the audience that there is no flash photography and followed it up with "none. nada. zip." Although I'd heard her use "none" before, the "nada" and "zip" were new. It is bright enough in here that a flash shouldn't be necessary.

It was released today that Skate America will be in... Lake Placid! I think it's fabulous as I enjoy going there every summer for the LPIDC. I'm stoked that the JGP and Skate America will be there.

The men's short was off to a great start with Lysacek and Abbott, but several of the expected front runners did not have a good night. It's hard to think of the final group not having Johnny Weir, Stephen Carriere or Adam Rippon in it as they were considered to be some of the front runners. Tom Z. from Broadmoor will definitely be pretty busy with three guys in the final group on Sunday. How about the Curran Oi and Brandon Mroz closing out the night with two great performances!

I forgot to mention that Seacrest Lite is here this year. He graced our presence in Saint Paul and I guess he's now a regular fixture. He's been interviewing kids and handing out prizes to unsuspecting rows of spectators all week. He's also been highlighting some of the electronic games available in the concourse.

The junior free dance event was quite exciting! Other than the top three, the teams finished in different placements in each phase. The "bounce back award" goes to Sara Bailey & Kyle Herring, who after an uncharacteristic fall in the compulsory dance, rebounded two great performances in the OD and free dance (ninth, OD; sixth, FD) to pull up to seventh overall. I really enjoyed their "A Day in the Life" free dance. They had told me the story behind it when I spoke with them at Eastern Sectionals.

It was unfortunate that Brittany Marshall and Ashley Deavers had to withdraw from the event. After a fall in the free dance, they were unable to continue. Ashley stopped by to let us know that Brittany received treatment and that the fall aggravated a previous injury.

The pairs short ended with some unexpected results as new team Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett finished first. I'm not sure who was more surprised, the audience or Denney & Barrett.

Alissa Czisny and Rachael Flatt skated two great performances in the ladies short. A few surprises - Brittney Rizo, to name one - answered the challenge with a solid short. Saturday will definitely be very intense as the ladies fight for World, Four Continents and World Junior slots.

Daphne

While Michelle was getting some extra sleep on Tuesday morning, I headed to the Q for the 8 a.m. dance practice. This was the one senior practice that I could attend this week due to timing and schedule conflicts. It also made for a very long day as the junior original dance weren't scheduled to end until 10:55pm and would be followed by awards for all the novice events.

One of the most exciting things about being at Nationals for the entire week is that you get to see so many of the up-and-coming young athletes. I really enjoyed the novice free skates. It was wonderful to see former competitive skaters moving to a new phase of their career as coaches, sitting in the kiss 'n cry with their students - Chris Pottenger and Andy Seitz were just two of many I have seen over the past few days.

It was also exciting to see so many new ice dancers competing at their first 'big nationals'. When we were setting up our event site, I realized just how many would grace the presence of the Q arena as novice, junior or senior competitors for the first time. It's wonderful to see the quality of ice dance continue to grow at the novice and junior levels.

The junior original dances were enjoyable to watch even though twizzles seem to cause many of them a problem. Big band music is so easy to get into that you can't help but find it fun. While I enjoyed all of the programs, I think the one I enjoyed the most was by Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus. They took the ice first and had great energy and expression throughout the program.

I wrapped up the day taking podium photos. I realized when down near the ice that it seemed unusually warm. I had heard comments in passing from other attendees and competitors that the temperature near the ice seems much warmer than usual. Hopefully that will get better as we continue through the week.

It's now 1:35 a.m. and even though tomorrow is a later start, sleep is necessary as we're nearing the halfway point of the event.

Daphne