2006 Eastern Sectional Championships – Novice Report

by Lindsay Higgins

Novice Compulsory Dance #1- Foxtrot
Why the Foxtrot is now a novice dance I’m not sure. While it was nice to see that even the bottom teams didn’t struggle with the dance, the top teams clearly could have done it in their sleep. Expression was a big part of what separated the top teams from one another, and on both expression and technique Cathy and Chris Reed (SC of Morris) were the clear winners of the Foxtrot. They had a huge pattern, filling out the entire rink without sacrificing any depth. “Sophisticated” is a good word to describe the character of the Foxtrot, and it was a good word to describe their expression as well. The coaching change this past spring (they now train in Connecticut with Shae-Lynn Bourne) certainly appears to have been a good move for them.

Second in the Foxtrot were Samantha Tomarchio (Columbia FSC) and Nicholas Sinchak (Bowie FSC), who have also improved greatly this year. Both tall and slim with long legs, they’re very well-matched, with nice extension that they showed off in the Foxtrot. Many skaters got a nice “sweep” of the free leg after the Mohawk, but the Reeds and Tomarchio and Sinchak got the “sweep” AND really gave the impression of being in control of the edge.

Isabella Cannuscio and Zachary Varraux (University of Delaware FSC) placed third, and were very similar in quality to Alexis Hauser (Skokie Valley FSC) and Kyle Herring (University of Delaware FSC), who were fourth. (The two teams were separated by just .11). Both teams have good basic skating skill and reasonably good Foxtrot expression.

After fourth place, the scores dropped off considerably. The top four scores ranged from 15.80 up to 16.87, while the scores for fifth through eighth place went from 14.36 down to 11.29.

Novice Compulsory Dance #2- Starlight Waltz
If the Foxtrot is the easiest dance for this level, the Starlight has to be one of the hardest. The teams that had problems had many of the same ones- skating too far apart, whipping the three-turns on the end pattern, and getting behind the music were among the most common.

The standings above fifth place remained the same in both dances. The Reeds skated a Starlight that was similar in quality to the Austrians done by some of the Juniors. It was a free, flowy dance, yet was done with enough control to avoid the whipped three-turns and poor tracking some teams exhibited.

Tomarchio and Sinchak used their long legs to their advantage in the Starlight; like many taller skaters, they do a nice job with extension and posture, both of which are major components of waltz expression.

Cannuscio and Varraux and Hauser and Herring were again very similar in skating quality and in score, separated this time by .16. I thought Cannuscio and Varraux looked stronger in the Starlight than the Foxtrot, but their score for the Foxtrot was higher. (Only the Reeds had a higher score for the Starlight than for the Foxtrot).

The scored for the fifth- through eighth-place teams dropped even more dramatically in the Starlight. The difference between fourth and fifth place was 1.87; the fifth-place score was 12.55, the eighth-place score 9.02.

Novice Free Dance
The top four teams remained the same in the free dance. Again, the Reeds were noticeably more polished and refined than most would expect a novice team to be. Their free dance, set to a vocal version of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, featured a nice low spin (very well-centered) and good fast circular footwork. It will be a surprise if they don’t medal at Nationals.

Tomarchio and Sinchak also chose a Spanish theme, skating to Carmen. They had some impressive lifts, and did a nice job using their arms and hands to convey the Spanish flair. Their free dance score of 51.53 was less than a point behind the Reeds’ 52.51.

Also skating to Spanish/Latin music, Cannuscio and Varraux placed third with a score of 44.7. Their 1.00 deduction was for a fluky fall by Varraux toward the end of the program. While most teams now do some type of lift with the girl in a Biellman and the boy in a spread eagle, theirs features Varraux going from an outside to an inside spread eagle.

Hauser and Herring skated to a folk-dance type program, very similar to what Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev are doing this year in senior. Their expression is good, and they have good speed to match the faster parts of the music. Their free dance score was 41.82.