{"id":21956,"date":"2019-09-24T19:47:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T23:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=21956"},"modified":"2020-02-16T12:23:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T17:23:53","slug":"recap-2019-u-s-international-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/recap-2019-u-s-international-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap: 2019 U.S. International Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Anne Calder<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The third event in the ISU Challenger Series was held in Salt Lake City, UT USA. Nine teams from seven countries competed in the ice dance discipline. Several athletes had some altitude difficulties due to the elevation being higher than their training sites.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rhythm Dance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Finnstep is the senior pattern element: It must be skated to the Quickstep, Swing, or Charleston. Madison Chock &amp; Evan Bates have competed it several times. Bates expressed his thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s challenging to take the quickstep rhythm from the ballroom and put it on the ice because the ice just glides, and it\u2019s hard to have the bounciness. You have to be quite tight and have a lot of pep in your step \u2013 a lot different from the tango skated last season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The American teams of Madison Chock &amp; Evan Bates and Christina Carreira &amp; Anthony Ponomarenko were first and second, followed by Canadians Carolane Soucisse &amp; Shane Firus and Molly Lanaghan &amp; Dmitre Razgulajevs in the third and fourth positions.<\/p>\n<p>Musical selections included two different versions of \u201cToo Darn Hot\u201d from <em>Kiss Me Kate<\/em> by both the American teams, a Four Seasons medley from <em>Jersey Boys<\/em> by Soucisse &amp; Firus and songs from the <em>Cabaret<\/em> soundtrack by Lanaghan &amp; Razgulajevs.<\/p>\n<p>Rhythm Dance comments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Evan Bates: \u201cA good start with definite room for improvement. The program hadn\u2019t seen the competitive environment yet. We were anxious to get the first one under our belts.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Madison Chock: \u201cIt was great to set the season off on home soil.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Ponomarenko: \u201cIt felt great for September. It was really clean. There\u2019s still a bunch of things we need to smooth out \u2013 some rough stuff, but we\u2019re happy with how today went.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Christina Carreira: \u201cI think we lost some energy; we could have had more.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Carolane Soucisse: \u201cWe were super happy with our performance and what we were able to put out there today.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Free Dance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The rhythm dance leader board remained in the same order after the free dance.<\/p>\n<p>Chock &amp; Bates won their first US Classic gold medal with a very unique Egyptian-themed free dance. Chock was a snake found by Bates\u2019 traveler character \u2013 a step outside the box from last season\u2019s Elvis Presley routine. Their 46.21 base values total was the highest to date in the 2019 Challenger Series. Chock\u2019s one-foot step sequence was the only level 3. All the other elements were level 4. The segment was 122.22; the total was 201.40.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found the music right after Worlds, and it inspired us both,&#8221; Bates said.\u00a0 &#8220;When we brought it to the coaches, they liked it and came up with the story.\u00a0 We worked hard this summer to create something that was really fresh and a totally different look than we\u2019ve ever done before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re really happy with how our first competition of the season went,\u201d Chock added. \u201cThis is a great place for us to build off. We\u2019re going to keep working to grow the program and improve for the next competition in Finland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carreira &amp; Ponomarenko did a Flamenco program that earned 111.29 points. The lifts were level 4, while the twizzles earned level 3 and the spin level 2. They had a one-point deduction for the extended rotational lift. Their Rhythm Dance score kept them in the running for their second straight International Classic silver medal. The total score was 188.47.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program was good for this time of year. We didn\u2019t get all our levels and have a lot to improve,\u201d explained Carreira. \u201cWe lost some energy towards the end, which we\u2019ll make sure won\u2019t happen at other competitions.\u201d \u201cIt was much improved from Lake Placid in July,\u201c added Ponomarenko.<\/p>\n<p>Soucisse &amp; Firus danced to a medley of Tom Jones\u2019 popular songs. The twizzles, spin, stationary and straight-line lifts earned level 4. The total segment score was 110.06, narrowly missing a second place free dance finish. The Montreal-based team won the bronze medal with a total score of 181.39.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a little bobble in the first 20 seconds, but after that we settled down,\u201d Firus said. \u201cLuckily we had a lot of training to fall back on. We have six weeks until the Grand Prix in Grenoble, so we have time to analyze things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lanaghan &amp; Razgulajevs were fourth with the Frank Sinatra ballad, \u201cThe Summer Knows\u201d. The three lifts and combination spin earned level 4; both twizzles were level 3. The segment scored 95.87; the total was 154.13.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Frank Sinatra program is really good for us,\u201d Razgulajevs said. \u201cWe can really breathe in it. It\u2019s a nice and easy warm feeling &#8211; like summer. It\u2019s a really fun way for us to just connect to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lanaghan added, \u201cIt feels like no one else is around \u2013 just us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tidbits<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At the first US Classic in 2012, Madison Chock &amp; Evan Bates won the short dance, but finished fourth.<\/li>\n<li>Dmitre\u2019s father, Juris Razgulajevs, coaches Lanaghan &amp; Razgulajevs.<\/li>\n<li>Coaches at the boards included:\n<ul>\n<li>Melissa Gregory&lt; \u2013 2005 Four Continents silver medalist with Denis Petukov (USA)<\/li>\n<li>Patrice Lauzon&lt; \u2013 2006, 2007 World silver medalist with Marie-France Dubreuil (CAN)<\/li>\n<li>Juris Razgulajevs&lt; \u2013 1991 World Junior Champion with Aliki Stergiadu (Soviet Union)<\/li>\n<li>Igor Shpilband&lt; \u2013 1983 World Junior Champion with Tatiana Gladkova (Soviet Union)<\/li>\n<li>Alper Ucar&lt; \u2013 first Olympic ice dancer from Turkey \u2013 with Alisa Agafonova (2014)<\/li>\n<li>Marina Zoueva&lt; \u2013 Olympic Coach: Tessa Virtue &amp; Scott Moir (gold, silver); Meryl Davis &amp; Charlie White (silver, gold); Maia and Alex Shibutani (bronze)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Anne Calder The third event in the ISU Challenger Series was held in Salt Lake City, UT USA. Nine teams from seven countries competed in the ice dance discipline. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[306,133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2019-2020-event-recaps","category-event-recaps"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/USClassic2019.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team IDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/author\/idcadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"by Anne Calder The third event in the ISU Challenger Series was held in Salt Lake City, UT USA. Nine teams from seven countries competed in the ice dance discipline. [&hellip;]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-5I8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21956"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21960,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21956\/revisions\/21960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}