Stolen straight from the Canada board a great question...

Who do you think are the top US coaches and training facilities?

it depends on the discipline. I mainly follow ice dance, which begins of course w/ Detroit & Igor Spilband. But there are other centers/coaches who are beginning to get really good results, IMO headed by Iouri & Iaraslava (can't begin to spell their last names!!) in Ann Arbor. Then there's the East Coast, where Natalia Linichuk & company are (they've moved recently I think). Also Klimova & Ponamarenko in California have had some good teams. There are others, but those are IMO some of the top ones. (also all Russians....coincidence?? I think not!!)

I'd agree with you on the Ann Arbor ones. My freestyle coach, who also competes Senior ice dance, goes up to that area several times a year to train with her partner. Most of the time they're getting their competition programs choreographed. They've worked with Belbin and Agosto, as well as Igor Shpilband.

In Ice Dance in the US, that center in Detroit is very well known. However, on the east coast, the rinks in northern NJ, as well as in NY and CT, just north of NYC, are a bit of a hub for very high level dance. It seems to be kind of tied to both the Skating Club of NY and to the rink in Hackensack, but in reality, the coaches and skaters seem to move from one rink to the other, finding dance ice as they will. Thus there's not necessarily any one rink that's taken prominence. You'll see the same coaches/skaters one day in Hackensack, the next day in Katonah, the next day in southern CT, then in Wayne... But there are some very high level teams, coaches and choreographers here, including Morozov, Dubova, Gates (sort of an up-and-comer), amongst others. We also have many, many high level teams here, both those that represent the US and those that represent other nations. It's actually really cool, because having these folks here attracts other high level skaters, and you end up taking lessons from some truly elite coaches/skaters - if you can get up the guts to ask!

I also believe that there is a strong dance program in and around Boston.

For free skating, Hackensack is of course a very strong rink. The Skating Club of Boston, and the Skating Club of New York, are also quite strong, and they cross multiple rinks.

There are two in Southern California that come to mind: Toyota Training Center in El Segundo (by the L.A. airport), which is where Frank Carrol and Ken Congemi coach Evan Lysacek and Bebe Liang, and the rink in Lake Arrowhead where Arutunian coaches Mao Asada and several other world class skaters. But there are also a number of other top coaches in L.A. and Orange County who coach at several rinks, so wherever they are coaching becomes a top training center while they are there.

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