My Thornhill Dance Reviews

[Isabelle]

I managed to see the Novice compulsories and free dance, and Junior and Senior compulsories and OD. I didn't get a chance to see Pre-Novice or Juvenile, but I did hear that the Juvenile event wasn't that strong.
I didn't write any notes but I'll tell you what I remember. I'll post my comments from Novice now and I'll do Junior and Senior later. (although I think I remember the most from Novice so don't expect the Junior and Senior reviews to be too detailed)

Mylene Lamoureux & Michael Mee -- 1st in both compulsories and free dance.
Very strong novice team, it was obvious who was going to win. (especially since I believe they were the only novice team with an international for this year that were there) They had a weird Blues choctaw though....they sort of crossed their free foot behind which made them not quite turn on time and look like they were about to trip.

Their free dance was Latin and appeared to be quite polished for this time in the season.
They were just generally bigger, faster, and more polished than all the other teams.

Stephanie Van Veen & Adam Dawson -- Tied for 3rd in the compulsories (they were 4th for each dance) and were 2nd for the free dance.
They had excellent expression (possibly even more than Mylene and Micheal in the compulsories) and a nice Blues. Their timing was ever so slightly off in spots though, and the leg lifts were a little jerky. I found their Kilian very nice except on the last choctaw it looked like they got their feet tangled and then didn't pick it up on the same step and so were on different steps for the whole last end pattern. They had fairly good speed, and great expression for both dances.

Their free dance was rock and roll and was pretty good. They looked a bit rushed at times and Adam touched his foot down on their second twizzle, but otherwise it was nice. Fairly good speed and flow, a little scratchy at times, and a little rough coming out of one of their lifts. Really nice expression, especially from Stephanie.

Andrea Chong & Spencer Barnes -- Tied for 3rd for the compulsories (they came 3rd in one dance and 5th in the other...I THINK they were 3rd for the Blues but I'm not sure) and 3rd alone for the free dance.
Nice compulsories, fairly smooth, ok expression but they always seem to have more presentation in their bronze rhythm/free dances than in compulsories so they could do more.

They had like a gypsy free dance which had some really cute moves in it, and seemed fairly polished and had pretty nice expression. They weren't quite as fast as Stephanie and Adam and I don't think it was quite as difficult either.

Heather Stewart & Chris Stewart -- 2nd in the compulsories, 4th in the free dance.
Nice smooth, compulsories with deep edges and good speed. One of them did the wrong steps in the opening of the Blues but they got back on before the actual dance started. I would've liked to see higher free legs on the Blues, and in my opinion, they went too far down on the end of their Kilian end pattern, but it was the same on both sides so I guess it doesn't really matter. As always, nice unison and technically very good. Expression was another story...

Their free dance was to I guess what you would call folk music, and had good speed and edges. Heather really presented at times and lost it at other times but Chris was completely dead for the whole thing. They had a pretty difficult looking twizzle section and nice flow but at times they looked like they almost weren't sure what they were doing for a second or two, or that there was a tiny gap in the choreography or something.

Bethany Carruth & Ted Gerry -- 6th for the compulsories, 5th for the free dance.
They've improved from last year but they're not quite up to the standard of the top 4 teams. In the compulsories their legs weren't matched at times and they looked a little shakey and not as deep and smooth as other teams. They had ok expression, and in the Blues they had some nice little arms and stuff.

Their free dance was dancey...I don't really remember the music enough to describe it. They had some neat things in it, and their flow was ok, but their twizzles were too much on the spot and again they just didn't look as fast, confident, or polished as the higher teams.

Erin Gillespie & John-Paul Nagle -- 7th in the compulsories, 6th in the free dance.
If I remember correctly they had nice openings and endings on their Blues and that was probably the best part of that dance. On the Kilian he fell on the opening and she fell on the ending, and I think they had a little trip on one of their patterns.

Their free dance I think was swing. Not as fast as the top teams, but had some nice expression at times. Not a lot of content though.

Jessica Dubois & Thomas Fulton -- Tied for 3rd in the compulsories (5th in one dance, 3rd in the other), 7th in the free dance.
Their compulsories had nice flow, and ok expression but they weren't that great. I really have no idea why they tied for 3rd, I would've had them 5th.

Their free dance was also dancey (not quite the same "dancey" as Beth and Ted though) and quite simple. Unfortunately the thing that I remember most from their free dance is that she fell and he looked like he was trying to pick her up but couldn't because of the angle, and she took a long time to get back up and they didn't get back into the program very well (they looked really unsure and almost like they had given up) until near the end when they seemed to get their energy back.


Junior and Senior to come... :D

[Verna]

Thank you so much for the review, Isabelle. :) Can't wait for your junior and senior dance reviews.

I must say that I was quite shocked to see MacDonald & Bradshaw ahead of Doherty & Myles. Are D&M on the way down? I did hear that M&B looked good at Minto so maybe it's not a big surprise. And where will Flynn & Gislason fit in to all of this at Nationals? They beat MacDonald & Bradshaw at Minto.

Also, great result for Senft & Hallam here.

[Verna]

I wonder if MacDonald & Bradshaw will get an international assignment after these strong finishes at Minto and Thornhill. If D&M are being sent to Nebelhorn, you'd think M&B would be sent somewhere (Bratislava, Karl Schafer, Finlandia?).

[Catherine M]

Originally posted by Verna
I wonder if MacDonald & Bradshaw will get an international assignment after these strong finishes at Minto and Thornhill. If D&M are being sent to Nebelhorn, you'd think M&B would be sent somewhere (Bratislava, Karl Schafer, Finlandia?).

I wonder if MacDonald & Bradshaw will be sent to Neblehorn, if they are skating so well now. There are only 10 dance teams entered and I believe in the past, Skate Canada has usually sent two teams.

If not, maybe another one of the B internationals.


And thanks Isabelle for your notes. Looking forward to news about the jr & sr teams.

Catherine

[bleu]

who is competing in the senior dance?
D/L or B/K?

[¤Sweetie¤]

Originally posted by bleu
who is competing in the senior dance?
D/L or B/K?

Neither... The top-rated team going into the event were Tara Doherty and Tyles Myles, and after the OD, they finished second IMO- rightly so

[Verna]

Sweetie, tell us about senior dance (the programs)!

[Isabelle]

None of the Juniors really stuck out to me as a lot better than the others. In the OD, nobody seemed to have very many lobes (although everyone seemed to have one loop) and none of them seemed all that difficult. Also, nobody seemed to have much of a difference between their different rhythms. And I seem to remember quite a few people (Junior and Senior as well) having heavy music which to me is not ballroom. And also a lot of teams seemed to have their circle footwork in the waltz. (most people had a waltz)

Lauren Senft & Andrew Hallam --1st in the compulsories (although I believe they were 2nd for the Blues) and OD.
They looked really nice together and had a nice clean look and lines. Quite smooth and good speed for the compulsories with fairly good expression.

Their OD had excellent speed but they didn't really have many curves or much difficulty to slow them down. (although I think they had a pretty nice straight line) I don't know what their first piece was but if I remember correctly, their second piece was the Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker. Anyways, their OD really suited them, and they had great expression.

Mylene Theroux & Jean-Sebastien Blais -- 2nd for compulsories, 3rd for OD.
They had a lot of expression (although I don't think I liked the WAY they expressed themselves) and they did this weird side kick thing on the swing roll on the side pattern of the samba. I don't really remember their OD....

Magali Charpentier & Jonathan Pelletier -- 3rd for compulsories, 2nd for OD.
I thought they should've been 2nd for the compulsories and Mylene and Jean-Sebastien should've been behind them somewhere. I think they had a pretty nice OD. I was glad they came ahead of Mylene and Jean-Sebastien for this.

Christie Anne Hansen & Kevin Gallagher -- 4th for compulsories, 5th for the OD. Kevin looked like he had a few slip ups in the Samba. I might've had them behind Amy and Marc-Andre but I'm not sure. Their OD was ok. Nothing really sticks out in my memory....

Amy Sauke-Lacelle & Marc-Andre Isabelle -- 5th for compulsories, 6th for the OD.
Nice compulsories, they looked like they were really thinking going into the Blues Choctaw though, and on the last one Amy looked relieved that they were over with but maybe I was just imagining it. Nice expression, nothing really sticks out in my mind as going really well or poorly. I believe their OD was a waltz and something else and they were NOT one of the teams with heavy music.

Laura Stoveld & Ian Fotheringham -- 6th for compulsories, did not do the OD.
Quite a bit of expression, but again I didn't like how it looked. Ian fell on one of the end patterns on the Blues. They had fairly good speed and edges.

Stephanie Arsenijevic & Christopher Saikali -- 7th for compulsories, did not do the OD.
I don't remember their Blues a lot, but I remember on the Samba she had a lot of arms and great expression but it seemed to be trying to cover up the fact that they weren't skating together very well. (they were shifting all over the place, and quite far apart at times)

Signe Barlow & Matthew Smith -- 8th for compulsories, did not do the OD.
This is actually a better physical match than Matt and Katie I think, but I also think that he is a much better skater than Signe. They looked better than I thought they would but still not great. I remember they had some really nice extensions on their Blues, but she didn't look all that comfortable on the choctaw. Not very good expression except at moments in the openings/endings for both compulsories. At the end of their Samba, somebody threw some stuffed animals on the ice and Signe actually smiled and I thought *why doesn't she do that when she skates??!!* because during both dances she looked sort of bored/mad.

Laura Csumrik & David Defazio -- 9th for compulsories, did not do the OD.
They were ok but their legs weren't matched at times, and you could tell they weren't up to the standard of the other teams in most aspects.

Melissa Hill & Jamie Britton -- Did not do compulsories, 4th for OD.
I honestly don't remember much about this team except that I THINK she was wearing purple and he was wearing a tuxe....


I think I must've been a little pre-occupied during the Junior OD....although the fact that no team really stuck out as a lot better than the others didn't really help...

Seniors later :D

[Isabelle]

OK, here's senior:

Julie MacDonald & Mark Bradshaw -- Did not do compulsories, 1st in OD.
Interesting OD. She was dressed sort of like a French maid (but still with a typical chiffon dance skirt so it looked sort of weird :? ) and I'm thinking he was supposed to be a butler, and that it was some sort of comedy number but I didn't really get it. They had lots of expression, almost over the top though, and good speed and everything.

Tara Doherty & Tyler Myles -- Did not do compulsories, 2nd in OD.
Nice OD, I would've had them ahead of Julie and Mark but it was close. Both teams were quite strong.

Kristina Lenko & Danny Moir -- 1st in compulsories, 3rd in OD.
This was the first time I had seen these two skate together and I don't really think they're a good match but that's just my opinion. Also in the compulsories, his tuxe looked too big for him and made him look shorter than he is. (which reminds me that somebody else either Junior or Senior in the OD had a tuxe jacket thing that had way too much material and must've been open because it was flying all over the place, but I can't remember who it was. Maybe it was the Perreaults??) I wasn't really impressed with their compulsories. He is a much stronger skater than she is and in a few spots it looked like she was hanging onto him for dear life.

Their OD was a little better, she looked steadier. They had a really cool ending it was some sort of spin and then he bent down somehow and she was wrapped around him (maybe she was like that in the spin too?) and facing out towards the judges. It was cool but hard to explain especially since I only saw it once. I believe they were one of the teams with the heavy music though...I think the first piece at least was maybe from Romeo and Juliet or something.

Stephanie Destrempes & Andrew Wernham -- 2nd in compulsories, 4th in OD.
She fell in their Tango, but he whisked her right back up and they kept going. It was too bad because their dance was definitely the strongest. (although I don't really like their style) Their Austrian was also by FAR the strongest. She is an excellent twizzler!! (Also, I think it really sucks that the girl has like 6 twizzles in this dance and the guy has none! :roll: ) They really should've won the compulsories, even with the fall in the Tango.

Their OD was one of the few (if not the ONLY) ones that had a definite change in pace but it was weird. It wasn't really ballroomy, and I think the first piece was heavy and the second piece was light and playful so it didn't really go together at all.

Julie Brisson & Chad Westgate -- 3rd in compulsories, 5th in OD.
I seem to remember liking their helicopter thing in the Tango, but I don't know why, and maybe it was just me. They don't seem like they are very strong skaters. In the Austrian I think he fell on one of the end patterns because I remember it was one of those falls that looks like slow motion.

I don't remember much from their OD, but I think it had light music and I remember she had poofy sleeves. I don't remember her dresses from before but judging from the ones I saw her wear at this competition, she could get dresses that suit her a lot better I think.

Catherine Perreault & Charles-Andre Perreault -- Did not do compulsories, 6th in OD.
I believe they were one of the teams with heavy music and hard to distinguish rhythms, and they didn't really look ready to compete with this program. They had a big fall (both of them went down) part way through, I forget what it was on. The biggest shock to me was that she is now blonde!!!!! 8O