by Anne Calder
The 2024 Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships are held July 27-31 as part of the U.S. Figure Skating National Qualifying Series (NQS). Contestants range from teenagers to seniors. The Lake Placid Ice Dance International Youth and Adult Competitions (LPIDI) are held simultaneously at the same venue.
The NQS awards medals (gold, silver, bronze, tin) to the top four finishers in each category. The top three results (gold, silver, bronze) in the international junior and adult categories receive medals.
The Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships are the oldest ice dance competition in the world. The 2024 games are held at the newly renovated Herb Brooks Arena (the 1980 Olympic ice rink).
Junior Integrated Dance
On Tuesday, July 30, the teams began the competition with a rhythm dance.
The theme and music selected for junior and senior rhythm dance for the 2024/25 academic season are “social dances and styles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.”
Rhythm Dance for the 2024/2025 season draws inspiration from decades of dynamic and entertaining dance styles. These dance styles originated as couples dances, and due to their infectious, upbeat rhythms, they became crowd favorites as an invitation to others to join in social situations and mass gatherings. (ISU Communications 2630)
The free dance will be held on July 31st.
The following junior champion teams received medals after the free dance: Michelle Deych & Ryan Hu (gold), Emily Renzi & William Lissauer (silver), Annelise Stapert & Maxim Korotcov (bronze), Effie Chen & Kenny Eckert (pewter).
IDC spoke with each dance team after their free dance performances.
Michelle Deych and Ryan Hu (133.69) with Igor Sphilband’s team at Novi Ice in Michigan Arena ) for training, their junior debut. The 2023 Lake Placid Novice Combine is their first event since forming their partnership 14 months ago.
“The skating was really good today, beyond our imagination,” Deitch said. “The results are great. We are very happy. It’s really fun. We are not here for the scores, but for the competition,” Hu added. ” We just love skating.
Deych and Hu have been assigned to compete in the inaugural Junior Grand Prix, which will be held in Riga, La Tania, from August 28th to 31st.
Emily Renzi and William Lissauer (133.45) are in their third season as a team and second season as juniors. The team trains in Montclair, New Jersey with Kristen Fraser Lukanin and Igor Lukanin.
“This is our best result so far,” Renzi said.
“There’s still room to grow, but we’re definitely doing the best we can.” Lischauer added: “This is much better than Chesapeake and Dallas.”
Renzi and Lissauer have been assigned to compete in the 2nd Junior Grand Prix in Ostrava, Czech Republic, from September 4th to 7th.
Annelise Stapert and Maxim Korotcov (127.51) train with Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov at the ION International Training Center in Leesburg, Virginia. The team made its junior Lake Placid debut.
“We’re very, very happy with our skating this week,” Stappert said. “We feel like we’ve grown a lot since last season. We definitely need to pick up the pace, but I think we’ve done a good job.
Korotkov added: “We practiced a lot and started to get better. We want to continue to work as hard as we can. There were definitely some mistakes, but overall I’m happy with it. I feel like we Are trying their best to perform and give a great show.
Effie Chen and Kenny Eckert (113.48) train with Igor Sphilband’s team in Novi, Michigan. The partnership was only about six weeks old.
“We just finished our project,” Eckert said. “It’s nice to get it out there and see where it is, but we know we can definitely do more.”
The team withdrew from the Dallas Classic in mid-July due to Eckert’s donation for his father’s successful stem cell transplant. His father was recently discharged from the hospital and is doing well.
Anaelle Kouevi and Yonn Homawoo (111.49) are the third team in the division to make their Junior Record Championship debut. The cousins train with Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov at the ION International Training Center.
Cueva describes her dance. “It was a little scary, but honestly a really good learning experience for me. It helped me grow as a skater.
Homawoo added: “It was really nerve-wracking. It was our first season in the junior division. We were also one of the youngest junior skaters. It was a really good experience. It showed me who we are as a team.” The ability for teams to skate together.
When asked if the two were comfortable with their skating, the unanimous answer was “Yes!”
Free dance program
- Dai Qi and Hu: Romeo and Juliet 2013 Soundtrack
- Renzi and Lisol: League of Legends Music, 2WEI and Warriors by Eddie Hayes Attack on Titan and The Summoning
- Stapelt and Korotkov: “We Will Rock You” and “Under the Same Sun”
- Chen & Eckert: Music in Film Moulin Rouge
- Kouevi & Homawoo: Faolan – “Persian Princess” [Middle Eastern Music]
Advanced integrated dance
The following senior champion teams received medals after the free dance: Rafaella Koncius and Alexey Shchepetov (gold), Amy Cui and Jonathan Rogers (silver), Grace Yi and Danila Savelev (bronze), and Emilia Ziobrowska and Shiloh Judd (pewter).
IDC spoke with each dance team after their free dance performances.
Rafaella Koncius and Alexey Shchepetov (159.60) train with MIDA in Canton, MI. The team discussed the project and working with choreographer Jean-Luc Beck.
“We’re really happy,” Concius said. “We really love this project. Skating is so much fun.
“We just believe in training and believe in ourselves,” Shepetov added. “Working with Jean-Luc is very special because of his style. Before programming the show, he asked us what we wanted to get out of it. We told him what he was doing was great.
“Our skating styles are very similar. The way he programs is the way we want to skate,” Koncius added. “We chose the program and the coach chose the music. I heard this music a few years ago and now that we’ve had a full season with the new coach, I wanted to use it.
Shepetov had previously used hockey skates with ice dance blades because dance boots could cause irritation. He now uses special skates. “They don’t cause problems by being too tight and provide a lot of support. It’s the first month or two of adjustment back into regular figure skating. I’ve been wearing hockey cleats since 2016.
Amy Cui and Jonathan Rogers (158.70) formed a partnership in March 2024, training with Igor Shpilband’s team in Novi, Michigan. The team only competed in the rhythm dance competition at the Dallas Classic.
“First time, so it’s not bad,” Rogers said. “We had been making some small changes before leaving Novi, so it was exciting to get out there, especially to see how the costumes felt,” Choi noted. “We got it the day before we left. We hadn’t done anything (with them) before we were just skating.
[We’ll be working on] Make improvements,” Rogers explained. “We made such a big improvement in rhythm dance from Dallas…(61.58—>67.05), So everything becomes more comfortable. Do one thing at a time…day in and day out.
Grace Yi and Danila Savelev: (143.14) training with Elena Dotstatni in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have been working together for a year. Yi Jianlian talked about the performance.
“The plan is ongoing,” Yi said. “We’re really happy with how things are going. Obviously it’s the start of the season. We’ve made some mistakes here and there and we need to clean up some things, maybe our lift. We’re trying some new things this season so we’re working on it Make sure we’re really good and stable.
Yi talked about rhythm dancing. “With ‘RD’ we wanted to do a lot of things choreographically. We were on the right track and needed to build up our stamina.
The team trains a mile high in the Rockies, so it’s often easier to compete at a lower elevation. In Lake Placid, however, the team struggled with the temperatures inside the rink.
[The altitude change] “It probably does help,” Yi explained, “but the problem is this rink is much hotter than the rink we train at, so we’re really sweating. We like warm rinks, but we’re just not used to it.
Emilia Ziobrowska and Shiloh Judd (125.53) represent Romania. The team has been skating together since October 2023. They train with Alexei Kiliakov at the ION International Skating Center in Leesburg, Virginia. Judd has raced in Lake Placid before, but this is the first time together. They begin training for their program in January.
Judd discusses their performance. “I feel like we haven’t skated together in a long time, so this just shows where we need to improve in that area – knowing exactly where we’re going and tracking each other in an event like this. All in all, I’m excited about what we can do Very proud of what I did.
“For three months we’ve been performing rhythm dances to Donna Summer – ‘Walk Away’ and ‘The Last Dance.’”
Michela Melillo and Karl Schapfel (109.06) are a ten-month-old duo who train with Svetlana Kiliakov in Connecticut. Schapfel, who is from Lexington, Mass., described his previous ice dancing experiences.
“I’ve been ice dancing for six years. I started ice dancing in high school. I have a lot of partners that I skate with for about three months or so, but when it comes time to dig in and get some work done, they Not being able to put in the time I wanted to and then the pandemic hit.
Melillo continued. “We’re introducing ourselves as a new team. We’re here to do the best we can. I feel like we’ve really made a lot of improvements in both events. I’m excited to skate with Carl.
Marin Hessel and Daniel Klaber (68.53) finished sixth. Klaber was the 2012 U.S. Junior Dance Champion and a three-time U.S. Junior Pewter Medalist (2013-15) with Holly Moore.
“Marin is my student,” Kleiber said. “In March 2024, Marin’s parents came to me and asked if we could participate in competitive ice dancing. It was on short notice. I said that if I couldn’t find her partner, I would take her out myself.
“I’m also a former senior and junior figure skater,” Hessel added. “I’m relearning a lot of things. I love the process of it. Even though this is my first time here, I feel like I fit in. It’s an honor to be here. I’m very grateful for these opportunities.
Hessel said of the show. “It’s not our best. We’ve only been working on this project together for about three weeks. I’m still proud of myself for being able to be the same person on the court. I’m excited for more in the future, but being able to perform until now Free dance and rhythm dance, it’s like my dream. I just want to get all the feedback and see what we can do better.
The Hessel & Klaber partnership is unique because it is a collaboration between coach and student.
“It’s a very different experience,” Hessel explained. “It’s a lot of work having your partner choreograph and coach you at the same time, but you definitely get to know each other better. My perspective is completely different than most people’s, and I’m very grateful for that.
This was Hessel’s first competitive ice dancing experience and introduction to the world of ice dancing.
“It was definitely a little difficult for me at first,” Hessel explained. “I felt a little uncomfortable. Like, okay, do I really belong here? I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ “I truly belong here. I know who I am. I know what I want to do. I made it this way and I’m grateful to be here. As long as I just breathe and don’t think and skate with a blank sheet of paper, There were no negative thoughts coming in and I was able to be myself and do what I wanted to do and I started to get more comfortable with it and it was so cool to see other people skating.
Free dance program
- Concius and Shepetov: Romeo and Juliet (1996 film drama soundtrack) and “Kiss You”
- Choi and Rogers: Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20: I. Scene 1 performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Yu Simonov
- Yi & Savelev: “I’ll Leave You a Message” Patrick Watson; “The Wild Side” Roberto Caciapaglia
- Ziobrowska and Judd: “The Most Beautiful Boy” (reinterpreted by Felsmann and Tiley) and “In this Shirt” by The Irrepressibles
- Melillo and Shapfel: “El Mariachi”, “Feel My Love”, “Malaguena Salerosa”
- Hessel & Klaber: Frank Sinatra Medley: “Ring A Ding Ding,” “Young At Heart” and “When You’re” Smile (the whole world smiles with you)”
