SkateyGirl.Com
SkateyGirl.ComEmilie Nussear & Matthew Gates
Loren Galler-Rabinowitz & David Mitchell
Christie Moxley & Aleksandre Kirsanov
Lydia Manon & Vitaly Shalin
Hilary Gibbons & Justin Pekarek
Christina Zepeda & Nicholas Hart
Kimberly Navarro & Robert Shmalo
Eleanor Langhans & Ian Ross-Frye
Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev
Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto
Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov
Kendra Goodwin & Chris Obzansky
A few comments about the Compulsaries are on my front "Notes" page.
There were a few stumbles in the OD by some of the "lower" couples. Nothing terrible. Belbin and Agosto's OD was by far the best dancing I have seen from a US couple in... Well a VERY long time. It was better than most of the international dancing we have seen in a while. Their footwork run was breathtaking. Their expression was perfect. I can't rave enough about it. I was sure the judges would toss them a 6.0 somewhere. Several people around me said they wanted to stand for them, but they were too stunned. Lang and Tchernychecv were very good. But this OD was not even a close call. The compulsories were clearly Lang and Tchernychev's. Bebin and Agosto were a tad slower and less... all out in those. Navarro and Shlomo looked like the team I remembered in the OD - I heard something about her having been ill with a stomach bug immediately prior to the Compulsaries. That would explain how rough they looked in those. I thought Gregory and Petukov's OD was too frantic. I didn't care for it much. But they skated fine.
Free dance was excrutiating. The only program I enjoyed was Nussear & Gates. They skated to 4 Seasons and had pretty costumes and lovely elements. They still need some more speed, but given the rest of this "Music for Crackheads with S&M costumes" field I could watch them all day. Oy. What is this - rebellion because they made them do pretty stuff for the OD? Lang and Tchernychev skated in the S&M costume - she had buckles and so on - he was wearing an oversized shirt and pants with duct tape on them. They skated to some soft rock ballad. Naomi fell in the straight line section and Peter hauled her up quick. I thought they had given it away to Belbin and Agosto, but they came out in their "Please Mr. Collins, can we be on your tour" Elvis get up and they proceeded to dance in two different time zones. The opening move went wrong and they never seemed to get it together at all. It was just off over and over again. Never seen them look so unassembeled. Moxley and Kirsanov had the worst excuse for music I have ever had the misfortune to hear: "Orbitals and Kiko and the Lavender Moon". Awful. Just agony. I have no recall of their dance -my brain was ooozing out my ears. Oh.. Gregory and Petukov skated very well, but her dress ...well... um... I felt very bad for her. Her hubby couldn't save her til the closing pose. I don't know what ABC will do to televise this dance. Oh wow. Poor thing. Well... on the up side - the Skating audience are all women and gay men anyway, right???? I hope the photographers are kind.
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Last updated: January 27, 2003 6:18 PM