(22 January 2015)  This weekend, two of the country’s top dance teams, Madison Chock and Evan Bates and Maia and Alex Shibutani, the second and third-ranked U.S. ice dance teams respectively, should stage a top-rate show at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

These two teams, who are both based in the Detroit area, a veritable training capitol for world-class ice dancing, appear to be as hungry as ever in their quest to clinch the top spot at the U.S. Championships, a position left vacant by their famous Olympic champion predecessors, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who announced they were stepping down from competition last year.

While both teams possess many of the same characteristics as Davis and White including speed, quickness and technical excellence, they are different in terms of their skating, presentation and personalities.

Chock and Bates, who have been together since 2011 and train in Novi with Igor Shpilband, are two-time U.S. silver medalists who tend to choose programs with a romantic-based theme and choreography to reflect that narrative.

Meanwhile, the Shibutanis, the brother-sister team who train with Marina Zoueva in Ann Arbor, tend to interpret more varied types of narratives that have, over the years, reflected topics such as the American pop music culture (last season, they used a Michael Jackson medley for their free dance) or classic skating themes, such as the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss which they have chosen for this season.

Another interesting twist in this situation is the fact that Chock and Bates train with Sphilband, the former long time teaching partner of Zoueva, with whom he had parted ways several years ago.

Prior to their split, Sphilband and Zoueva had virtually helped build U.S. ice dancing into a worldwide powerhouse together and had become known as the top coaching team in this discipline, bar none.

Life, however, especially in the world of figure skating, is never constant and the so-called show certainly managed to go on, as evidenced in this particular situation.

After they announced their split, Shpilband relocated his teach base to Novi, while Zoueva decided to remain at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, where the two had taught together for many years.

Zoueva, in turn, announced she would be she be the sole coach for Davis and White and the Shibutanis, both teams with whom she had taught together with Shpilband.

Shortly thereafter, Shpilband started to work with Chock and Bates, who at the time, was a newly formed dance team.

Cut to Greensboro this weekend where both teams will face off against one another, along with their coaches, in a match that ought to boldly display everyone’s skill, talent, expertise and fire.

Chock and Bates, the International Skating Union Championship Grand Prix Final silver medalists, along with the Shibutanis, who were fourth at that same event in Barcelona last December, both seem thrilled at the prospect of getting out on the ice to compete once again in hopes of winning a U.S. title and competing at the World Championships in Shanghai, China this March.

“I will say we’re very prepared and ready to compete and we feel good about how we finished the season in Barcelona,” said Alex Shibutani in a teleconference call last week. “This is a stepping stone.”

For both teams, this competition, like any other, ultimately comes down to putting out a good one-two punch of performances.

“The opportunity to compete is a privilege,” said Alex, who grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut with his sister and family. “We’re taking a lot of confidence with us going into Nationals.”

Confidence, skill and good coaching sure ought to make for a good dance faceoff in Greensboro this weekend, that’s for sure.

Now it’s just a matter of seeing how all the numbers pan out, which is perhaps the most fun part of the whole experience, no doubt.

We can only sit back, watch, wait and see.