2010 Skate Canada

Dance Event

by

Alexandra Stevenson

Kerrs Lead by One/one hundredth of a point over young Canadians

Americans fourth and ninth

This is a season of enormous change. The ice dance schedule has been reduced to two instead of three parts, with the former Compulsory Dance (now renamed Pattern Dance) and Original sections squished together. There are five required elements for the hybrid, two of which are the halves of the most difficult of the compulsories, the Golden Waltz. In a ground-breaking development, Levels are now given for certain steps in what is now labeled GWSeq1 and GWSeq2. The two halves can be done in either order. The second half has more difficult steps and therefore a greater base value (8.0 points for a Level 4) while the first half Level 4 is worth 6 points. Some skaters feel it is best to get the difficult section over first. A considerable amount of points can be lost in this new accounting.

Level determinations for the compulsory, which have the specialists zoning in to specific items like the dip (in which the lady’s body must be absolutely no more than 45 degrees to the ice and cannot rise with the change of direction), have been mind boggling. Olympic and world silver medalists, Meryl Davis and Charlie White got the basic Level 1 for the GWSeq2 in Nagoya last week in the first Grand Prix of this season. Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat of France were in shock after also getting a Level 1 in the Nebelhorn Trophy in September. Although they pulled up to win that event, Pechalat said, "Last year we did the Golden Waltz at the world championships and were judged fourth best. How is it that now we are only worth Level 1? I’m just very puzzled."

1.62.96(31.92+31.04) Skating last, the Scottish sister and brother, Sinead & John KERR waltzed sentimentally to At Last by Etta James and then picked up the tempo Quickstepping to the Ting Tings’ Shut Up and Let Me Go to take the lead over the Canadian youngsters by the smallest possible margin, one-one hundredth of a point. She was dressed in a peach concoction with silver adornment while he was in basic white shirt and black pants.

"We have an excellent opportunity to win our first Grand Prix event and that is our immediate goal," Sinead said, seemingly unable to stop smiling. John added, "Sinead and I had always thought that the 2010 Olympic season would be our last, but we both feel that there are still things in competitive skating that we would like to achieve before we retire."

Sinead continued, "As far as the season goes, we want to qualify for the Grand Prix final [in Beijing in December], challenge for the European title and for a medal at the worlds. That maybe sounds as if we are putting more pressure on ourselves, but we are going to enjoy the challenge and keep remembering why we started skating in the first place."

John said they expected to finish their long career last season. (Actually, that very nearly ended prematurely due to lack of funding in 2003. Had they not dethroned the incumbents, unexpectedly winning the British title despite his fall in their ground-breaking Matrix Free Dance, who knows where they would be today? John, 30, explained in their website SineadandJohn.com, "We also felt that we would like to end our competitive career on a high and, despite some good results, we didn’t feel like we achieved that year. The pressure of it being an Olympic season possibly got on top of us last season and we weren’t able to match our own, or others, expectations."

But, they have had some misfortune. At the beginning of October, they were forced to pull out of their first planned competition, the Finlandia Trophy. Sinead, who is 31, explained, "During practice, something called subluxation happened during a move. The shoulder kind of dislocates then goes back but leaves the surrounding area slack and damaged. We were told it was best not to move it for a few days and then get some rehab to build the strength up again." It certainly seemed fine on Friday.

They earned Level 4 with +1.0 for their initial element, the Rotational lift, and then also got Level 4 for the first part of the Golden Waltz with +0.71. The second part of the Golden was awarded Level 3 with +0.79. They had an allowed transition lift at that point which has no base value but it counts towards the program component score. Their twizzles were also Level 3 with +0.71. Their concluding Midline Non-touching step element was only Level 2 but with +1.71. Overall, the Kerrs gained 2.09 more component marks than their nearest rivals although Crone & Poirier earned a 2.08 greater elements score.

Sinead said that they were helped by the tremendous reception the crowd gave to Crone & Poirier who skated immediately prior to the Scots. "That didn’t make us nervous at all. In fact it just buoyed us up to hear all that enthusiasm. They sort of warmed the crowd up for us and we also got a tremendous reception. It was a wonderful competition."

2.62.95 (34.00+28.95) With the withdrawal of Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir due to her surgery, Vanessa CRONE & Paul POIRIER inherited Canada’s medal hopes in this event. Crone gave sparkling performance today in the Short Dance on her 20^th birthday. She and her cavalier, the dynamic Poirier, who will turn 19 on November 6, began their routine which was set to a romantic Waltz, with Alicia Keys singing the classic Fallin’, with a spectacular lift.

3.54.43 (28.71+25.72) No one predicted Pernelle CARRON & Lloyd JONES, who won the French championship in the absence of the top couples, would be lying third. He was actually born and bred in Cardiff in Wales, but went to France and that country has adopted him. They are trained by Muriel Zazoui and Roman Haguenauer in Lyon. They lie a considerable distance (8.52 points) behind the top two couples, and only a minuscule 0.24 ahead of the US couple, Chock & Zuerlein.

Carron & Jones skated to Jacques Brel’s La Valse a Mille Temps in very elaborate costumes. He was in red, blue and white with gold epaulets, and she was in a red fluff and gold. Their first two elements, the synchronized twizzles and the first half of the Golden Waltz, got the maximum Level 4, both with +0.36. The second half of the Waltz earned Level 2 with +0.21. Their rotational lift was Level 3 and +0.71 and their non-touching steps Level 2 with +0.57.

4.54.19(28.21+25.98) Madison CHOCK & Greg ZUERLEIN are another talented couple from the Igor Shpilband-Marina Zoueva school in Canton, Michigan. The 2009 US and World Junior champions skated to music sung by the French legend, Edith Piaf, Milord and Padam, Padam, with the Golden Waltz segments in order, as their third and fourth of the five required elements.

Chock, 18, and Zuerlein, 22, who are in their second season on the Senior Grand Prix circuit despite having competed only once, last season, in the US Senior championships, in which they finished fifth, gave a beautiful showing. Her black dress looked very French and she emoted well with their music. They began with Level 3 non-touching steps followed with Level 3 twizzles in which she nearly fell at the end. That meant the GoE was a negative, -0.21. Their Golden Waltz, done in the classic order of halves, earned level 4, +0.36 and Level 3, +0.21 respectively.

However, their lift, although it gained +0.71 GoE, was awarded only Level 1 by the Technical Panel, which comprised Rock LeMay and Sergei Baranov, controlled by Gilles Vandenbroek. Their coach, Marina Zoueva, was not pleased with this assessment. She said they had done the same lift all last season and gained Level 4 with it.

5.51.56(27.87+23.67) Kristina GORSHKOVA & Vitali BUTIKOV are trained by Elena Tchaikovskaia in Moscow. They interpreted A Russian Waltz by Alexandra Pakhmutova. She is 21 and he 23. They were 6^th in the last Russian senior championships. This season they won bronze in the recent Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki. Their coach, Elena Tchaikovskaya, explained his weird outfit in which he wears half a black jacket, while his other arm is covered with a billowing white shirt, saying, "He is a romantic Eugene Onegin character."

6.50.55(27.42+23.13) Alexandra PAUL & Mitchell ISLAM are the Canadian Junior champions, who won silver in the last world junior championship. They presented a Tango and a Waltz. He looked the part with high waisted trousers with suspenders over his red shirt. His hair was sleeked back with grease. She wore a red dress with fishnet tights. They gained positive GoEs for four of the elements, but the first half of the Golden got a -0.64. Both parts of the Golden were Level 2. The GoE for the second half was +0.14. Their twizzles and Non-Touching steps were Level 3 with +0.57 and 1.14 GoEs. Their rotational lift was Level 4 with 0.71.

7.43.00 (24.07+18.93) Stefanie FROHBERG & Tim GIESEN are the German Junior title holders who were 11^th in the last world junior championships. Frohberg, 19, and Giesen, 22, skated to a Waltz, Tanz der Hofdamen by Rumpelstil. Giesen said they were really enjoying the event. "We were thrilled to be skating before so many people. The most we’ve ever skated in front of was 200. All this applause and cheering will go to our heads!"

8.40.07(20.29+19.78) Sarah ARNOLD & Justin TROJEK, who teamed up in May 2009, were the opening act for this event. The delighted replacements for Virtue & Moir presented an all Waltz Short Dance. This summer, they represented Canada for the first time as a team, earning seventh place in both portions of the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany. Although that resulted in an overall eighth place, they finished 13.91 of their teammates, Tarrah Harvey & Keith Gagnon. So they were chosen to fill the breach. It was a surprise because in the 2010 Canadian championships, they were only tenth while Harvey & Gagnon, who were also taking part in their first Canadian senior championship, were sixth.

Arnold, who is 20, explained, "Before Justin, I did two years of dance at Junior level. I had never been overseas before, so going to Oberstdorf was very exciting for me." Rebecca Babb is their chorographer. Arnold, who is a landscape artist, said, with much enthusiasm, "She fills the program with excitement and flow." Trojek, 22, said he is pleased with the changes in the sport. "I think ISU is heading on the right track. I like having only two sections."

9.36.88(18.92+18.96-1.0) Rachel TIBBETTS & Collin BRUBAKER are the US Junior silver medalists. The 21-year-old Brubaker is the younger brother of twice US pair champion, Rocky Brubaker, former US pair champion. Tibbetts is 19. They are trained in Colorado Springs by Tiffany Hyden Dambeck. This is their first senior international. They performed to Etta James singing At Last performed by Sal Mancini, and Hallelujah! I Love Her So by Ray Charles. It was quite an initiation. Their GoEs ranged from a low of -0.36 for the second half of the GW, for which they received Level 2, up to a base value for their Level 4 rotational lift and a +0.07 for their Level 1 Non-touching midline steps.

Lorenza ALESSANDRINI & Simone VATURI, the twice Italian Junior champions who were fifth in the 2010 world junior championships, were entered but withdrew after she fractured a rib after winning the Free Dance and finishing second overall in the recent Coupe de Nice. They were not replaced and so the entry was reduced to nine couples from six nations.

Crone & Poirier channel Chris Dean; Win first Grand Prix gold

Brilliant Senior Debut by Paul & Islam; Second in Free
Chock & Zuerlein Win Their First GP Medal With Two Fourth Places

1.Total Score 154.42; 1.FD 91.47 (45.74+45.73) Vanessa CRONE & Paul POIRIER presented their difficult Free Dance set to Eleanor Rigby by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by Joshua Bell, choreographed by Christopher Dean, to almost universal applause. Their emergence is the one good thing to come out of Virtue & Moir’s withdrawal due to her calf surgery.

Crone & Poirier’s coach, Carol Lane (née Long), who trains them in Scarborough, knew Dean (the 1984 gold and 1994 bronze Olympic medalist) from her competitive days in Britain. She persuaded him to come to Toronto for a week to produce this routine. She explained, "I thought it would be a good fit. I told Chris that he would enjoy working with them because anything he could dream up, they were going to be able to do it."

Although they were seventh in only their second Worlds last March, Crone & Poirier were less pleased with their Olympic result, where they finished 14^th, two places down from their debut in Worlds in 2009. Lane said, "At this stage, Vanessa and Paul need to stretch themselves to the limit. We ventured out to Chris because we wanted that to happen. He is known for devising very difficult choreography and this was the time for them to be challenged to their limit."

Poirier said, "It turned out to be a really magical week. He threw some big challenges our way, particularly in footwork and transitional movements. Results are definitely always on your mind, but, at that point, Vanessa and I were focused on our performance, which we felt was quite good. Chris expanded what we had. It was very difficult and it took a lot of time afterwards for us to make the maximum of what he had given us and fully take advantage of all the possibilities. To make it all come together was more than just difficult. Vanessa and I are really proud of what we accomplished and that we could show the full potential.

"After the national team training camp, (in September) our coaches Carol and Juris (Razguliaevs), made us an extremely detailed training program. We organized every hour of every day with specific items about what we’d work on. We came in here with the most confidence ever."

Crone, who is from Newmarket, Ontario and turned 20 on the day of the Short Dance, and Poirier, who will be 19 on November 6 and is from Unionville, Ontario, were a mere one-one-hundredths of a point behind Sinead and John Kerr, who were performing under less than ideal conditions, going into the Free. Crone was attired in a straight-forward, long sleeved bright red dress which, while thrusting her into the limelight, did not interfere with their lines. Poirier was in royal blue. The Beatles era was one in which men began wearing more flamboyant outfits and the staid "old" order was eclipsed, resulting in changes around the world. The costumes were meant to reflect that revolutionary trend, although, today, it is a very dated look. (The Beatles were the first to make longish hair respectable for men.)

The young twosome began their four-minute routine with a Level 4 combination spin which earned one +3. Six other judges thought it worthy of +2 GoE and two misers gave only +1 producing a combined GoE of +0.93 over the base value. Might the writer cynically put forward the possibility that the +3 was punched in by the Canadian judge Elizabeth Clark? That judge also gave a +3 (the maximum possible) for Crone & Poirier’s serpentine and final rotational lifts which were both judged Level 4 by the Technical Specialist, former Canadian ice dancer, Rock LeMay, and former British champion (with wife Marika Humphreys) Sergei Baranov, who were overseen by Controller Gilles Vandenbroeck. For each of the other two lifts, the generous judge was joined by one other (not the same) judge, who also punched in a +3.

Crone & Porier’s first lift, a straight line, was only Level 2 with +0.64 GoE, leaving room for advancement. The diagonal steps were lovely, earning Level 3. No couple earned a Level 4 for this move for which the youngsters were rewarded with four +2s and five +1s. Their twizzles were Level 3 with five votes for a +2 GoE and four for +1. Their Level 3 Serpentine Steps earned +1.57 over their base value of 6.50.

Looking at the detailed printout sheets, two couples, Crone & Poirier and Carron & Jones, appear to do only eight elements while the others do nine and the Russians 10. This freedom has come about because the ISU is trying to help age variety. The Russians do two "transition" lifts while the other couples presented only one of these which do not get Levels and count only in helping get higher component marks (or less if you mess it up). In addition, Crone & Poirier chose to present a (two in one) "long" Serpentine lift which has a Level 4 base value of 8 points and the French team did a combined curve to rotational lift, each part of which has a base value for Level 4 of 4points. The rest of the field chose to do four "short" lifts with each having a Level 4 base value of 4 points.

Crone & Poirier’s whole performance generated an extreme energy from the audience who were obviously enjoying themselves, cheering for their home country competitors. That did not stop them greeting the other competitors with very generous applause. The compactness of this small arena, which is only a few years old, fostered a great atmosphere with spectators very close to the ice. Crone & Poirier’s overall winning margin was 4.82. This was their third Grand Prix medal. They earned silver in the 2008 Skate Canada and bronze in the 2009 NHK in Nagano, Japan. Crone & Poirier’s next competitive appearance is in Skate America November 12-14. "Obviously our goal is to get into the Grand Prix Final again," Crone said. They finished sixth in last season’s Final.

2.Total 149.80; FD 3. 86.84 (39.36+47.61) Sinead and John KERR skated to Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 3: Redemption. Skating last, immediately after the Canadian winners, Sinead, 31, and John Kerr, 30, might have proved anti-climactic had the audience not been so generous with their applause. The concept of the Scottish sister and brother’s new Free Dance is "a return to the innocence of childhood". Her opening stance, covering her eyes with her hands as in a hide-and-seek game is a novel approach. John then taps her hands and she "awakes" to a past era when they were children, the world was new, and they had no cares or responsibilities.

"This season, we are skating for ourselves not for other people’s Olympic expectations," John explained. "Peter Tchernyshev choreographed the routine and we’re having fun with it." His sister added, "We expected to retire last season but we didn’t achieve what we wanted so we’ve stayed around. We know it will be hard to hold off the youngsters. They are improving by the second. But we’re so much more relaxed now we are doing it just for our own enjoyment, just like we did when we first came into the sport, when we were children.

"Sinead and I have created a lot of our own work during our career so it was nice to have someone else take the reins. Even though we have always enjoyed choreographing, it was nice to not have the pressure of having to come up with something new and original. Peter was awesome to work with and it really gave us fresh inspiration and impetus for the year ahead. This was something we had to think long and hard about. Sinead and I have always felt that we should leave the stage with the audience wanting more which is why we felt that 2010 might be a good time to call it quits. Let’s call this our extended curtain call then."

They were operating with a handicap. On October 5, a day before they were to fly to Helsinki to compete in the Finlandia Cup, an event they won at the beginning of last season, Sinead injured her right shoulder which meant she could not practice. "The doctors told me if I did not rest and go through rehabilitation and recuperation, I would have to have an operation like (Russian pair skater) Yuko Kavaguti had in April. That side-lines you for a long time."

It was a double whammy. Not only were they missing the necessary training for an event of this importance, they did not have the opportunity of putting their routines in front of an international panel and getting feed-back which is so necessary under this new system in which changes and different interpretations are constantly being made.

Lack of practice was obvious in their one very noticeable error when she went to stand with her blades on his upper thighs in their straight line lift after being in a high position, and the blades slipped off. Fortunately he reacted in a split second and caught her so that, although they were penalized with a negative GoE (-0.79), they still accomplished enough positions to earn Level 4. They also were rewarded with Level 4 for their other two lifts. "I’m not exactly sure what happened," Sinead explained. "It’s a hard lift for us. It’s a timing issue more than anything." John added, "We’re doing a lot of elements we’ve never done before. We’ll go back (to New Jersey) and re-evaluate."

3.Total 139.05; 4.FD 84.86 (44.27+40.59) Madison CHOCK & Greg ZUERLEIN’s new Free is to Cabaret and it suits them. Although she has bags of personality, he has come under fire for not being out-going enough. Their opening allows him to act the role Joel Grey played in the movie, of a greasy Master of Ceremonies in a seedy, decadent night club. She was in black, with Peacock feathers in her dark hair, looking far too glamorous for such a place of dubious entertainment.

Zuerlein explained, "I almost have the lead role. It’s usually Maddie who is in front. I’m definitely playing a very different character. Obviously, we’ve watched the movie. His partner added that they have modified the roles, making their presentation reflect more of their own personalities.

They received Level 4s for their opening move, the twizzles (with +0.57 GoE), for all three lifts (with +0.93 for the straight line; +0.71 for the curve; and +0.71 for the rotational) and for their straight line steps (0.93). Chock had a slip during the one-foot part of their second element, the circular steps, which brought them down to a Level 2 but the move was still good enough for a +0.86 GoE. "That was something that can be fixed," Chock said. Their midline steps gained Level 3 and +0.71. Asked about their surprising Level 1 for a lift in the Short Dance, they both said they still did not understand why that had happened because it had got Level 4s the previous season. Chock ventured, "It may be something to do with repeating a position at different heights."

The duo, who placed fifth in the US championships in their first entry as Seniors last January, suffered a shock at the Lake Placid championships this summer when officials explained they did not like their Free Dance set to Nothing Else Matters by Santa Esmeralda and Satellite by Santana Feat and Jorge Moreno. "That was a setback, but we got over it," Chock admitted. "And this routine is better. It’s more fun."

4.Total 138.16; 2.FD 87.61 (45.99+41.62) Alexandra PAUL & Mitchell ISLAM caused a sensation with their delightful routine set to As Time Goes By by Herman Hupfeld. The music, which was made famous in the classic Humphrey Bogart movie Casablanca, also caused a stir when Kurt Browning used a different version of it. Paul & Islam were only sixth after the Short Dance, and so skated with the lower half. The crowd gave them a standing ovation. William Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Skate Canada (the organization) said, "That was exquisite. For such a young team just coming out of junior, it was brilliant. I’m thrilled."

Paul, 19, and Islam, 20, who were the silver medalists at Junior Worlds in Holland in March, were making their Senior GP debut. They have the same ‘look’ as Virtue and Moir. She said, "We’ve been told that a lot. We love watching them skate. We are not deliberately trying to copy anything but we definitely want to step up into their league and have the same great skating skills they show. All the skaters do. I think maybe we’ve absorbed some aspects subconsciously." They are still junior age eligible, but have decided to move up to seniors. Islam said, "Like it is with a lot of sports after the Olympics, a new chapter is being written in international figure skating. We feel we’re definitely ready to make that plunge into the ‘big’ league."

Islam was a longtime partner of Joanna Lenko, who was forced out of the sport in 2007 because of heart problems. "It was a tough time," said Islam. "I questioned whether I wanted to keep going in figure skating. I trained for almost a year on my own. Then I found Alex. We had been skating at the same rink and with the same coaches so our styles matched and we made quick progress." (He was also a hockey player, who also reached triple-A level as a defense player, before quitting after his bantam year.)

Their second place in the Free brought them up to just less than a point (0.89) behind the bronze medalists. Five of their levels were the maximum four and the other three gained three. Only they, and the Russians, managed to get nothing less than Level 3. Their weakest element was their Level 4 spin, which earned only the base value, and their last element, the curve lift, was given "only" +0.71. However, four of their other moves earned a full point over their respective base values, and they got +1.14 for both their circular steps and rotational lift. Their other Grand Prix assignment is the Cup of Russia, November 19-21.

5.Total 136.03; 5.FD.81.60 (41.52+40.08) Pernelle CARRON & Lloyd JONES, naturally, were disappointed at dropping from third but were still pleased at what they had achieved in only their second Grand Prix and only his second season as a senior. (In their first, in Paris last year, they were ninth.) Their Free was to the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black and Angie. They were over eight and a half points ahead of the Russians. Four of their elements earned Level 4 including both parts of their long lift and the circular steps were Level 3. However, their midline steps and final curve lift got only Level 2 and the steps got a negative -0.14. They opened their routine with Level 4 a stationary lift getting a full point over the base value of 4. This is a move which was invented by Crone & Poirier.

6.Total 127.45; 6 FD.75.89 (41.85+34.04) Kristina GORSHKOVA & Vitali BUTIKOV skated to classic Latin American music, a Cha Cha by Santa Esmeralda and Luis Miguel’s Manana de Carneval. Their coach Elena Tchaikovskaya was not at all pleased with her pupils’ marks. "We did what the ISU told us they wanted – to go back to classic ballroom dance. But they do not reward what they ask for." All but three of their elements gained Level 4. The circular and diagonal steps were Level 3 as was their curve lift.

7.Total 107.64; 7.FD.67.57 (36.08+31.49) Sarah ARNOLD Justin TROJEK, were the replacements for Virtue & Moir, an assignment earned by their showing in placing eighth in the Nebelhorn Trophy this summer. They used four tracks from the soundtrack of the movie Amélie (Poulain) by Yann Tiersen. (This was the first choice for Olympic silver medalist Meryl Davis & Charlie White for their Short Dance, but US officials told them it wasn’t powerful enough for them.)

Arnold explained, "Last year we skated to Don’t Cry for Me Argentina. It showed off our power and chemistry with one another. We tried to stay away from something romantic this year and have a selection of music that made us rely on our skating, not the music. We had Pasquale Camerlengo choreograph our free dance. We felt that his style suited the music very well.

"Justin and I watched the movie and loved it, but we couldn’t think of a way to portray the plot of the movie on the ice. So we decided to make up our own story. For some reason I felt that Pasquale’s choreography was so fluid that I felt like I was the wind, and from there we decided Justin was going to be a tree." That explains why he wears brown. Arnold continued, "It’s a story of how the two elements of nature move together. When we have our costumes on, we really feel like we’re in character." They finished two-and-a- half points ahead of the Germans but almost ten points behind the Russians, despite earning Level 4 for five of their eight required elements. Their circular and diagonal steps were Level 2 and their final lift only Level 1.

8.Total 105.10; 8 FD.62.10 (33.39+28.71) Stefanie FROHBERG & Tim GIESEN from Berlin performed Flamenco, choreographed by the Bulgarian world champions, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski. She wears a knee-length black outfit with a pattern of flowers. The German junior champions teamed up last year and were 11^th in the World Junior Championships this March, four places behind Tibbetts & Brubaker. However, this time, they finished over nine points ahead of them, despite earning no marks for their fourth element, the rotational lift.

9.Total 95.86; 9 FD.58.98 (33.10+27.88-2.0) Rachel TIBBETTS & Collin BRUBAKER, the 2010 US Junior silver medalists, who were seventh in the World Juniors in March, performed a routine choreographed by Tom Dickson set to three pieces: Tango Para Percusion by Lalo Schiffrin; Stan Getz’s classic, The Girl from Ipanema performed by Manoelito Martins; and Dance of the Headhunters by Tito Puente, dressed in black with red highlights.

They had an initiation by fire in this their senior international debut. There was one bright point – the winners received only Level 3 for their twizzles while Tibbetts and Brubaker earned the maximum Level 4. But they were the only couple of the nine teams from six countries to be saddled with deductions. They lost one point for not completing a lift in the allocated time and another for his fall. Brubaker said, "It wasn’t my fault. She kicked my foot. We were a little late in the music and were forced to change our choreography a bit, and her skate clashed with my blade. But this was definitely a good experience and we have learned a lot." Hurting them even more than those faults were the Level 1s, for their first rotational lift and for their Midline steps.

2010 Skate Canada Dance Medalists