First up was Compulsory and Original Dance practice. I am still amused by the costume changes on ice between the Compuslory Dance practice outfits and the Original dance practice outfits, many of which are NOT the competition outfits. I think I'M a clothes horse. Good thing I am not a competitive ice dancer. However, I'm showing Drobiazko and Vanagas here because their waltz is so wonderful. They practiced strong and left the ice early but stayed a bit to watch Denkova and Stavisky, whom they share a coach with. The improvement in this team from last year, especially in her, is quite marked and I think they are in a position to move up from last year.

In the second group of dancers I got a second chance to look at Bourne and Kraatz's waltz. There is more of a well-defined 3/4 beat than I had originally thought and they do have a nice lilt but the dance still looks messy; slow, alot of side by side skating, and the transitions can get very clunky. Catherine, however, finds it quite enjoyable. All three of us agreed that Wing and Lowe have a wonderful waltz. Completely charming and lots of great expression. Grushina and Goncharov were skating very fast, enough so that she was slipping on occasion, but definetely an improvement over last season. Nowak and Kolasinzki, onthe other hand, seem to have taken a step backwards, rather scrapey and inelegant in their wlatz run-through, which doesn't seem much like a waltz at all.

The pairs practiced their short programs next. Catherine and I have agreed to disagree about Shen and Zhao. Although they have some rough edges, I find them spectacular. Catherine thinks they still need to clean up some elements. The side by side spins are still the weakest element for them but they have improved it since last season. The height on the throws and the twist are amazing and the lift set downs are now smooth, unlike last season. The short program is the same as last season's and they practiced in those gorgeous red costumes. Too bad the music is the weakest part of it, it's rather ponderous and unmusical. The Brits and Americans were doing their best to vye for last place. Petrova and Tikinov are a bit of stealth team to me, they don't run much of the program so it's hard to see what they are doing. They both do have lovely extension.

In the next group, Sale and Pelletier are still very impressive. The only problem they were having was the side by side triple toe that she was two footing at times. This was in stark contrast to Savard-Gagnon and Bradet. Neither of them was having any luck at all with the triple toes. Catherine did not see Marie-Claude land a triple at all. Sargeant and Wirtz looked confident and at ease, once again, though Sale and Pelltier were commanding nearly all the attention on the practice ice. None of us even particularly noticed the other two teams. This later turned out to be rather embarrassing as Dorota Zagorska apparently re-injured herself in this practice and they were forced to withdraw before the short program warm-up but none of us even saw it.

The final practices before opening ceremonies and the start of competition was the men. Everyone looked tight in the first group, particularly Plushenko. He was working very hard on quad toes with extremely limited success but his spins were quite good. Not only does he have the Beillmann; which had better stretch and position than last year, but he seems to have accquired a very fast and well-centered sit spin, which warms my heart alot. Dinev was clutching his back and grimacing alot. Dan Hollander was trying to land the solo 3 axel from his short program and not succeeding and moving onto the lutz combo didn't make things any better. It's a great program but it won't help him if the jumps aren't there. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Micheal Hopfes' short program? I have? Yes, at each competition there seems to be one suprise and here it was finding that when I liked Micheal two years ago in Springfield, it wasn't a big mistake. He is still an interesting skater, though the triple axel looks like it's a distant goal.

Do I need to explain this picture?

Finally, Jayson's practice group. He did a more complete run-through of the program and it is indeed a solo triple axel with the lutz-loop combo and the flip out of footwork. Things did not seem well with Jayson; there were some music problems, both the speed and the volume. Seeing more of the program was great, though, I do like it alot and I think it suits him. I like to see him interact more with the audience, which I think this program lets him do. I hope this is another positive result of being on Skate the Nation this spring. Both Josée and Richard Gauthier were working with Jayson and I also noticed Josée working with Sale and Pelletier. I don't know if this is a new thing or not but they seem like a good team.

Yes, there were others on the practice. I'm afraid this last photo ended up as my most unintentionally amusing photo of the event. Deb had asked for some photos of Takeshi Honda and in this practice, as in a few others, Galina came and sat down next to Josée and Richard. I thought I would take the two skaters in one photo but I didn't realize quite the expressions I was getting from each. Angela has suggested that the caption should be "I'm not nervous about the short program!".
	Takeshi and Szabolcs wore their costumes for practice but I think that is about all I can tell about how they practiced. Most of my attention that wasn't on Jayson was pulled by Jeff Langdon, who looked to be having one of the most miserable practices of his life. His jumps had completely deserted him and none of us saw a single clean triple axel from him. We passed Jeff after practice coming out of the buliding looking very dejected and all wished him good luck but he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but Kamloops at that moment. (I didn't notice Stokjo except that I saw a somewhat uncharacteristic trip in footwork once.)

Compulsory Dance

I have never been able to successfully take notes during compulsory dance. If someone falls, I note that. Here the story was the failure of the electronic scoreboard. The judges had to remember how they started out judging at local competitions and hold up the numbers while the poor announcer ran back and forth behind them with a cordless microphone and read out the marks while someone else followed behind, noting them down. Not an auspiscious start to the competition. Of course, as fans pampered by TV coverage and really nice scoreboards, we couldn't recall what marks previous skaters had gotten and who was in the lead so I just took pictures of costumes I liked:

Albena Denkova/Maxim Stavisky	Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas
Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe	Charlotte Clements/Gary Shortland
and didn't like:
Olga Sharuentenko/Dmitri Naumkin	Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz
Debbie Koegel/Oleg Fediukov

Pairs Short Program

• Marie-Claude Savard-Gaganon/Luc Bradet - His expression says it all. After the practice, I would have never believed it but they skated clean! I think this really says something about why they are former champions. They can pull out the performance when they need it. The music was the electronic Bach Totcatta. The side by side spins were quite slow but in unison. The lift stayed two handed but had a flip out and the throw triple sal was huge and landed cleanly. The slightly lower difficulty of their elements kept the marks low but it was still an impressive performance for them.
• Marsha Poliashenko/Andrew Seabrook - The same program as last year, a medley of Strauss waltz and march. Marsha had been having a terrible time with the side by side double axel but only slightly two footed it here. She did take a tremendous crash on the throw triple toe, landing on her side.
• Heather Allebach/Matthew Evers - She stepped out of the double axel, which is done mirrorwise and hard to follow. Her air position in the lift was not very good. The throw triple sal was a bit pre-rotated but landed cleanly. The entrance to the death spiral was interesting, from a pull through.
• Katerina Berankova/Otta Dlabloa - The throw 3 sal was fine but he doubled the side by side 3 toes. The lift went up shaky but was saved by his strength and experience. She has superb extension on the spirals but his isn't bad either.
• Maria Petrova/Alexsei Tikinov - Catherine was reminded alot of Shishkova/Naumov and I agree the more I watch them. She especially, with her tiny frame and great extension and nice tight air positions. The triple toes were a bit wonky but okay. The lift is very unusual, she goes up in a regular position but then curls completely around his arm in the air, almost as if she had been punched in the stomach. It's interesting but I couldn't tell if it is difficult. The throw triple sal was clean and all the rest of the elements were good.
• Jamie Sale/David Pelletier - The triple toe on warmup was shaky for Jaime but she pulled it out with a slight two foot in the performance. The double twist that had been a little messy the day before was lovely. They did the most difficult throw of the short programs, a throw triple loop that was clean and easy. Only some slight hesitations in the pair spins transitions showed that they were a new team. It was also so great to see two such wonderful pairs skaters work together. They were beaming the whole program, obviously so glad to be skating again. Great job!
• Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao - As soon as they started skating, it was hard to believe anyone would beat them. They were so fast, opening with triple toes in perfect unison, followed by a huge lateral twist. There was one odd slip near the end of the pair spin where they almost lost their balance. Throw 3 sal huge. Improved side by side spins.
• Kristy Sargeant/Kris Wirtz - She just held on to the side by side triple toe, the landing edge arching sharply. There was a slight slip during the spiral sequence where she lost her edge and he pulled her back upright but it wasn't even close to a fall. The throw 3 sal, as usual, was well done. When they finished, I thought they had done well enough to stay in medal contention but they ended up in fourth place, in something of a suprise.

Standings after the short program

1. Shen/Zhao
2. Sale/Pelletier
3. Petrova/Tinkinov
4. Sargeant/Wirtz
5. Savard-Gagnon/Bradet
6. Bereankova/Dlabola
7. Allenbach/Evers
8. Pouliaschenko/Seabroo

Mens Short Program

• Jayson Dénommée - Two new programs meant two new costumes and this one did not dissapoint me. When I saw the opening of Skate the Nation I said I would never complain about leather pants and someone must have heard me. Black leather pants with a completely man-made fabric shirt that was silver with sworls and dark purple short sleeves. I totally loved it. How could things go wrong with this outfit but the warmup was a bit tight. He started out with a great crowd response and really selling the program. The triple axel landing was low in the knee and sharply arched but clean and then the combination became triple lutz - double loop and it all went downhill from there. The change camel got tenative and then the serpentine footwork slowed down alot. Footwork into the triple flip was slow and he stepped out of it.
  
• Szabolcs Vidrai - In the first of the false starts, the music did not start in the right place and there was a delay as it was cued up properly. Slow into the triple axel and only did a double toe after it. The double axel and 3 lutz from footwork were clean. The program was well skated but his quirky choreography doesn't mesh well with his lack of expression and it makes for a very bizarre effect
• Takeshi Honda - In the second false start, Takeshi took his opening pose and then was called over to the judges to pick something off the ice. I thought it was perhaps a stray bit of costume but it was actually one of the bugs that we had spotted in the stands the day before. After tossing it over the boards, he went back to Galina to wipe off his hands and shudder a few times. Although he won over the audience, it probably shook his composure. The solo triple axel was tilted, with a resulting 2 foot and step out. Then there was a single flip from footwork that he stepped out of and finally a triple lutz from footwork. I was completely unclear as to what elements were really intended to be in the program. The spins seemed okay, though the combo spin travelled alot and the footwork was not particularly difficult.
• Evgenvy Pliuta - Ottmar Leibert Flamenco Guitar. He's a nice skater but so charisma free it's hard to notice him. Clean triple axel, triple flip - double toe combination and triple lutz. Probably one of his best skates.
• Evgenvy Plushenko - The opening quad out of footwork became a double then the triple axel - triple toe combo came to a dead stop on the landing of the second jump. The rest of the program was clean but not as well skated as in practice, the footwork got scrapey and the spins slowed down.
• Jeff Langdon - I guess we have to wish more skaters good luck because Jeff managed to just hold on to the triple axel. The combo was triple flip - double toe and then a triple sal from footwork. The usual nice spins. Good work.
• Dan Hollander - Fall on the solo triple axel, double the lutz in the combo and didn't do a second jump and barely landed the triple toe out of footwork. This number to Stomp is amazing but with no jumps, he's a goner. What a shame.
• Marcus Lemenin - Doubled an intended solo triple axel and the resulting content of the program was too low for the rest to matter as much. He put his hands down on the 2 footed triple lutz but did manage a 3 loop out of footwork.
• Michael Hopfes - Wait, did I mention I like this number? Okay, okay. He fell on the solo triple axel, which didn't have nearly enough up. The combination was tripel flip - double toe and a triple lutz out of footwork. The footwork sections were well done and the audience really appreciated the program. Nice job.
• Elvis Stokjo - Last year's program to drum music. Combination was triple axel- triple toe with the triple toe underotated and two footed. He did the triple lutz out of footwork with a very low landing. The straight line footwork might have had some turns in it and the serpentine footwork was good but it was overall quite slow. Still, with Plushenko not performing to his ability, it was enough to win the short.
• Ivan Dinev - He stepped out of the triple axel - triple toe but considering his practices, that seemed pretty good. Held on to the triple flip and fine on the double axel. The change camel was good but the combo spin was a bit slow. Overall, a good job.

The standings after the short program

1. Elvis Stokjo
2. Evgenvy Plushenko
3. Evgenvy Pliuta
4. Jeff Langdon
5. Szabolcs Vidrai
6. Ivan Dinev
7. Jayson Dénommée
8. Micheal Hopfes
9. Takeshi Honda
10. Dan Hollander
11. Markus Leminen

Yes, there was a ladies practice after all these events. Yes, we stayed and watched it. No, I took no notes and I could hardly tell you what happened but here are some nice pictures of Laetitia Hubert.