#where there's a different coach elena- elena novak

[sunskate]

Isabella Flores/Ivan Desyatov and Leah Neset/Artem Markelov, the top US jrs train together in Colorado Springs at the World Arena Skating Academy (WASA)

They're coached by Elena Dostatni, who was a junior ice dancer for Russia for 3 seasons with Maxim Shabalin (bronze medalist at the 2010 Olympics with Oksana Domnina who did the aboriginal dance😬) and won silver at Junior Worlds in 2002. She's married to an ISU tech specialist and has been coaching at the World Arena Ice Hall in Colorado Springs since 2011

She does some of their choreo. They also often work with Massimo Scali, Nikolai Morozov (😑) and this year, Kaitlyn Weaver.

Neset/Markelov have been skating together since 2020 and have been US jr champs for 2022 and 2023 and 5th at jr worlds in 2023

#i didn't even realize there was a WASA and a WISA #davis smolkin train at WISA in virginia #where there's a different coach elena- elena novak #leah neset used to skate with dmitriy tsarevski too #small small world

[threecupsfull]

Michael Parsons on stepping up this season and on creating this year’s free dance

WIth Tara Nichols on Ice Talk podcast 11//10/21

📷: Danielle Earl

Tara: What are you most proud of in your season so far, and what are you most excited to keep working on?

Michael: Oh, man, I think what I’m most proud of is because we always talk about progression throughout a season, I think we’re really proud of what we’ve done so far, and um like the step up that we’ve taken, especially just this season as a whole, so yeah, I guess what I’m most proud of is just the step up that we’ve taken, and I’ve really loved these programs that we have this year, so it just feels really good to put them out, especially two big competitions back to back [Skate Canada and Gran Premio d’Italia], it’s a lot of emotion, but it feels good.

Tara: Anything specific you’re hoping to continue that progress on, as you go from here into your next event?

Michael: For the rhythm dance, it’s more just really getting those elements, getting the high levels that we’re aiming for, to get that tech score up. I think we’ve made a lot of progress in components. For free dance, I don’t know, it’s kind of a completely different animal, because it’s really the first time that we’ve truly put ourselves into a program. So, um, there’s a lot that I want to see just in terms of evolution of the program, and I think it will continue to evolve this whole season. I think it’s changed a lot since we first made it. So now it’s just continuing that, working on consistency, and really making sure that we’re staying true to ourselves. It’s fun to say, because sometimes I feel like programs aren’t really reflections of you, it’s a character that you’re putting yourself into. But this free dance is definitely special.

Tara: I’m glad you brought that up, because I wanted to talk to you about this free dance. I have to tell you, it’s one of my favorite free dances this season, it really does feel like this beautiful piece of modern art, which is great, but you know of course it is a competition program, so you have to find that balance of the technical side of what you’re doing to get the marks you’re looking for, but also you’ve both talked about- you want it to feel like a piece of art and like it is something that you can pour yourselves into every time you perform it. What’s that process been like, coming up with this concept, taking on a really different modern dance type approach to a free dance, and then like you said, continuing to improve it along the way.

Michael: I think it’s a fine line, because we’re always trying to balance the intention of the movement, the intention of the dance with the technical requirements of the program, so yeah, there’s parts where we’ve gotten feedback-and we’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback from judges and skaters and coaches all year, but the biggest feedback is like, add more power. And we are adding more power, but at the same time, we never want it to look like there’s effort in it because that goes against the whole intention of the movement, so, I don’t want to go into a transition like, push push push push. I want to be able to gain speed but stay very smooth throughout. So it’s a fine line figuring out how to add power and ice coverage while making it look like we’re not really moving.

Tara: That’s the challenge, right? Is making it look easy

Michael: Exactly

Tara: Do you have a favorite part of the program, is there a favorite section or piece of the choreography that you really really enjoy?

Michael: I think it’s the choreo step for sure at the end, because that part we really thought, forget the preconceived notions of like you want to be fast you want to be powerful and strong, let’s just move. Let’s just feel what the music is saying, and that whole combination of steps was just completely organic between Caroline, me and Elena [Novak, their coach/choreographer]. When we created it, it just felt right, and it still feels so good to do.

Tara: That’s awesome it’s a lot of fun to watch. I said last week we were talking about your free dance from Canada, and I was saying on the podcast that I just, I wanted to go back and watch it again, because there’s so much nuance, there’s so much there, that I felt like I missed too much, I needed to see it again, so it was great to see it again

Michael: When I talk about the program as being living, breathing things that there are all these little nuances, but at the same time we’re always thinking about how can we add more. How can we stretch this even further, add more detail, so I think as the season continues, you’ll see even more things like that.

#figure skating #michael parsons #caroline green #green parsons #2021-22 fd #icetalk podcast #beautiful unique my favorite fd this yr by far

[sunskate]

I would love to hear your opinion on Charlie's teams and how you think they'll do going forward. He's already got huge fed support so things look promising.

There's a podcast where Charlie talks about being a big believer in higher education, and there have been hints that MIDA's curriculum is a little different - they've had classes in History of Figure Skating and nutrition. His students have said he takes time to talk to them about philosophy and skating and making sure that what they do to achieve what they want is sustainable. MIDA has 4 teams competing internationally this season so far. The 3 teams besides W/C switched from WISA in Maryland/Virginia where Greg Zuerlein coached for a time before he went back to Michigan:

Katerina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chen: 17/20 yo They've been skating together since 2019 and were 2021 US Jr Champions. She was US intermediate and novice champ with her previous partner, went to a JGP with him, then split and teamed with Jeffrey. Jeffrey had several different partners, including Layla Karnes, who's been training solo at IAM.O. His older sister is Karen Chen. He moved to Novi to team with Katerina and train with Igor. They competed at senior US Nats earlier this year and came in 6th, were 4th at Junior Worlds, then moved to MIDA They skate with attack and good unison. For a dance team, they've fallen or make major errors a LOT, but they're young and have a lot of potential and good basics. They were favored at Jr Worlds last season but fell in the RD and came back from 11th all the way to 4th. The way they throw themselves into programs with high energy (which sometimes tips over into loss of control) is a bit like younger Charlie himself. I really like their FD even if it wasn't quite cooked in their first 2 competitions- they fixed some of the timing issues by Budapest Trophy, where they won bronze. But then had a big issue with their rotational lift at GP France, so developing consistency has to be a major focus for them

Molly Cesanek/Yehor Yehorov: 21/23 yo Yehor is from Ukraine and represented them on the JGP circuit with 2 previous partners from 2014-17. He then teamed with Molly in 2018 and was released by Ukraine to compete internationally for the US in 2019. Molly is from Virginia, competed in the US with 3 partners before teaming with Yehor. They trained in Maryland and Virginia with Alexei Kiliakov and Elena Novak before moving to MIDA earlier this year. They were 4th at US Jr Nats in 2020 and 10th at senior US Nats this year. This season so far they've placed 10th at Nebelhorn, 9th at Skate Canada, and 5th at Ice Challenge. There's no question they feel the music, but they needed guidance refining their presentation - their facial expressions and arms were ott and distracting from the big picture. Choreo that had him doing the Worm didn't help. His flexibility isn't great, especially his back, so there can be a lack of suppleness in their movement Good news is, MIDA seems to be reining in some of the emoting, or giving them programs that are as dramatic. Their new FD has big, sweeping music, and they look a little sharper already. Their packaging is sleeker, and i like these programs a lot better than their previous material, especially the FD. Molly had emergency surgery for appendicitis in July so had to delay the start of their season, but the coaching change looks promising for them

#figure skating #MIDA #charlie white #wolfkostin chen #cesanek yehorov #bratti somerville and gr/p next #sorry it took a while