Remember When: Skate America 2019 Free Dance

Confession: I am a Short Dance fan... I'd rather we still have the three components of Compulsaries, Original Dance, and Free Dance... but I love the Short Dance (when it isn't a latin dance). Seeing the patterns get integrated into the program is just fun. I'm still waiting for the Yankee Polka! Haha! 

This event was pretty "normal", I have to say I wasn't impressed with the top two teams, but overall the judging wasn't terrible. The team from Spain was my favorite, and I also really liked what I saw from the French and Chinese. Overall just a well skated competition. 

As for the earlier blog posts (Pairs Free Program, Mens Free Program), I'm going to stick with two photos per team (try to) and you can view all of my photos from Skate America 2019 in my gallery. 

Hong CHEN / Zhuoming SUN - China

Remember When: Skate America 2019 Short Dance

Who doesn't love a Zamboni?

Okay, while Men's will always be my "official" favorite discipline for figure skating... in all honesty Ice Dance probably is. I mean, it's Ice Dance. It's technical and entertaining all in one. That there aren't any jumps does not matter, there's as much if not more danger in this sport. The personalities are bold. The costumes are stellar. THE DRAMA OF IT ALL. How can you not love Ice Dance? 

Right now, North American teams are killing it on the World Stage - though Russia is starting to push its way into the mix again - and I feel sometimes the other countries are overlooked. Getting to see some of the other teams live was a real treat and I came away with some new favorites (I really adored Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz's Short Dance and their Free... and their gala... okay I just love them). 

As with the other two blog posts in today's series (Pairs Short, Mens Short), I'll try my darndest to keep to two photos per team (so hard!) and you can view all of my photos from Skate America in the gallery. 

Caroline GREEN / Michael PARSONS - USA