Emily Bodo and Isabella Colasanti ham it up with their clown routine. The high school juniors won the duet competition.
Akari Nakahara was all smiles with her program to “Shine” from the Broadway musical Billy Elliot.
Guerra also coached several young skaters at
the competition. National Showcase veteran Kate McSwain,
26, of the Broadmoor Skating Club, finished with the bronze medal. She performed a program to choreography from the 1950s film White Christ- mas, which costarred Danny Kaye. “As a choreographer, I thought it was very fit-
ting to choose a song making light of dance and choreography,” McSwain said. “I performed the number in an upbeat style with lots of silly fa- cial expressions, jazz hands, theatrical dance steps and comedic moments.”
Parade of Duet Champions While Hunt excelled once again as the overall
Showcase champion, she also enjoyed success as the coach and choreographer of duet titlists Em- ily Bodo, 16, and Isabella Colasanti, 15, of the Ice House Skating Academy. Te girls performed a fun and athletic clown
routine that struck a chord with the audience and judges.
“Tey were really together, every single detail made them look like twins,” Hunt said. Tis year marked the first time that Bodo and Colasanti, both high school juniors, had per- formed together as a duet. Winning first place, Co- lasanti said, was a big surprise. “Tere were other really good duets that were
funny and creative so we were not expecting to win,” Colasanti said.
Te girls skated to the song “Upside Down”
by Paloma Faith. “It was a lot of fun because our facial expres- sions had to be completely over the top,” Bodo said.
Hunt and Anna Cobb had won the previous
two National Showcase duet titles. Ice Art, featuring the senior duet of Amber
Van Wyk and Jillian Christie of the Starlight Ice Dance Club, captured the silver medal.
Representing the Strongsville Skating Club,
twins Olivia Grohe and Samantha Grohe secured the bronze medal.
Parade of Extemporaneous Champions Kyle Barnes, 14, of the Stars Figure Skating
Club of Texas, put his mark on the classic children’s song “It’s a Small World After All” to capture the title.
Participants in this category hear the same se- lection of music for the first time in a secured room before taking the ice for their warm-up. “I knew I needed to do something unique in
order to stand out,” Barnes said. “Te music was very difficult to skate to, so I went through lots of ideas to come up with one that was memorable. I dressed up as a mime with a french beret and a little red face paint on my cheeks.” Barnes, who will skate this fall at the South-
western Regional Championships at the juvenile level, said he enjoys competing in the extempora- neous improvisation events. “Te National Showcase stage is always the most challenging because all the competitors are so good,” he said. “It was really gratifying to win this event because we are not allowed help from a coach so the ideas were my own.” Taryn Jurgensen, representing the Pasadena
Figure Skating Club, captured the silver medal. Taylor Sirset earned the bronze medal. She com- petes on behalf of the All Year Figure Skating Club.
Parade of Junior Champions Akari Nakahara repeated as the Parade of Ju- nior champion with her “Shine” program from the Broadway musical Billy Elliot. Representing the All Year Figure Skating
Club, Nakahara, 10, played to the audience and judges with her electric presence on the ice. “In the lyrics, it says ‘smile’ and I smiled a lot and pretended to the judges,” she said. For win-
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM NATIONAL SHOWCASE, GO TO
SKATINGMAGAZINEBLOG.COM. SKATING 23
ning the title, Nakahara was awarded the Haley Rose Gans “Skate With All Your Heart” perpetual trophy. Te Taylor-Gebler bronze is given annually at National Showcase to honor the Parade of Junior Champions winner. Her coach, Susan Berens, said Nakahara per-
formed eight programs at Showcase and remained upbeat and never complained during the long weekend. Nakahara, a fifth grader, will compete again
this fall at the Southwest Pacific Regional Champi- onships, where she finished fifth last year. Molly Gibbons of the Santa Rosa Figure Skat- ing Club emerged with the silver medal. Orange County Figure Skating Club’s Chelsea Fujimura garnered the bronze medal. Melissa Bowman contributed to this story.
Kyle Barnes displays his creativity and skating skills to the song “It’s a Small World After All” en route to the extemporaneous champions title.
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