JUNIOR ICE DANCING GOLD MEDALISTS
ALEXANDRA ALDRIDGE AND
DANIEL EATON
went back and worked on the key points of the Blues pattern dance and really got the style of it down, so we could just focus on technical aspect of it.” Now, their sights are firmly set
on the 2013 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Milan, Italy, in February, where they hope to beat last season’s bronze medal. “I think that Alex and I have
improved a lot since last season; we’re communicating better and our elements have all gotten stronger and more consistent,” Eaton said. “Our training is getting harder
ALDRIDGE, EATON MAKE PERFECT MATCH WITH ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’
by LYNN RUTHERFORD Last season, Alexandra Aldridge
and Daniel Eaton gave audiences a high-stepping, foot-stomping ride with their roaring Riverdance routine. Tis season, their goal was to show something equally entertaining. “We knew we wanted to get people tapping their feet to our music, and draw them into the pro- gram as much as we could,” Eaton, 20, said.
When the skaters and their coaches at the Detroit Skating Club (DSC) discussed music choices, there was some back and forth. Broadway? Disco? How about ballroom? Ten Anjelika Krylova spoke up. “I want Fiddler,” the two-time
World ice dance champion said. And so Fiddler on the Roof it was, and the uplifting musical score, with its life-affirming message, has proven a perfect vehicle for the duo’s exceptional ice coverage and increasing power. In Omaha, they flowed into and out of difficult el- ements with ease, and were so well- trained that when Aldridge took a slip at the start of the diagonal step sequence, she was back up in the blink of an eye.
Te defending U.S. junior champions earned 93.74 points for the sparkling routine, ending the event with a score of 159.85, some 10 points ahead of training partners
38 MARCH 2013
Kaitlin Hayawek and Jean-Luc Baker. “Te program had the toe-tap-
ping that we loved, but there was also such a deep connection be- tween the characters,” Aldridge, 18, said. “We thought that would be a good challenge for us, to play up the love story.”
Aldridge and Eaton, who won both of their Junior Grand Prix events and placed third at the Junior Grand Prix Final, entered the free dance with a 2.44-point lead after a smooth performance of their short dance to “Down Home Blues.” It was particularly satisfying since they’ve had to come from be- hind after the short dance in their international events. “It was definitely our best yet,” Eaton said. “Before nationals, we
and harder, and that is helping us improve competition to compe- tition,” Aldridge said. “I’m happy with the way things are progressing for us.” Hawayek and Baker, teamed together just seven months ago by the DSC coaches, impressed with their deep edges and fine unison, first in their short dance to a jazzy “Minnie the Moocher,” and again in their free dance to the sprightly Singin’ in the Rain score. Tey won silver with 149.74 points. “We try to skate as though we
are little kids; We do it because we love it, not as a job,” Baker, 19, said. “It’s ‘We get to go and skate,’ not ‘we have to go and skate.’” “We both lucked out finding
this great partnership,” Hawayek, 16, said. “It’s just been working out really well.” Baker has ice dance in his
genes. His mother, Sharon Jones, is a three-time British ice dance cham- pion. His previous partner, Joylyn Yang, with whom he won the 2011 U.S. novice bronze medal, retired due to back problems, and when he did not find a suitable partner at home in Seattle, he approached the team at DSC. “We have five coaches and
they all bring us something unique,” Hawayek said. “Anjelika and Natalia [Annenko-Deller] drill us; Pasquale [Camerlengo] is very specific and technical on what he wants; Liz [Pun- salan-Swallow] is great with keeping us focused; Massimo [Scali] works a lot on the choreography with Pasquale. Tey are all just very motivating.” For the second year running,
Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter, who train at Mary- land’s Wheaton Skating Academy, claimed the bronze medal, losing out on silver by just .49 points. Te youngsters skated a dra-
matic free dance to the French mu- sical version of Romeo and Juliet, but really made noise by playing zombies in their hip-hop-infused short dance to “Zombie Blues” and “Ramalama.” “We really wanted to stand
out,” McNamara, 13, said. “We [watched] the zombie number on ‘So You Tink You Can Dance’ to see how those professional dancers moved and how they carried their bodies. … Once we discovered hip- hop, it was a lot of fun.” “It was very interesting to do something so different from a lot of the other dances we practice,” Car- penter, 16, said. “It was very cool.” Another team from DSC, Hol-
ly Moore and Daniel Klaber, placed fourth with 141.33 points. Te 2012 U.S. novice champions performed a fun short dance from Grease, and an equally entertaining, and more edgy and sophisticated free dance to mu- sic from Moulin Rouge. “We really love to perform and bring the audience into our pro- grams,” Moore, 17, said. “Tis was our first year in ju-
niors, so we didn’t have any real placement goals,” Klaber, 18, said. “We’re very happy with our pro- grams here.”
BRONZE MEDALISTS
LORRAINE MCNAMARA AND
QUINN CARPENTER
SILVER MEDALISTS
KAITLIN HAWAYEK AND
JEAN LUC BAKER
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF
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