2013 NATIONAL SOLO DANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS PHOTO BY NORMAN HAYWARD
‘A wonderful experience’ by BRENDA GLIDEWELL First time a charm for Yu, Zhang Jenny Yu, a member of the Carousel Sher-
wood Figure Skating Club in Sherwood, Ore., took the lead from her coach Nathaniel Fast and glided into the solo dance world at the end of 2012.
Less than nine months later, Yu found her- self at the top of the podium at the third annual National Solo Dance Championships (NSDC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. Te 12-year-old captured gold medals in
bronze solo pattern dance and the juvenile com- bined events. Yu was one of 270 competitors
Jenny Yu
competing for medals in 12 divisions at the Col- orado Springs World Arena, Sept. 18‒21. “I did not expect to win anything at
NSDC,” Yu said. “I had such a wonderful expe- rience in the Solo Dance Series and have met a lot of really nice people this season. I have such respect for my competitors during the series and here at NSDC; all of them are such talented skat- ers. I feel extremely honored to have competed and to have done so well.” Troughout the series season, Yu added to her coaching staff. In addition to Fast, she worked with Pamela O’Dougherty (who choreo- graphed her free dance) and the coaching team of Patti Gottwein-Britton and Trina Pratt (who focused on developing Yu’s ice dance technique).
Sarah Zhang Yu’s hard work paid off in the championship
rounds at NSDC, where she turned in a techni- cally solid Willow Waltz solo pattern dance and an equally impressive free dance to music from Te Artist. She and the rest of the field earned their way to the NSDC through the Solo Dance Series, which started in January and ended in mid-Au- gust and featured 88 competitions across the country. “It’s been amazing to see such rise in the quality of skating in the Solo Dance Series in such a short period of time,” said Mary-Elizabeth Wightman, program development committee chair. “In watching this program grow, I can say that the best part of the series has been the posi-
Tara Jurgensen
Podium photographs of all the winners will be posted at
skatingmagazineblog.com. 12 NOVEMBER 2013
PHOTO BY WENDILEE W. LASSITER
PHOTO BY CHARISSA EBERSOLE
PHOTO BY WENDILEE W. LASSITER
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