Mike Ricigliano - Ice Dancer Blog

2008 Adult Figure skating Nationls - Lake Placid

2008-05-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the from the results stand at nationals. Was an interesting year. It was a really good competition this year. 10 teams.

This is our 6th year together and our 6th Championship win.

Next year will be a Freedance not an OD so we will have a bit more time to develop the program and some changed requirements. We've already started working on a Level 4 set of twizzles. We've also started to talk about upgrading our lifts.

Adult Nationals - First day of Championship Dance competition

2008-04-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

This was the first day of Championship Dance competition, We did the Paso and Starlight.

Ten teams are in the event, Julie and I were thrilled to this this kind of turn out. We were also impressed with the level of skating which was really good from what we saw.

The first dance was the Paso, we did not think we skated the dance well. After thinking about it, I held back and was not driving and attacking. I thought I would just get through the 3 patterns, that's what happens when you don't own the ice it owns you.

The second dance we were determined to waltz it but also go for it. I think I was kind of mad at myself. We skated very well and were pleased with with we did. We got a lot of very good feedback eg "did not think you could get better", "It was the best dance I've seen you skate"

The final results of today are that we are currently in 1st place. We got mid to high 4's on our component marks and our best component mark is performance and execution. I did not see the GOE's that will be interesting.

Also, we got interviewed by Ice network kind of cool.

Check out IceNetwork
They have a picture of me taking a nap, great just when you think you have a moment to snooz.

You can see all the Adult Nationals 2008 results

First Day in Lake Placid at Adult Nationals

2008-04-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

First day at Adult Nationals and what a beautiful day it is here.

Julie will be arriving tonight for our first practice and we skate on Friday mid afternoon and Saturday evening.

Skating has been going well since Sectionals and we are very pleased with where we are at this point. Our program has come a long way. I feel like we are finally starting to focus not just on the technical aspects of skating but the interpretation. My hand positions have been my one of my primary focus. We have been videoing our programs and wow what a revelation. I always say why did someone not tell me.
Maybe they did but I just did not realized how bad it was.

Ending pose of our 2008 OD

2008-03-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

Here is the final pose of our 2008 OD, this picture was taken just in time, we had a bit of a miss hap after we got to the pose!

Sectionals - Pacific Coasts

2008-03-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

There were five teams a Pacific coasts championships this year. Julie and I were very excited to see such a great showing. I was exciting to see some competition this year. The OD's were all very different and unique. See the results

IceNetwork - See Skating Videos

2008-03-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share with you a recent picture on the IceNetwork. This is a website that has videos from all the major US competitions. This week Julie and I are on the front page. Take look at a picture from last year's OD.

2008 OD program - Country Dance

2008-02-16T23:14:00.000-08:00

New program for 2008 is country dance. We choose a Russian Gypsy dance.

Maria Klimova has been our chirographer for the last five years however. Maria and Sergi have been out of the country performing in Skating with the Stars in Russia. We asked around and found that Caitlin Mollory a student of Maria and Sergi's - senior team last year - http://www.ice-dance.com/mallory-holdburg/ Caitlin was available and was happy to help with a program. Caitlin give us her music for this year with a new partner. We were so luck. Many have said that this is our best program yet, we hope so.

Lean to Ice Dance DVD

2008-02-06T23:56:00.001-08:00

Take a look at the Ice dance DVD that I did. Terri Levine who I skated with in the DVD. We only skated once before this at a dance weekend. Terri was great to work with and lots of fun.

Terri is on the left and Julie Keith my partner and myself are on the right.

It was a great experience. I think we did about 50 patterns of dances for this video, 10 of which were the Dutch Waltz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYvCc8ucjLg

If you are interested in finding out how to get one take a look at this link:

http://www.icedancers.com/Index.html

First Time Julie and I were in the Skate magazine

2008-02-06T23:34:00.001-08:00

One of Julie and my first pictures in a publication. This is the final pose of the Quickstep. This was also our first National Adult competition together.

In Skating Magazine

2008-02-06T23:28:00.001-08:00

A fun picture from the skate magazine this year.

My First Post

2008-02-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

My first blog after all these years in the IT industry. I've made the leap