The Global Dance Party Is Under Way

Alright, NBC showed the originaly dance of American's Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. They look thrilled to be skating at the Olympics. After 23 tangos Friday, here's a reminder of the theme for the original dance if you missed my earlier post:

Any type of folk/country dance music or typical dance of the country can be used. For the chosen type, there are no restrictions on
the number of musical selections. Although the dance may consist of different musical selections – fast and/or slow- there must be a
consistent theme based on a specific country or region.
The arrangement of the chosen music should give a genuine feel for folk/country dance. It should be very distant from the feeling of
the Grand Ballroom.
Same examples: Village, Square, Street, Barn dance, Hoedown, Mazurka, Polka, Tarantella, Hula, Hora, Csardas, Kalinka, Gapak,
Syrtaky, Scottish, Irish, Jig, Reel, Guajira, Cumbia, Jarabe, Fandango, Aborigines Dance, Chinese dances, Lesginka, Country
Waltz, Flamenco, etc.

Here's what to look for tonight:

Delobel & Schoenfelder will be representing France with a Can Can. From practice notes, it looks to be fun. I'm not sure how they'll end up on the podium, but this a team I'm rooting for. After skating together 18 years, they received their first ever world medal and it was gold! They put together the most lovely free skate to music from The Piano soundtrack and integrated sign language into their arm movements as well as the patterns on the ice. Last season, they started strong winning everything but then Isabelle injured her shoulder and got a bun in the oven during her recovery. They are my sentimental favorites for skating together for 20 years and skating four months after giving birth to a son. The NY Times has a great article on them and the pregnancy.

The Kerrs - The brother and sister team skate to Johnny Cash tonight. Too bad they didn't bring back their Scottish OD from the first time the ISU had the folk theme two seasons back. John looks great in a kilt!

Domnina & Shabalin - skate to an aboriginal theme, representing aboriginal people of the world. Rumor has it they have new outfits for this evening. They've been practicing in black all week and a blogger with IceNetwork said the dance actually looks like a great, modern dance in the black. We'll see what they're wearing tonight.

Davis & White - Bollywood comes to Vancouver as they take the ice. They've had huge scores and a bigger reception with this OD, be sure to watch.

The Zaretskys - the other brother and sister team of the evening skate to a traditional Jewish song. I heard the Israeli federation actually chose the music for them. This is a team that has done well over the season and they may make a move in the standings.

Virtue & Moir - I hope they checked the bolts on the roof and BC Place. I expect when this team takes the home ice, the roof will be near blowing off. They skate to a flamenco and have received high scores for the program all season. Risk factor - Tessa skates in this crazy long dress. It looks pretty and flamenco-y but there are times that it looks like it's getting caught between her legs or too much in Scott's face.

Belbin & Agosto - Tanith and Ben close out the evening with their Moldavian dance. I have not enjoyed this dance to much which is too bad as I really like Tanith and Ben. I want them to leave this Olympics with the best souvenir possible, an Olympic medal. I just don't think this program will help them unless one of the top three has a major booboo tonight.

I've got to travel for work this week so I've got to get up early Monday - Thursday. I can't stay up too late, so I'll be catching the blogs and watching the snippets of performances. I'm also missing my skating practice again. I'm going to have to work hard in March to take my Junior MITF test in April. I'm so inspired watching the skaters, there's choreography I'm dying to imitate. I'll have to wait until the weekend and weave through the crowd.