Representing the Strongsville Skating Club and the Skating Club of New York, Eva Pate and Logan Bye, step foot on the ice and prepare to amaze their audience with an incredible free dance. It is a great starting position based on their song choice, “Say Something” by A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera and “Primavera” by Ludovico Einaudi. Both pieces are combined to create a soft, relaxing environment. They chose a piece that moves them to skate big and pour their hearts and souls into their skating. The two of these skaters are very dedicated, as it takes a lot of practice perfecting the choreography to a program that needs to be in sync with another individual. From the beginning of their Free Dance, they start closed off with their skating by looking to the ice and holding on to each other.
One section of their program had the lyrics, “I was over my head, I know nothing at all.” During this time, they did twizzles with their arms on their head at the exact second “head” was being said in the lyrics. Directly after the twizzles, the lyrics “And I will stumble and fall” are said in the song. At his time, Bye falls on the ice on cue to the word “fall” in the song. He does so on his butt, but puts his legs into a split position in the air, and stumbles on his way out purposefully. With this sport, like any, timing is everything. Points will be deducted if something does not look in place or off beat by a few seconds. Their timing and choreography during this section of their program was amazing to watch.
Every one of their lifts and twizzles had power and speed going down the ice arena. Every position being held in the lifts and spins was done so beautifully. The extensions were held long and lengthened beautifully. It is clear to the judges and the audience that they were on the ice to win, as their passion for skating was shown through their performance. Every movement completed was done so in an elegant way that made their skating look as though it covered the entire arena. Their emotions and connections were on cue with every beat of the run-through, and as far as this aspect of the performance was concerned, it seemed to be the best one at Nationals. This program is beautiful, and the way they performed it for their audience was outstanding.
Their results for their free dance score was 95.75, which puts them in 7th place for the event. Their final score is 155.82, which leaves them in 7th place overall. Their performance was amazing, and based on their connection and emotions presented throughout the program, I felt as though they deserved to receive higher points than they did at this competition. However, judges take other factors and techniques into consideration. With that being said, other factors may have brought their total score down to be lower than what it was meant to be.
