what i've been up to (mostly stars on ice)

I'm a little surprised at how quickly the month of May has flown by. Once classes ended in the first week, I thought I'd have a slow, lazy month, getting ready for my big trip across Canada and working at the beauty store. I was definitely getting ready for my trip and I was working a fair amount, but it definitely wasn't a slow, lazy month. I have been going at top speed for weeks! The good news is that I'm almost done with preparations and arrangements and I leave in 2 days, but more on that in my post tomorrow!

For now, a bit of catch-up:

The last weekend of April and the first weekend of May took me to Ontario for Canadian Stars on Ice, as usual. This year was my third year in a row making a weekend of it and going to multiple shows. We ended up going for the record—Windsor, Toronto, Hamilton, and London. Fun times!

Overall, the show this year isn't what it has been in the past. I understand the business strategy for setting up the tour like they did in the Olympic year, and considering that I was present at SOI's first sold-out show in who knows how long (London, hometown of new Olympic champs Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir), I guess it paid off. But a lot of the longtime fans really missed the way that SOI shows have always felt before, so I hope they'll go back to the old format next year.

For example, the opening and closing numbers were not good. The opening worked a bit better, because they relied on the skaters to come out individually and do something that they did well, but the group choreography at the end of the program was fairly lame. The finale, however, was a different story. I'm not sure what they were going for when they picked the music, but it came off as a joke. "I've Got the Music in Me?" Really? That's not even a good, but cheesy song. Who turns that up when it comes on the radio? And in an Olympic year, when the chances of pulling in a younger audience is higher than in the in-between years, you pick that song? Add to it the truly awful choreography (they did the sprinkler!), and you have one hot mess.

At the one U.S. show I went to in Chicago, it fell horribly flat. Even for a huge crowd, thanks to a lot of proud Evan Lysacek fans, the energy in the arena was more awkward than excited during the closer. A few skaters really tried hard, but when the whole cast wasn't into it, not even Belbin's perk and Weiss' back flip could save the number.

But in Canada, there was one other factor: a fantastic cast full of natural performers that went over the top and sold the crap out of the embarrassing choreography. Props to them. Once I got past the initial shock of the cheesiness, the Canadian finale was fun. I spent most of the number chuckling out loud, especially when I was sitting on the ice in Toronto.

Anyway, this blog post wasn't meant to be an entire Stars on Ice review. I wanted to post one earlier, but never found the time. So I just need to say that despite the poor group choreography choices, the Canadian SOI tour featured fantastic skating and some wonderful solos. Jamie Salé & David Pelletier's "Scream" earned a standing ovation at all four shows that I attended (I think) and it was well-deserved. I thought it was the best program they'd done in years. It was a treat to see Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir's free dance four more times, even though it was an abbreviated version, and I loved that Joannie Rochette reprised "Summertime," which I last saw her skate in 2008, I think. Cynthia Phaneuf's "Nothing Compares 2 U" was a standout, too, and I loved seeing her skate with such confidence. Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon's "Do I Move You" was some of my favourite choreography of the year (is Renee Roca on a roll this year, or what!), and I think it's my favourite program that they have done as pros. This is saying a lot, because I've loved all of their tour programs in the past 3 seasons.

But the single most awesome moment in all of the four shows was Kurt Browning's "That's Entertainment" in Hamilton. True, maybe it didn't quite have the same energy as when he skated the original, but that was 15 years ago. For 2010, this performance was incredible. It was one of those skates that made me leap to my feet at the end, then look around to make sure that the rest of the crowd had felt the same way. (They had.) I remember watching the program when I was kid and thinking it was pure magic. It was nice to know that I had been right.

As usual, I also enjoyed spending time in SW Ontario with a huge group of friends. A bunch of us went to the post-show reception in Toronto, which was inside the ACC this time, instead of at the Westin. This proved to be a problem when my friends didn't get their passes with their tickets and a security guard on a power trip refused to let them enter the building, even when I put on my best sweet-girl face and tried to talk them in (I had a different pass and he didn't have a problem with me going in), and even when Jo, Canada's sweetheart herself, came downstairs to verify that yes, these were the girls that she'd requested passes for. In the end, the security guard never bent, but someone who worked with the tour told the girls to walk on in, and they did while he continued to argue and pretended to call for a supervisor on his walkie talkie. 5 minutes earlier, he'd told me that there were no supervisors in the building when I'd asked to talk to his. Awesome.

Anyway, the rest of the girls did eventually get upstairs and we had some good chats with the cast. Although some of us were at the free dance in Vancouver, this was the first time we'd seen Tessa & Scott since they became Olympic champs and it felt weird (in an awesome way, of course) to congratulate them. Wasn't Scott looking terrified on his first senior warmup in his white suit just, like, two minutes ago? Also, now Tessa wears jumpsuits/rompers, apparently. Personally, I feel like attached pants are never the answer, but maybe she was making a statement. We also chatted with Jamie and she confirmed that she's doing Battle again, which of course is "out" now, so I don't feel bad blogging it. Two of our friends were at their first post-show reception ever, so it was great fun for me to introduce one of them to MF&P, and they other finally got to meet Jeff, which was great since she's been a fan for as long as I have known her.

Our usual self-po with MF&P...love that she suggested it this time.

Some of the group: Jules, me, Lori, Jen, and Sarah

The next night in Hamilton, we added a few more girls to our group and after standing awkwardly in the post-show area for A LONG TIME (long enough for me to let Erica video me tap dancing), we were heading to Walt's (which was rechristened last year to Waltz-with-a-z, but that's lame so I have resisted), but apparently some loud music had sent our friends to the Sheraton bar, which is a nice little place. For all the time I have spent at the Copps in Hamilton, I had never been up to the bar on the second floor of the Sheraton.

And I swear, Jules and I were going to be good and skip the London show, but we made a last-minute decision (again) to go on that Sunday. It's hard to say no, since it's right on the way home and we always are driving through London just before the show starts anyway. We expected to have to buy standing room only tickets, but when I got to the box office and found out that the standing room was actually standing balcony at the very top of the arena, on the end, I was so relieved that they'd just released a few extra seats in the 2nd row. Whee!

Once I got back to Chicago, I finished my last project of the semester, and started planning like crazy for this trip. Honestly, I haven't done too much that warranted blogging and most of my efforts to photograph my city over the past month have turned out poorly, so I will leave you with a photo of the fountains in Daley Plaza. This was, I think, the first day that they tried to dye them red for the Blackhawks. It didn't go so well. But I love pink, so whee.

I'll be back tomorrow with a hiatus post and a link to my trip blog, but if you're impatient (yes, there's already content up), it's here.

beautiful spring day

The weather in Chicago (and across the country, from what I hear from my friend in Massachusetts) has taken a dramatic and sudden turn toward summer this week. I love hot summer days because I am almost always chilly, but I feel like I didn't get to enjoy quite enough spring this year. We had some beautiful weather in March and April, but it seems like most of May has been cold and icky. So I finally got around to editing some of the photos that I took on my April walks around the city and thought I'd share what makes a beautiful spring day for me.

This spring, I started working the early shift twice a week, unloading shipment and stocking shelves. It's tough to get up so early, but I love the feeling of leaving work in mid-morning, when everyone else is tucked away in their office cubicles and the tourists haven't descended upon the city yet. It's extra nice when a splash of colour greets me just a few steps north of my store:

I love tulips!

I also love eating at the great lunch spots sprinkled around the Loop, and the organic spinach, fresh strawberries, feta, and candied walnut salad at Specialty's is spring on a plate.

From Specialty's, I head home, back to my neighbourhood across the river. I love living so close to the Loop—so much that once it warms up, I'll even get up 20 minutes earlier so I have enough time to walk to work in the morning.

As if the tulips weren't enough, there were daffodils blooming in the West Loop.

Perfect way to cap off a perfect spring day? An iced vanilla latte from the San Marino Deli. They take a little longer than the Starbucks across the street, so I can't go when I'm in a hurry, but it's worth it when I can take a few extra minutes for Illy coffee (my favourite) and the extra care they take when making the drinks.

kids make me smile

I had a rough day at work today, to say the least. Can I just suggest to the consumers of the world (or at least those reading my blog) that you be nice to the retail slaves of the world? We'd appreciate it. Or at the very least, refrain from smacking our hands. Personal space means a lot, plus respect is nice. Just some ideas.

One thing that always gets me through tough days is thinking about the people I love. I was blessed to spend Sunday afternoon with my cousins and although I didn't take photos since we just spent a very hot afternoon basking in the air conditioning, watching hockey, and eating pasta, I thought I'd share some photos of the kids from the spring that I haven't blogged yet.

The kids and my aunt spent a spring break week with some friends from Minnesota at a resort kind of near the western suburbs. They had a lot to do at the resort, but they also came downtown a couple of times, and I was more than happy to play tour guide on a day when I wasn't working. (Fact: I love playing tour guide.) We ate at the French Market and then took the Water Taxi to Navy Pier. I had to leave for class shortly after I navigated them to the Pier, but I loved spending some time with them on a beautiful spring day in my city.

Kids on the Water Taxi

A few days after their Chicago outing, I got to see them again when my parents and I drove up for Easter dinner. My aunt and uncle are fabulous cooks, so the food was fantastic and of course, the company was even better. Easter is my favourite holiday after Christmas, but this was the first time that we've ever spent it with them. It made the special day extra special.

Girls go racing to find the eggs that my mom and uncle hid

I love that Bradley's not too old for stuff like this yet. Not sure how many more years he'll be excited about an egg hunt!

Little Miss Sunshine with her basket

Kristin rocking the braids

Bradley is kind of awesome because he rides a unicycle.

Kristin had the foresight to match her flip-flops to her new bike.

getting the shot

2010 has been a great year so far. I've already made some fabulous memories and quite honestly, being at the Olympics was a lifetime dream come true. I'm really not that old, so I consider myself a very lucky girl. But amid all of the excitement and happiness that 2010 has brought, I've also been suffering from a lack of inspiration and confidence.

At work, I was offered a position that I felt I had earned, but after the informal offer from my manager, the job was given to someone else without so much as a word about it to me. In my fiction class, I feel like our professor is constantly looking down on all of us, which has made me pretty apathetic about writing—not good when this semester is one of six in a degree that's costing me thousands of dollars. I haven't felt much like writing anything, including but not limited to: working on my novel, writing short pieces in hopes of publication, revising essays I wrote last semester that I really liked at one point, blogging, and writing articles for IDC. It's been fairly glum as far as writing.

However, two things happened in the past month to really give me a boost, and one just happened last night, so look, I'm writing about something recent for a change!

Let's start with last night. I was in my Writing About Place class, which I've really enjoyed all semester. While the class has mainly functioned as lit-for-writers, we have also done a bit of writing in the form of "narrative exercises." Our third exercise was due 2 weeks ago, and the assignment was to write a one-page scene in which external and internal factors contribute to an irrevocable event. I chose to write a bit from my novel, which is a YA-ish book (but hopefully smarter than most of the crap YA) about an ice dancer. Surprise, surprise, right? Anyway, in the scene that I wrote, Jessie (my protagonist) bites it on footwork in her free dance at a major competition. My goal for the scene was to write the "action"—the skating, the ice, the arena—but to stay inside of her head and get at her emotions, too. All in a page. And well, I crept over to page two a bit. It's really tough for me to write short.

Last night, we workshopped half of the exercises, including mine. And guess what! People liked my scene! Only about half the class had read excerpts from my novel before, so there was a bit of confusion about the characters and background info from the rest of the class, but overall, I got some great feedback, good suggestions, and even a bit of praise. It's been a long time since I've felt that good about something that I've written. I'm having a really hard time balancing all of the projects in my life, but I've been wanting to work harder on the novel, so I'm going to try to set some goals and deadlines for myself so that I keep plugging away. I don't think that the scene I wrote will enter the novel without some revisions—I don't want it to actually be that short since it's going to be the focus of a chapter, but I'm looking forward to working with it and expanding it.

Okay, inspiring thing #2 actually happened a month ago today, so this is a bit late. As usual.

At Thin Ice (see my last few blog entries), I saw the second show four times—Saturday afternoon & evening and Sunday afternoon & evening. The first three shows were dress rehearsals, with the final show on Sunday night being a live TV broadcast. And at the last show, on Sunday night, I got this shot:

Probably one of the coolest photos I've taken in my short career as a skating photographer, right? It's not often that someone back flips over someone else in skating—I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen it, and definitely the first time I've ever photographed it.

People sometimes ask me how I get such great shots of skating. I'm not very confident in general (not just this semester) and I'm so awkward at taking compliments, so I usually just shrug it off and say that I was in the right place at the right time, or that I have great material to work with. Both of these things are true, but there's a lot that often goes into getting a great shot, and this one in particular is a good example of that.

I saw this show four times, and this shot is from the last show. So before I took this, I saw the program (and this move) done three other times. I photographed two of those three shows. At the first show, I wasn't at all ready for this, and my photo is a mess. The ice is more in focus than either Mike or Marie, and my shutter speed was way too slow to freeze the action in his flip. I decided not to shoot the second show, because I felt like the skaters were exhausted from doing two shows a day for the second day in a row (not a typical schedule for this group) and I was exhausted, too. At the third show, I was ready for the flip and adjusted my shutter speed, but I was at a different angle that was unflattering for Marie, to say the least, and I still didn't get Mike anywhere close to being in focus.

So for the last show, I was ready. I sat in the corner, where I knew I'd get Mike's face upside down, but I switched sides, so I'd get Marie's face as well. I adjusted my settings so I could get my shutter speed even faster, I closed the aperture a bit so my depth of field wasn't as narrow, and I decided to try a vertical photo with a one-point focus. From the angle where I was sitting, it wasn't too tough to follow him and keep the focus on him. And of course, since I'd seen the program three times before, I knew exactly where the move fell with the music and what the set-up looked like. After that, I just had to stay calm, take a deep breath, and not shake! And as soon as I snapped it, I flipped my camera around and checked it on the LCD screen, but I already knew that it was going to be a good one.

In the end, I still had to work with it in post-processing. It was a little less than 2 degrees from vertical, and since it happened so fast, it's not like I had a chance to center it. So when I rotated the photo, I cut off part of the background, and I had to spend some time working with the patterns and filling in some of the darkened crowd. The lighting also wasn't great at the shows—house lights were up a bit, so I had to work with the colours to get it to pop like it had in person. It was definitely worth the work, though! This is certainly a photo I'm proud of, and I've received more praise for this shot than for anything else I've ever taken.

So as I've been thinking about this shot during the past month, an obvious realization I've had is the importance of doing your homework. For me as a skating photographer, this means that whenever it's possible, I try to see programs more than once. I try to go to practices at competitions, even when they're early, because I know that even just a slight familiarity with programs will translate into better shots. I watch skating online as much as I can, not just because I love it, but because I get ideas for shots that I want to get if I'm going to see that program live later in the season. I even like imagining what shots I would get if it's a team that I know I won't see. I relish every opportunity to "practice" shooting skating—whether that means shooting practices, local shows with terrible lighting, international events, club competitions with little kids doing single jumps, the Olympics, whatever! I love it all and I know that every shot I take is an important one.

More than all of that, though, I've been thinking about my role as a skating photographer and how it relates to, well, my life. Besides being curled up under my pink comforter on my bed in my jammies, I think that I'm more at home behind my camera in an ice rink than I am anywhere else. Skating photography is something that I know that I'm good at, it's something I love doing, and it's something that I always want to be better at. Freezing my tail off boardside at a club competition gives me such a feeling of satisfaction. When I'm there, I know it's where I'm supposed to be. I know that I'm doing something valuable. That's something I don't generally feel at my job, even though I can stock the nail polish faster than anyone else on the task team. I know that this is because I work in a beauty store for a job, but I shoot skating because it's life to me. I can't help but want to be there.

I know I've had some incredibly lucky breaks—one of the best skating photographers in the world sat me down and taught me how to use a camera, for example. That's how I got started. But I was in that situation because I went after it, because I felt something pulling me towards skating photography and I followed it. And I continue to go after it. I'm not delusional and I know that there isn't much of a chance at having a career as a skating photographer. Maybe skating photography will never be enough of a means of income to survive. Maybe it will, though. And if there's a chance at all (and I think there is), I have to keep hoping that someday I'll get out of retail and into doing what I love. Even if it's never a career, though, I think it will always be a part of my life. I just can't imagine ceasing to care about being in the rink to capture those moments. I feel responsible for them.

thin ice: off the ice

This is a bit late, but I did have a most excellent time on part two of Spring Break 2010 (wooooooo!), which took place at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut. You may or may not recall that I had a trip planned to spend the weekend with two friends for the tapings of Thin Ice, which aired live on ABC on March 19 and 21.

For skating purists (like us), the show wasn't really the greatest show we've ever attended, but I do think that the skaters put on a great show for the local crowd, especially. They all really got into the spirit of the competition and went all-out, even given the demands that they faced. I don't know of any skaters that are used to do two shows a day, but they had seven shows (2 live shows, 5 dress rehearsals with full audiences) scheduled over 4 days. That's tough in any circumstances, but especially skating brand-new programs with brand-new partners. I thought everyone did an awesome job and I would have thrown everyone a vote if I could have. As it was, I couldn't throw anyone votes, since I was rolling with the VIPs, and we were labeled as suspicious and biased and not allowed to take voting keypads. Bah!

I have to post about meeting my childhood idol! I fell in love with skating during the 92 Olympics, which of course were the Games that Miss Kristi Yamaguchi won. I adored her. I wanted to be just like her. I begged my mom to buy me the Wheaties box that she was on, and my mom made me promise that I would actually eat the cereal, so for two weeks, I forced those awful Wheaties down. I finally saw her skate live in 2004, but couldn't get up the nerve to say anything to her when she walked past me after the show. Same thing happened again in 2007. But 2010 is my year.

Speaking of favourites, one of my favourite ice dance teams was a part of this competition, although with separate partners, of course. On Friday night, Marie-France had the most insane hair, and she was super proud of it, as you can see from the photo. There weren't any clips in it, they just made it stand up like that! Rad. She went on to win the competition (with Michael Weiss) on Sunday night.

My friends and I had a great time the whole weekend, and since we went to all the shows, we quickly met the other people who kept popping up from show to show. Like John Zimmerman's mom, who joined us for dinner after the show on Friday. She's a fantastic lady.

Chele, me, and Jen with Norma (John's mom) and John, taken on Sunday night at the afterparty.

On Sunday night, the whole cast & crew & everyone's guests descended upon Shrine (the aforementioned Asian lounge) for sushi, drinks, and dancing. The sushi & sashimi was fabulous. I wasn't expecting it to be so good at a casino, but it does have excellent proximity to major fishing grounds, and well, it is the MGM Grand. High rollers and all. I also thoroughly enjoyed the dancing, including the fact that someone must have slipped the DJ a list, because he kept playing music that had been used in the shows. Full marks to John and Shae for recreating their entire program to "Poker Face" while everyone stood around them and clapped like we were at an 8th grade dance.

With Chele and Jen at the afterparty, two of us looking super blue-eyed.

A-MAZING sashimi platter that they plopped down in front of me. When it was empty, they brought ANOTHER one. I wish things like this happened to me at home. Things like this never happen to me at home.

The sushi was so amazing that Chele even volunteered to try her first piece of maki ever! Awww!

Photoing up with the lady who hooked up the whole weekend.

Overall, kind of a great weekend! It was quite different from what I expected, but I had an excellent time. Right now, my photos from the first show are available on Ice-Dance.com, and I'm hoping to get through the rest of the photos in the next two days. I shot the 2nd show three times, so I'm trying to make sure I don't post the same shot from each of the 2 rehearsals and the live show. The process is taking a bit longer than usual, plus I have been really busy. As usual.

So if all goes well, expect another blog post in the next couple of days with a few highlights from the skating portion of the weekend!

lovely weekend with much food

I've dropped the ball with blogging a bit, mostly because I've been taking so many photos recently that I can't keep up with the selecting and editing. Fortunately (or sadly, I can't decide), I didn't take any photos last weekend, but I still have a bit to talk about, so here's a blog post in a timely manner.

Jules drove down to Chicago on Thursday night, since she didn't anticipate a busy work-from-home day on Good Friday, and we can't go more than a few weeks of not seeing each other without developing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. So on Friday, we sat on the couch and she worked when there was work to do, and I went through photos and tried to get caught up with emails (I failed), and then at 5, we jetted out the door and headed to Windy City Scrapbooking. It's on Clybourn, just south of Fullerton, so I'd never managed to get there on my own. I don't keep my car in the city, and I cannot bear the idea of taking two buses to get somewhere. I guess it's walkable from the brown line if the weather is nice, so I might try to head back a few times this summer.

It was quite a pleasant scrapbook store! I loved the loft vibe of the space and it had a great selection. It reminded me so much of the now-closed Photos to Scrapbooks in Michigan, where I worked for almost a year. I don't scrapbook as much as I used to, but I still much prefer to shop in smaller stores than in the big craft store chains, where they don't get in new stock very often and everything feels outdated like those tragic Pioneer albums with the gold trim.

Jules and I had a scrapbooking project planned for the weekend and it's still in progress, so I won't say anything about it now. Not that the recipients of this project read my blog...in fact, does anyone read my blog? Ha. But just in case. ;-) So we picked up an album and some thematic supplies and then walked a few blocks down to Wolf Camera to pick up the photos I'd sent in. I wasn't too thrilled with the quality of the photos—the colours felt oversaturated on most of them, but we were in a time crunch, so we made do.

Oh, and between Windy City and Wolf, we stopped at Vanille's main location. Vanille is a patisserie with a counter in the French market, but this location is a gorgeous space with comfy chairs and a few tables. They make all of their pastries at this location, then take them over to the market in the morning. I had a chocolate mousse with hazelnut and something else...I lost track, but it was incredible. Jules had a lemon meringue pastry and she loved hers as well. I'd tried a macaroon from the counter at the market with Christina a few weeks earlier, but I'd never had one of their pastries. I shouldn't eat there too often, but I will definitely have to treat myself from time to time. The girl who helped us there was fantastic, too—very knowledgeable and pleasant. We chatted a bit about the French market and exchanged stories about vendors to try.

From there, we headed to Whole Foods—the "mothership" as I call it—off of North & Sheffield for dinner. J picked some delights from the salad bar and I wish I'd done the same. I've never had food there that I didn't like, but my pasta bowl had way too much sauce and felt so heavy, even though I went vegetarian with it. I only managed to eat about half of it. The trip wasn't a waste, though, because we picked up some bars that were much cheaper than a typical grocery store (quelle surprise!!), some smoked cheddar, and a few other goodies.

On Saturday, I had to work, so Jules went to the Wolf Camera on Rush & Chicago to pick up batch #2 of our photos for the book. I thought that these printed much better and the Rush location is more convenient for me without a car anyway, so I think I'll stick to this location. Of course, nothing beats Adorama, but they've been closed for Passover, so I couldn't get the prints done in time for our weekend. I'll continue to use Wolf for snapshot-type photos and rush jobs.

We met up downtown after work and headed to the French Market for a late lunch. Of course, the French Market is one of my favourite spots for food in the city, and I was excited to finally take Jules for her first trip. We both decided to branch out—she tried the Raw counter and had a fantastic salmon pate sandwich, and I tried Zullo's, an Italian counter with local, organic ingredients. I got a prosciutto panini and it was like a slice of heaven. We also split some Belgian fries and dipped them in garlic mayo and wasabi mayo. I loved the garlic mayo, and we appreciated that they literally cut the fries fresh for us. Yum!

I won't mention the basketball game that we watched at my place after that while we scrapbooked. It's best forgotten.

Afterwards, we had our hearts set on dinner at De Colores, but we so weren't hungry. We went anyway, stuffed ourselves, and ended up only finishing about half of our meals, so I have a shrimp ceviche in my fridge to eat tomorrow for lunch!

Then we headed home, our cab driver actually offered me change, we did some more scrapbooking and finished the pages that we'd planned to finish this weekend, and the fun was over far too quickly. Sunday was Easter, so Jules had planned to head back in the morning so I could go out to my cousins' and spend time with the fam. More on that in another post, though, because I still need to get those photos off my camera.

thin ice: preview

Later today, I catch a flight for Boston and then tomorrow, I'm driving with two friends, Chele and Jen, to the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut for Thin Ice.

Thin Ice is a new mini-series of a competition for professional skaters, who have been given new partners for the event. They're skating several shows and "preview" shows at the ballroom in the MGM Grand this weekend, with the Friday night and the Sunday night shows to air nationwide on ABC. The skaters have been encouraged to think outside the box and do something outside of their comfort zone. They're all skating to popular music that will be accessible to the average TV audience (as opposed to an audience full of skating fans) and some have even worked with choreographers from the dance world, as opposed to the skating world.

The pairs are Shae-Lynn Bourne & John Zimmerman, Marie-France Dubreuil & Michael Weiss, Jamie Salé & Patrice Lauzon, Elena Berezhnaya & David Pelletier, and Shizuka Arakawa & Stéphane Lambiel. Two "real-life" teams are a part of the cast -- Dubreuil & Lauzon and Salé & Pelletier -- so it will be fun/possibly weird to see them competing against each other and with different partners. Of the 10 cast members, 7 are used to skating with partners, either in pairs (Zimmerman, Salé, Berezhnaya, Pelletier) or dance (Bourne, Dubreuil, Lauzon). Weiss, Arakawa, and Lambiel are all singles skaters and only skate with partners for ensemble work in shows. Only one pair comes from the same partner-discipline -- Berezhnaya & Pelletier are both pairs skaters. However, Bourne does have pairs experience from very early in her career.

Some of the early press I've read has indicated that Dubreuil & Weiss and Berezhnaya & Pelletier might be early favourites, but it's hard to tell who will mesh well with a new partner. Some of the pairs have been practicing a for a couple of weeks, but no more than that, so this is all happening fairly quickly. Based on what I know about the skaters and how they look on the ice, it's easiest for me to imagine the pairings of Bourne/Zimmerman and Dubreuil/Weiss, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and I'm sure there will be surprises!

Here's a bit more info about each partnership and what they have planned.

Shae-Lynn Bourne & John Zimmerman

Disciplines: dance (her) + pairs (him)

Career highlights: Bourne won 10 Canadian titles (with Victor Kraatz) between 1993 and 2003 and 6 World medals (4 bronze, 1 silver, 1 gold). She competed with Kraatz until 2003, did some show appearances with Kraatz for the rest of the year, and has been skating as a solo dancer since then. Zimmerman won 3 U.S. titles with Kyoko Ina, as well a bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships. He skated professionally with Ina until 2008, when she decided to retire from skating, and has skated mainly as a soloist since then, although he's also skated in a couple of shows with Elena Berezhnaya.

Programs planned: "Closer" - Ne-Yo and "Poker Face" - Lady Gaga, choreographed by David Wilson

My thoughts: Both skaters are gorgeous and have a commanding on-ice presence. Their long lines should look great together. Bourne did a great job adapting her style to a new partner when she finished second in Canada's Battle of the Blades last fall, where professional female skaters were paired with former NHL stars.

Marie-France Dubreuil & Michael Weiss

Disciplines: dance (her) + singles (him)

Career highlights: Dubreuil (with Patrice Lauzon) is a five-time Canadian champion and a two-time World silver medalist. Her last competitive appearances were in 2007, and since then, she's been touring with Stars on Ice and skating in other shows. She also appeared on Battle of the Blades last fall, where she finished third. Weiss is a three-time U.S. champion and a two-time World bronze medalist. He retired from competition in 2006 and has also been with Stars on Ice since then.

Programs planned: "Meet Me Halfway" - Black Eyed Peas, choreographed by Fatima Robinson and "Broken Strings" - James Morrison & Nelly Furtado, choreographed by Mark Ballas

My thoughts: Both skaters are high-energy performers and they've toured together with Stars on Ice, so this seems like a good match, too. Weiss doesn't have experience doing lifts, so I hope they don't try anything too crazy (also because Dubreuil's partner on BOTB dropped her a few days before the first show...she's had enough of that!), but I already appreciate that they've taken some choreographic risks and tried two different choreographers from different areas of the dance world.

Jamie Salé & Patrice Lauzon

Disciplines: pairs (her) + dance (him)

Career highlights: Salé (with David Pelletier) is a three-time Canadian champion, World champion, and Olympic champion. She retired from competition in 2002 and has been touring with Stars on Ice. She won Battle of the Blades in November with Craig Simpson. See above for Lauzon's highlights.

Programs planned: "Sexy Chick" - David Guetta and "Hey, Soul Sister" - Train, both choreographed by David Wilson

My thoughts: I respect both of these skaters tremendously. Salé is one of my favourite pairs skaters; Lauzon is one of my favourite ice dancers. It's a bit tough to picture them together, though, and a lot tough to picture Lauzon skating to "Sexy Chick," but I guess I have to go with it! Salé is a crowd favourite, though, and Lauzon is definitely one of the best partners in the world, so they have a lot going for them if they can put this together.

Elena Berezhnaya & David Pelletier

Disciplines: pairs (both)

Career highlights: Berezhnaya (with Anton Sikharulidze) is a four-time Russian champion, a two-time World champion, and the 2002 Olympic champion. See above for Pelletier's results. Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze and Salé & Pelletier were close rivals between 1999 and 2002, always going head-to-head in major competitions. The rivalry was a pivotal moment in the 2002 Olympics when the discovery of a judging fix resulted in both couples sharing the pairs title. Berezhnaya also retired from competition in 2002, touring with Stars on Ice for four years, until 2006.

Programs planned: "Hot 'n' Cold" - Katy Perry and "Cowboy Casanova" - Carrie Underwood, choreographed by Steven Cousins (Berezhnaya's off-ice partner)

My thoughts: Well, I fully expect the TV broadcast to blow up the past rivalry between the skaters, as they always did whenever they appeared in the same event post-Olympics. When I heard that they would be skating together, I didn't have a hard time picturing their skating meshing, but I wasn't anticipating these music choices, so now I'm not so sure!

Shizuka Arakawa & Stéphane Lambiel

Disciplines: singles (both)

Career highlights: Arakawa is the 2004 World champion and 2006 Olympic champion. She retired from competition after her Olympic win and has been skating in shows since then, though she hasn't skated very often in North America. Lambiel is a two-time World champion and the 2006 Olympic silver medalist. He retired from competition due to injury in 2008, but after a year off, was rehabilitated enough to return for a final Olympic season. He finished fourth in Vancouver this year and again announced his retirement from competition this month.

Programs planned: "Get Bodied" - Beyoncé and "Magic Touch" - Robin Thicke & Mary J. Blige, choreographed by Hi-Hat

My thoughts: I think these two have a disadvantage because neither has extensive experience skating with a partner and I could be wrong, but I feel like they don't have much of a height difference, so I don't expect wow-factor lifts from them. They're both exquisite skaters, so I expected them to choose more lyrical music, but I'm also confident that they'll have fun with these programs. On a personal note, I'm really excited to see both of them skate! I haven't seen either live before, and Lambiel is actually one of my favourite skaters of all time.

Overall, I'm thrilled that ABC has put their support behind this show. I hope it does well, and I hope its success would mean a resurgence in skating's popularity. It's a great time to capitalize on the post-Olympic wave and I think the format, where viewers are asked to vote for their favourites, is a good choice. It's also great to see skaters pushing the boundaries and trying to do something different.

I'll be covering the show for Ice-Dance.com, so check the website for photos and thoughts, and keep an eye out for me on TV!