Just for laughs!!!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Annabelle Passed Her European Waltz! 3-10-2013
Annabelle passed by all three judges! This is her last Pre-Silver Dance, so now on to Silvers!
Friday, January 4, 2013
Annabelle and Rebekah Pass More Ice-Dance Tests! 1-4-2013
You can say it was "more than complicated" to make these dance tests happen.
Those who read the Schneider-Farris family's skating blog may recall that nearly two years ago, the contracts of the resident ice dance coaches at the Colorado Springs World Arena were not renewed.
The World Arena's decision affected our family greatly. We first waited for an Olympic level ice dance coach to come to the World Arena, but that did not happen. Instead, all three Schneider-Farris kids stopped competing in ice dancing due to the coaching situation, but Joel and Annabelle continued to compete in pairs and Rebekah is working on getting all her senior tests passed (pairs, dance, free skating, and free dance).
Rebekah's ice-dance tests have been somewhat "pieced together" since there has not been a full-time high level male ice-dance coach available at the World Arena. To get Rebekah through some ice-dance tests, in late October, we took a trip out to Hartford, Connecticut for Rebekah to work on her last two pre-gold dances and one gold, the Argentine Tango. She spent a week and a half "ice dancing non-stop" with Denis Pethukhov and passed those three dances. That was a great experience, so....
Elena Dostatni, the new Colorado Springs World Arena ice dance director, originally gave Denis and Melissa permission to use the dance ice time at the Colorado Springs World Arena Ice Hall for my kids and Jessica Mancini (and also a student named Adelaide Ponte that Melissa and Denis brought out from Connecticut) to train on with Melissa and Denis, but after we paid for the plane flights and after they arrived, changed her mind. We were only able to use that facility for one week.
So....the second week Melissa and Denis were in the Springs was difficult since we had to piece together ice time at CC, but all worked out. I must commend Linda Alexander, Colorado College's ice rink's manager, for going over and above for us. Without her, these ice-dance tests would not have been possible at all.
Jessica Mancini's parents, Sal and Sharon, shared the cost of bringing Melissa and Denis out to Colorado. Jessica passed the Rhumba, an international dance that is higher than a gold dance. Jessica's Rhumba was beautiful. Unfortunately, Jessica was not able to take the Silver Samba because of the ice time that was lost when we couldn't use the World Arena, but she did get a critique from the judges.
Congrats Rebekah, Annabelle, and Jessica! Go kids! And...thank you Melissa, Denis, Sandy, and Linda (and the entire staff at Honnen Ice Rink)!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Fire and Ice 11-2-2012
Annabelle and Joel skated a clean short program at Fire and Ice on 11-2-2012. It was their last Fire and Ice before we leave for Midwesterns 2013 that will take place in Cleveland on Thursday, November 8.
Rebekah passes two pre-golds and one gold dance!
Rebekah and Jo Ann just returned from a week and a half in Connecticut. We went there specifically for Rebekah to work with Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov with the goal of taking dance tests at the end of the week.
We had a wonderful time since my dad came. We stayed in a really nice hotel in Avon, Connecticut which is right next to Simsbury, Connecticut where the International Skating Center of Connecticut is. Rebekah did two to four hours of ice dancing every day.
Every day her dances got better and better!
On the first Monday we were in Connecticut, my friend, Tom McHugh, drove an hour from Bethel, Connecticut just to ice dance with me. Tom and I know one another from something totally different than figure skating, but share a common love of ice dancing. Tom drove for over an hour to link up with me and we had such a nice time together. We did preliminary, pre-bronze, bronze, pre-silver, silver, some pre-golds and gold dances together and also some roller skating dances! It was so fun!
We also enjoyed eating out a lot and we enjoyed the beautiful area and the Avon Old Farms hotel. One day, Rebekah and I visited the Mark Twain House.
On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel in Avon and Rebekah had one last lesson with Melissa and Denis. We then drove towards Katonah, New York which seemed to be about two hours away, where Rebekah's test would take place on Sunday at the Hickory Hill Figure Skating Club. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn in Armonk and had a nice dinner together in the hotel on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Armonk hotel and arrived in Katonah at the Harvey School Skating Rink around 8:30 am. Rebekah skated on the club's dance session to warm up for the test and then it was time for the test session at 10:15 am. The test session went quickly. Soon, Rebekah was done with the Blues and Paso Doble and we waited to see if she'd be back on the ice for the Argentine. When she was, we knew she passed the pre-golds!
Then, after the Argentine, test papers were passed out and we found out she passed the Argentine too. It was so exciting to find out she passed by all three judges and over and above by all three too!
We left Katonah and headed back to Connecticut to the home of our friends Tom and Lori McHugh. After visiting with Tom and Lori and also enjoying the videos Tom filmed of Rebekah's tests, we headed towards Hartford and went out to eat a great restaurant called Maggie McFly's in Southberry. We had a relaxing meal together with Tom.
At the end of the meal, I glanced at my phone and there was a text message that our flight out of Hartford was cancelled for Monday at least due to Hurricane Sandy coming towards the East Coast. We didn't panic, but made arrangements for an extended stay in our hotel.
I let Melissa and Denis know we were going to be in Hartford for a bit longer. Melissa suggested that Rebekah start working on the other gold dances, so on Monday, before the storm we went back to the rink in Simsbury. Things were quiet there, but some skaters were still skating even though a storm was coming soon.
After Rebekah sort of mastered the Quickstep steps and timing and some of the Westminster Waltz, we headed back to our hotel. We got some food and water at a convenience store. Then, we went out to eat at Friendly's restaurant. The restaurant staff told us that Friendly's rarely closed even in a hurricane! I ordered turkey with all the trimmings!
Then, after we ate, we went back to the hotel and settled in before the storm. The power only went out for a brief moment as we watched the news. Eventually, the news in Hartford made it clear that the worst was over. We went to bed knowing that things would be okay.
The next morning, the sun peeked through the clouds and I felt that something scary was over. After eating the hotel breakfast, we went back to the rink and Rebekah learned the rest of the gold dances. Rebekah got to train with her new friend, Adelaide, who also trains with Melissa and Denis. After skating, we wanted to go out to lunch in West Hartford at a vegan restaurant, but the road there was closed and many traffic signals were down.
We headed back to our hotel area and had a nice meal at Ruby Tuesdays. We went back to the hotel and we went swimming and then settled in for the night. The next morning, Wednesday, we packed up and got on a plane for Colorado (my dad went back to Chicago).
As we boarded that plane, we all knew we'd been on a wonderful adventure that the three of us would never forget ....AND Rebekah came home with a partial gold ice dance test!
Every day her dances got better and better!
On the first Monday we were in Connecticut, my friend, Tom McHugh, drove an hour from Bethel, Connecticut just to ice dance with me. Tom and I know one another from something totally different than figure skating, but share a common love of ice dancing. Tom drove for over an hour to link up with me and we had such a nice time together. We did preliminary, pre-bronze, bronze, pre-silver, silver, some pre-golds and gold dances together and also some roller skating dances! It was so fun!
We also enjoyed eating out a lot and we enjoyed the beautiful area and the Avon Old Farms hotel. One day, Rebekah and I visited the Mark Twain House.
On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel in Avon and Rebekah had one last lesson with Melissa and Denis. We then drove towards Katonah, New York which seemed to be about two hours away, where Rebekah's test would take place on Sunday at the Hickory Hill Figure Skating Club. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn in Armonk and had a nice dinner together in the hotel on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Armonk hotel and arrived in Katonah at the Harvey School Skating Rink around 8:30 am. Rebekah skated on the club's dance session to warm up for the test and then it was time for the test session at 10:15 am. The test session went quickly. Soon, Rebekah was done with the Blues and Paso Doble and we waited to see if she'd be back on the ice for the Argentine. When she was, we knew she passed the pre-golds!
Then, after the Argentine, test papers were passed out and we found out she passed the Argentine too. It was so exciting to find out she passed by all three judges and over and above by all three too!
We left Katonah and headed back to Connecticut to the home of our friends Tom and Lori McHugh. After visiting with Tom and Lori and also enjoying the videos Tom filmed of Rebekah's tests, we headed towards Hartford and went out to eat a great restaurant called Maggie McFly's in Southberry. We had a relaxing meal together with Tom.
At the end of the meal, I glanced at my phone and there was a text message that our flight out of Hartford was cancelled for Monday at least due to Hurricane Sandy coming towards the East Coast. We didn't panic, but made arrangements for an extended stay in our hotel.
I let Melissa and Denis know we were going to be in Hartford for a bit longer. Melissa suggested that Rebekah start working on the other gold dances, so on Monday, before the storm we went back to the rink in Simsbury. Things were quiet there, but some skaters were still skating even though a storm was coming soon.
After Rebekah sort of mastered the Quickstep steps and timing and some of the Westminster Waltz, we headed back to our hotel. We got some food and water at a convenience store. Then, we went out to eat at Friendly's restaurant. The restaurant staff told us that Friendly's rarely closed even in a hurricane! I ordered turkey with all the trimmings!
Then, after we ate, we went back to the hotel and settled in before the storm. The power only went out for a brief moment as we watched the news. Eventually, the news in Hartford made it clear that the worst was over. We went to bed knowing that things would be okay.
The next morning, the sun peeked through the clouds and I felt that something scary was over. After eating the hotel breakfast, we went back to the rink and Rebekah learned the rest of the gold dances. Rebekah got to train with her new friend, Adelaide, who also trains with Melissa and Denis. After skating, we wanted to go out to lunch in West Hartford at a vegan restaurant, but the road there was closed and many traffic signals were down.
We headed back to our hotel area and had a nice meal at Ruby Tuesdays. We went back to the hotel and we went swimming and then settled in for the night. The next morning, Wednesday, we packed up and got on a plane for Colorado (my dad went back to Chicago).
As we boarded that plane, we all knew we'd been on a wonderful adventure that the three of us would never forget ....AND Rebekah came home with a partial gold ice dance test!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Fire and Ice 10-12-2012
This is the best they've done with the short program so far in an exhibition format...
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
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