Annabelle and Joel Schneider-Farris - Guest Pair Skaters Pueblo Holiday Ice Show 12-13-2013

Annabelle and Joel were guest skaters for Pueblo's holiday ice show. It was a wonderful experience for the kids and we all had so much fun!

 

Fire and Ice 8-30-2013

Annabelle and Joel skated a clean short program!

Glacier Falls Summer Classic 2013

Joel and Annabelle went to the Glacier Falls Summer Classic and had a chance to skate in front of west coast judges. Grandpa and Jo Ann couldn't come since they were in Lake Placid with Rebekah, but Dan and Grama Farris and Uncle Mike were there to cheer them on. Thank you Kathie Fry for doing all the "mom stuff" in Jo Ann's absence and thank you Naomi Nari Nam for the coaching (since Dalilah couldn't be there).

Rebekah Is Now a Double Gold Medalist! - Gold Dance Test Passed 8-5-2013

I just checked Rebekah's US Figure Skating test records. She passed the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango on 8-21-2005 when she was 9 years old. Eight years later she has passed her Gold Dance test. It's really been a journey!

Rebekah spent the summer of 2013 in beautiful Lake Placid, New York with the goal of passing her last two pattern ice dances before the end of the summer. That goal was achieved yesterday on August 5, 2013.

There are so many people to thank for making Rebekah's triumph of passing her Gold Dance Test in Lake Placid (on the same ice sheet that Sonja Henie won Olympic Gold in 1932) and earning her second US Figure Skating Gold Medal. Of course, I was her first ice dance coach, but there have been other wonderful ice dance coaches on this journey. Thank you Tiffany Hyden Dombeck, Patti Gottwein, Paul Steiner, Rich Griffin, Bruce Hurd, Doreen Denny, Collin Brubaker, Rachel Tibbetts, Trina Louise Pratt, Stefano Stangalini, Todd Gilles, Yuriy Kocherzhenko, Peter Dalby, Sandy Hess, and especially Melissa Gregory Petukhova, and Denis Petukhov who coached her on that special day!

I also want to thank my dad, Dr. Arthur Schneider, for being such a support to our figure skating family!  Daddy, your love of figure skating made Rebekah's ice skating triumph of earning an Ice Dance Gold Medal come true!

 

Joel and Annabelle's Skate Detroit Freeskate 7-27-2013

Annabelle and Joel did a great long program at Skate Detroit 2013!

 

Broadmoor Open 2013 - Annabelle and Joel Win the Short Program!

Annabelle and Joel skated a perfect short program at the Broadmoor Open 2013 - June 28, 2013!

 

• Broadmoor Open 2013 - Annabelle and Joel Schneider-Farris action photos

Fire and Ice 5-31-2013 - A Night of Triumph for the Three Schneider-Farris Kids!

Joel, Annabelle, and Rebekah all skated in Fire and Ice on Friday 5-31-2013 and skated clean programs! Go kids!




 

Wounded Knee

Just for laughs!!!

 

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!

 

Annabelle and Rebekah Pass More Ice-Dance Tests! 1-4-2013

This past holiday season will always be remembered since it ended with Rebekah passing a gold dance, her Quickstep, and Annabelle passing a pre-silver dance, her Foxtrot.

Rebekah has only two gold dances left to pass before she is an ice dancing gold medalist (the Westminster and Viennese waltzes), and Annabelle has only the European Waltz to pass to complete the Pre-Silver dance test. 

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....

This time around, we shared the cost of flying Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov out to Colorado Springs from Connecticut. Linda Alexander, the manager of Honnen Ice Rink at Colorado College, set up a test session around the dates Melissa and Denis could come to Colorado.

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. 

Olympic and World ice-dance coach, Sandy Hess (who also coached Melissa and Denis), has been teaching Rebekah on her gold dance solos at the World Arena, and came to CC to teach the kids and a beautiful Quickstep and Foxtrot came together! It was amazing to see Sandy turn Annabelle's Foxtrot into a beautiful dance so quickly in fact!

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.

Anyway...January 4, 2013 will be remembered as a very happy day for the Schneider-Farris girls. My dad, who had been ill for much of December, came to Colorado to watch the tests which, of course, made things extra special!

Congrats Rebekah, Annabelle, and Jessica!  Go kids!  And...thank you Melissa, Denis, Sandy, and Linda (and the entire staff at Honnen Ice Rink)!