Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue‘s move from the Detroit Skating Club to train in Montreal under Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon was made official in press releases published by USFSA and icenetwork. Under coaches Angelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo, the couple achieved bronze at 2012 and 2015 U.S. Nationals and made the U.S. Worlds team in both seasons; won 2014 Four Continents Championships; medaled at three Grand Prix appearances (2013 Skate Canada International; 2014 Skate Canada International, 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard); and won three additional internationals (2011 and 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, 2014 Golden Spin of Zagreb).
The move expands the international presence at the Canadian training center, with Hubbell and Donohue the first American team on premises full-time.
Communication 1936 introduces the 2015-16 Scale of Values for Ice Dance, with the news that all three choreographic options for the season — lift, spin and “twizzling movement” — will be worth the same Base Value of 0.6, a welcome development after last year’s weighted preference towards the spin.
Base Values and Grades of Execution for the short dance’s partial step sequence are also equivalent to those for this season’s not-touching step sequence options. Base Value for each section of the Ravensburger Waltz is adjusted from that assigned to this year’s Paso Doble and Paso partial step sequence; while this year’s marks ranged from an even 3.0 (Level 1) to 6.0 (Level 4), Ravensburger BV points progress in increments of 0.6, from 3.2 (L1) to 5.0 (L4). The junior Starlight Waltz also holds the same BV as the senior pattern dance, as opposed to this season’s Silver Samba carrying a BV one point lower than the Paso’s.