Working to Skate Big: U.S. Junior Ice Dance Champs Neset and Markelov Prepare for 2022-23 Season

After the summer competitions leading up to the Junior Grand Prix season, reigning U.S. Junior ice dance champions Leah Neset and Artem Markelov are refining their two new routines.
 
"We've been focusing mostly on our pattern dances and also our step sequences," Neset said. "Working on all of the technical aspects and making it a fun program to watch."
 
Markelov added that they've been improving their stamina by "doing a lot of cardio — two run-throughs, three run-throughs a day."
 
"We also work on creating more flow and power because of our height," he said. "We're considered a small team, so we're really trying to skate big. We're working really hard to cover as much ice as we can."
 
Their rhythm dance was choreographed by Massimo Scali and their free dance was choreographed by Nikolai Morozov, with help from their coach Elena Dostatni. Markelov hopes to bring the wow factor with their step sequence.
 
"Every single move is matched to the beat, so if we do it right, with emotions and full of energy, it should stand out," he said. "I think our twizzle sequence in our free dance is pretty interesting … We have a really cool transition … We're also working to be perfectly parallel to one another. It takes a lot of practice."
 
Their rhythm dance is Flamenco, tango and paso doble and their free dance is set to music from Pirates of the Caribbean.
 
"The first song in our rhythm dance is from [the Broadway soundtrack of] Moulin Rouge! Our tango is to 'Tango D'Amor.' We finish with Moulin Rouge! again with 'Backstage Romance,' but it has a paso doble guitar added to it," Neset revealed.
 
A Moulin Rouge!-themed routine is nothing new to ice dance fans. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won gold skating to the soundtrack at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
 
"I actually got to see that program in person at Skate Canada," Neset said of her favorite ice dance team. "We're using a different piece and doing a different style."
 
When watching more advanced skaters, such as Virtue and Moir and Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Markelov pays close attention to their expressions, emotion and chemistry.
 
"We have acting classes once every two or three weeks. It is fun. You can try different roles and you become more comfortable with performing with your face," he said.
 
Neset hopes this helps her break out of her shell and emote more. To work on their synchronicity, she explained, "We've done some work in front of the mirror to try to match our arm movements."
 
Neset and Artem had been preparing to compete at the Junior Grand Prix event in Armenia this weekend, however, the International Skating Union announced that the event has been canceled due to safety concerns, so fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see these new routines.
 
Markelov, who is originally from Russia, was very much looking forward to the assignment in Armenia because his entire family was set to come to the competition. Last season, the team got to compete in his home country, and he said it was great to have his "supportive" family in the audience.
 
How Their Partnership Came to Be
The team mutually agrees that they immediately clicked and decided on the second day of their tryout that it was a partnership they wanted to pursue.
 
"It felt natural," Markelov said. "Our legs were parallel just naturally."
 
Markelov was still living in his native Russia when he discovered Neset's profile on a Russian partner search. Intrigued that an American girl was looking for a Russian partner, his team contacted her coach stateside and arranged for him to fly to the U.S. for a tryout. Once they decided to move forward, Markelov returned to Russia to get his belongings and plan his relocation to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they now train at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
 
He was planning to stay home for two weeks, but this was at the very beginning of the pandemic. A week after arriving in Russia, his mom warned him there could be a shutdown, so he booked a plane ticket right away.
 
"The next morning, I was on a flight from Moscow to New York and when I landed, I called my mom and she said the next flight that was after me was turned around halfway because of COVID," he recounted. "My flight was the last one that came to New York. Then, we were in quarantine for three months doing off-ice lifts, workouts and games."
 
They also enrolled in ballet classes via Zoom. Last season, they took hip-hop and modern dance, and this year, they've added ballroom.
 
Moving On Up
Complementing their on-ice training with off-ice is paying off. They moved up from sixth place in junior at the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships to topping the podium one year later. Neset credits their maturity and Markelov cites their "polished programs" for the leap from sixth to first in only one year.
 
Off the ice, Neset and Markelov are just as busy as they are on it, and live on very structured schedules. She attends online high school and takes Russian classes to learn her partner's native tongue. Markelov grew up attending Russian-American school, so he learned a lot of vocabulary and grammar by taking two classes daily for eight years. He's gained confidence in the language since moving to the United States in 2020. He is now a student at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, majoring in data analytics and system engineering, and works at the university as a data management assistant.
 
"We're really happy with where we are right now," Markelov said. "We have really good chemistry on ice. We're really grateful to represent Team USA and we're really happy with where it's all headed."