I'm so excited for this!!!

Confession time - I really don't think I'm the target audience for the Australian teen-oriented television show Dance Academy - but I love this show.  I first saw it in Germany in German, so I had to watch the episodes a few times to get it.

Then I bought the DVD and watched them in English.  And I watched all of them.  Again and again.  And now they're making a movie! 

I promise you if you watch the first five to six episodes, you'll be hooked.  (And most fans will tell you season 2 is better than 1, so keep going!)

And if you end up going to the movie first, you'll want to go back and watch them all.  So strap in, either way, you're going to want to binge watch.

There is so much in this series that relates to skating.  It takes place at the prestigious national ballet school in Sydney, Australia.  Instead of going to high school, those that are good enough to get in, attend three years of schooling to prepare for life as a professional ballet dancer.

Whether it's an episode about crippling stage fright, lack of funds for training, performing while in pain, competing against the naturally talented, or wanting to quit -- any skater or fan of skating will relate.  I like that the actors are the dancers as well.  So very talented.

Have you seen the show?  Already a big fan?  Let me know.

I Saw #Worlds2016 on Twitter

How did you watch it?

I don't have a subscription to icenetwork.com, and I wasn't paying attention to the schedule until Saturday, so that meant the only skating I caught was the womens' free late on Saturday night.

My thoughts about that (and I am no journalist or skating expert btw) was how bummed I felt for Gracie, how excited I was for Ashley and how stunned I was with Mao.  (Is that under 140 characters?)  Stunned in a good way, that is.

Anyone else feel that way?  I'd love to hear it.


Now, on to what I learned by reading my twitter feed (and also a bit on FB) Sunday morning.  I know who won the mens, the pairs, not so much about ice dancing though.  I know how well # 2 and #3 skated in mens, womens, pairs, and I know what the crowd thought of each and every program.

Thanks to two blogger/tweeter/journos (Jackie Wong @rockerskating and Ollie Williams @OllieW) you'll get all the insight you could need.  Almost like being in the audience.

Check this out, Worlds 2016, a recap of everything - at Rocker by Jackie Wong.  You're welcome.  And Ollie had a handy chart for every skate that went something like this ...

     Judges
     Crowd
     Music
     Heat - as in Heat Maps!!  Yeah, I know.

I also follow Xanboni and Aaron (thanks guys) who live tweet like crazy.  They had a lot of great insight.  And there are others of course.  Sara on Skating, Inside Edge, and of course, Ryan at Skate Guard and others.  I swear, next year, I'll be on Twitter as the skaters take the ice.  It will be much more fun that way.