Recap: Haus of Diamonds Exhibition
High level ice dance was the theme of the night in Newington, Conn. on July 19
Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov were incredibly accomplished ice dancers in their own right, reaching the podium six consecutive times at the U.S. national championships (four silver, two bronze) and representing the United States at the 2006 Olympics. Now this duo, based in Newington, Conn. (which happens to be literally a 10-minute drive from my house), coaches and choreographs for skaters competing around the world.
They hosted the first Haus of Diamonds exhibition of the season last month, showing off the new programs for 2025-26 for the ice dance teams of Isabella Chang and Ken Chen (novice), Aneta Vaclavikova and William Lissauer (juniors), Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin (juniors), and Noemi Maria Tali and Noah Lafornara (seniors).
The second show, this past Saturday, was a bit different. Lafornara was out due to illness (Gregory said he should be back on the ice soon) and Vaclavikova was back in Slovakia working on her visa (she's transferring from representing Slovakia to representing the U.S. this season). That meant Tali and Lissauer skated their performances solo, which was certainly something unexpected. There were also some new additions to the lineup, including two singles skaters, so let's recap what happened at Newington Ice Arena on Saturday.
(As a reminder, something I mentioned in my welcome post to this Substack: I am not an expert when it comes to the technical aspects of skating. If you're looking for detailed analysis of how these programs would be scored in a competition, well, sorry, I haven't been following the sport long enough to do that. Also, most of these skaters are literal children, and even if I had the knowledge to analyze the performances in detail, I'd feel terrible overly criticizing the performances of minors. Would that make me an awful full-time figure skating journalist? Probably. So I'll save my hot takes for the NBA players I cover on a daily basis and just celebrate how awesome figure skating is instead.)
Isabella Chang and Ken Chen
This duo, which won bronze at the intermediate level at the U.S. Ice Dance Final last season, is moving up to novice this season. Last month they opened the show with a program set to "How Can I Be Sure" by Gloria Estefan, but this time they skated their quickstep program to "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. It's a fitting song for them, because they seem to express so much joy when they're skating. I was also really impressed by the spinning lift toward the end of the program. They're coming off a fourth-place finish at the Dallas Classic last week, and I'll be interested to see how they continue to handle the step up in level this season.
Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin
The reigning U.S. junior ice dance champions continued the show with their free dance, which they performed later in the program last month. The song is Hymnus Orbis by Trailerhead, which is a dramatic shift from their rhythm dance, but they skate both styles equally as well. The costumes for this one, designed by Natasha Bolshakov are next level. I absolutely adore the flowing fabric wings coming off Aboian's in particular. The whole program is designed to evoke the goddess Nike, and the wings of the costume really make it look like Aboian is flying on the ice.
Noemi Maria Tali
As mentioned in the intro, the reigning world junior champion (who is moving up to seniors this season) skated solo on Saturday, so I went back to my video from June when she skated her rhythm dance with her partner, Noah Lafornara (also, shoutout to Melissa and Denis for taking down two panes of glass on the boards for Saturday's show, giving us a better filming view).
As for the program, if you're an actual '90s kid (like me), this could be your favorite rhythm dance program of 2025-26. It's like a Jock Jams CD (kids, ask your parents) come to life, with a medley of "Think About the Way," "Rhythm of the Night," "Baby Baby" by Corona, and "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited. The latter was actually the first song on Jock Jams Vol. 2. It exudes '90s vibes. The costumes are so well done, with Lafornara's actually having "Are You Ready For This" on the back of his shirt. And they just look like they're having so much fun out there.
Tali and Lafornara will make their senior Grand Prix debut at Skate America in November. They skate for Italy and could potentially represent their home nation at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. The duo of Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri were fourth at Worlds in Boston in March and are the favorites to secure Italy's one guaranteed ice dance spot for Milan. Italy has a chance to qualify for a second ice dance spot, which could go to Tali and Lafornara. Their top competition is probably Victoria Manni and Carlo Röthlisberger, who won silver at nationals last season, but came in 23rd at worlds.
Isobel Carney
A new addition to the lineup from last month, Carney is a singles skater who has been competing at the senior level for a couple years now, and is preparing for the national qualifying series this season. I will say she looked a little tentative going into her jumps, but that could very well be chalked up to early-season jitters. “With One Look” from Sunset Blvd. was a good song choice for the way she moves on the ice.
Irmak Yücel and Danil Pak
The show shifted back to ice dance with Yücel and Pak, a junior team out of Turkey, who are coming off a season in which they finished in the top 20 at world juniors. They skated to a medley of Queen songs ("Bohemian Rhapsody," "Who Wants To Live Forever," "We Will Rock You") for their free dance, which was a strong change of pace from the ‘90s music we heard for most of the night (even if ‘90s music is my jam). They did miss a lift in the middle part of the program, but recovered nicely. The choreo for the "We Will Rock You" section is lots of fun. I particularly liked the part of actually banging on the glass at the start, though I wonder how that would work at a competition where the glass is down completely.
William Lissauer
Next up was another unexpected solo performer, as Lissauer's new partner for the season, Aneta Vaclavikova, was unavailable Saturday night. So once again flashing back to a bit of video from their rhythm dance program last month (so again you have to deal with the fun netting videos -- sorry). They're skating to "If You Could Read My Mind" by Ultra Naté, Amber & Jocelyn Enriquez, and despite being a new partnership, they seem to have really strong chemistry already. They took gold at the Chesapeake Open last month, getting them off to a strong start for the season. Because Aneta is changing federations, they won't be able to skate in international competitions this season, but nationals are certainly a target.
Zoe Bianchi and Daniel Basile
Another new addition from the June show, and change from each skater’s partnership from last season. Bianchi previously skated with Pietro Rota, while Basile was previously partnered with Vittoria Petracchi. This junior team representing Italy did their rhythm dance to a medley of "Sing It Back" by Moloko and "Would You...?" by Touch and Go and it was a strong performance, especially given that they haven’t been teamed up before. Both of them finished in the top five at nationals in Italy separately last season. With Tali and Lafornara moving up to seniors this season, the junior title in Italy is up for grabs, though they’ll have strong competition from another team that skated Saturday night.
Michelle Di Cicco
A former champion in Argentina who won silver at nationals last season, and represented Argentina at the World University Games, Di Cicco is also pursuing multiple degrees in biomedical engineering. I love the idea of someone who can apply her scientific education to her skating choreography. Di Cicco did have an unfortunate fall on a spin late in the program, but was otherwise quite enjoyable to watch.
Laura Finelli and Massimiliano Bucciarelli
As I mentioned, Bianchi and Basile will have competition at the junior level in Italy, because Finelli and Bucciarelli won silver at nationals last season. Their rhythm dance was also a two-song medley, starting with "The Rhythm of the Night" by Corona, which we heard brief snippets of during the Tali/Lafornara program (and it would not surprise me if more teams use it this season). It then transitions to "U Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer, another song I'd expect to hear a few times this season — which I wouldn’t complain about because it takes me back to my school days (yes, I’m that old). The choreo was incredibly enjoyable in the Hammer segment, and I love the way they synched “hammer” arm movements to the lyrics.
Chang/Chen, Part 2
This novice duo returned to the ice to show off their '90s themed Eiffel 65 free dance program (which would also fit with the ISU’s chosen rhythm dance theme for this season). It started off with "Blue (Da Ba Dee)," which famously surged back into the cultural zeitgeist in recent years thanks to Bebe Rexha, before transitioning to "Move Your Body." These were good song choices for this duo, allowing them to really play up their personalities. They seemed to have a lot of fun skating this program both times I saw it this season, and the crowd, as small as it was, really got into it. I could see them feeding off crowd energy at bigger competitions this season.
Tali, Part 2
Noemi Mari Tali returned to the ice to skate her free dance solo (and honestly, skated it beautifully, even without her partner). Flashing back to last month when she skated it with Noah Lafornara, it's a gorgeous program. “Requiem in D Minor” by Mozart is such an emotional piece (which I'll always associate with the iconic scene in "Amadeus"), and Gregory and Petukhov have choreographed something beautiful to it. I really can't say enough good things about this program. Again, I'm no expert in the technical analysis, but I know how watching a good program makes me feel, and this one brings out all the emotions. Also, I don't know how to explain this, but while Tali is listed at 5-foot-7, she just moves taller on the ice (and not just because she's on skates).
Lastly, fun tidbit about the music choice here: it was the song Daniel Grassl of Italy skated to for his short program in 2019-20, when he won the second of his five national titles.
Aboian/Veselukhin, Part 2
The absolute highlight of the night for me. This duo did their rhythm dance program first last month, but saved it for their second performance to close the show this time around. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few teams pick "Vogue" by Madonna this season, but it's going to be hard to top this program. The costumes are great, the moves are on point, and they just skate so well together. I got to speak to Aboian and Veselukhin after the show and I'll have more on how this program came together soon, but it's definitely going to be one of my favorites this entire season.
Is it too early to pencil them in for a spot in Nice in 2030? Maybe, but I certainly wouldn't bet against them.
Final thoughts
It's clear that what Gregory and Petukhov have built in Newington is incredible. All four of their main ice dance teams look very strong, even at this early stage of the season. With two junior ice dance teams and one novice duo, they've got something to build on for 2030 and beyond. I don't know how much more of a workload they can take on, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams seek them out. Gregory also told me after the show that they're considering holding more exhibition programs — and it was exciting to see more skaters take part in the second program, after the first show in June was limited to four teams. Stay tuned and I'll be sure to update everyone if they announce additional shows soon.
Thanks very much for sharing your videos and thoughts!