Dance Around It Is the Answer

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are all dressed up with no place to go, at least as far as the 2006 Winter Olympics are concerned.

Belbin and Agosto have soared toward the top of the international ice dance standings after winning two Grand Prix events and a silver medal at the Grand Prix Final this season. They’re prohibitive favorites to win their second successive U.S. championship, but they can’t represent the U.S. at the Turin Games because Canadian-born Belbin isn’t scheduled to get her U.S. citizenship until 2007.

“I’m lucky to have Ben so loyal to me and to the partnership,” Belbin said Monday after the duo’s practice at the Rose Garden. “We knew from our first tryout we had a special chemistry, and that’s something that not being able to go to the Olympics won’t make go away.

“It’s been harder to accept as we rise in the ranks, but you don’t need to go to the Olympics to be the best in the world.”

Today’s compulsory dance competition will be the first event for senior-level skaters at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The pairs will begin competing Wednesday, and the men and women will compete Thursday and Saturday.

This week’s results will determine the team for the World Championships, to be held in Moscow in March. The U.S. can send three women, three men, two pairs and two dance teams, and those skaters’ placements will determine the number of entries for U.S. skaters at the 2006 Olympics.

Belbin and Agosto, who train in Canton, Mich., with coaches Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva, are eligible to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships. Their fifth-place finish last year was the best for a U.S. dance team since 1990 and continued their ascent from 17th in 2001 to 13th in 2002 and seventh in 2003. Their musicality and fleet footwork make them crowd favorites, and they’ve begun to win the favor of judges too.

“It seems like we’ve always been the new kids, up-and-coming,” Agosto said. “It feels good to break through.”

Defending U.S. pair champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. of Santa Monica also have been on the move, though not by choice.

Inoue and Baldwin have been splitting their time between Southern California and Peoria, Ariz., where their coach, Jill Watson, became director of the Polar Ice Arena’s figure skating program. Traveling to Phoenix is often quicker than their drive to their training rinks in Paramount and Mission Viejo, and they’ve enjoyed the valuable luxury of five or more hours a day of private ice time.

“It took a lot of energy to dodge people. It’s so much easier doing our programs because we’re not dodging other people and looking over our shoulders,” Baldwin said.

During the week, “home” for Inoue and Baldwin -- who are also a couple off the ice -- is a 36-foot RV parked near the home of a friend of Baldwin.

“It seems to be working fine, but I’m a Californian,” Baldwin said. “It’s hard to say, ‘Let’s pick up and move.’ ”

Inoue, 28, was born in Japan but is due to get her U.S. citizenship in April. She and Baldwin, 31, won a bronze medal at Skate America, finished fourth at the NHK Trophy competition and took sixth at the Grand Prix Final. That’s an improvement over their 10th-place performances at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships. “Our season has been fantastic,” Baldwin said.

Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash of Simsbury, Conn., who were second last year, and 2003 champions Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn of Newark, Del., are the only other couples with enough content and experience to challenge for the title.

Baldwin has competed at the U.S. championships since he was a novice singles skater in 1986 but returning as a champion will be a new experience.

“There’s a lot of pressure defending a title,” he said. “It’s really tough when you’re on top, because you have that to lose. You really compete against yourself. You’re your own worst enemy. You just have to realize what you need to do and stay focused.”