Lamar and Brogan Are a Team to Watch in Intermediates

Lili Lamar and Chase Brogan

October 25, 2005
Article and Photos © J. Barry Mittan 

According to noted Italian coach Valter Rizzo, Lili Lamar and Chase Brogan are a dance team to watch for the future. The two 14-year-olds have just begun training together this season in Nikolai Morozov's group in Newington, CT. For their first season together, the dancers are just hoping to skate their best and place well at Junior Nationals. They finished fourth in the free dance and second overall in the compulsory dances at their first major competition, the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships in August.

Lamar started skating when she was six. "My mom put me into it," she sad. "I used to be a skier." Born in the ski town of Aspen, Colorado, Lamar competed until about two years ago, always finishing in the top 10-15 in her division in slalom and giant slalom events, but gave it up to concentrate on skating. She competed in ladies singles until she was 13, and then switched to dance. "I wanted to do pairs because I liked the lifts and throws, but my coach advised me to go into dance," she noted. "I like dance. It's fun."

Brogan began skating when he was five. "We saw an ad for a Learn to Skate class and it just took off from there," he said. Before that, he had competed in equestrian events on his own pony. "Chase was riding since he was old enough to walk," said his mother, Linda. "We leased a farm and I used to train horses so he took to it naturally." Brogan quit riding when he was ten because he no longer had any interest in sports outside off skating. He had also been involved in baseball and soccer.

He began taking ice dancing when he was nine or ten, but didn't start full-time until he was 12. "I had constant pain in my knee and ankle and I couldn't jump," he said, "so I concentrated on dancing since it's more relaxed and you're not constantly jumping." He competed with Sarah Bailey last season, finishing fourth in juvenile dance at U.S. Junior Nationals.

After Bailey and Brogan split, he found Lamar on a USFSA partner search website and she came to Newington for a tryout. The couple proved to be compatible and they've been training together since April 19, 2005. "We get a long really well," Brogan stated. "Lili's a much better match than my previous partner." "We communicate really well," Lamar added. "We both think alike."

The dancers work primarily with Matthew Gates, assisted by Shae Lynn Bourne, Valter Rizzo, and Ruslan Goncharov. Brogan has been at Newington for the past three years, while Lamar previously worked with Tiffany Hyden and Derek Trent in Colorado Springs, CO. The couple normally trains for four to five hours a day, six days a week, with another two to three hours of off ice work every day.

Gates and 2005 World dance silver medallist Goncharov choreograph the couple's programs, with assistance from Bourne. This year, they will use a tango from Vanessa Lang CD for their free dance. As intermediate level dancers, much of their training focuses on compulsory dances. Of those they have practiced, Lamar likes the Foxtrot and Brogan prefers the Fourteenstep.

Off ice, Lamar said she listens to "pretty much everything but heavy metal and country", while Brogan prefers rock and heavy metal. He also enjoys going to concerts and playing the guitar. Both skaters like to go to movies and hang out with their friends to relax. Brogan also enjoys ocean fishing, bowling, and seeing the Red Sox play baseball in Fenway Park.

Both of the skaters are home-schooled honor students who plan to go to college, but neither has a particular career in mind. "We just want to concentrate on skating for as long as we can," Lamar stated.