On-ice photo by MKT Photography

Mina Esfandiari & Shin Lei (Lei Lei) Case will compete at this week’s National Solo Dance Final in Salt Lake City, Utah. Learn more about this shadow dance team and the logistics behind their unconventional, long-distance, on-ice partnership. 

How did the partnership form?

We met at solo dance camp in Dallas in 2020 and our friendship evolved from there. Our parents always stayed close and would be the cheering squad for the both of us. We became closer friends during the 2024 season because we were competing against each other in International Patterns — we kept trading the first place spot at each event. At the end of the season, we approached each other to see if we were interested in partnering for the next season. We had multiple discussions trying to figure it out as we knew it would be challenging logistically, but really we just wanted to have fun together. We are like sisters and always have something to laugh about.

Who are your coaches and who choreographed your program?

We are coached by Igor Shpilband, Natalia Deller, Pasquale Camerlengo, Adrienne Lenda, Renee Petkovski, and Brooklee Han.

Our program was choreographed by Brooklee Han and Pasquale Camerlengo. We were unable to coordinate a time when we could meet up, so Brooklee came to TX for a few days at the beginning of the year to teach Lei Lei the choreography. Mina was sent LiveBarn videos of the program and she learned it from her phone.

We worked with Renee Petkovski on musicality, expressions, and fine-tuning the program. Pasquale Camerlengo worked on our arms, intros and endings. While Natalia Deller worked deeply on edges, ankles, and details, and Igor Shpilband worked on details, skating skills, and unison. Adrienne Lenda is very technical with us and loved working on our expressions.

What music are you skating to? Who designed your costumes?

We are skating to “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Our costumes were made by Mathieu Caron and Marc English (Iconic Skate).

How did your first competition go as a newly formed team?

Mina: Our first competition went pretty well considering we had only two weeks to prepare. We did not skate together that much before the competition and only really had time to practice together again on practice ice at the event, so our main goals were to stay on our feet, perform, and get through the program. Once we got the results, we were pretty surprised and happy to have placed first with our limited preparation.

Lei Lei: I thought our first competition together at Southport went fairly well. We had no expectations placement-wise, so we were pretty shocked when we saw that we had finished first.

Where do you train?

Our training facility is Novi Ice Arena in Novi, MI.

Because our partnership is long-distance, we usually travel to the competition one to two days beforehand to skate together and run as many programs as possible.

We actually made Novi history because this was the first time that they ever coached a Shadow Dance team! It’s been amazing training alongside such talented ice dancers.

What do you like about shadow dance? How is it different from partnered dance?

Mina: What I love about shadow dance is skating with Lei Lei — she makes everything so fun. We are like two peas in a pod, and we push each other in different ways. I also really love tracking and skating with someone. It’s much different than partnered dance by being a no contact “partnered” skating, and you have to make sure your movements look exactly the same as your partner. I am currently looking for an ice dance partner and I work on partnering skills daily, so it is fun jumping from shadow dance to partnered dance.

Lei Lei: I really enjoy the team aspect of shadow dance. Skating with Mina makes everything so enjoyable, especially having our 6:00 a.m. lessons together! We both feed off each other’s energy and keep one another going throughout our training sessions. Every step, movement, and expression has to be seamlessly matched. One tiny change can throw off the entire program. Shadow dance is different from partnered in that everything is executed side-by-side — it is like one long no-touch step sequence.

What do you both do for fun outside of skating?

We enjoy taking random road trips, exploring new places, going shopping, and doing Pilates. We never know our plan, we just drive and whatever our mood is will be our destination.

Final Comments?

We are really proud of what we have accomplished this season, and we are super excited to show what we’ve been working on at the 2025 National Solo Dance Final. The most important thing is that we have had so much fun together, and we thank our coaching team for all the lessons and effort they put into us. Taking us on as a Shadow Team for the first time was such an honor. We would also like to thank our training mates as well, as they have been so supportive and made the whole process so fun that they even learned our choreography overtime!