Bourne and Kraatz have impressive new original dance

 KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CP) -- Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz have mothballed their Riverdance free dance, but the Irish influence in their figure skating remains very much alive in an impressive new original dance.
 Their waltz to a vocal by Clannad earned them top marks in the second phase of the Skate Canada ice dance event Friday night, strengthening their grip of first place overall heading into the free dance Sunday.
 "This was the first time we skated this program in competition and it was very important to us to have a positive skate and a clean skate," said Kraatz.
 The got mostly 5.8s of the possible 6.0 for artistic impression, which are oustandings numbers given the program's infancy.
 Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania were second in the original dance and sit second overall.
 Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe of Vancouver are ninth among 12.
 The near-capacity crowd of 4,200 loved the Bourne-Kraatz performance.
 Bourne, 22, from Chatham, Ont., and Kraatz, 27, from Vancouver, have won world bronze medals the last three years. They hope the new original dance will help boost them up a rung or two this season.
 "After doing Riverdance last season, we thought it would be a nice touch this year to use something Irish," said Bourne. "It's Irish, but it's a different style.
 "Last year was footwork, we footworked ourselves to death, but this year it's just soft. It's a love story.
 "It's about two people who meet and date and have a little romance. We try to make it airy and soft and beautiful."
 Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the former Olympic and world champions, helped them choreograph the new original dance.
 "We've moved up to a new plateau of skating," said Kraatz.
 Seachran is the title of the Clannad piece. It's sung in Gaelic. Bourne and Kraatz don't know what the words mean, but on the side of the disc package are the words: He who courts a beautiful woman.
 Bourne performs the two-minute dance as if she's swayed to the words forever, which might be explained by the fact she has a touch of Irish in her blood, she says.