1:33 p.m., Dec. 16, 2009----Famed ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, silver medalists at the 2006 Torino Olympics, and Russian World Champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin will headline the U.S. National Figure Skating Send-Off Exhibition, scheduled at 5 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 9, at the University of Delaware's Fred Rust Ice Arena. Tickets are now on sale for the event.

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Joining them will be a third international ice dance team, Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali.

Belbin and Agosto are five-time U.S. champions and four-time world medalists, and are considered the most successful American ice dancing team in history. Domnina and Shabalin are Russian international team members who won the world title in 2009.

The most decorated ice dancing team in U.S. history, Belbin and Agosto are hoping to improve upon their silver medal showing at Torino when they compete in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The duo missed its chance to claim a sixth straight U.S. title in February, bowing out because of Agosto's back injury, but came back to claim silver at the World Championships.

The gold at World Championships was won by Domnina and Shabalin, who also won at the 2008 European Championships and captured gold at the Cup of China in 2007 and 2009.

Faiella and Scali are six time Italian gold medalists and took silver in the 2009 European Championships.

Also Jan. 9, skaters who train at the University of Delaware will be featured, including Melissa Bulanhagui, who is Championship Ladies Eastern Sectional Silver Medalist; Emmanuel Savary, Novice Men Eastern Silver Medalist; Erika Smith and Nate Bartholomay, Junior Pairs Eastern Sectional Champions; Lauren Correy and Alexander Lorello, Senior Dance Eastern Sectional Champions; Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus, Junior Dance Eastern Sectional Champions; and Isabella Cannuscio and Ian Lorello, Junior Grand Prix team members.

General admission tickets are $12 for the general public and $10 for senior citizens, children up to the age of 18 and UD students, faculty and staff. (There is a limit of two tickets per UD ID for the University community.) Tickets are now available at UD box offices and by phone through Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000, where a service charge may apply.

Special rates are available for groups of 10 or more. For information on group tickets, contact Jim Kaden at the Ice Arena, telephone (302) 831-6038.