Canadian ice dancers Gilles, Poirier lead after rhythm dance at Skate Canada

Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are in the lead after Saturday's rhythm dance at the Skate Canada figure skating event in Halifax.

Gilles, from Toronto, and Poirier, form Unionville, Ont., scored 86.44 points for their routine to "Wipeout" by the Surfaris.

Fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., finished second with 77.34 points, followed by Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France with 76.76.

Alicia Fabbri of Laval, Que., and Calgary's Paul Ayer of are ninth with 70.10 points.

WATCH | Gilles and Poirier sit in top stop after rhythm dance at Skate Canada:

Gilles and Poirier sit in top stop after rhythm dance at Skate Canada

The free dance is scheduled for Sunday.

Later Saturday, Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were scheduled to compete in the pairs free skate after topping Friday's short program with a score of 73.23.

Live streaming coverage of the event continues now on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, and resumes on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. ET.

You can also watch more figure skating coverage on CBC Sports Presents, our weekly show spotlighting the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world. Hosted by Brenda Irving, who is joined by Kurt Browning and Carol Lane, the show can be streamed on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.