EDMONTON (CBC) - Canadian ice-dancers Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier are in third position after their original dance performance at the NHK Trophy Grand Prix event in Nagano, Japan.

Crone, of Aurora, Ont., and Poirier, of Unionville, Ont., have 81.38 points after two events and trail Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White (101.18) and Sinead Kerr and John Kerr of Great Britain (91.57).

The Canadian pair said they were happy with their performance in Nagano after placing fourth in the last Grand Prix event in Moscow.

"It was superior to what we did two weeks ago in Russia," said Poirier. "We improved the footwork, delivered a clean technical performance and we felt our level of expression was much better."

Allie Hann-McCurdy of Nanaimo, B.C., and Michael Coreno of Delhi, Ont., stand in ninth place heading into Sunday's free dance.