Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French Ice Sports Federation and 2016 candidate for ISU president, made an illuminating observation on the state of ice dance in a recent New York Times article: “I was up high in the arena the night of [Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron’s] free dance, and for at least two minutes…
Category: Ice Dance
Ice Dance, Other Sites, Step Sequences
16. Charleston and 1920s Dance
The Charleston’s history is a long and tangled one, with touch points including the possibility of a Renaissance-era predecessor in the Branle and its later development amidst the birth of jazz. In style terms, Charleston is one of those dances that’s strictly bound to its time despite remaining familiar to later audiences (anomalies like Dancing…
Ice Dance, Other Sites, Step Sequences
15. Ballet
It’s possible to argue that no dance genre more seriously underpins ice dance than ballet. For as much as the discipline’s social and competitive roots align with those of ballroom dance, ballet is a conventional element of figure skating education as a whole. Lines, general carriage and upper body movement translate fairly fluidly from the…
Ice Dance, Other Sites, Step Sequences
Special Topic: Choreoliteralism
Choreoliteralism is not a dance genre, per se, though it may certainly correlate with the off-ice category of lyrical dance, in its primary meaning — a balletic/jazz-rooted form illustrating lyrics equal to or over melodic line and rhythm. In other words, lyrical dance relies on a fairly literal depiction of a song’s lyrics. On the…
Ice Dance, Other Sites, Two for the Ice
Together, Hawayek and Baker Shaping Their Vision
If American ice dancers Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker know their stylistic strengths, they know even better how they aim to expand them — beginning with a season’s debut at this week’s Finlandia Trophy. Their new short dance, featuring “Waltz of the Flowers” and “Dance of the Parents” from The Nutcracker, came through collaboration between…
Ice Dance, Other Sites, Two for the Ice
Behind the Program, Ep. 4: Paul and Islam, 2015-16 Short Dance
Taking on a Ravensburger Waltz with a classical ballet twist was a task Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam were loath to take lightly. “Any time you tackle a new program, there are countless hours that go into researching, choreographing and perfecting the style of movement,” said Islam. “With a world-renowned style like ballet, you have…
Behind the Scenes, Feature, Ice Dance, Profile
Breens Draw from Experience in Guiding Performers
by Jacquelyn Thayer Interview originally conducted in January 2015. Since opening their Motion Arts physical therapy and conditioning office in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Veronique and Peter Breen have seen the typical woes faced by any facility working closely with high-level athletes—like the greater Detroit area’s bumper crop of elite figure skaters. “There’s always the last…
Behind the Scenes, Feature, Ice Dance
Swan Brings Dance Vision to Work with Virtue and Moir
by Jacquelyn Thayer For London, Ontario dance instructor and choreographer Jennifer Swan, the experience of watching two-time World and Olympic champion ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir compete the work she’s created with them can sometimes be as nerve-wracking as it is for any devoted skating fan. “It’s fun watching it,” she says. “I…
