Category: Ice Dance

Remembering Alexandra Paul – Interview Archive

I’m not yet ready to write exactly what I want to in more depth about Alexandra Paul and her skating legacy. But this collection of past interviews with, and observations about from others, may be a helpful resource for some. If you’re able, please consider donating to this GoFundMe to support baby Charlie and Mitch.…

Hensen and Lickers Working to Make Their Move

by Jacquelyn Thayer. Cover photo by Danielle Earl. For many ice dance fans, the Lake Placid Ice Dance competitions in July mark the new season’s start. But with livestreaming unavailable for 2022’s event, those at home resorted to the decade-old days of awaiting written reports, photos, and rogue video of programs of interest—particularly, this year,…

A Hallelujah Chorus

by Jacquelyn Thayer Leonard Cohen, needless to say, was a master. He may have been the kind of singer-songwriter you discovered, like me, as a teen or college-aged indie rock fan, along with acts like Nick Drake and the Velvet Underground. If you’re Canadian — and especially from his native Quebec — he’s a homegrown…

Hubbell and Donohue Compose a Hallelujah

by Jacquelyn Thayer Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue have hit a sort of “Hallelujah” trifecta. Certainly they’re the first team to marry skating’s favorite versions of the Leonard Cohen composition—those of Jeff Buckley and k.d. lang—in a single program, and the first to present two separate programs to the song. And more than this, they…

From the Vault: Finnstep and Theatrical Dance

by Jacquelyn Thayer Adapted and updated from previous posts on Step Sequences. For an erratic and irregular season, marked by intermittent competition and frequent COVID-related event cancellations, the ISU sagely allowed ice dancers to repeat the 2019-20 season’s rhythm dance pattern, the fan favorite Finnstep. The pattern, as its name suggests, takes off from the…

Carreira and Ponomarenko Strive to Highlight Strengths

by Jacquelyn Thayer On the last Saturday of January’s US Figure Skating Championships, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko skated their final free dance of the 2018-19 season. The following Monday, coach Igor Shpilband was ready with the concept for next year’s program: flamenco. It’s a natural direction for a young team whose ease with mature…

Virtue and Moir Highlight Change, Will to Win

by Jacquelyn Thayer After an undefeated comeback season in 2016-17, silver at December’s Grand Prix Final has only further stoked the Olympic goals for Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir ahead of next week’s Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, where they’ll aim to win their eighth title as senior competitors. “We don’t plan…