Tag: ice dance

Breaking Down the 2017-18 Grand Prix Draft: Ice Dance

With today’s surprise reveal of 2017-18’s Grand Prix assignments, Two for the Ice has compiled the hows, whys — and possible huhs — of who and how many assignments the dance and pair teams in question received. We’ll look first…

Previewing the Not-So-Predictive Grand Prix Final

by Jacquelyn Thayer This week’s Grand Prix Final features a fair range of U.S. and Canadian teams. In pairs, Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford and Julianne Séguin and Charlie Bilodeau will make repeat appearances; in dance, last year’s three…

Predictable Unpredictability in the 2016 Skate Canada International Free Dance

by Jacquelyn Thayer The free dance at 2016 Skate Canada International showcased little movement from the short — but did feature a range of high-scoring performances and more than a few technical twists. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir successfully completed…

Short Dance Brings Variety at 2016 Skate Canada International

by Jacquelyn Thayer While the short dance event at 2016 Skate Canada International might have drawn most attention for its return of Olympic and world champs and its match-up of several recent high-scoring couples — the real joy lay in…

Transitions in Progress for Gingrich and Brown

by Jacquelyn Thayer It’s common enough for skaters with neighboring levels of success — she a 2014 national novice champion with her previous partner, he 2015’s novice bronze medalist with his — to forge new partnerships as prior ones conclude.…

TFTI’s Ask the Expert: Fundamentals of Skating Skill

In the second question in Two for the Ice’s Ask the Expert series, ice dance coach and Mariposa School of Skating dance director David Islam — whose students have included current Junior Grand Prix competitors Hannah Whitley and Elliott Graham…

Ice Dance and the Off-Season: A Summer Fling?

The earliest ice dance events of summer — Lake Placid and its championship and international competitions, Minto Summer Skate and the Championnats québécois d’été, or Quebec Summer Championships — are, by near definition, starting points for the long September-March international…

TFTI’s Ask the Expert: Building a Short Dance

The first question in Two for the Ice’s Ask the Expert series turns to the process of short dance creation, with ice dance coach and choreographer Carol Lane — an element of whose 2015-16 short dance with Juris Razgulajevs for…

Time and Life Shape Return Perspective for Arnold and Williams

by Jacquelyn Thayer One could say that the reports of Canadian ice dancer Thomas Williams’s retirement were an exaggeration. “I planned on continuing—that was my original plan all along,” said Williams, who split from partner Nicole Orford in early 2015.…

With Past as Prologue, Paul and Islam Carry On

by Jacquelyn Thayer It was a classic quote of much-debated origin — “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts” — that concluded the ice dance team’s reflective Facebook post, a season…