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 its infinite variety.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier at the 2016 Skate Canada International post-short dance press conference. Photo by Jacquelyn Thayer.
With a program permitting one of two very broadly-defined secondary rhythms — swing, which for the ISU technically refers to most forms of popular, up-tempo music from the twentieth century, and hip hop, which covers the rest — teams can and have demonstrated a little more range across a field than was possible in 2014-15’s long season of the paso or even last year’s often classical or ballad-based take on the waltz. Here four of six teams tackled strikingly different visions of hip hop; those who went swing took their own individual approaches.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s funk-inspired take on Prince drew from a few years of dabbling in hip hop styles through exhibitions and off-ice classwork, and a sharp performance earned them a top score of 77.23 — good enough to lead, but a loss of 0.49 from last month’s Autumn Classic International. Level 3s on all step elements versus that event’s all Level 4s were key, though PCS grew by 1.38 points. The couple credited their dynamic performance in part to an enthusiastic crowd — and the pressures of that ongoing comeback.
“That was kind of the energy we missed, to be honest. We felt like that was kind of the goal in coming here — we wanted strong performances and to perform under the pressure,” said Moir. “I think they think that we don’t feel the pressure. We feel kind of the opposite — we feel more.”
And the second outing came with new costuming for Virtue, whose ruffle-bodiced bodysuit highlighted with lavender pays homage to Prince’s fashion while highlighting lines and motion, taking advantage of this season’s short dance rule exception permitting pants for women. “Anything one-piece and backless, I’m all about that,” she remarked.
“I’m the same way,” quipped Moir.
It was another kind of pressure for Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates who, like national teammates Maia and Alex Shibutani last week, had the honor of kicking off the event — thanks to rule changes implementing a wholly randomized draw for Grand Prix short programs. And as with the Shibutanis, placement had little effect on marks, with the team leading Group 1 with a personal best score of 76.21, including Level 4s on all elements but a L3 partial step sequence.
But the team also entered with the benefit of considerable recent experience; they skated their Rohene Ward-choreographed “Bad to the Bone” and ”Uptown Funk” blues and hip hop at two prior internationals, with a 40.61 TES their season high mark so far.
“This is our third competition of the season, which I think helped us to feel really prepared, and it was our best skate thus far,” said Bates. “Felt like we executed our elements the way we wanted to and I think our technical score reflected that. So we’re going to carry this momentum into tomorrow’s free dance.”
Third with a personal best score of 72.12 were Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, whose disco short — including The Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” — was a particular audience success, and a rather singular take on the short dance’s requirements. The notion arose with a suggestion from coach Carol Lane at the end of last season, given the team’s late success with another retro approach in an all-Beatles revamp of that year’s short dance.
“[Disco] is kind of one that’s a little hidden in the rules in the music selection,” said Gilles of the style’s categorization within swing options. “I think that’s what we wanted to go for, is pick something that people weren’t expecting. And it’s a hard dance to come across, even on So You Think You Can Dance — it’s hard for the audience to connect with, and even the judges watching that, because it’s something that isn’t seen very often.”
“And it was such a short-lived style of dance,” added Poirier. “I think because of that, it allows us to really create an atmosphere, which is what we really enjoy doing. We have characters that we can really get into” — dubbed “Disco Diane” and “Disco Reggie,” noted Gilles — “and it’s I think pretty well-defined exactly our demeanor on movements and how we’re supposed to deliver it.”
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, fresh off a solid silver at Autumn Classic, continued their efforts to rise in the U.S. ranking, picking up a senior-level personal best of 65.01 despite dropped levels on the partial step sequence and no-touch midline. But in such a highly-scored field, a mark that last year would have placed them in bronze position here has them in sixth.
“It was decent, it was good, we did what we needed to do for the day, but we know that even in practice at home we’ve trained it a lot better,” said Baker. “But that’s okay—we did our job for the day, and we’re excited to come back tomorrow and fight.”
The blues/hip hop that began as an exhibition concept and easily blends Michael Buble’s “Feeling Good” with Flo Rida’s “How I Feel” — which samples Nina Simone’s original “Feeling Good” — carries with it the difficulties of demonstrating real hip hop action on the ice, with the team taking a somewhat harder-edged approach than Virtue and Moir’s and more musically traditional than Chock and Bates’ pop take.
“It’s difficult because the majority of the time in ice dance, we’re supposed to be in hold, we’re supposed to be touching,” said Baker. “There’s not much freedom — we have ten seconds and we’re trying to show three minutes’ worth of a program and two minutes of a style within ten seconds.”
“While still staying on proper edges,” interjected Hawayek.
Canadians Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam, sitting eighth, improved on a debut outing at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic by 4.89 points for a score here of 58.83 — though still a far cry from their personal best of 64+, set at the 2015 World Championships. A minor, late twizzle bobble for Islam dropped that element to a Level 3; other technical issues leading to lower levels on step elements were less conspicuous.
For now, the couple are choosing to focus their concerns on performance when it comes to their jazz-inflected “Big Spender” and ”Sing Sing Sing” short, inspired, appropriately, by the movement stylings of Sweet Charity choreographer Bob Fosse. “While the choreography itself hasn’t any cut-and-paste Fosse movements, the inspiration came from the intention his dancers have throughout,” said Islam in an interview this summer. (Paul’s little black dress itself slightly evokes Gwen Verdon’s look, though the bejeweled headband that debuted here is a fresh add contributing a more vintage quality.)
And choreographer Romain Haguenauer specializes, they feel, in crafting challenging material, something they’ve appreciated since first working with him as a new junior couple in 2009. “I think everybody on the coaching team in Montreal recognizes that we have a really good working relationship with Romain,” said Islam of the duo’s decision to work with Haguenauer on both season programs.
The program itself has also seen minor revision from its Salt Lake City debut, with tweaks to the partial step sequence. “Evolving the program,” said Paul. “Things don’t often stay the same from the beginning of the year to the end, and I think part of the process of growing a program is doing changes here and there.”
Action in Mississauga will continue with Saturday evening’s free dance.