It was dreamy, the way Lubov Ilyushechkina and Charlie Bilodeau swept about the Espoo ice, her hair back in a whiff, picked up by the wind, his body movement curving around a French Canadian tune. Together seven months, they could not stop smiling. There was shine on Ilyushechkina’s costumes, but more on her […]
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Nam Nguyen: Growing is Believing
Somehow Nam Nguyen has grown to be 5-foot-11, sometime after that bustling childhood, when as a tiny one, he set all sorts of records: youngest to be pre-juvenile, juvenile, novice, and junior champion of Canada. Now he’s 21. At 20, he finally began to find his footing in matters other than physical growth, all of […]
Moore-Towers and Marinaro: A new beginning
Everything is new, at least for Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, pairs skaters who describe themselves as “definitely mom and dad now.” “We’re old for sure,” said Moore-Towers, who like her partner is 27. “We enjoy our leadership role.” Now Canada’s top pair team, they are surrounded by newness. And it’s working for them. […]
“Mack and Mabel” Back in Town
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have strummed the dance strings of long ago, and what sung loudest to them was a classic: “Mack and Mabel.” “It’s one of our all-time favourites,” Gilles said, beaming after leading the rhythm dance at Autumn Classic International with 79.61 points, just .83 points short of their career best. […]
Yuzuru Hanyu: Higher and Higher
For eight years, Brian Orser and Yuzuru Hanyu have danced a merry pas de deux as they fashioned the teacher-student relationship, spanning cultures, continents, and time zones. After guiding Hanyu to two Olympic and world championship gold medals, Orser thinks he has finally figured it out: less is sometimes more. Whatever they have already done […]
Ice Cream Castles in the Air
How wistful it must feel when the loveliness of your signature piece becomes like “chalk marks in a rainstorm.” When you must move on. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have left behind the outrageously beautiful “Vincent” creation of last season for new discoveries. And they have gone to exquisite places to find just the thing. […]
Hardly Birds of a Feather
Ever see the internet photos of the cats curled up with canaries, cozy and all? Fawns and owls cavorting happily with dogs? Chimpanzees stroking kittens? Heifers licking up turtles with long tongues, happy as clams? Count Nam Nguyen, the son of Vietnamese boat people and Keegan Messing, man of the north woods, in with those […]
Keegan Messing: Perfect Duet
The Pink Panther has faded. Singing in the Rain has dried up. Charlie Chaplin has waddled into the sunset. The Keegan Messing of yesterday is not altogether the same as the Keegan Messing of today. He’s all grown up. (Sort of) And he’s in love. The 27-year-old Alaskan took a giant life step on Aug. […]
The Tango Romantica Blues
That Tango Romantica dance? It’s easier said than done. What a twisty, ticklish, gnarly, knotty, exacting, formidable dance it is. It’s no picnic, for sure. It’s been a jaw-breaker for ice dancers all season, and Canada’s best will be giving it a go Friday at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. None of the […]
The Road Less Travelled
It had to happen this way: Keegan Messing finding an endlessly adventurous way to prepare for a figure skating competition. There are no straight lines in his approach. He has swung up ladders with heavy merchandise on his back, hurled his way up tall poles, Leaped across a mountain peak or two, picked through […]