In a Vancouver rink last night, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier unleashed a flood of pink, billowing loveliness with an ominous undertone and created art out of a free dance. The two-time world bronze medalists displayed their new “Wuthering Heights” free dance for the first time this season, and judges responded by awarding them the […]
Paul Poirier
Gilles and Poirier: The Reveal
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier had the best of seasons and the worst of seasons last year. The Canadian ice dancers swept through with wins in both of their Grand Prix events and won the Grand Prix Final, too. Then the wheels came off for Gilles, who found she suffered from stage one ovarian cancer, […]
Gilles and Poirier: on a Quest for the Sun
“Now they only block the sun. They rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done, But clouds got in my way.” Indeed. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will skate to these Joni Mitchell words next week at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm, Sweden. No doubt, for them […]
A hair-raising experience
Think you’ve had a bad hair day? That somebody took the last Timbit? That you missed the last bus to Barbados in a snowstorm? That the television cable went out in the middle of the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships? So you think YOU have had a bad hair day? Just ask Piper Gilles. She […]
“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. […]
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. […]
Too narrow for my boots
LAVAL, Que., Size matters, they say. Some pairs and ice dancers competing at Skate Canada International this week found the width of the Bell Place Arena rather tight. The size gave French ice dancers Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres some grief in the short program. And Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier suffered a stumble […]
Gilles and Poirier’s Starry Night
Okay, paint your palette blue and grey, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Watch the swirling clouds in a violet haze. Nothing could be more painful and splendid than to touch the art of Vincent Van Gogh. Yes, this new free dance of Gilles and Poirier hits a nerve. Van Gogh is my favourite artist. No […]
Bugs and ice dancers
OTTAWA Paul Poirier and his moustache were ready to go at the first practice session for senior ice dancers today at the revamped TD Place arena. But his partner, Piper Gilles wasn’t. Poirier had to face the music alone, since Gilles fell ill yesterday after arriving in Ottawa and was busy upchucking elsewhere. “We think […]
Gilles and Poirier channel Christopher Dean in new dance
http://www.skatecanada.ca/2014/10/piper-gilles-and-paul-poirier-use-olympic-champion-christopher-dean-to-channel-the-paso-doble/ Here is a story I wrote for Skate Canada on Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier