Brother-Sister partnerships (pairs and ice dance)

[gkelly]

Exactly, and there have been several examples of junior pair sibling teams who have to eventually split up once they got to seniors because the female sibling ended up becoming too tall.

Or because the male sibling ended up not becoming tall enough. (E.g., Brian Wells)

Even so, given the demographics, if they want to continue with other partners, it's easier for a short man to find a pair partner than a medium-sized woman.

An ideal partner matched in size, skill, style, and commitment, with which to win international medals -- that's hard for anyone to find!

[5Ali3]

An ideal partner matched in size, skill, style, and commitment, with which to win international medals -- that's hard for anyone to find!

This is an excellent point and cannot be underscored enough. (I might add, "matched in work ethic and with complimentary personalities and maturity.")

The importance of luck as a factor in a successful partner match is seriously underrated.

[Habs]

Exactly, and there have been several examples of junior pair sibling teams who have to eventually split up once they got to seniors because the female sibling ended up becoming too tall.

This happened with Dylan and Kira Moscovitch. Granted, she retired from injuries, but the writing was on the wall.

[Moka-Ananas]

Madison & Keiffer Hubbell

[skatesindreams]

Eva Romanova and Pavel Roman CZE

World Pair Champions 1962 - 1965
European Champions 1964 - 65

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Roman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9Y1DfiuQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlLBkIEq5A

[rhumba]

The German dance team, Hermann.

[aliceanne]

Well said. I think the Duchesnays were very creative in coming up with routines that were interesting without being romantic. I was never their fan due to their lack of great basic skating skills, but their programs were always interesting- the African drums (88 Oly), Dream & Reality FD (89 worlds)- one of my favorites- , Missing (90 & 91 worlds). They came down a bit in their 92 Oly FD by choosing a more traditional music (West side story) but they skated the brother & sister characters instead of the usual romantic ones. They definitely pushed ice dance in a different directions, so the future dance couples could try different themes.

One thing I liked about the Duchesnays was their physical similarity. I think it gave them unusual symmetry and synchronicity. When they did their mirror image program you couldn't tell where one skater began and the other ended. I think the downside of today's pairs and ice dancing is that all of the athleticism requires Gorilla/Flea pairing which makes symmetry and synchronicity difficult.

I don't find it terribly romantic when the female is sommersaulting over the male's shoulder, or he is spinning her upside down with his leg between her's, or she has her leg wrapped around his neck, so I think the whole romance question is moot at this point. While I admire the skill of today's skaters, I don't find any of them romantic.

[Zemgirl]

I think the downside of today's pairs and ice dancing is that all of the athleticism requires Gorilla/Flea pairing which makes symmetry and synchronicity difficult.

I don't think that's necessarily true, at least not in ice dance. Virtue/Moir aren't that far apart in height, for instance. And while dance teams without much of a size difference might find some elements more difficult, it allows for other possibilities, like cool reverse lifts (e.g Hurtado/Diaz).

[TwizzlerS]

ETA: Ginger and Archie Tse competed pairs in the late 80's. Bronze at Nats I think. Does anyone know where they are now?

They had a wonderful exhibition number to a medley of Science Fiction TV/movie music in which they acted out going to outer space. I tried to search for a video clip but I guess it was performed too long ago.

[Vash01]

.

I don't find it terribly romantic when the female is sommersaulting over the male's shoulder, or he is spinning her upside down with his leg between her's, or she has her leg wrapped around his neck, so I think the whole romance question is moot at this point. While I admire the skill of today's skaters, I don't find any of them romantic.

However, I have to disagree with you somewhat in the relative heights/size when it comes to ice dance. The ice dancers don't have the huge difference in heights we usually see in pairs.

[johndockley92]

How bout the Gamelins and the Phams?

Didn't Seitz and Seitz compete together too?

[blue_idealist]

Brother/sister pairs face a number of challenges that unrelated pairs don't, such as the entire financial burden falling on one family, but a key limitation that no one has mentioned yet is genetics: a mother and father who produce a male child with the genetics to be tall and broad-shouldered are unlikely to also produce a [younger] female child who is short and small-framed. The Carruthers faced almost all the challenges of other brother/sister pairs, but I think they're a slight exception to the general guideline that it's difficult for brother/sister pairs to excel at the senior level, because they're genetically unrelated. However, they weren't deliberately matched up like most genetically-unrelated pairs, so as with most brother-sister pairs, there was a significant amount of luck involved their adult sizes being appropriate for pairs. [And for all of the criticism leveled at the Hartsells, I'm more impressed with their accomplishments as the years go by: they may have been the only genetically-related pair who won medals at the Senior level with adult bodies in the triple twist era. (Does anyone know if Melissa and Mark Militano did a triple twist? I know that she did one with Johnny Johns, but I'm not sure if the Militanos did one.)]

What do you mean that Kitty and Peter Carruthers are genetically unrelated? Is one of them adopted, or are you just saying they were 'given' different genetics coincidentally even though they have the same parents?

[skatesindreams]

They were adopted.

[blue_idealist]

They were adopted.

Wow, never knew that!

[aliceanne]

Kerrs are my favorite. Their programs were interesting enough to have viewers concentrate on their skating and performance, and forget all about how they were siblings.

The Kerrs are an example of a team that has sex appeal in spite of the fact that they are brother/sister.

[Shyjosie]

The Kerrs are an example of a team that has sex appeal in spite of the fact that they are brother/sister.

They really have, indeed, and they are not the only one (brother-sister-team with sex appeal, I mean). And having sex appeal doesn't neccessarily mean that the partners are sexually attracted to one another.

[The Accordion]

They really have, indeed, and they are not the only one (brother-sister-team with sex appeal, I mean). And having sex appeal doesn't neccessarily mean that the partners are sexually attracted to one another.

[bruno6]

One of the best programs Kerrs did was Muse Ruled by Secrecy
I just loved it

[mia joy]

I actually preferred the Krwlng FD to the Ruled by Secrecy one. But still, they were the team that totally learned to use their being siblings to their advantage. Simply amazing, they are missed

[Katarzyna]

Beck & Beck (German ice dance team)- not sure of their highest finish

The Becks were actually an Austrian ice dance couple.

They were 5th at OG in 1988 and were ranked around top 5 at Euros and Worlds. They peaked when I started to watch figure skating on TV. I was a little girl that time, but I still remember them.

Well, those were the glory days when Austria still had some topskaters.