2025-26 U.S. Ice Dance News, Updates & Discussion - Backstreet Boys & Spice Girls

[On My Own]

If it were so obvious, there wouldn't be a bunch of people thinking the same in the comments...

It's not political to say Lease has a history of such comments either.

 

[Tinycities]

I thought it was pretty clear it meant skating culture. The entire point of releasing the video is to highlight that if Olympic medal winners are acting this way, it’s probably fairly normalized in skating culture but that doesn’t make it right.

 

[princeton123]

omg Alex is an ASS

My parents would whoop me if I spoke to my sister like that, let alone my sister who had recently survived cancer

 

[Allskate]

Alex is a 30-year-old man. Do the bare effing minimum and treat your sister with respect.

Not to be nitpicky, but he's 34. I hate to think of how he treated her when he was younger.

Where's their coach?

No, he did not mean "Asian" - he most definitely meant "skating culture". Stop trying to read the political into everything.

That may be true, but I don't think it's 100% clear that he is blaming the misogyny on skating culture.

When Alex was saying that he is not hurt yet, was he implying that she is?

 

[litenkyckling]

This isn’t really about Dave Lease - we all know he isn’t a good or decent person and so debating that is a distraction from what we should be discussing.

This was a horrible watch. Whether you are frustrated or not you should never speak to another person like that. It makes it worse when it’s your sibling and team mate. Makes you wonder whose idea the comeback was…

 

[Carolla5501]

OK. You have seen one clip from one video released by a known troublemaker and you think that’s representative of entire relationship.interesting

First of all the fact that some you’re even still following David lease raises questions

I’m not about to watch a video to give that man attention. But of course you can’t resist endorsing someone who is abusive to skaters. And of course he’s going to post a video that would look this way because it fits in with his entire motive.

 

[On My Own]

This was a horrible watch. Whether you are frustrated or not you should never speak to another person like that. It makes it worse when it’s your sibling and team mate. Makes you wonder whose idea the comeback was…

Actually, I stopped watching after the first 30 seconds.

What little I saw was awful, but I also don't know what else must be happening behind the scenes. If this is what usually happens and not just a particularly awful day from him, then I question why Maia is around. There are two people in each team What's she getting out of it? She's indeed bound to know what kind of a person he is, whether through her teamwork with him, or her familial ties.

 

[tony]

OK. You have seen one clip from one video released by a known troublemaker and you think that’s representative of entire relationship.interesting

First of all the fact that some you’re even still following David lease raises questions

I’m not about to watch a video to give that man attention. But of course you can’t resist endorsing someone who is abusive to skaters. And of course he’s going to post a video that would look this way because it fits in with his entire motive.

Good God. If you ever venture to watch even 30 seconds of the video, you'll be crawling back here apologizing for sounding so moronic. Guaranteed.

It is literally nothing to do with Dave. He's the one who first addressed it by sharing said rink video, but the video being linked is by someone else who pulled it from Dave's paid-member outlet. No attention given to Dave whatsoever.

 

[Jarrett]

This is rather upsetting to watch when I saw it on reddit. I feel horrible for Maia. We are really ready for those all females partnerships.....

 

[skipaway]

I’m off Twitter/X but I wonder if their video is being adddressed on their page.

 

[angi]

OK. You have seen one clip from one video released by a known troublemaker and you think that’s representative of entire relationship.interesting

First of all the fact that some you’re even still following David lease raises questions

I’m not about to watch a video to give that man attention. But of course you can’t resist endorsing someone who is abusive to skaters. And of course he’s going to post a video that would look this way because it fits in with his entire motive.

Dave Lease is very much not the topic here. I don't think there's a single person on this forum who thinks he is a good guy who shared this video of the Shibutanis because he wants to change figure skating culture or because he cares about Maia's well-being. He did it because he thrives on creating chaos and getting attention for the chaos he created.

However, this does not change the fact that we now witnessed an 11-minute and 32-second video clip of Alex Shibutani verbally and emotionally abusing his sister, Maia. This is what we should be discussing. It's hard to imagine this is a singular incident, and it raises many red flags regarding their current state of mind and the power dynamics in their partnership. That's the only thing we should be focusing on, not only for the sake of making a change in the sport, but also in order not to give Dave Lease exactly what he is looking for.

 

[Jarrett]

Dave Lease is very much not the topic here. I don't think there's a single person on this forum who thinks he is a good guy who shared this video of the Shibutanis because he wants to change figure skating culture or because he cares about Maia's well-being. He did it because he thrives on creating chaos and getting attention for the chaos he created.

However, this does not change the fact that we now witnessed an 11-minute and 32-second video clip of Alex Shibutani verbally and emotionally abusing his sister, Maia. This is what we should be discussing. It's hard to imagine this is a singular incident, and it raises many red flags regarding their current state of mind and the power dynamics in their partnership. That's the only thing we should be focusing on, not only for the sake of making a change in the sport, but also in order not to give Dave Lease exactly what he is looking for.

I saw on reddit that this video is actually over 40 minutes long and just more of the same type of treatment...

 

[just tuned in]

That was amazing. Obviously, Alex was frustrated. But I have to confess that minus the curse-words, I found it fascinating and learned a lot about how a program gets built. And also about rockers.

I would say that Maia held her own, standing up for herself and calling out Alex for changing the steps. In her mind, was this basically a debate about choreography and step placement? If so, I don't understand why she seemed to play dumb about the points he was making about speed and direction. Maybe she enjoyed getting a rise out of him.

I wonder if there are any partnerships that are truly "equal," instead of the stronger partner taking the upper hand.

At the Phila Championships there was a (non-senior) sibling dance team where, off-ice, the brother was telling his sister about the timing of the step. To me, it sounded condescending, perhaps a tiny bit cruel, but the brother had a point -- when I saw their timing on the ice, she was late with a step, not counting the beat of the music.

I do wonder about these sibling dance-teams relationships in general... family dynamics and big-brother-bossiness/assholery coming onto the ice.

 

[On My Own]

That was amazing. Obviously, Alex was frustrated. But I have to confess that minus the curse-words, I enjoyed it and learned a lot about how a program gets built. And also about rockers.

I would say that Maia held her own, standing up for herself and calling out Alex for changing the steps. In her mind, was this basically a debate about choreography and step placement? If so, I don't understand why she seemed to play dumb about the points he was making about speed and direction. Maybe she enjoyed getting a rise out of him.

I wonder if there are any partnerships that are truly "equal," instead of the stronger partner taking the upper hand.

At the Phila Championships there was a (non-senior) sibling dance team where, off-ice, the brother was telling his sister about the timing of the step. To me, it sounded demeaning, perhaps a tiny bit cruel, but the brother had a point -- when I saw their timing on the ice, she was late with a step, not counting the beat of the music. I do wonder about these sibling dance-teams relationships in general... family dynamics and big-brother-bossiness/ass-hattery coming onto the ice.

Right... I don't at all know enough about how their dynamic within their own family is, to see whether or not this actually works for them.

I do think Alex was being an asshole. But Maia is a grown woman who would've known about him being an asshole for a loooooong time indeed. Close to all her life. That she still works with him is... her choice? And I assume she's doing so of her own accord, not because she has no other choice or something similar.

This is not adult male coach yelling at his student/a teenage girl or something similar. Or boyfriend and girlfriend/spouses. That changes it up a bit in my mind. But clearly, people disagree.

 

[Jarrett]

That was amazing. Obviously, Alex was frustrated. But I have to confess that minus the curse-words, I enjoyed it and learned a lot about how a program gets built. And also about rockers.

I would say that Maia held her own, standing up for herself and calling out Alex for changing the steps. In her mind, was this basically a debate about choreography and step placement? If so, I don't understand why she seemed to play dumb about the points he was making about speed and direction. Maybe she enjoyed getting a rise out of him.

I wonder if there are any partnerships that are truly "equal," instead of the stronger partner taking the upper hand.

At the Phila Championships there was a (non-senior) sibling dance team where, off-ice, the brother was telling his sister about the timing of the step. To me, it sounded demeaning, perhaps a tiny bit cruel, but the brother had a point -- when I saw their timing on the ice, she was late with a step, not counting the beat of the music. I do wonder about these sibling dance-teams relationships in general... family dynamics and big-brother-bossiness/ass-hattery coming onto the ice.

Was that brother calling his sister a b*tch too? I hope not. This is not some young novice junior getting upset. It is a 34 year old man acting ridiculous.

 

[jmtfti]

Not to add fuel to the fire, but there is a known ex-girlfriend (a publicly confirmed relationship) who's made similar allegations about an ex-boyfriend, whom she hasn't named but has referred to with some descriptive and timeline clues that would seem to align with Alex. If correct, this might suggest a pattern that extends beyond this singular family and/or professional relationship or moment in time.

 

[Tesla]

I understand being frustrated, but he needs to learn some strategies for dealing with that. Yay for Maia standing up for herself, but she shouldn't have had to.

 

[Bigbird]

Will this put an end to their comeback? Was this the point? Could it be that a Maia sympathizer posted this as the only way to get to her brother? But we've seen this many times and heard about it concerning Russian couples, correct? So why them, and why now? My question is, is this the norm, and if it is I'm really glad for those who got out early. This was dehumanizing and just awful to see.

 

[Karen-W]

Will this put an end to their comeback? Was this the point? Could it be that a Maia sympathizer posted this as the only way to get to her brother? But we've seen this many times and heard about it concerning Russian couples, correct? So why them, and why now? My question is, is this the norm, and if it is I'm really glad for those who got out early. This was dehumanizing and just awful to see.

No. It came from Dave Lease's Patreon. It wouldn't have been out there at all had it not been for DL, regardless of any motives the person who copied & shared it from DL's Patreon account may have.

 

[litenkyckling]

Not sure what date this footage is from but judging from this I'm now not surprised they opted out of the challenger series because they really do not appear to be ready

 

[Bigbird]

No. It came from Dave Lease's Patreon. It wouldn't have been out there at all had it not been for DL, regardless of any motives the person who copied & shared it from DL's Patreon account may have.

But how did Lease even get access to their training base? Is it that competitors, eager to secure their placement, conspired to get this out there? Female ice dance and pairs partners must be built differently, because I've heard tales worse than this. Does Safesport frown on things like this? Could he be suspended, thus drowning their comeback plans?

 

[Karen-W]

But how did Lease even get access to their training base? Is it that competitors, eager to secure their placement, conspired to get this out there? Female ice dance and pairs partners must be built differently, because I've heard tales worse than this. Does Safesport frown on things like this? Could he be suspended, thus drowning their comeback plans?

DL was monitoring the Live Barn feed from the rink where they were having their private training session. For whatever reason, they haven't gotten the rink to shut the Live Barn cameras off while they're on their private ice time.

For those unfamiliar with Live Barn - https://www.livebarn.com/.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Was the video edited for bias? Was it an intercepted private feed, where there was an expectation of personal use or privacy, not an error in leaving something on? Is it an out-of-context snippet? Was it altered in any way to demean the people in the images by adding stereotypical clothing/lack of clothing and/or accessories? Was it filmed in a way to make specific people look better or worse than anyone else in the feed? Was it shown the day before Nationals for the maximum impact?

Not everyone praised Woodward and Bernstein for their Pentagon Papers coverage or assigned them the purest of motives. Lease may be a self-serving, money-hungry vindictive creep with ulterior motives, but unless the video was misrepresentative of those 40 minutes, Alex Shibutani is who he is, and an investigation might show he should be sanctioned.

 

[kittyjake5]

Oh my. What the heck was that? His mask has slipped. His aggressive and meanness towards his sister is on full display here. Terrible behavior.

 

[Willin]

Not to be nitpicky, but he's 34. I hate to think of how he treated her when he was younger.

Where's their coach?

They don't have a coach in a traditional sense. In fact there aren't really any Junior/Senior level ice dance coaches in Southern California. The closest would be in NorCal, but that's only a handful and those coaches have only had success developing skaters - not actually having them compete at the highest level.

They're trying to tele-coach a la Nathan Chen. Marina is still in Florida and Massimo is in the Bay Area. Massimo is very busy so I can't imagine he's down there much. Marina I have no clue.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Not to add fuel to the fire, but there is a known ex-girlfriend (a publicly confirmed relationship) who's made similar allegations about an ex-boyfriend, whom she hasn't named but has referred to with some descriptive and timeline clues that would seem to align with Alex. If correct, this might suggest a pattern that extends beyond this singular family and/or professional relationship or moment in time.

These are a couple of the videos his ex-girlfriend posted. Definitely sounds like him from what we saw on the rink video.

TikTok - Make Your Day

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[VGThuy]

Alex’s behavior is simply indefensible.

Let’s put it this way, I think it’s clear that I may be at least one of their most ardent ubers since 2009. I was one of the very few people who still gave a shit about them after 2018 and wanted them to come back and compete. Now, Alex has lost me forever.

 

[Wyliefan]

Alex’s behavior is simply indefensible.

Let’s put it this way, I think it’s clear that I may be at least one of their most ardent ubers since 2009. I was one of the very few people who still gave a shit about them after 2018 and wanted them to come back to compete. Now, Alex has lost me forever.

I know that's hard, and I'm sorry.

 

[Bigbird]

They don't have a coach in a traditional sense. In fact there aren't really any Junior/Senior level ice dance coaches in Southern California. The closest would be in NorCal, but that's only a handful and those coaches have only had success developing skaters - not actually having them compete at the highest level.

They're trying to tele-coach a la Nathan Chen. Marina is still in Florida and Massimo is in the Bay Area. Massimo is very busy so I can't imagine he's down there much. Marina I have no clue.

So there team wasn't interested in them coming back or they didn't want to relocate? This gets stranger by the minute.