2021/2022 Canadian Ice Dance: News and Updates

[Colonel Green]

Kicking off the thread for the new season, which fingers crossed will actually be a season with multiple in-person competitions. That said, Canadian ice dance fans can't be too upset with the non-season that just ended, since it ended with Piper & Paul winning a World medal, and Canada qualifying three dance spots for the 2022 Winter Olympics; the former was a decided underdog win, and the latter was at points considered in question. Looking ahead:

- Gilles & Poirier are third-seeded in the Grand Prix, and I would guess will be competing at SCI (bold prediction, I know) with Chock & Bates and then at IdF with Guignard & Fabbri and the unseeded Papadakis & Cizeron. We already know they're doing an Elton John RD. They're in a solid position to at least repeat as gold medalists at SCI this time around, though I'm sure the second seed (whoever it is) will give them a fight.

- Fournier Beaudry & Sorensen switched over from Denmark three years ago with eyes on competing at the Olympics, and now the prize is in their grasp. Will Nikolaj break the citizenship curse that has been afflicting imported skaters since 2010?

- Lajoie & Lagha's second major goal for this quadrennial, after winning a Junior World medal, was to go to the Olympics, and that's also in sight. We'll see if any of the teams below can mount a real challenge for it.

- Soucisse & Firus made the move to I.D.E. last season, and from what we saw at World Team Trophy it's very much a work in progress. Now we'll see them with completely new programs under Lane and Razgulajevs, which should be interesting.

- Relatedly, we had a lot of new free dances debuted last season that hardly got used. One imagines some of them will be repeated.

- At the junior level, we saw even less of our teams this past season. Hopefully the JGP will happen this time; I'm especially thinking about Miku & Tyler, because this is their last year of junior eligibility.

 

[Colonel Green]

Carried over from the previous thread:

G/T's coaches as listed in their 2020-21 Team NextGen profile: Julien Lalonde, Mylene Girard
Gauthier's Instagram story also tags/give thanks to Dominic Barthe: https://www.instagram.com/sandrine_.gauthier/

I.A.M. continues its proud tradition of ruthlessly poaching Julien Lalonde's teams once they get good enough to be worthy of notice.

 

[Wyliefan]

Yes, that does seem to be something of a habit!

 

[marbri]

Is it poaching or is it just a move to a stronger training environment when you show potential and have ambitions?

 

[Colonel Green]

Is it poaching or is it just a move to a stronger training environment when you show potential and have ambitions?

"Poaching" was said in jest.

Lalonde and all the other Quebec ice dance coaches are undoubtedly aware that they are effectively I.A.M.'s farm team at this point.

 

[marbri]

Got it I can be a bit slow at times

 

[barbarafan]

Carried over from the previous thread:

I.A.M. continues its proud tradition of ruthlessly poaching Julien Lalonde's teams once they get good enough to be worthy of notice.

IIs that what it is? or is it That Julien's coaching team are so good that their students have fantastic skills and should be winning the competitions but Ontario has the politics so unless unless they switch to IAM they will buried no matter how good they are. I do not know but I would not be surprised if Julien is behind their change...As in you have tried everything else.

 

[Colonel Green]

IIs that what it is? or is it That Julien's coaching team are so good that their students have fantastic skills and should be winning the competitions but Ontario has the politics so unless unless they switch to IAM they will buried no matter how good they are.

I think we can be quite sure it's not that, seeing as none of the teams that switched were lacking in success with Lalonde. Gauthier & Thieren won the national novice title.

 

[Sylvia]

PJ Kwong's chat with Piper, Paul, Carol & Jon Lane earlier this morning: https://twitter.com/skatingpj/status/1393566850030526468

Also was streamed live on Scarboro Figure Skating Club's FB: https://www.facebook.com/359198097441317/videos/784860199060636

ETA: Replay is available at both links if you missed watching live.

 

[Sylvia]

^^^
Carol Lane said in today's chat they have secured extra ice for Piper/Paul so they can work on choreography;
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus' and Nadiia Bashynska/Peter Beaumont's programs are done and will be announced on Ice Dance Elite's website (Piper & Paul's music will be announced last on the website);
Junior teams B/B and Emma Goodstadt/Michael Barsoum are "currently filming for NextGen monitoring."
Carol Lane (~43:50): "... I would say at the moment it doesn't look like anything's going to be happening in the summer, competition-wise, as far as we can tell right now. So my goal at the moment is to get everybody's choreography completely finished."

Re. Piper/Paul's 2021-22 programs (some relevant posts copied over from the previous thread):

If we actually try to interpret the picture [blue feathers], another potential with the colourful feathers is something Elton John, since he famously wore a feathered costume to perform Crocodile Rock on The Muppet Show. And we know G/P wouldn't shy away from going full Elton (unlike others who shall not be named...)

Well she [Piper on 4/19] just posted in instagram story and the phrases "I guess that's why they call it the blues" and "I'm still standing" are in the messages by them so you might win the guessing game

Piper & Paul started working on their RD today [4/20] with Jeff Dimitrou.

On their IDE website page, Molly Lanaghan/Dmitre Razgulajevs' update at the end says:

This upcoming season we are once again trying to push our boundaries as athletes and dancers by skating new genres. Carol suggested Spice Girls and we instantly loved the idea and have been having so much fun with it since. Be sure to look out for us this year to see our Spice Girls RD and Tango FD

@Wyliefan originally posted the news of Molly Lanaghan/Dmitre Razgulajevs' Spice Girls RD music in the Programs & Choreographers thread - source link is their joint Instagram account (team_dilly): https://www.instagram.com/p/COxgazHLapZ/
Molly also tweeted this "Wannabe" lyric GIF : https://twitter.com/MollyBeth99/status/1392600589297725440

Music of the Junior teams as posted in the earlier thread:

Natalie & Bruce’s latest Instagram Q&A reconfirmed that they’re keeping their Swan Lake FD for next season. They described the RD as “our favourite concept ever” with an accompanying partial image of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.

From what Emmy just posted on her Instagram [May 4], it looks like Emmy and Aissa might be doing a Star Wars FD next season??

 

[Wyliefan]

I didn't get to watch, so thanks for the report, @Sylvia!

 

[Colonel Green]

Marjorie and Zach doing outdoor lift training.

 

[marbri]

Marjorie and Zach doing outdoor lift training.

Nice lift

 

[Wyliefan]

Lauriault/Le Gac just announced a switch to Canada: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPykMmOpFRf/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

[Colonel Green]

Lauriault/Le Gac just announced a switch to Canada: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPykMmOpFRf/?utm_medium=copy_link

Huh, okay, I thought they were trending toward outright retirement after last season.

Maybe they saw how switching to the lady's country worked for Lolo & Nik and thought they could use a bit of that.

 

[chantilly]

This seems like a weird and wrong choice to me.

 

[dramagrrl]

This seems like a direct result of P/C's decision not to compete at 2021 Worlds, leaving only one Olympic spot in ice dance for France... but I don't think they will fare any better in Canada, now or in the near future.

ETA: I read their IG post and it makes more sense. They aren't going to get to the Olympics for France because of the situation I mentioned directly above, and their lives and future careers seem to be based in Canada, so if they aren't going to the Olympics, they might as well skate for the country where they are planning to base their lives. Of course, they would likely have easily earned berths to Worlds in future years if they stayed in France, whereas that's very unlikely to happen in Canada.

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

French judges clearly preferred 2 other couples the past 2 seasons. There are also promising couples from Villard moving to seniors this season. Pechalat is releasing a lot of skaters. What a change!

 

[Colonel Green]

Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker are now in London per her Instagram Stories, which is fairly suggestive that they're also making a coaching change.

 

[jmtfti]

Also per her Instagram, they were also in Montreal last week and in London shortly before that....

 

[marbri]

Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker are now in London per her Instagram Stories, which is fairly suggestive that they're also making a coaching change.

It's still so fresh that Scott is coaching that I spent a few minutes wondering what the hell they are doing in the UK

 

[Colonel Green]

There's already a separate post about Kaitlyn's news today, but Paul also has a magazine feature released today discussing being a gay man in figure skating:

[Being a gay athlete] hasn’t been something that I’ve really talked about very much, especially in a public setting. I’ve had this attitude that my private life is my private life and my life outside of skating is my life outside of skating. I haven’t necessarily allowed all of those things to bleed together. I think with the lead-up to the Olympic Games in the next year, I definitely see opportunities to share what we do and who we are to a much wider audience, and that opportunity is not lost on me.

This pride month is a really good opportunity to share a bit more about my story, how my sexuality has made me the person and the athlete that I am today, and also perhaps be a role model for so many young queer athletes who are growing up and not really sure how to navigate that as they go through the world of sport.

 

[Sylvia]

There's also a separate thread in GSD now for Paul Poirier's coming out interview: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...the-next-generation-of-queer-athletes.108371/

Quebec Summer Championships updated their list of registered skaters as of June 16 - link to my post in the Kiss & Cry section: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...titions-virtual-whatever.108307/#post-6011633

In Junior Dance, Kieran MacDonald (8th at 2020 Canadians with Sophia Kagolovskaya as NextGen team members) is now skating with Grace Pele (competed at virtual Challenge this season with Zaheen McKnight).

Also listed in Junior are Jamie Fournier and Anthony Haddad who teamed up last year but did not compete - info about their partnership was posted last December in the previous Canadian Dance news thread here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...e-news-and-updates.107151/page-5#post-5921712

 

[Sylvia]

Ice Academy of Montreal officially announced today that Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker will train at their London Campus with Scott Moir and his team: https://twitter.com/montreal_ice/status/1405201442047209473 & https://www.instagram.com/p/CQMBalHrltR/

 

[Colonel Green]

Haley and Nik’s biggest issue has always been getting levels, so that will be an early test of Scott’s technical coaching.

 

[Rafter]

The Quebec Summer Skate entry list has Hannah Lim (jr dance) representing the Korean Skating Union. I guess they’re switching countries?

 

[Colonel Green]

The Quebec Summer Skate entry list has Hannah Lim (jr dance) representing the Korean Skating Union. I guess they’re switching countries?

There have been occasional misidentifications on those entries, but if so it would be a pretty reasonable move. Assignments (even at the junior international level) are always going to be a war here, but Korea is wide open.

 

[Sylvia]

Nathan Lickers, who is "Haudenosaunee Seneca, Wolf clan from Six Nations of the Grand River," is featured on I.AM's social media for National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada today (June 21) - he and Lily Hensen, who placed 5th in Junior at the virtual Challenge this past season, are now a Senior level team at the London Campus (coached by Carol & Alma Moir, according to their 2020-21 Team NextGen profile): https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZGFPHBp3G/

ETA a recent podcast interview with Marjorie Lajoie:

Interview with Marjorie Lajoie

Midnight Blues and Other Musings: A Figure Skating Podcast · Episode

open.spotify.com

 

[marbri]

Nathan Lickers, who is "Haudenosaunee Seneca, Wolf clan from Six Nations of the Grand River," is featured on I.AM's social media for National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada today (June 21) - he and Lily Hensen, who placed 5th in Junior at the virtual Challenge this past season, are now a Senior level team at the London Campus (coached by Carol & Alma Moir, according to their 2020-21 Team NextGen profile): https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZGFPHBp3G/

ETA a recent podcast interview with Marjorie Lajoie:

Interview with Marjorie Lajoie

Midnight Blues and Other Musings: A Figure Skating Podcast · Episode

open.spotify.com

Their 2021 Skate Canada Challenge video lists Scott Moir and Alma Moir as coach/choreographer :

Lily Hensen / Nathan Lickers FD — 2021 Skate Canada Challenge

Junior [87.37], [142.77] https://cssterminalserv.skatecanada.ca/results/2021CHAJuniorDanceFD2DRO.html https://dai.ly/x7yqpbl

www.youtube.com

 

[Sylvia]

Sandrine Gauthier and Quentin Thieren (2020-21 NextGen team & 2020 Novice champions, previously coached by Julien Lalonde & Mylene Girard) have joined the Ice Academy of Montreal: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQgntBiHJIJ/