2022–23 Canadian Ice Dance: News and Updates

[Colonel Green]

Through the many tribulations of the previous quadrennial, we always had ice dance. Gilles & Poirier, who were probably the flagbearers of the whole sport in Canada over the past four years, are taking time away, and I think most of us aren't expecting to see them in ISU competition again, but then, I'd have said the same thing about Eric Radford in 2018, so ??? Meanwhile, Fournier Beaudry & Sorensen soldier on and look set to inherit the national title for the next year or two. Lajoie & Lagha have been a bit stuck in place since turning senior, waiting for the post-Olympic retirement wave; now we'll see if they can really start to move up. A full season of ice dance without the Russian teams promises to be a very different place.

On the junior scene, we had two Canadian teams on the Junior World podium last season, one of which then immediately split/retired, but Bashynska & Beaumont are returning for one final junior season and hopefully another podium at a home Junior Worlds. The junior depth chart below them is now a bit undefined, between retirements, teams like Lim & Quan being released to skate abroad, and a multi-year YKW disruption.

National team
TBD

NextGen team
Nadiia Bashynska & Peter Beaumont
Chaima Ben Khelifa & Everest Zhu
Erica Estepa & Nolan Hickey
Sandrine Gauthier & Quentin Thieren
Emma Goodstadt & Michael Barsoum
Kaitlyn Ho & Daniel Yu
Jordyn Lewis & Noah McMillan
Dana Sabatini-Speciale & Nicholas Buelow
Layla Veillon & Alexander Brandys
Hailey Yu & Brendan Giang

 

[Dobre]

I like Yu & Giang. I think this is the team that had the Motown Medley a few years ago?

 

[kates8]

Piper and Paul have both posted over past couple of days that they are back training with their Club’s summer training camp

 

[Moustaffask8r]

Through the many tribulations of the previous quadrennial, we always had ice dance. Gilles & Poirier, who were probably the flagbearers of the whole sport in Canada over the past four years, are taking time away, and I think most of us aren't expecting to see them in ISU competition again, but then, I'd have said the same thing about Eric Radford in 2018, so ??? Meanwhile, Fournier Beaudry & Sorensen soldier on and look set to inherit the national title for the next year or two. Lajoie & Lagha have been a bit stuck in place since turning senior, waiting for the post-Olympic retirement wave; now we'll see if they can really start to move up. A full season of ice dance without the Russian teams promises to be a very different place.

On the junior scene, we had two Canadian teams on the Junior World podium last season, one of which then immediately split/retired, but Bashynska & Beaumont are returning for one final junior season and hopefully another podium at a home Junior Worlds. The junior depth chart below them is now a bit undefined, between retirements, teams like Lim & Quan being released to skate abroad, and a multi-year YKW disruption.

National team
TBD

NextGen team
Nadiia Bashynska & Peter Beaumont
Chaima Ben Khelifa & Everest Zhu
Erica Estepa & Nolan Hickey
Sandrine Gauthier & Quentin Thieren
Emma Goodstadt & Michael Barsoum
Kaitlyn Ho & Daniel Yu
Jordyn Lewis & Noah McMillan
Dana Sabatini-Speciale & Nicholas Buelow
Layla Veillon & Alexander Brandys
Hailey Yu & Brendan Giang

Who split in the junior after jr World??? Nathalie and Bruce???

 

[Dobre]

Who split in the junior after jr World??? Nathalie and Bruce???

Yes.

 

[Sylvia]

Who split in the junior after jr World??? Nathalie and Bruce???

Natalie D'Alessandro announced her retirement back in early May - link to the post about her university plans: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-news-and-updates.108316/page-11#post-6262795
Bruce Waddell is continuing in singles and competed in the Senior Men's event last month in Lake Placid.

ETA:

Skate Ontario's Sectional Series #1, July 22-24, 2022 in Waterloo - 10 Senior teams are registered to compete:
Molly Lanaghan / Dmitre Razgulajevs ON
Jessica-Lee Behiel / Jackson Behiel AB/NT/NU
Alyssa Robinson / Jacob Portz AB/NT/NU
Emmy Bronsard / Jacob Richmond QC (new)
Elysia-Marie Campbell / Liam Fawcett QC
Mikala Cutler / Mackenzie Mah AB/NT/NU
Anni Heinikainen / Malcolm Kowan AB/NT/NU (new)
Marie-Jade Lauriault / Romain Le Gac QC
Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus QC
Miku Makita / Tyler Gunara BC/YK
(plus the new team of Olivia Oliver / Elliott Graham who are based at Mariposa & debuting for POL)

16 Junior teams are listed for the NextGen competition, July 23-24 in Waterloo: https://skateontario.org/results/NGJULY23/NGJULY23JuniorDanceEL.pdf
These 6 teams were invited:
Nicole Bolender/Aiden Dotzert
Jamie Fournier/Anthony Haddad
Eliane Foroglou-Gadoury/Félix Desmarais
Alisa Korneva/Kieran MacDonald (new)
Savanna Martel/Kobi Chant
Marianne Hubert/William Oddson (new)

 

[nyrak]

Piper and Paul have both posted over past couple of days that they are back training with their Club’s summer training camp

I hope so. They'd be foolish to step away now with retirements/time away of teams ahead of them + no Russian teams for the foreseeable future.

 

[Gris]

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Piper Gilles on TikTok

Trying to keep up with the young ones #figureskatingtiktok #skating #iceskatingtiktok #figureskating #fyp @Nadiia* #viral

www.tiktok.com

Piper replied to a fan on TikTok saying that they plan to compete in the coming season.

 

[Karen-W]

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Piper Gilles on TikTok

Trying to keep up with the young ones #figureskatingtiktok #skating #iceskatingtiktok #figureskating #fyp @Nadiia* #viral

www.tiktok.com

Piper replied to a fan on TikTok saying that they plan to compete in the coming season.

Yes, I was going to post her IG story from today that indicated they would be competing this season, but you beat me to it with the TikTok confirmation!

 

[Colonel Green]

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Piper Gilles on TikTok

Trying to keep up with the young ones #figureskatingtiktok #skating #iceskatingtiktok #figureskating #fyp @Nadiia* #viral

www.tiktok.com

Piper replied to a fan on TikTok saying that they plan to compete in the coming season.

Wow, that's unexpected, but exciting.

I guess she decided she couldn't do without that Grand Prix Final medal.

 

[Aaron MB Fan]

Wow, I did not expect this at all! I guess this makes Canada’s path to getting back 3 Ice Dance spots at Worlds much easier. Unfortunately, this likely means no Worlds in 2023 for L/L, but it should hopefully mean 3 spots for 2024 home Worlds in Montreal!

 

[Bouffantrex]

Piper replied to a fan on TikTok saying that they plan to compete in the coming season.

Glorious news. I am pleased they are continuing and can rightfully return to the Worlds podium.

 

[Rhumba d’Amour]

I’m surprised—that Long and Winding Road program just screamed farewell to me—but stopping to consider this a moment, it makes sense. The rule changes do seem to favor those with splashy, crowd pleasing elements, and downplay the disadvantages for those with less than breathtaking technical basics. Why shouldn’t G/P take advantage? maybe even stay in so they can say their goodbyes in front of a home crowd at 2024 Worlds?

 

[Kateri]

I'll allow it, but G/P need to go back to their voidy roots for this year's FD. No more pastel ballads, and if they keep Long and Winding Road, just to make it EXTRA long and winding, I will riot.

 

[puglover]

I am thrilled!! I know last year could not have ended the way they hoped it would and that fluke skate catch of Piper's just devastated her. One of my favourite free dance of all time was "Vincent" by anybody and I did like Joni M. so I could do voidy or ballad if the right one.

 

[Bigbird]

I'll allow it, but G/P need to go back to their voidy roots for this year's FD. No more pastel ballads, and if they keep Long and Winding Road, just to make it EXTRA long and winding, I will riot.

Please, pretty please. I loved their Tango, Sweet Dreams, Hitchcock and Bond. Do they need new coaches with a different vision?

 

[Taso]

This quad G/P totally lost me. I would love something interesting and unexpected from them - I adored Hitchcock and Saudade, and while it lead them in a direction i didn't ultimately enjoy I liked Vincent, too. Their performances last year to me were so flat, maybe they felt that too and want to go out on a better note with some more hardware.

 

[puglover]

I sobbed my way through every skate of "Vincent" and I believe they did it as the exhibition for this Olympics and it was super well received. I think it helped propel them into the top medal contenders and had Montreal worlds not been axed I think they stood an excellent chance of winning a medal with "Both Sides Now" . That really grew over the season and with such a beloved Canadian singer, Canadian crowd, momentum on their side, and slightly questionable choices by their main competitors, I think they could have done it - at least third.

I understood "Long and Winding Road" and it felt like it was their song and told the story of their careers. It just somehow was too "the same". As to what they do now, I am very curious. Carol and company are very innovative and I am just so glad we get another year. But will we get hints??

 

[quartz]

I want Piper and Paul to do a “Friends of Mr. Cairo” (Jon & Vangelis) program.

 

[Impromptu]

You all buried the lead... which is that Paul is now blonde:

Paul Poirier on Instagram: "having more fun"

2,936 likes, 57 comments - pauldpoirier on July 17, 2022: "having more fun"

www.instagram.com

 

[Alilou]

You all buried the lead... which is that Paul is now blonde:

Paul Poirier on Instagram: "having more fun"

2,936 likes, 57 comments - pauldpoirier on July 17, 2022: "having more fun"

www.instagram.com

I love it!

 

[CassAgain]

Barbie and Ken program, please.

 

[Bouffantrex]

You all buried the lead... which is that Paul is now blonde:

Paul Poirier on Instagram: "having more fun"

2,936 likes, 57 comments - pauldpoirier on July 17, 2022: "having more fun"

www.instagram.com

Sexy!

 

[Wyliefan]

Barbie and Ken program, please.

Every time I see that photo from the movie, I think of Piper and Paul.

 

[victorskid]

Carol Lane posted: "I.D.E. Summer! A warm welcome to new members Katarina Del Camp & Billy Wilson-French, who will be representing the UK,& Emily Phillips & Luke Anderson, joining us for 10 days. Enjoyed Dress Like Piper Day, two Performance Days,& everyone surviving cardio sessions. GO I.D.E!" along with photos:

https://twitter.com/cjlanecoach/status/1548726304228384774

 

[Habs]

I sobbed my way through every skate of "Vincent" and I believe they did it as the exhibition for this Olympics and it was super well received. I think it helped propel them into the top medal contenders and had Montreal worlds not been axed I think they stood an excellent chance of winning a medal with "Both Sides Now" . That really grew over the season and with such a beloved Canadian singer, Canadian crowd, momentum on their side, and slightly questionable choices by their main competitors, I think they could have done it - at least third.

They did win a medal with that program the next year.

 

[screech]

I feel like they thought they 'found' something with Vincent (which they did), and then refused to move from that general zone afterwards, hoping they'd have the same success. Joni was still good, though not quit Vincent levels, and then Long and Winding Road was just blah for them. I want them to shake things up this year!

Even their Elton RD was just lacklustre for them, and Elton should NEVER be lacklustre. The costumes were the best part.

Unless they are top tier in results for the next couple years, I'm predicting they will retire after 2024 Worlds in Canada.

 

[puglover]

Well, it is not as if other "top" teams have hit it out of the park every time. V&M, W&P, P&C, H&D, etc. have all struggled with one or both programs. All the best to them and their team!!

 

[Colonel Green]

Grand Prix assignments. No Russians, so assignments for everybody:

Gilles & Poirier - SCI, Finland
Fournier Beaudry & Sorensen - France, NHK
Lajoie & Lagha - SCI, England
Soucisse & Firus - SkAm, Finland
Makita & Gunara - SCI
Lanaghan & Razgulajevs - France
Fabbri & Ayer - England
Sales & Wamsteeker - England

Miku & Tyler really had lousy luck in their final junior season, so I was glad they got a senior host spot.

 

[Wyliefan]

Piper took a sweet video of Molly and Dimitre finding out about their first GP. It's in her stories.

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