2023–24 Canadian Ice Dance: News and Updates

[Sylvia]

Coach Carol Lane and Pj Kwong are going to review the season and talk about winning that Silver medal and what that means to not only Piper and Paul, but the whole team at Scarboro Ice Galaxy's Ice Dance Elite and the Ice Dance World in general. Join us on Thursday, April 4 [today] at 1pm ET on Skate Ontario's Facebook and Youtube pages and on X (formerly Twitter).
https://www.facebook.com/events/1073330597105582 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umtdgwO2S0c

 

[victorskid]

Coach Carol Lane and Pj Kwong are going to review the season and talk about winning that Silver medal and what that means to not only Piper and Paul, but the whole team at Scarboro Ice Galaxy's Ice Dance Elite and the Ice Dance World in general. Join us on Thursday, April 4 [today] at 1pm ET on Skate Ontario's Facebook and Youtube pages and on X (formerly Twitter).
https://www.facebook.com/events/1073330597105582 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umtdgwO2S0c

Also to be on the Skate Ontario YouTube: https://youtu.be/umtdgwO2S0c

 

[Sylvia]

Also live here right now:

https://x.com/skatingpj/status/1775931378175271280?s=46&t=KgUSN54n0i_AV3_s0-Fbxw

 

[Wyliefan]

I had to tune in late because of a work meeting, but great line from Carol just now: "Why are we doing the paso when we're not actually doing the paso?"

 

[Wyliefan]

Not a lot of news here so far, mostly just recapping the season and Worlds, but she has really nice things to say about Barbara Fusar-Poli.

 

[DE93]

Not a lot of news here so far, mostly just recapping the season and Worlds, but she has really nice things to say about Barbara Fusar-Poli.

At the end of the ice dance medal ceremony in Montreal, Barbara called over Piper and Paul and gave them huge hugs and kisses and warmly congratulated them! It was nice to see

 

[victorskid]

Not a lot of news here so far, mostly just recapping the season and Worlds, but she has really nice things to say about Barbara Fusar-Poli.

She also talked about Mauricio as well as several other coaches and talked about solo dance as well.

 

[4rkidz]

When I was volunteering at the practice rink at worlds by the boards, Babs was the most supportive of all the coaches. She seems like a lovely lady, very friendly.

 

[Sylvia]

Dec. 20, 2023:

Emma Goodstadt has announced her retirement from competitive skating: [her Instagram is private now]
"I'm thrilled to share that I've been accepted to Western University with advanced entry into the Ivey Business School, where I will commence full-time studies in September 2024."

Emma suffered a pelvic fracture in a practice collision during Challenge and announced her retirement a few weeks later. Her partner this past season, USA-born Christian Bennett, 21, listed himself on IPS following her announcement and his profile is still up.

Feb. 15, 2024:

"Both Canadian ice dance teams that took part in the Youth Olympics, Audra Gans / Michael Boutsan and Caroline Kravets / Jacob Stark, have ended their partnerships. Boutsan and Kravets are on Ice Partner Search."
...
I think that's three Canadian junior dance teams that have split since nationals, right? Sabatini-Speciale/Buelow were the first.

Four, including Bolender/Dotzert, who have also split. He is on ice partner search.

Chaima Ben Khelifa, 18, has an IPS profile up that was last updated in November 2023 (she competed in 4 JGPs with Everest Zhu in 2021 & 2022).

William Oddson, 21, updated his IPS profile in early April and is "Willing to represent other countries." He competed in one JGP with Savanna Martel last fall and they were 5th in Junior at Nationals: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00117812.htm

 

[Colonel Green]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[Sylvia]

Mariposa Ice Dance has a new (Junior) team - Summer Homick, 16 (turns 17 in July) and Nicholas Buelow, 17, coached by Mitch Islam and choreographed by Kaitlyn Weaver: https://www.instagram.com/p/C57Zsc1OpJ0/

Summer previously competed 3 seasons in pairs with Marty Haubrich (they finished 8th in Senior Pairs at 2024 Nationals).

ETA that the 2nd photo shows Rachel Martins and Juel Kowalczyk who placed 4th in Novice Ice Dance at Nationals (0.1 point away from the bronze medalist team's total score).

I just noticed that Dana Sabatini-Speciale's IPS profile as of March 10 lists Andrew Hallam at the Cricket club as her coach: https://icepartnersearch.com/showbio.php?i=7523

 

[Wyliefan]

Interesting! I'm glad Buelow's back.

 

[Sylvia]

Cross-posting here from the Solo Ice Dance thread in GSD re. Emmy Bronsard/Jacob Richmond's split:

Emmy Bronsard posted tonight that she is training for Picken solo dance event -- and also looking for a new partner.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C59jolYrS7M/​

The Picken Solo Dance International (first ISU-sanctioned event in North America) will be held in Reston, VA, April 25-28, 2024 - event info is posted in that thread
(ETA link to the post): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ial-isu-discipline.111386/page-4#post-6586740

 

[Sylvia]

Skate Canada's press release today (April 23) about their ice dance season highlights:

Top Ice Dance Moments from the 2023/2024 Season

The 2023/2024 figure skating season came to a crowd-roaring conclusion at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships at home in Montreal, Quebec. From the junior to senior level, Canada’s ice dancers impressed this season, capturing a total of 14 international medals. Here are some of the...

skatecanada.ca

Final sentence: "The future of Canadian ice dance is looking strong as we approach the halfway mark to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina. Make sure to stay tuned to skatecanada.ca and sign up for the Fan List to be the first to know about the 2024/2025 Grand Prix assignments and who’s named to the National Team in the months ahead."

Since there is no mention of FB/S, their retirement announcement is likely forthcoming?

 

[Wyliefan]

They didn't mention Lauriault/Le Gac either, though (national silver medalists), so who knows?

 

[Karen-W]

They didn't mention Lauriault/Le Gac either, though (national silver medalists), so who knows?

Yeah, my default assumption is that Skate Canada just doesn't want to draw any attention to FBSoer if they can help it. If FBSoer are staying in next season then they and Skate Canada will draw enough ire and criticism when the GP assignments are released.

 

[Sylvia]

Ben Agosto and Katherine Hill recently visited Wing/Lowe’s Vancouver Ice Dance Academy - 2 photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6HuJzYvuwg/
Tagged skaters include Chloe Nguyen/Brendan Giang, Romy Malcolm/Kobi Chant (AUS), Tasha Lai/Mickey Becker-Pos (Novice 3rd), Namu Lee (he is KOR and looking for a new partner), Madelaine Breau (6th at Pre-Novice Challenge with Nathan Feng-in the photo but not tagged?).

 

[coralline]

Ben Agosto and Katherine Hill recently visited Wing/Lowe’s Vancouver Ice Dance Academy - 2 photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6HuJzYvuwg/
Tagged skaters include Chloe Nguyen/Brendan Giang, Romy Malcolm/Kobi Chant (AUS), Tasha Lai/Mickey Becker-Pos (Novice 3rd), Namu Lee (he is KOR and looking for a new partner), Madelaine Breau (6th at Pre-Novice Challenge with Nathan Feng-in the photo but not tagged?).

I also saw Alec ROUECHE （Chloe NGUYEN‘s former partner）.

 

[Sylvia]

Posted back on Jan. 12, 2023 in the Nationals in Oshawa thread in the Kiss & Cry section:

Very excited to watch this event this evening, Jordyn Lewis (4th jr dance) and Layla Veillon (5th jr dance) are a part of the ice ignite Jr team! I feel this was a wonderful addition to the event schedule at Canadian nationals, so much exposure for this beautiful discipline

June 29, 2023 in this thread:

Bringing this over here from the 2023-24 NextGen thread:
...
Jordyn Lewis / Noah McMillan, Ilderton SC/Ilderton SC ON [J4]

I believe Lewis/McMillan did not compete at all this season? Posted on Jan. 20, 2024:

Lewis/McMillan are officially done.

jordyn ;) on Instagram: "End of an era ✨ So immensely grateful for everything this journey has taught me, but especially thankful to have spent the last 11 years with my best friend… our friendship has always been one of my favourites, from the day

392 likes, 54 comments - jordynlewis6 on January 20, 2024: "End of an era ✨ So immensely grateful for everything this journey has taught me, but especially thankful to have spent the last 11 yea...".

www.instagram.com

Jordyn's Instagram stories today (screenshots here: https://twitter.com/virtuemoired/status/1783982516224786612) indicate that she is joining Les Suprêmes senior synchro team of CPA St-Léonard in Montréal - an exciting opportunity for her.

 

[almiranara]

I believe Lewis/McMillan did not compete at all this season? Posted on Jan. 20, 2024:

Noah had double knee surgery in the fall