Daisuke Takahashi decided to become an ice-dancer (with Kana Muramoto) after Jan 2020

[Madhatter]

I hate to rain on the parade but... I'm not seeing success in the future. Didn't Dai suffer back injuries? Learning to do lifts at 33 with a partner only 1 inch shorter? That doesn't sound like good odds. I hope I'm wrong, though, because as far as as actual dance goes, it's hard find better than Dai.

 

[ostile17]

I have low expectations of what they can do competitively in two years, but I think it could inspire young skaters in Japan to do ice dance.

And possibly to draw the attention on the lack of ice facilities in Japan as Daisuke mentioned when I interviewed him for Artonice.it in 2017

AOI: Japan is one of the strongest countries in the singles disciplines but not so much in pairs and ice dancing. What do you think is the reason for that?
Dai: Now they are paying more attention to the field. Japan's Skating Federation has been paying more attention in the pairs disciplines in the last few years. However, I think the main issue is the lack of training facilities, of getting the ice time due to lack of ice rinks. Now, with the number of single skaters increasing, it's hard for pairs to find the space to train among them. It's hard for two people who need a lot of space. The lack of coaches is another issue. There are very few experts in Japan and pairs are forced to go abroad to train. I think with time things will get better, especially when those who are now getting the experience abroad, will come back to teach.
Also, the built. The built of the men. That, above all.

Complete Interview

 

[ostile17]

I hate to rain on the parade but... I'm not seeing success in the future. Didn't Dai suffer back injuries? Learning to do lifts at 33 with a partner only 1 inch shorter? That doesn't sound like good odds. I hope I'm wrong, though, because as far as as actual dance goes, it's hard find better than Dai.

No, Daisuke never suffered back injuries (except when Kozuka landed a jump on his back during the 2010 GPF ), but a career-ending knee injury which kept him out for the whole 2008-2009 season. He managed to came back from that to win the Olympic bronze in Vancouver and the Worlds right after. Unfortunately the knee bothered him for the rest of his career and we know how important knees are in ice dancing.

However Dai is not the kind of person to embark in a hopeless project, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing and something good will come out of it for all.

 

[MsZem]

Stéphane Lambiel's reaction to the news as posted by Europe on Ice FB

The competition on Twitter

Gabriella Papadakis on Twitter

“Whaaaaaat 🤯 hahaha! I’m actually pretty excited https://t.co/g3egQE9gSD”

twitter.com

 

[ostile17]

The competition on Twitter

Gabriella Papadakis on Twitter

“Whaaaaaat 🤯 hahaha! I’m actually pretty excited https://t.co/g3egQE9gSD”

twitter.com

Well, I'm sure they will never get to skate in the same group.

 

[overedge]

He is so sensitive to the music when he skates and such a great interpreter of it. This could be reaalllly interesting!!!

 

[Dobre]

Japan currently . . .

-Needs a dance team or pair team to qualify for the 2022 Olympics in order to send a team for the team event.
-Always has 4CC spots that go unused.
-Maybe always has host NHK dance berths that go unused (one assumes due to Japan's own inner criteria for bestowing spots).
-Does not have a dance team that made the free dance cut for Worlds.
-Does not have a junior team that made the free dance cut for Junior Worlds.
-Does not have a senior team competing at the GP level composed of two members with Japanese citizenship.


So I would guess that the Japanese Federation is quite motivated to help develop a competitive dance and/or pair team. We could call it The Race for the Japanese Dance Spot. (Where there is a vacumn/opportunity/funding, someone will usually fill it).

Komatsubara & Koleto are the closest at the moment. Currently 21st at Worlds, 39th on last year's SB list, and hopeful he will get citizenship.

Yoshida & Nishiyama are having a promising junior season, finishing about 11 points out from Taschlerova & Taschlerov at their JGP skate. (Indicates Y&N ought to be able to make the FD cut at Junior Worlds. Likely outside the top 10 but quite promising compared to Japan's chances last season). I think Y&N are very promising, but 2026 would seem their most likely target if it comes down to earning their own berth.

Fukase & Zhang are brand new this season. She was also a member of a promising Japanese junior team. I'm assuming he doesn't have a route to citizenship, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Takenami & Ikeda attended Junior Worlds last season & finished 26th.

Hirayama & Ishibashi competed at Lake Placid International. They scored 120.47.


Anyway, it is a huge, huge endeavor to try to become a competitive ice dancer at the stage Takahashi is at in his career; and for athletes at his & Kana's level, it can be a real shock when you start a new team and realize how far out you are from where you were competitively in the past. But considering the current state of Japanese ice dance, the opportunities available, and the rigid citizenship laws in Japan that make importing experienced, high level dancers from other countries almost impossible, I do not think a couple inches is worth fussing over.

 

[Nune]

Just great News ! But do they really train with Zoueva???? So horrible

 

[Tinami Amori]

I am looking forward to seeing their programmes. very interested.

 

[aftershocks]

Wow, I can't wait to see them together! When Daisuke began coming into his own aesthetically along with already being a great jumper, he found his true calling as a dancer and a charismatic artist on the ice. We know this, and so this will hopefully be a seamless transition for Dai, and a wonderful way to continue seeing him compete!

 

[Messalina]

I could not be more excited about this!

Results aside, I think this will be a wonderful boost for Japanese ice dance and will hopefully inspire some young'uns from Japan's huge pool of talent to branch out from singles.

 

[starrynight]

I have low expectations of what they can do competitively in two years, but I think it could inspire young skaters in Japan to do ice dance.

Dai was very reasonable with his singles comeback last season, competing only in domestic competitions to slowly build up. And it's not like Japan has a deep field in dance, so even a moderate achievement will be a good result and a benefit to his country's development in ice dance. Gosh, even the precedent of a good singles skater switching to ice dance could be a positive move. I really want Japan to develop its depth across dance and pairs.

Yeah, it's sort of like when Valentina Marchei switched to pairs, although of course she never had quite as much success in singles as Takahashi.

I always thought that Valentina made way more of an impact as a pairs skater than as a singles skater - her results (including her very impressive 2018 Olympics) were vastly superior.

Learning to do lifts at 33 with a partner only 1 inch shorter?

All height differences aren't made equal though - Kana is a petite girl. It's not one of those pairs where the man and lady are basically the same size.

But at the end of the day, I don't think they are aiming to be World champs. This is a big partnership for Kana too - because regardless of results, if they can make some memorable programs, I'm sure they will popular in shows in Japan too.

As a side note, I wonder how Tim Koleto and Misato Kombatsubara feel about this.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

I guess I am the only person kind of saddened by this. To me it just feels like a "desperation" move somehow. Hopefully I am wrong.

It's not a desperate move on his part. He won silver at Japanese nationals in 2018 - he could have gone to Worlds, but he chose not to. If it's "desperation" on anyone's part, it's the Japanese federation, who I'm sure would really like to build more of a dance program, if only for the team events. And even there, it may not be that they think that this new partnership will win any medals - what they'll very likely do is get more Japanese skaters interested in dance, and that'd be great on its own. And if nothing else, it gets a partner for a Japanese ice dancer who is currently without partner - and a partner who can compete with her internationally, including at the Olys. No citizenship issues, no need to give Ukraine an SUV in exchange for a male partner...

Daisuke wins silver, turns down World's spot

 

[text_skate]

Desperate people don't look happy.

https://twitter.com/AkiAqui/status/1177140065580929026

Daiske looks happy.
He is not desperate

 

[Madhatter]

It's not a desperate move on his part. He won silver at Japanese nationals in 2018 - he could have gone to Worlds, but he chose not to. If it's "desperation" on anyone's part, it's the Japanese federation, who I'm sure would really like to build more of a dance program, if only for the team events. And even there, it may not be that they think that this new partnership will win any medals - what they'll very likely do is get more Japanese skaters interested in dance, and that'd be great on its own. And if nothing else, it gets a partner for a Japanese ice dancer who is currently without partner - and a partner who can compete with her internationally, including at the Olys. No citizenship issues, no need to give Ukraine an SUV in exchange for a male partner...

Daisuke wins silver, turns down World's spot

Reality check: he couldn't have, he didn't have Worlds minimums. And he wouldn't have got them if he had skated like he did at Nationals.

 

[NinjaTurtles]

Dai doing ice dance has been a not-so-secret dream of mine for at least a decade. This is so great for Dai, for Kana (who is a special talent), for fans, and for both ice dance as a discipline in Japan and as a whole.

Such exciting ****ing news!

 

[shan]

Like others, my mouth fell open when I read the news. I love Daisuke's skating, and I was so sad when Muramoto/Reed split. She is an amazing performer, so I'm so excited to see where this partnership goes!!

 

[starrynight]

Desperate people don't look happy.

https://twitter.com/AkiAqui/status/1177140065580929026

Daiske looks happy.
He is not desperate

I enjoyed that clip even though I couldn’t understand a word. Ice dance has probably got more media attention in Japan in 24 hours than it has had in quite some time.

 

[LilJen]

Okay, now Jeremy Abbott can resurrect his ice dance career. . . I hope Dai and Kana, above all, have an AWESOME time doing this, learning new things. Nobody interprets music like Dai, so in that sense he's made for dance.

 

[mollymgr]

Daisuke has also had a glorious stint of dancing off the ice. He was in Cheryl Burke's Love On The Floor which had sold out shows in Tokyo for two years. Daisuke was definitely the star of that show. Not many skaters can say they have done that. He is passionate about movement and ice dance would be great vehicle for him to do so on his favorite surface. I'm very excited about this announcement.

 

[overedge]

Just curious, has anyone else who's been a world champion in one discipline come back later to compete in a different discipline? I mean in ISU competition, not in professional or adult competitions (and yes, I am aware that there are ISU-sanctioned adult competitions).

 

[MINAM]

Very, very surprised. I guess he really likes competing. Reminded me of an interview he did with Tadahiro Nomura (3 times Olympic champion, Judo) where Nomura talked about how Takahashi struggled to to be physically and technically fit when he announced his comeback.
The first thing that popped into my mind was, yes, the height difference. Skating together is one thing, and lifting is another. I guess we'll see, although I'm skeptical. It's something for me to look forward to.

 

[jlai]

Okay, now Jeremy Abbott can resurrect his ice dance career. . .

Unfortunately Jeremy competes for US....

 

[lurkz2]

Unfortunately Jeremy competes for US....

Off topic but I was hoping Jeremy would hit it off with Deanna Stellato back when she was looking for a partner

 

[Aerobicidal]

I love the typical FSU reaction posts in this thread:
They'll never win Worlds
The height difference is too small
They're desperate

What's missing is:
He's likely to assault her (or vice versa)
This won't last after puberty
They're both too old for Nikolai Morosov
The age gap may or may not be worse than the height gap
Ted Barton may mispronounce their names
The only reason people will root for them is because they hate Russian skaters
They will never be better than Virtue/Moir (or Papadakis/Cizeron) (or Paul/Islam)

 

[livetoskate]

This is great news. I can't wait to see them skate together and see these 2 talented skaters show their magic again.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Daisuke really feels the music. I think he'll be a great ice dancer.

 

[maatTheViking]

I'm not sure the (missing) height gap is that big of a deal? there are some effective balance lifts that look like both partners working equally, the Kerrs and Anissina/Peizerat had reverse lifts.

Yes, those will probably not get you the top scores, but again I highly doubt their goal is to medal at worlds...

 

[MsZem]

I love the typical FSU reaction posts in this thread:
They'll never win Worlds
The height difference is too small
They're desperate

I brought that up, and not in my first post, because it's a challenge they'll face in addition to others. As I noted, I'm sure they're realistic about their goals, and it'll be great to see more from Dai.

(the same cannot be said about Nikolai Morozov...)

 

[ostile17]

Dai doing ice dance has been a not-so-secret dream of mine for at least a decade. This is so great for Dai, for Kana (who is a special talent), for fans, and for both ice dance as a discipline in Japan and as a whole.

Such exciting ****ing news!

Reality check: he couldn't have, he didn't have Worlds minimums. And he wouldn't have got them if he had skated like he did at Nationals.

He could have got a minumum score very easily, regardless of the bad skate at Nationals, which was a one time thing.