Boston
“I don’t want to,” he remembered protesting when his parents first introduced the idea of the sport. With garish costumes and themes so dark that death scenes had to be banned from competition, ice dancing was the most mocked discipline in figure skating. Russians soared to the top of the podium, while American ice dancers largely struggled to make the top 10.
Seventeen years later, Bates and his partner, Madison Chock, are the 2015 national champions and the reigning world silver medalists. The United States has become so dominant in ice dance that, even with their resume, they are no longer even considered the top American team. The title belongs to Maia and Alex Shibutani. We’ll get to them later.
As competition began Wednesday in Boston at skating’s world championship, something once unthinkable has happened: Ice dancing is the discipline that might produce the United States’ only gold medal at a world championship on its home turf.
The dominance of skaters such as Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi are now simply nostalgia. Despite occasional brilliance from the previous two national champions, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, American women are in danger of having the medal drought at the world championships stretch to 10 years. No American man has won a medal since Evan Lysacek struck gold in 2009. Pairs remains weak: An American team hasn’t made it on the podium since 2002.
And then there’s ice dance, where only one year has passed since 2005 without an American on the podium. This is a tough year internationally, and yet there is a real possibility that two American teams could wind up on the podium by the end.
The country is no longer in the era of The Ice Queen. Patriotism comes from the dance.
“Success really has been coming to us here,” Alex Shibutani said. “We’re really working hard and we’re really pushing each other, and it has been showing.”
Ice dance has no acrobatic throws, no dangerous triple jumps and the best skaters rarely fall. It’s subtle. Instead, couples work hard to generate close, intricate footwork sequences while skating on deep edges, which can be deciphered by just how much skaters are leaning their body. The programs must be able to be replicated in a ballroom or on the modern ballet stage.
Yet the confusing judging system that replaced the easily understandable, infamously corrupt 6.0 system actually made ice dancing more viewer-friendly. That system helped to introduce more concrete elements — things such as spins and theatrical lifts (so long as they are not over the head). So it’s more exciting than ever before.
“And thank God for ‘Dancing with the Stars’!” Bates said, the television program that’s made Americans a little bit more keen to watching his sport.
The changes to the scoring system coincided with the arrival of two Russian coaches, Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva, to the United States. Zueva’s biggest claim came from pairs — the segment of figure skating with all those crazy throws. She had helped to guide Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, two-time Olympic champions largely regarded as the best ever — and she had a strategy for new American dominance.
Before, ice dance had been so unpopular in the country that many women athletes had to find partners from other countries, but Zueva lured young skaters who had strong technical skills as single skaters. They would be able to master the new ice dance skills with ease, while her experience as a pairs coach could help her envision lifts that were more acrobatic and previously banned.
“All the ice dance coaches weren’t ready for the new material and new rules,” Zueva said. “It used to be that if you can’t jump, you go do ice dance and do something gorgeous. But I had very strong single skaters, who were good kids. And they could compete with anyone else.”
Zueva’s teams quickly gained notice for their power and innovation. Based in Detroit, their success helped attracted top teams from Canada and Europe to the area — as well as competing coaches. In the heart of industrial America, the beauty of ice dance began to bloom.
The streak started with Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, 2006 Olympic silver medalists, who were a charming and fast team who excelled in programs with a distinct Latin flair. They were followed by Meryl Davis and Charlie White, a theatrical duo who captured the Olympic gold medal by skating to the spellbinding story of “Scheherazade.” Davis’s celebrity peaked even more when she became renown for her sultry chemistry off the ice while tangoing with Maksim Chmerkovskiy during a winning season of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Shpilband and Zueva have since split. Shpilband works with Chock and Bates; Zueva, with the Shibutanis, who won this year’s national championship.
Five teams from around the world have realistic chances for a gold medal, ranging from the flowing balletic style of France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron to the powerful but abstract moves from Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte are also in the mix.
The ice dance competition begins Wednesday morning with the first of two segments, known the short dance. Each skater will perform for few than three minutes. Set to music of their choosing, they must all perform the same Waltz pattern, as well as adding in a footwork sequence, a lift and a set of fast traveling spins known as twizzles. This particular dance is the strong suit of the Shibutanis, who must build up a strong lead in order to help ward off the challenges from the other four teams.
“I believe they can put all their energy into it and win the championship in their home country,” Zueva said. “And I think it would be great for the United States to see the beauty in ice dance, to be a sport that makes the country proud.”