by Anne Calder

The 2024 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series consists of six international senior events hosted this season by the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Finland, and China. The Series ends with the ISU Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, December 5-8 where the top six skaters/couples in each discipline will compete.

Skate America, the first Grand Prix event this season was held in Allen, Texas, October 18-20.

Rhythm Dance

The Ice Dance Technical Committee selected social dances and styles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for the Rhythm Dance theme for the current season. Suggested dance styles, but not limited to, include: Rock n’ roll, Jitterbug, Twist, The Hustle, Disco, etc.

Pairs and women competed Friday evening. The Rhythm Dance was the first of four events on Saturday.

ABBA, The Beatles, Beyonce, James Brown, The Doors and Elvis Presley were among some of the legendary artists chosen by the dancers.

Teams finished the Rhythm Dance in the following order: Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (GBR), Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA), Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin (GEO), Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer (CAN) and Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck (ESP). All ten teams would skate their Free Dance the next day.

Smart & Dieck who teamed up in 2022 danced to “Move Over” by Janis Joplin, “Piece of My Heart” by Big Brother and the Holding Company, feat. Janis Joplin and “Touch Me” by the Doors. Their Choreographic Rhythm Sequence scores ranged from -1 to +4. The program scored 70.99.

Fabbri & Ayer scored a 71.75 with a medley of Elvis Presley songs that included “Jailhouse Rock”, “Suspicious Mind” and “Blue Suede Shoes”. Both of their twizzles and the rotational Lift earned level 4.

Davis & Smolkin, who this season relocated to Montreal to train, scored 73.16 for their dance to “Lady Marmalade” by Sheila and “Music is My Way of Life”. They each earned level 4 twizzles and level 3 midline step sequences.

“Training at I.AM we have amazing teammates who have helped show us Montreal,” Smolkin explained. “The coaching team is incredible and unique in their own ways. It’s new to us,. We’re still adapting. It’s awesome.”

Chock & Bates had a fall in the Choreographic Rhythm Sequence and received a 77.83 score, which was far below their personal best.

“We went for a little jump in our Choreo Sequence, but instead of landing on the ice, I landed on Evan’s foot,” explained Chock. “It was bizarre – it’s never happened before. It was a fluke accident in a very costly spot in the program points wise.”

“It happened quite early in the program,” Bates added. ”I feel we used our experience to recover and really do the rest of the program very well.”

The reigning World Champions used eleven songs in their Dancing through the Decades routine. Both of their twizzles, midline step sequences and closing rotational lift earned level 4.

“When we were listening to music from all the decades, there were so many great options that we found it hard to narrow it down,” Chock said. “We like all the eras, so we decided to show all the different styles and have an evolution of dance from the 50’s through the 70’s.

“We have swing, twist, nitty gritty, disco sections etc. We had so much fun taking ourselves through the history of American dance in those eras.”

Fear & Gibson skated last and vaulted into first place with a season best 83.56 score danced to “Le Freak” by Chic and “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

The British duo performed their routine to a very supportive audience from the opening twizzles to the final two elements. Their signature Choreographic Rhythm Sequence is always a much anticipated move. Fear and Gibson did not disappoint and the judges rewarded them with a 6:00 GOE score. The program closed with a spectacular rotational lift that earned all 4 and 5 GOE marks.

Later at the press conference, Fear spoke about their performance. “We were not aware of what went on before. Regardless, we knew we had a lot to execute and perform to the standards we set for ourselves, so we tried to stay present. We were really pleased with our score and the improvement we made with our season best.”

“We just wanted to go out there and improve on our previous two competitions,” Gibson added.

Free Dance

On Sunday, the Free Dance followed the Men’s competition. The ten ice dancers skated in reverse order of their Rhythm Dance scores.

The social media was alive with chatter about the Rhythm Dance results. Inside the arena, the audience was anxiously awaiting the introduction of the first group of skaters. The anticipated music and programs would probably be quite different from that of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

Leah Neset & Artem Markelov used “My Love Will Never Die” by AG and Claire Wyndham, “Hold Your Breath” by Astyria and “Gloria Regal” by Tommee Profitt, feat. Fleurie. The Nikolai Morozov choreographed program scored 109.70 and gave them the lead after Group 1. The reigning World Junior Champions scored a total 179.38 in their Senior Grand Prix debut and finished fifth.

Davis & Smolkin slipped to fourth place dancing to the music of “Kashmir” by Bond, “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin, “The Rain Song” by Beth Hart and “Black Door” by Led Zeppelin. The program scored 113.80. Both dances totaled 187.05.

“Our Free Dance is a unique and very challenging program,” Smolkin said. “We’ve never done anything like it, and we’ve been very excited to show it.”

Smart & Dieck chose five selections from the Dune soundtrack by Hans Zimmer plus Peter Gabriel’s “The Feeling Begins”. Smart’s costume dramatically added to the theme and choreography of the program. The bronze medalists scored a personal best for both the dance (118.45) and the total (189.44).

“Being on the podium today with Tim was a moment we’ve been hoping for and wanting to feel,” Smart said.  “It’s the reason we came back and started skating together. Getting that moment today while holding back tears, was a step forward in our partnership. Thank you everybody for experiencing that with us.”

Chock & Bates won the Free Dance with a 127.76 score, dancing to “Round Midnight” by Miles Davis, “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck and “Take Five” by Juju. The newly married team’s 205.63 competition total fell short by .75 points to claim their third straight Skate America title.

Chock explained the intertwining of the music theme, her costume design and the order of the creation.

“Initially, we were drawn to the music, “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck. It’s been in the back of our minds for a long time, and on our little list of things to explore. We started with that nugget.”

“From there we were inspired by the idea of Lady Luck and how you can inspire your own luck and in turn how that’s turned into the American Dream. Dave Brubeck is an American artist and Worlds being in the U.S., it felt very cohesive to have this theme and movement going forward.”

“When I thought about jazz and that moody feeling, it brought me to a place in New York. For me it was the 1920’s, glamorous, art deco…I was very inspired by the Empire State Building…Cyd Charisse. I had classic American images in my head. That’s where it [the costume] all stems from.”

“The story between us is about Lady Luck, and how you can create your own luck and be inspired by that.”

Fear & Gibson proudly stood atop the Grand Prix podium during the playing of “God Save the King.” The gold medalists earned 122.82 for their Beyonce medley: “Halo”, “End of Time” and “Crazy in Love”. The competition totaled 206.38.

Fear shared her thoughts on what it meant to stand on the Grand Prix podium. “We were very proud to be up there. It was a heart warming moment, especially to be surrounded by our amazing teammates. It was a joy to compete along side them this week and to train together. It makes it even more meaningful that we’re all up here together.”

Lewis spoke about continuing to find new program ideas and reinventing themselves. “For us, we just follow with what we want to do – what’s going to make us happy – what’s going to excite us every day when we go to training. It’s definitely going to be passionate for us.”

Texas Tidbits

Canadians Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac are known for their avant garde programs. This season, the married couple chose a Spaghetti Western theme for their free dance. It’s a name given to low-budget western movies made by Italian movie companies in the late 1960’s. They picked something different, but also added a modern touch by having Lauriault wear pants instead of a little skirt.
Elizabeth Tkachenko & Alexei Kiliakov who had partnered as juveniles in 2011 made their senior debut at 2024 Skate America. The team is coached by Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov, Sr., parents of Kiliakov, Jr.
Katarina Mrazkova & Daniel Mrazek were the 2023 World Junior Champions. The siblings made their senior Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Skate America in Allen, TX competing alongside Czech sibling training mates, Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler. It was the first time two Czech teams had competed on the circuit in the same year.
Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer reached out to ice dancer Zachary Donohue to choreograph their free program. Since he now lives in Australia, the Canadians shared videos from the ice in Montreal while Donohue choreographed at 2:00 am from his living room. Fabbri had wanted to skate to “It’s a Man’s World” since they partnered in 2018. They recently found a more modern version that fit their skating pretty well and mixed it with “You Don’t Own Me”.
Annabelle Morozov & Jeffrey Chen (USA) train at MIDA in Canton, Michigan. The new team made its senior debut at the 2024 Lake Placid Ice Dance International. Morozov was born in Connecticut and skated in the U.S. on the juvenile and intermediate levels before competing as an ice dancer for Russia. Nikolai Morozov and Charlie White choreographed their Star Wars free dance program.
Fear & Gibson broke the USA’s Skate America gold medal streak that Tanith Belbin White & Ben Agosto began in 2009. The former partners were in attendance in Allen, TX.Skate America 2024 included twelve men, twelve women, eight pair teams and ten ice dance couples. The forty two athletes represented fifteen different countries.
The ten dance couples included teams from CAN, CZE, ESP, GBR GEO, ISR, and USA.
Six dance teams including the medalists train at I.AM.
Chock & Bates’ Rhythm Dance music included: Hawaii 5-0, “Let’s Twist Again” and “Rock Around the Clock”  by Jive Bunny, “The Madison”, “Watusi with Lucy” by the Dovells, “Nitty Gritty” by Skeewiff, “Stayin Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Car Wash”, “Blame it on the Boogie” by the Jacksons, “YMCA” by Village People, “Last Dance” by Donna Summer.

The second ISU Grand Prix stop is Skate Canada International in Halifax, Nova Scotia October 25-27, 2024.