by Anne Calder | Photo by Melanie Heaney

The second 2024 Grand Prix Series event was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia October 25-27. Ice dancers representing Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Korea and the United States competed. Seven of the ten teams train in Canada. Six are coached full time in Montreal at I.Am. One team splits its training between Montreal and Long Island, NY. The final team is located in in Scarboro, Ontario.

Rhythm Dance

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier delivered a snappy, fast moving performance to a Beach Boys medley that scored 86.44 points. For the second week in a row the team atop the leader board earned an impressive 6:00 GOE for the Choreo Rhythm Sequence. The team’s Program Component Scores were all nines and above.

“We both noticed a few places that we were a bit ahead of the music, or behind the music and just not working 100% together, but that’s to be expected for the first time performing a program,” Poirier said.
“We felt confident, and we felt strong, and we enjoyed the program.”

The 2024 World silver medalists are using a novel ‘Ken & Barbie at the beach’ theme for their practice/competition costumes. The team will be alternating four different outfit sets during the season. Shorts will not be worn by Poirier because of the look with skates. The lifeguard ones used at this event are a favorite of their coach, Carol Lane who liked the idea of it being red and white in Canada.

Also representing Canada, Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha, chose music selections by Quincy Jones and Earth, Wind & Fire to earn a second place 77.34 score. Lagha had an unfortunate fall on a non-scoring element, which temporarily slowed their momentum, before quickly refocusing.

“Sometimes mistakes happen because you’re nervous or because you’re tired physically, but it’s also scary because you realize that you can do mistakes that are kind of out of your control,” Lagha noted.  “It didn’t really affect the rest of the program.”

Evgeniia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) danced into third place with a Boney M medley. The 76.76 segment score left little breathing room between the Canadian and French teams, with the latter earning a higher Program Component mark.

“We have to work on our technique to have better levels, but otherwise we are pretty happy with our performance,” Lopareva said.

Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik (USA) selected a Bee Gees medley for their second appearance in two years at Skate Canada International. The team earned a fourth place 75.63 score.

Natalie Taschlerova & Filip Taschler (CZE) danced to music by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand for a 74.97 fifth place score.

The Rhythm Dance ended with the front runners sporting a nine-point lead. The next four teams were locked in a virtual tie with only a difference of 2.37 points separating second from fifth place. The audience left Scotiabank Centre anxiously anticipating the next day’s Free Dance.

Free Dance

The Ice Dance podium: Gilles & Poirier (gold), Lajoie & Poirier (silver), Lopareva & Brissaud (bronze)

Gilles & Poirier won their fifth straight SCI gold medal with an amazing dance to “Air on the G String” by Robert Prizeman, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Annie Lennox and “Tango on the G String” by Rob Colling. The beautifully choreographed program, highlighted by precise Tango steps, scored 128.40 and together with the Rhythm Dance totaled 214.84.

“We felt so comfortable out on the ice and really allowed each moment to come to us,” said Poirier. “Now we’re going to put that in our back pocket and know we can skate confident and clean like we did here and keep working for more.”

Lajoie & Lagha’s silver medal dance to “Sound of Silence” scored 122.56 points. The choreographed movements to the haunting melody sung by Disturbed created a collage of emotions while Karl Hugo’s instrumental center piece connected the opening theme to the closing pose. The total was 199.90.

“The silver medal means a lot,” Lajoie said. “After yesterday we just wanted to concentrate on today, and I think that’s why we were able to perform really well because we were just focused on the moment.”

Lopareva & Brissaud received 117.49 points for their unique interpretation of a medley by French hard-techno and electro pop artist BFRND. The highlights were the Choreographic assisted jump and upside lift. Their two programs totaled 194.35 earning them the bronze medal.

“We were confident, well placed on the ice. We’ll try to keep this feeling for our second Grand Prix next week,” Lopareva said.

Taschlerova & Taschler moved up to fourth place with a medley by Moby. Taschlerova’s spontaneous leaping handstand drew loud applause while the sibling’s overwhelming speed was also creating a sustaining highlight. The program scored 114.63, with a 189.60 total.

Zingas & Kolesnik slipped to fifth place after earning 113.78 for “Epilogue” by Olafur Arnalds and “Lost it to Trying” by Son Lux choreographed by Benoît Richaud. The two programs totaled 189.41.The close finish between fourth/fifth was only .19 points.

The third ISU Grand Prix stop is Grand Prix de France in Angers, France from November 1-3.