Ask IDC Q & A #3
Welcome to this week’s Ask IDC Question & Answer (Q&A)! Thank you for submitting all of your great questions. This week’s edition focuses on ice dance technical and/or historical information.
What are the newest Pattern Dances to be adopted by the ISU and who created them?
The three newest Pattern Dances are the Tea-Time Foxtrot and Maple Leaf March and Rhumba d’Amor. The Tea-Time Foxtrot was created by Poland’s Natalie Kaliszek & Maksym Spodyriev with their coach, Sylwia Nowak-Trebacka. The Maple Leaf March was created by Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier of Canada, with their coaches Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs. Both patterns were based on steps in the short dances skated by Kaliszek & Spodyriev and Gilles & Poirier during the 2015-2016 season. Also newly added is the Rhumba d’Amor, which was created by Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean and first performed at the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
The Tea-Time Foxtrot will debut as a pattern in the Rhythm Dance for teams at the junior level during the 2019-2020 season.
How many Olympic ice dance medals has the USA won?
The USA has won five (5) ice dance medals. Colleen O’Connor & Jim Millns won the first Olympic medal in ice dance, a bronze, in 1976. Thirty years later, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The United States has won a medal in ice dance at each of the Winter Olympics since 2006, with Meryl Davis & Charlie White claiming silver in 2010 and becoming the first U.S. team to win Olympic gold in ice dance in 2014. Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Davis & White also won a bronze medal as part of the inaugural team event in 2014 and the Shibutanis were part of Team USA’s team bronze medal win in 2018.
When was the last World Championships to include the compulsory dance? What was the dance?
Held in Torino, Italy, the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships was the last event to include the compulsory dance as part of the competition. After 2010, the compulsory and original dances were merged into the short dance. The Golden Waltz was the compulsory dance performed in Torino.
What is the “TV Rule“ for ice dance that affects the starting order for the final group only at the U.S. Championships?
The final group consists of five couples. The top three finishers in the rhythm dance will be the last to skate in the final group and they will draw from the first subgroup. The fourth and fifth place finishers in the rhythm dance will be the first to skate in the final group. They will draw from the second subgroup.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Q & A! You can submit a question via our Ask IDC Q & A form. The goal is to answer a few each week, so if your question is not covered in this edition, check back next week. Some questions may require us to reach out to technical experts before we can respond, so please be patient.
Until next time,
Daphne, Anne & Team IDC