New Team Series: Sophia Bushell & Antonio Pena

Welcome to IDC’s New Team Series! For this series, we interview athletes who will enter the upcoming 2024-25 season in a new partnership, or debuted last season. In our sixth interview, we meet Sophia Bushell & Antonio Pena, senior ice dancers who represent Great Britain and train at SK International Ice Dance School in Madrid, Spain. 

Tell us about your individual skating journeys, including any early special memories.
Sophia Bushell (SB): I started skating at 4 years old. I began with solo figure skating, then a couple years in I began skating pairs with my brother. I realised I was too nervous to try throw jumps, so we switched to ice dance together. Alongside, I was still doing jumps. I skated with my brother for nearly 10 years. It was enjoyable, however, I wanted to put more focus in skating and wanted to take it more seriously.
The best memories I had so far was being able to participate in international competitions at a young age and experience them with my brother. We also performed in some exhibitions together, some being for tv. At around 7 years old, I realised performing in ice dance in front of a crowd brought my enjoyment and I knew I wanted to do this in my life.

Antonio Pena (AP): I started skating quite late. I was 11 years old. I initially was a football player, but one summer I decided to try ice skating during summer holidays. This is when I realised I loved it. After that one week, I decided to join the school, and the coaches saw my potential and I joined the skating club. Early special memories was when my grandparents used to watch my trainings and it would make me so excited and pushed me to want to skate more.

What drew you to ice dance?
SB: I tried every discipline when I was younger, trying to figure out which one I liked the best. I started figure skating when I was 4, and then alongside that I did pairs with my brother from 6 years old. Then, I realised I didn’t want to do the “scary” throw jumps so we switched to ice dance. After a few years, I realized figure skating wasn’t for me at all. I wasn’t a fan of the jumps, I much preferred the basic stroking and dancing of ice dance. I was also in a performing arts school in london, and I loved to always perform and dance. Being able to be part of a school like this, as well as do ice skating, made me sure I wanted to ice dance, so I focused on just ice dance and stopped the jumps. I realised this discipline was for me.  I had more enjoyment going onto the ice now that I can do more dancing, and work on my basic stroking.

AP: I was a figure skater and in my club they had ice dance as well, so I wanted to improve my skating skills. As there aren’t so many boys in Spain, my coach told me if I wanted to try ice dance I was to do it with a partner.  I was doing both disciplines, until one summer I did an ice dance camp and when I saw the other amazing ice dancers I fell in love with ice dance. I decided to stop single skating and start my ice dance journey.

Tell us how your partnership started. Describe the tryout.
AP: I remember I was skating with my sister and one girl wrote to me asking about a partnership, but I told her of course I was with my sister so it was not possible at the time. When my sister stopped skating, and I was on the search for a new partner, I remember this girl (Sophia) who wrote to me a few years ago and then decided to ask her for a tryout.

SB: After my partnership had ended last year, I was on the search during this time too for a partner. As my search was ending, I got the message from Anto and decided to fly to Spain for a tryout.

AP: At the start of the tryout, I felt not so comfortable as I was only skating with quite tall girls, However, the attitude and the way Sophia was trying to make everything work, trying new things and be hard working, was something I admired. I didn’t see a lazy girl. I saw a girl who really wanted to work and that is what I was searching for.

SB:  And for me, I felt comfortable from the beginning of the week, but what made me like Anto was how I saw he was hard working, and how we had a fun time during this week, which is how I knew I wanted him as my partner, as we could enjoy this journey together.

What is it that you already like most about dancing with your new partner?
SB: What I I like most about Anto is that we always have fun on the ice. There are always jokes and we are both eager to work hard I really like Anto’s motivation, and having a partner who wants to push the limits everyday makes training enjoyable. Training is enjoyable when you make it fun, as it is hard work, but having a friend on the ice makes this whole experience better.. we are in this together.

AP:  How strong she is, and super stable, but the thing I like the most, is that she is always pushing me to work. I am also sometimes negative and she is super positive all the time. I like how it felt like a partnership from the very beginning.

What experiences do each of you bring to the partnership? 
SB: We both trained with our sibling. My first partner was my brother, and Anto’s previous partner was his sister. I feel this is an experience not many ice skaters have, so it’s nice to be able to have shared this same experience. After having these experiences, it is easier between us to solve problems, so we can make training easier and more productive.

What has been the biggest adjustment for each of you so far in the partnership?
AP: For me was the height, which was the most uncomfortable to get used to, as I only skated with tall girls. As well as Sophia’s British accent, at the beginning of the tryout I kept telling her to speak slow, as I understand English, but at the beginning I wasn’t used to it, so I couldn’t understand her. 

SB: The biggest adjustment for me was moving to Spain and having to adjust some of the techniques I have been used to, as Anto has been used to certain teaching methods for a few years and some of the things are new to me. It was also hard to figure out how to put our strengths together to be more productive. As we both are strong characters, and I found it hard to understand his accent too at first. Communication between us was a bit difficult, however, now we have overcome this!

Tell us about your training site.
We train in Madrid and we skate 4 hours on ice 5 days a week as well as off ice 5 days a week. Two days a week is ballet, and two days is gym. We also include dance classes such as jazz. And sometimes off ice classes for lifts especially in off season. We have three other couples here, which is quite nice, as it is a small group, but it feels more like friends than training mates. And we can support each other and use each other for inspiration.

Who are your coaches? Did either or both have to relocate? 
Our coaches are Ksenia Monko, Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin. We have the most fun with them, and they inspire us everyday to be the best skaters we can be. 

SB: I had to move to Spain to relocate to join the SK Academy. It was quite an easy and comfortable move, as the coaches and the other athletes here made me feel so welcome straight away. And everyone here are all so friendly. I love the way this academy works, as it feels inspiring to be able to train alongside these other athletes, as well as working with these amazing coaches.

Who is choreographing your programs. 
Our coach Ksenia has choreographed our programs. Which we think she has done an incredible job, and we are very thankful for her.

If you could have a lesson with any ice dancer past/present, who would it be? Why?
SB: I have always wanted to have a lesson with both Tessa virtue and Scott Moir. Watching how Tessa is such an effortless beautiful skater is a big inspiration. I have also been inspired by their partnership. Having what looks like a pure connection between the two is what I admire.

AP: I have always wanted to train with Sara and Kirill, as there aren’t many ice dancers in Spain, they are the inspiration for skaters here. As they made so much for Spanish ice dance, I was inspired, which is the reason I joined their school. Also, I am grateful for the way they believe in me and all the work they have done for me.

What is each of you looking forward to most this skating season? What will be your biggest challenge(s)?
We are looking forward to competing internationally, and gaining a fun experience together. Our biggest challenge will be figuring out how competitions work together. As we haven’t competed with each other before so it will be a new experience. However, we have to wait till December to compete internationally.

What is your debut competition this season?
We have our first competition in November for qualifiers in England.

Please share anything you would like our readers to know about you as a team?
We would like for the future, people to come to watch us, and become that spectacular team, watching us do these cool tricks and lifts, being a team with good basic skating/power, and try to stand out from the others. We want to show our personalities on the ice, how good we work together and how hard we can push ourselves to see what the future holds with this new journey together. We are excited to show our programmes this season and make a name for ourselves.