Ice dancing tilts toward North America
Last Updated: Monday, February 22, 2010 | 11:20 AM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform their original dance to take first place in the ice dance competition on Sunday in Vancouver. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)With only one segment of the ice dancing competition left at these Olympics, three North American teams find themselves in an unprecedented position: all are in reach of a medal — with some even close to the gold.
The Canadian team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the original dance Sunday, prying away the spotlight usually focused on Europeans in this sport.
Virtue and Moir’s sexy, sultry flamenco, which they said was the best one they had ever performed, received 68.41 points. That victory, which elicited deafening cheers by the home crowd, gave them a 2.6-point lead going into the free dance Monday. They scored 111.15 points over all.
Their performance also put them one step closer to history. No North American team has ever won the Olympic gold medal in ice dancing. Teams from Canada and the United States have won only three Olympic medals — one silver and two bronze — in the event since it became a Winter Games sport in 1976. Russian teams have won seven of the nine gold medals.
“The power, the rhythm, it brought a certain energy out of us,” Virtue said. “I think we really connected to it.”
The Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, two University of Michigan students, scored 67.08 in the original dance. They are in second place over all, with 108.55 points. The Russian team of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, the reigning world champions, received 62.84 and are in third over all, with 106.60.
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, the five-time United States national champions, are in fourth over all, with 103.33. They scored 62.50 for their original dance. But they are not counting themselves out.
“It’s certainly possible for tomorrow’s standings to change,” Belbin said. “We really feel with our free program, we have the material necessary to really make a huge statement and do a performance that’s moving enough to move us up in the standings.”
When Belbin and Agosto won the silver medal at the 2006 Turin Games, it was the first medal in Olympic ice dancing for the United States in 30 years. But this time, White and Davis, the reigning national champions, are in a better position to win.
During their Indian folk dance, they showcased their skating skills and originality, moving so fast that they appeared to barely touch the ice. As Davis skated, her red and gold outfit sparkled and her long, dangly earrings whipped around, looking weightless.
“This definitely gives us momentum to slide right into the free dance,” White said. “We have confidence.”
At the same time, the Russians made their mark, too, but perhaps not for the right reasons. When Domnina and Shabalin performed, the crowd remained silent.
The Russians’ folk dance theme was listed as aboriginal and the music had no lyrics, but it did have riffs of didgeridoo. Their outfits, which were the focus of an uproar when they first wore them last year, were tweaked from past competitions but looked basically the same.
Here, the Russians wore flesh-colored outfits, accented with green leaves, body paint and white ropes that hung from their waists. She wore a tiny red skirt and bandeau. He wore a red loin cloth.
In the past, some Australian aboriginal elders said the costumes and the dance were “cultural theft,” calling the Russians’ performance offensive and inauthentic.
“I’m not sure I understand that folk dance, what it’s about,” announcers on the in-house radio said, after Domnina and Shabalin had finished. “The applause died out quickly. No wonder.”
Domnina and Shabalin defended their routine and costumes after finishing first in the compulsory dance. After their performance, they wrapped themselves in Canadian aboriginal blankets they received during a meeting with representatives of Canada’s Four First Host Nations.
“Our routine was very fair, and we respect this culture,” Shabalin said. “It’s very unique, and that’s why we chose it. We meant no disrespect. Maybe this misunderstanding is because you can’t do a folk dance 100 percent authentic. We have required elements. We have restrictions for our costumes.”
Domnina said she was pleased with the dance — as well as the criticism of it.
“Actually, we were happy about it,” she said. “It showed that we touched something. No other couple got so much press.”
