Q&A Session with Madi (Hubbell) and Zach (Donohue)

Talking about singing, music with vocals has been allowed in ice dance for some time now. This season, it'll be allowed in all the other skating disciplines. What are your thoughts on vocals in skating?

Zach: Vocals can be both dangerous and great for ice dancers. With certain songs and lyrics, people may expect to see specific things in the program. At the same time, with almost any lyrical song, vocals can add to the story you're portraying.

While vocals can help pairs skaters, for solo freestyle skaters, it can be hard to skate to a song that's clearly about another specific person or is strongly associated with a particular singer. Since singles skaters are by themselves out there, it's hard not to make things look like a show program. At the same time, there are skaters who are doing great programs, like Elladj Baldé and his James Brown short program. Generally, if you can find a piece of music that highlights your strengths, then that's an asset.

Madi: I would say that lyrics can add to your program, although there are some pieces of music that can get "lost" in an arena. There are also versions of certain pieces of music that don't need lyrics.

This year, we're using three modern/pop music selections in our free dance, which we think can relate to younger audiences. If we can help broaden skating's appeal to a wider audience, than that's great. At the same time there are fans and judges from various generations so I think we also need to find a balance between different generations and genres.

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