Ayumi Takanami & Shingo Nishiyama

[dorispulaski]

Ayumi Takanami, born 29 January 2002 in Tokyo, Japan, (Japanese: 高 浪 歩 未 ) and Shingo Nishiyama, born 19 January 2001 in Tokyo Japan, (Japanese: 西 山 真 瑚) are a newly formed ice dance team. They will be competing at the 2021 Japanese Senior Nationals.

Ayumi previously skated with Yoshimitsu Ikeda. They trained in Novi, Michigan, with Igor Shpilband. They were the 2019 Japanese Junior Champions and competed at the 2019 JGP Baltic Cup, finishing twelth.

Profile – Ayumi Takanami & Yoshimitsu Ikeda | Ice-dance.com

www.ice-dance.com

Shingo and his previous partner, Utana Yoshida, were two-time Japanese national junior ice dance champions (2019, 2020) and 2020 Winter Youth Olympics champions in the team event. They trained at Toronto's Cricket Club with Andrew Hallam and Tracy Wilson's group.

Shingo Nishiyama - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Shingo and Utana' s fan fest Is here:

Utana Yoshida & Shingo Nishiyama

Utana Yoshida (吉田唄菜), born 6 September 2003 in Kurashiki City, Japan, and Shingo Nishiyama (西山 真瑚), born 24 January 2001 in Tokyo, Japan, are an ice dance team, formed in 2019, representing Japan. They are skating as juniors in the 2019-20 season. Utana had previously skated with Takumi...

www.goldenskate.com

The team split in January 2021. In March 2021, Shingo posted a tweet in which he announced his new partnership with fellow Waseda University skater Ayumi Takanami. Their goal is to compete at the 2026 Milan Olympics.

Shingo' s Wikipedia reports that the new team is training with Shpilband, and that their choreographers are now Megan Wing, Aaron Lowe, and Romain Hagenauer. However, later Facebook posts make it appear that they are still affiliated with the Cricket Club and Andrew Hallam's group. COVID restrictions have made directly training with Hallam impossible at this time.

The team has competed in three Canadian fall/summer competitions.

https://resultats.patinage.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CAT-RES_E38_47.pdf

Ayumi and Shingo scored 170,65 at St. George Éthier competition in Québec, finishing second behind Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac, so this would be their season's best in a summer competition.

Ayumi & Shingo' s St. George Éthier scores:
RD 68.87
FD 101.78
Total 170.65

https://skateontario.org/results/21SEP/21SEPSeniorDanceRD1DRO.pdf

They skated the RD only at the Skate Ontario Hub Sectional in Sept. and earned a very respectable 68.14 there.

At Autumn Leaves they had a problem in the FD with the twizzles and the one foot step, which dropped their score from what they earned at St. George Éthier.

https://www.skatinginbc.com/sites/default/files/results/al21seniordancefd2dro.pdf

https://www.skatinginbc.com/sites/default/files/results/al21seniordancecr.pdf

Place: 1
RD: 68.61
FD: 90.43
Total: 159.04

Their RD has been strong at above 68.

Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=301502745319932&id=100063806250463

Programs and Videos
​

2021-2022
RD: "Daydreamin' " by Ariana Grande; "I Need You" by Jean Batiste
FD: "Entr'acte" performed by An American in Paris Orchestra; Todd Ellison

2021 Japanese Nationals
RD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=776sT8jWrq4
FD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6XhZQCAj7TY

2021 BC/YK Autumn Leaves
RD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gafO07iEW9U
FD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg9gJ4wtv7g

2021 Skate Ontario Sep. Hub Skate
RD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CuDVOvnqPb0

2021 St. George Éthier
RD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsqQBttcG4
FD: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=komZYqKUAnw

Competitive History
​

Event​	RD​	FD​	TOTAL​
2021/2022​
2021 Japanese Championships	4 (58.10)	3 (90.19)	3 (148.29)
2021 YK/BC Autumn Leaves	1 (68.61)	1 (90.43)	1 (159.04)
2021 Skate Ontario Hub	1 (68.14)	WD	WD
St. George Éthier 2021	2 (68.87)	2 (101.78)	2 (170.65)

 

[el henry]

Thank you for starting this thread, Doris.

I am still mourning the breakup of Utana and Shingo, but I'm glad that Ayumi and Shingo partnered. Interesting that they have moved to Shpilband; I would presume that means that Shingo is committed to dance and will no longer compete in men's singles.

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, Shingo has said he is now only competing in dance...

Think Charlie White, who had a promising career in singles...this could work out very well.

Ayumi was already with Shpilband, so one of them had to move.




Btw, Ayumi's former partner, Yoshimitsu Ikeda, has also found a new partner. Haruno Yajima and Yoshimitsu Ikeda will be competing at 2021 Japanese Senior Nationals.

In May 2021, Utana Yoshida announced her partnership with American skater Seiji Urano for Japan. They never competed, and just announced they split up this month

I hope Utana finds someone new

 

[ice coverage]

... Shingo' s Wikipedia reports that the new team is training with Shpilband ...

... Ayumi was already with Shpilband, so one of them had to move. ...

My two cents are that I do not trust Wikipedia in this instance.

Did Takanami/Nishiyama make a recent decision to train with Shpilband on a permanent basis??

As recently as November, Takanami posted on Instagram from the Cricket Club, and Nishiyama posted some city shots of Toronto.

I do remember some glimpses of them in Novi quite a while back -- but my belief at the time was that they needed a temporary "home" because of the pandemic, and that Novi made sense for that purpose because of Takanami's former training there.

---

... In May 2021, Utana Yoshida announced her partnership with American skater Seiji Urano for Japan. They never competed, and just announced they split up this month

I hope Utana finds someone new

Off topic, but Utana Yoshida and Seiji Urano did compete their RD at Chesapeake Open back in August.
(From their social media at the time, it seemed that they never intended to skate their FD there.)

I too hope that they both find new partners.

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, I do not trust Wikipedia either, which is why I said "Wikipedia says" rather than " their coach is"

I am actively interested in whether there will be a coach with them in the KnC, and if so, who it is.

Canada has closed the border again, and that is another issue .

In April, they were definitely training in Novi, per this one Instagram post of Ayumi's

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNaDDW2pLKa/?utm_medium=copy_link

However, the coach that appeared with them at SGE competition looks like Andrew Hallam although it is hard to be sure with him in a mask.

 

[el henry]

For what is worth, the Ayumi/Shingo Facebook fan club has a post which appears to be a summary of newspaper article. They show screenshots of the newspaper, I believe. From the translation of the Facebook page summary, Shingo and Ayumi train at TCC, but cannot train with Andrew Hallam as they would like due to immigration restrictions:

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.

www.facebook.com

Bing Translator of the Facebook page:

2021/12/21 Waseda Sports
Interview just before the All Japan Championship
The following is a summary of the contents of the interview.
------------
-Current situation and impact of immigration regulations-
His return from Ontario, Canada, was three days isolated at a government-designated hotel and then 11 days. My coach, Dr. Andrew, is no longer able to accompany foreigners due to immigration restrictions.
-Specific goals in All Japan-
I am grateful to be able to participate in the All Japan Championship with this corona whirlpool, and I will do my best until the end.
I would like to enjoy and skate to the best of my heart and dye saitama super arena to "Ayushin" color.
- What's the point of interest-
Since it is a new couple, rd and FD are full of energy, I want you to see you skate at speed.
The choreography is updated every day for the teachers. If you are watching from the first game of the season, you will notice the change in choreography. It is finished in a program that even first-time visitors can enjoy.
------------
"Choreography has been updated"
This is tough! If you've been watching the performance since the first game, be sure to look for updated choreography. Let's solve the quiz from Ayushin (laughs)
Anyway, I can't help but look forward to it. All Japan Championship 2021 soon!!

 

[SnowWhite]

They definitely train at TCC, and whatever time they spent at Novi was probably just because of the border closures. In April, Shingo posted a picture of when he first went to TCC, with the caption:

The pictures from 4 years ago when I moved to the Cricket. I look so young
Can't believe time has passed so fast since I came to Toronto. I just remember the exciting days there although I still can't cross the Canadian border.
I miss the Cricket and my team mates!

Also in June Ayumi posted:

New training environment for me, but I am very excited to meet the coaches and the team to start training after quarantine.

And then in July Singo posted that his quarantine was finally done and he was flying to Vancouver that day (presumably for choreo with Wing/Lowe). Then by the end of July he posted a picture of both of them at the Rotation Room, in Toronto.

And according to Shingo's IG, the coach who took them to their first competition in September was Joey Russell (post). And Andrew Hallam was with them at the event in BC (post).

 

[dorispulaski]

Ayumi Takanami / Shingo Nishiyama - 2021 Japanese Nationals RD

m.youtube.com

 

[el henry]

AyuShin's FD at Japanese Nationals, where they finished third:



I am beginning to be captivated again. They are not the most complex of dancers, but the joy of skating: Shingo still has it and Ayumi does too. The Gershwin medley is perfect for them, I think.

 

[dorispulaski]

Shingo is competing at 2022-23 Japanese Nationals in singles. He qualified by finishing fourth at the Japanese Eastern championships.

 

[Ares]

Shingo is competing at 2022-23 Japanese Nationals in singles. He qualified by finishing fourth at the Japanese Eastern championships.

Wow. It has to be very rare to have a figure skater competing in both singles and ice dance at the same event at Nationals level?! I can think of a couple of examples of singles and pairs, but nothing combined with ice dancing!

 

[dorispulaski]

2014 ice dance champion (w Meryl Davis) Charlie White did it up until he broke his leg playing ice hockey. After he recovered, he stopped skating singles.

 

[gsk8]

Ayumi just announced her retirement.

 

[rabidline]

Random update, but, Ayumi was actually working as the on-site announcer at Worlds 2023 in Saitama!

 

[dorispulaski]

Shingo is looking for an ice dance partner!

2022-23 Retirements, Splits, New Partnerships

Yuhana Yokoi is now officially retired: I'm sad.

www.goldenskate.com

 

[dorispulaski]

And he has found one!!!
Azusa Tanaka

They appear to be at the airport...





Google translate

Azusa Tanaka and Shingo Nishiyama will form an ice dance team! I am very happy to be able to practice at Ice Academy Montreal in Montreal!
I'm going!