Ice Dance Popularity in the US in 2015
- Thread starter Anna K.
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There are 3 ice dance couples with this year's versions of US SOI: the Kerrs, Davis & White, and Belbin & Agosto. There were whole years with no dancers.
The Disson show based on ice dance and ballroom dancing show involved even more dancers.
Davis & White are the acknowledged headliners in all these shows.
Two US couples made the Grand Prix Final, Chock & Bates, who finished second, and the Shibutanis, who finished fourth. The Shibutanis won the new Challengers series in dance. Hubbell & Donohue and Hawayek & Baker both earned bronze medals at Grand Prix events. Three junior teams earned medals on the JGP, McNamara & Carpenter (bronze and silver), the Parsons (bronze and silver), Moore & Klaber (a bronze) and the very young tream of Carreira & Ponomarenko had a fourth place finish.
There are full complements of dancers at US nationals in Senior (12 plus 7 with byes=19), Junior (12) and Novice (12)
So things are looking quite good.
The Disson show based on ice dance and ballroom dancing show involved even more dancers.
Davis & White are the acknowledged headliners in all these shows.
Two US couples made the Grand Prix Final, Chock & Bates, who finished second, and the Shibutanis, who finished fourth. The Shibutanis won the new Challengers series in dance. Hubbell & Donohue and Hawayek & Baker both earned bronze medals at Grand Prix events. Three junior teams earned medals on the JGP, McNamara & Carpenter (bronze and silver), the Parsons (bronze and silver), Moore & Klaber (a bronze) and the very young tream of Carreira & Ponomarenko had a fourth place finish.
There are full complements of dancers at US nationals in Senior (12 plus 7 with byes=19), Junior (12) and Novice (12)
So things are looking quite good.
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- Feb 27, 2012
Semi-random comment/question:
I noticed that at Eastern Sectionals and Mids this year, the U.S. Pairs Committee offered Pair Simulations, designed in part to get single skaters "to try Pairs for a day."
They were hosted by the likes of Ladwig, Coughlin, and Brubaker, among others. "Experience what may be your calling with some of top champions from the past decade."
(I have no idea whether similar sessions have been held in years past.)
Have analogous Ice Dance Simulations been offered?
Or is Ice Dance already sufficiently popular in the U.S. that recruiting skaters to the discipline is not necessary?
I noticed that at Eastern Sectionals and Mids this year, the U.S. Pairs Committee offered Pair Simulations, designed in part to get single skaters "to try Pairs for a day."
They were hosted by the likes of Ladwig, Coughlin, and Brubaker, among others. "Experience what may be your calling with some of top champions from the past decade."
(I have no idea whether similar sessions have been held in years past.)
Have analogous Ice Dance Simulations been offered?
Or is Ice Dance already sufficiently popular in the U.S. that recruiting skaters to the discipline is not necessary?
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- Joined
- Sep 10, 2013
No, the only show that was done thus far was back on Dec 30th in Lake Placid where they were taping the show for TV. They specifically asked for no media to be taken by attendees.
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And Gordeeva & Chan.
You know Ice Dance is popular when Singles skaters moonlight as Ice Dancers.
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Whipper-snappers from America won't have the personal memories that I do. American Ice Dance was the poor relation of USFS not ALL that long ago.
In 1980. an American team won a bronze medal at the very first Olympic Ice Dance competition, and it was two decades before a return to the medal stand was even imaginable. Well, I take that back. 1984 was a good chance. I don't think the Canadians fared much better.. B/K were pretty good, but there always seemed to be something with the marks that kept them off the podium.
In my opinion, there have been two significant shifts in figure skating since I first became a fan in 1976.
The first is the rise of North America as the power-center of international ice dance. Assuming that W/P and C/B earn a medal at World's, which I expect... well, I'm trying to think how many World/Olympic medals from North America that will be in the last 10 years or so. A lot.
Unrelated to this thread, but for what it's worth... The second is that Russian women would not only become contenders, but favorites for the top of the podium. It is conceivable they could sweep the podium this year.
In 1980. an American team won a bronze medal at the very first Olympic Ice Dance competition, and it was two decades before a return to the medal stand was even imaginable. Well, I take that back. 1984 was a good chance. I don't think the Canadians fared much better.. B/K were pretty good, but there always seemed to be something with the marks that kept them off the podium.
In my opinion, there have been two significant shifts in figure skating since I first became a fan in 1976.
The first is the rise of North America as the power-center of international ice dance. Assuming that W/P and C/B earn a medal at World's, which I expect... well, I'm trying to think how many World/Olympic medals from North America that will be in the last 10 years or so. A lot.
Unrelated to this thread, but for what it's worth... The second is that Russian women would not only become contenders, but favorites for the top of the podium. It is conceivable they could sweep the podium this year.
I compiled statistics from this board's Grand Prix forum regarding number of posts by discipline (SP + LP). There were a combined total of 8452 posts for Ladie's singles, 8174 posts for Men's singles, 3716 posts for Ice Dance, and 2161 posts for Pairs. I assume the numbers are likely proportionately similar at FSU. To summarize, Ladies and Mens singles generated over twice the conversation than Ice Dance and Pairs. It should not be surprising TV broadcasters cutting corners to save money, tend to focus on what they think people want ie. Ladies & Mens singles. Changing the broadcaster's views may need to start with us.
SKATE AMERICA
Ladies singles 1452
Mens singles 946
Ice dance 420
Pairs 328
SKATE CANADA
Ladies singles 1149
Mens singles 982
Ice dance 322
Pairs 261
CUP OF CHINA
Ladies singles 1588
Mens singles 1579
Ice dance 583
Pairs 106
CUP OF RUSSIA
Ladies singles 869
Mens singles 1083
Ice dance 919
Pairs 258
NHK
Ladies singles 1092
Mens singles 1036
Ice dance 433
Pairs 229
TROPHEE BOMPARD
Ladies singles 996
Mens singles 1025
Ice dance 298
Pairs 252
GRAND PRIX FINAL
Ladies singles 1306
Mens singles 1523
Ice dance 741
Pairs 727
ETA: Broadcaster's views may depend on the country. I think Canada tends to be more equal between the disciplines than the US broadcasters.
SKATE AMERICA
Ladies singles 1452
Mens singles 946
Ice dance 420
Pairs 328
SKATE CANADA
Ladies singles 1149
Mens singles 982
Ice dance 322
Pairs 261
CUP OF CHINA
Ladies singles 1588
Mens singles 1579
Ice dance 583
Pairs 106
CUP OF RUSSIA
Ladies singles 869
Mens singles 1083
Ice dance 919
Pairs 258
NHK
Ladies singles 1092
Mens singles 1036
Ice dance 433
Pairs 229
TROPHEE BOMPARD
Ladies singles 996
Mens singles 1025
Ice dance 298
Pairs 252
GRAND PRIX FINAL
Ladies singles 1306
Mens singles 1523
Ice dance 741
Pairs 727
ETA: Broadcaster's views may depend on the country. I think Canada tends to be more equal between the disciplines than the US broadcasters.
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- Aug 1, 2011
Interesting, but I think a more accurate barometer of interest would be page views rather than posts, though I do admit the results would probably be the same in terms of proportions.
I hope it means a huge TV premiere
I think this shows what is more popular internationally.
What about the US, seems that Ice Dance has got some good press according the previous post:
Here's a bit of good news. The 2014 Michigan sportswriter of the year prize was just awarded to Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press, in substantial part because of his coverage of the Sochi Olympics and in-depth interviews with Davis and White.
If this coverage is the reason why Davis and White (and their sport) are getting more recognition than Lysacek did in his day then the award is well deserved :yes:
It takes a long time to change a cultural perception regarding what is the most popular discipline in a country. Dance has come light years in that regard in just about a decade, after years of laying the groundwork in advance of that success. I think the shift in ice dance toward North America has been in the works in earnest since the fall of the Soviet Union and that a lot of the credit is owed to Shpilband.
During the 50s and 60s, Britain was the dominant ice dance power, aside from a four year stretch by the Czechs during the first two decades of ice dance at Worlds. Americans were actually quite competitive in dance at Worlds up until 1976, winning 16 medals and culminating in a bronze in the first Olympic ice dance event in Innsbruck. Of course Russian dominance followed in the 70s, 80, and 90s, aside from the Torvill and Dean era. As this happened, the preferred taste and technique of dance became very much driven by Russian/Soviet coaches and dancers as well as by their success.
As this happened, American and Canadian teams' style was historically more in line with the Brits; more technical and ballroom focused than dramatic. They jockeyed back and forth (much as they did in pairs) through the late 90s. Along the way, Blumberg and Seibert (USA) were three time World bronze medalists and placed a controversial 4th in the 84 Games. They were followed by Wilson and McCall (CAN) who were also triple World bronze medalists as well as winning Olympic bronze. Over time, the Canadians enjoyed more overall success after these two teams while the US had only four top 5 finishes at Worlds between 1986 and and 2003. Bourne and Kraatz were the dominant North Americans during this period, eventually becoming the first North American duo to win the world title. Meanwhile, Punsalan and Swallow were arguably undermarked during the same stretch.
When the USSR broke up, the Soviet talent pool was diluted and the old national/continental disciplinary specialties became less fixed. For the entirety of the Cold War, singles was the domain of the US, Canada and Britain. Dance and, more significantly, pairs were the territory of the Soviets. Young skaters in those countries naturally tended to gravitate in greater numbers to the disciplines where their countries enjoyed the most success.
Then, Shpilband set up shop here and proceeded to coach four teams (Punsalan and Swallow, Lang and Tchernyshev, Belbin and Agosto and Davis and White) to batches of national titles, gradually building up international respect for US dance. He eventually paired with Zueva and also coached Virtue and Moir who were able to build on the success of Bourne and Kraatz and Dubreuil and Lauzon. They engineered a productive run and built a brand that the rest of the dance world now aims to match.
Combined with the long-term success of Bourne and Kraatz and the late career rise of Dubreuil and Lauzon (who both sought sought coaching from outside their own borders as their careers advanced), North American dance gained steam over a long enough period that a generation or two of younger skaters could be inspired to pursue it as a viable discipline where there is a legitimate chance of success.
It's very encouraging to see Weaver and Poje and Chock and Bates both carrying on the success of their predecessors. This bodes well for dance to continue its developmental growth. US and Canadian dance have a growing bench of young talent who are competitive with the rest of the world.
The fact that both Virtue and Moir and Davis and White can be mentioned in the media in their home countries without an obligatory "Who?" says volumes about how dance has grown here after years in the wilderness of public consciousness. It can only help the discipline further.
Still, the last few times I tuned to NBC I was disappointed to find Ladies and Men's competitions only (unless I missed something?).
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I agree that it's disappointing that ice dance does not get more US TV time. BUT I do think that it's a growing discipline within the sport because parents and skaters are more excited about a sport where you're less likely to be a cripple or sustain a serious head injury by age 21. Really, pairs are becoming almost extinct because of the high risk and steep learning curve in becoming elite. And no jumps so the hip and knee joints get a pass! I realize there are dangers with ice dance with some of the lifts and even bizarre injuries like Evan Bates' severed achilles. But, in the big scheme, if you love figure skating, enjoy the benefits (and foibles) of a partnership and the truly physical artistry that ice dance brings, it's your sport!
Any videos available?
I have heard about it as well but I haven't really seen anything to be honest. This actually is a very interesting question if this can grow into an OG discipline and if this can contribute to the further development of the current Ice Dance.
Less injuries might be another reason why solo dancing might become popular; which might be good news for everyone who wants to see artistic, not so much athletic skaters. Or, not so good news. I haven't seen anything yet
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- Nov 19, 2010
Solo ice dancing may have been started by Sherlyn Bourne out of necessity when her partner Victor Kraatz retired without doing a show career.
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- Sep 10, 2013
I presume you mean World Champ in Ice Dance, Shae-Lynn Bourne? And Solo Ice Dancing existed many years before she and Kraatz broke off their partnership.
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Some additional perspectives on the surging success of Ice Dance in North America:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBgnNK4j0-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBgnNK4j0-0
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