It is an ice dancer's prerogative to change her – or his – mind. And change their minds
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue did.
Reporters last encountered the team in February at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Anaheim, California, where an errant element in the free dance – a stationary lift that wasn't quite stationary enough – very likely cost them a medal, perhaps gold. There, the skaters said they weren't planning any big adjustments to the program, set to selections from the 1996
Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. All changes needed had been made prior to the 2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where they won their second consecutive U.S. title.
But sometimes, the best-laid plans of skaters and their coaches go awry. Changes were made, although the stationary lift that brought them to grief in Anaheim remains intact.
"Now, we just don't move," Donohue said.
But the final section of their free dance, set to British singer Des'ree's rendition of "Kissing You," now features new music: a composed new base inspired from the feeling and melody of the soundtrack, mashed up with "Kissing You."
Throughout the season, Hubbell and Donohue's coaches in Montreal, Quebec – in particular, Patrice "Patch" Lauzon – wanted the program to end on a more dramatic note, something that would lift audience members out of their seats. Other changes came first, though, and the right music was hard to find.
"Patch's feeling was that at the end of the first piece ("Introduction to Romeo") people were already ready to give us a standing ovation," Hubbell said. "Then midway through the slow part, it's hard to keep such intensity and such connection for three minutes. It felt like the program was too long on the slow music."
So the group turned to music designer Hugo Chouinard, who with composer and longtime partner Karl Hugo created the musical mash-up for the final minute of the program.
"Madison asked me if we could try swapping some of their fast part (in the first section) to the end of the free dance, to bring back more energy near the end," Chouinard said. "From my background as a competitive ice dancer, I found this idea risky this close from worlds, as it would have required major choreography changes. I told Madison to let us come up with a less invasive solution that would give the strong ending they wanted."
"Now the program ends with a really strong piece, and hopefully takes the audience from that very quiet, internal place in the love story to more of the standing ovation momentum," Hubbell said.
Sam Chouinard, a dancer and choreographer who works with all of the teams in Montreal, is a big fan of the change.
"It's so much better now, the build-up is amazing," Chouinard said. "The ending has so much more punch."
As they prepared for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Saitama, Japan, the reigning World silver medalists now consider their fourth-place finish at Four Continents a blessing in disguise. Not only did it help bring a more impactful ending to their free dance, it encouraged them to execute all of their elements with even more precision.
"You have a choice when something like that happens – you can sit and moan and complain and try to blame everyone else, or you can say, 'Let's make sure it never happens again,'" Donohue said. "It helped us accelerate into a mental shift where we're focusing more on our technique and trusting in our strength as a team and what we do naturally, rather than trying to force something and letting things fall by the wayside."
Last week, Hubbell and Donohue, along with training partners
Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, had a final chance to test their programs when the Montreal teams participated in simulated competition of their rhythm and free dances.
The school's three primary coaches – Lauzon; Marie-France Dubreuil; and Romain Haguenauer – watched from a raised platform, taking notes. Dubreuil acted as rink announcer, introducing the three U.S. couples as well as three-time World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France; Canadian bronze medalists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen; and others.
It was a rare opportunity for Hubbell and Donohue to gain competitive glimpses of Papadakis and Cizeron, who did not qualify for the Grand Prix Final this season due to withdrawing from their first Grand Prix event.
"We do a five-minute warmup in costumes, hair and makeup, and we essentially compete and get feedback from coaches," Hubbell said. "We're all there cheering each other on. I think we all have our sights set on the next three or four years and the [2022] Olympics, and hopefully having half of the field there."
Chock and Bates, who notched their first-ever victory at an ISU Championship event at Four Continents, also made changes to their programs, opening up the choreography of their tango short dance to find more moments of speed and power. The two-time World medalists tweaked their free dance, set to an Elvis Presley and Michael Buble medley of "Fever" and "Burning Love," altering the diagonal step sequence for better flow and embellishing a small section out of twizzles.
"We also changed the choreo steps a bit, made it even more fun and gave it more moments of dance," Chock said, later adding, "It's such an upbeat, fun program for us to do. I know some people were probably skeptical when they heard we were doing an Elvis program, because you've seen Elvis programs before and they don't always go over well …. Everyone has a love for something and this showcased our love for each other and our love for dance and skating."
Chouinard, who helped Dubreuil choreograph the routine, thinks the couple has brought lots of positive energy to Montreal since arriving late last summer.
"Whatever I ask of them, they are open to doing," Chouinard said. "We added more challenging dance moves (to the free dance), and they look so good doing them. Evan grew so much over the past few weeks; we worked a lot (to emphasize) his masculinity, his posture. He has his own moments in the dance, so the focus is not always on Madison. We always talk a lot about the lady and sometimes the guy gets neglected."
Despite their longtime rivalry, Hubbell and Donohue, and Chock and Bates have embraced the supportive atmosphere in Montreal. Chock and Bates' surprise win at Four Continents hasn't changed a thing.
"The first time our coaches told us they were possibly going to be welcoming both American teams to the school, it took me by surprise, and I can say there was a fear there," Hubbell said. "Nobody likes to lose, that's for sure. But Zach and I want to be World champions and Olympic champions, and we already have one of the most difficult competitors training every day with us. We know Gabriella and Guillaume will be with us for the next three years, and if you want to be the champion of all of them, you have to beat all of them."
Hawayek and Baker, who placed fifth at Four Continents, made only a few tweaks to their programs, focusing instead on enhancing their elements and adding depth to their performance quality. The U.S. bronze medalists worked with the Montreal coaches to drill the tango romantica patterns in their rhythm dance, with an eye towards hitting more key points and gaining higher levels.
"We really revisited a lot of fundamental exercises set to music, and from there we worked to transfer those exercises into the actual pattern dance itself," the skaters wrote in an email interview shortly before leaving for Saitama. "It was a lot of drilling patterns over and over again, until the key points were ingrained in our bodies."
Their free dance, set to a medley by the British band The Irrepressibles, tells the story of Baker's recovery from a concussion sustained in August. Hawayek and Baker worked with acting coach Catherine Pinard to "dig deeper into the emotions behind our performance and story" and show greater contrast in emotion from section to section, as the music and story shifts. The choreography didn't require many changes.
"There are times when a program comes together all at once, it suits the skaters and you don't have to make too many adjustments," Lauzon said earlier this season.
Chouinard agreed: Hawayek and Baker's free dance fits them like a glove.
"Sometimes when you look at choreography, it is executed but not lived," he said. "When I see Kaitlin and Jean-Luc dance that program, it comes deep inside them. It's not our choreography, put on to them…. It is their first year in Montreal, and I feel we brought so much out in them. They have huge style to explore."
Reporter's Notebook
- Since Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto won a World silver medal in 2005, U.S. ice dance teams have earned 14 World medals, including at least one medal in each of the past five seasons.
- Chock is correct; other teams have performed Elvis programs. Five-time U.S. champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow performed a free dance to Presley tunes during the 1997-98 season but scrapped it prior to the 1998 Olympics. Belbin and Agosto, who also won five U.S. ice dance titles, used their fast-paced Elvis program – with Agosto attired in a replica of Presley's classic white Vegas jumpsuit – to place seventh at the 2003 World Championships.
- For the first time, next season's required rhythm dance music for senior and junior ice dance teams will be selections from musicals, operettas and/or Broadway shows. "We've already started to select some Broadway songs," Chouinard said. "We're all very excited. It's going to be a lot of fun."
