Unlikely Pair Ella Ales and Daniel Tsarik Find a Home in Ice Dance

In 2014, a then-ballroom dancer named Daniel Tsarik sat down to watch some coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014.
 
It just so happened to be the free dance, with Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White in a battle with Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
 
Tsarik knew nothing about ice dance, so when the commentators said that Virtue and Moir's score would be hard to beat, he assumed they would be taking gold.
 
Nearly six years later, he remembers the score of 114 – Virtue and Moir scored 114.66 in their free dance.
 
Of course, Davis and White would go on to win, scoring 116.63 in their free dance, and Tsarik was left with a lasting impression.
 
"For some reason that number has been stuck in my head," he said. "And that was before I had any clue that I was going to be skating in two years."
 
Indeed, Tsarik's time in ballroom dancing was coming to an end. He and his partner went their separate ways, and he was unable to find anyone else he wanted to dance with.
 
Tsarik had been working with a Russian ballet trainer who tried to convince him to make the switch to figure skating. At first, he resisted.
 
"Eventually I got on the ice and I started trying it out, and I guess I really liked it," Tsarik said. "And I just kept skating."
 
Meanwhile, in California, Ella Ales was skating singles under coach Rafael Arutunian.
 
"He kept on trying to convince me to do ice dance, because basically I wasn't a good enough singles skater," Ales said with a laugh, "and he thought that the way that I move on the ice would be better put to use in dance."
 
Arutunian set her up with coach Igor Shpilband, and she moved to his training base in Novi, Michigan, two and a half years ago.
 
Tsarik was skating in Montreal at the time but, as he was searching for a partner, he emailed Shpilband to see if he knew of anybody. Shpilband arranged for him to come out in May of 2018 to try out with several skaters.
 
When he arrived, Tsarik had one tryout with a potential partner on Monday. He and Ales tried out together on Tuesday, skated together for the rest of the week, and that was that.
 
"There was one coach at the rink who we love so much, Greg Zuerlein, and I felt like Daniel skated very similarly to Greg, and I was like, 'Yes, this is the one I want!'" Ales said. "It was kind of funny how I got exactly what I wanted in a partner."
 
However, it's been far from smooth sailing for the pair. Now both 18 years old, Tsarik didn't begin figure skating until he was 14, and his only on-ice experience was two years playing hockey as a kid. Ales was also brand new to ice dance, so the learning curve has been steep.
 
"I look at everyone, and everybody has been skating since they were like 5," Tsarik said. "And some people say they started late, but that's like the age of 9. And then I tell them, 'No, actually I started late.'"
 
Ales has also been dealing with an injury this season, limiting the pair's time on the ice.
 
"Obviously the newness to ice dance has been very difficult, but then this past season, I've been struggling a lot with an Achilles injury," Ales said. "We've been forced to take a lot less time on the ice. We're skating less than half of what we normally would, I would say. This started right after our Junior Grand Prix season, so it's been a challenge, but I think it's taught us how to be more efficient on the ice, and learn how to train in a different way, which is a valuable lesson."
 
The two made their U.S. Championships debut in 2018, placing seventh at the junior level. They earned two Junior Grand Prix assignments, placing fifth in Lake Placid, New York, and sixth in Poland.
 
"It was definitely a challenge and intimidating, especially for me," Tsarik said. "Everything was so new. I'd never experienced anything like it. I obviously competed as a ballroom dancer, but it's a very different experience, and something that I had to adjust to."
 
But the opportunity to compete against some of the top-level junior teams in the world was an invaluable learning experience, and one they hope to continue building on in the future.
 
It was also their first time competing on Team USA.
 
"Oh my god, it's such a great feeling," Ales said. "Being a singles skater, and working towards that for so long and never getting it, to finally be able to get it in the discipline that makes me the most happy, with such an incredible partner, getting to share that feeling of patriotism and pride is really incredible."
 
"I remember when we got the box (with our Team USA jackets) from U.S. Figure Skating, Ella was jumping up and down," Tsarik said. "I'm pretty sure she slept in it for a week."
 
The two return to the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. The junior ice dance competition runs on Jan. 21-22.
 
For their short dance, Ales and Tsarik are skating to "If You Could See Her" by Joyce Chittick and Alan Cumming, and "Cabaret" by Liza Minnelli, and their free dance is set to "I'll Take Care of You" by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa.
 
"We're really excited to get the opportunity to compete at U.S. Championships again," Ales said. "Right now is a little bit of a different experience because now we've competed internationally, and we feel more prepared in that aspect. But at the same time, due to my injury and the lack of training we've been doing, it's a little bit of a different feeling because you have to be a little bit stronger emotionally. You have to be very confident in yourself even though physically you're not able to train as much."
 
With all the setbacks, Ales and Tsarik aren't concerned with their placement at the U.S. Championships. Rather, they've managed to put the season into perspective.
 
"I think for us, the goal is just going out and putting two good programs out and being proud of the way we skated," Ales said. "If it was a different situation where we had been able to train and do everything to the most we physically could, I think we might be a little more focused on the placement aspect. But really it's just about having fun and being proud of ourselves right now."

The 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be live and on demand on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available at ncskate2020.com.