Chock and Bates Reflect on a Memorable Season

The cancellation of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020 brought a premature end to a season that saw U.S. ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates reclaim the U.S. title five years after they last won it and win gold at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2020. They were heading toward the World Championships with high expectations and a real possibility of earning the top spot on the medal podium.
 
Hard at work at their training base in Montreal up until the announcement of cancellation, they took time to describe what went into creating the "Egyptian snake dance" that brought about their resurgence.
 
The process to create this sure-to-be iconic free dance took more than two months. It began with the music, which Chock and Bates found and brought to coaches Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer, who agreed on its potential. Soon after, choreographer Sam Chouinard started to work with them in the dance studio on movement that reflected the music.
 
"Marie was inspired by his work to create the story that I would be a snake and Evan would be a man who finds me in the desert and then we start dancing together and he charms me," said Chock.
 
They started exploring the characters, figuring out who they are to each other. There are elements of danger, love and mystery. There was research, including belly dancing videos on YouTube, and they spent quite a bit of time exploring movement before taking it to the ice.
 
"It was a really fun storyline and concept to play with," said Chock. "It was very collaborative."
 
Chouinard and Dubreuil did the choreography with Lauzon working on the lifts and Haguenauer creating the ending position. "It was a team effort," said Bates.
 
"All of our dancing blocks—the arms and heads that are still in the program—were from the first day or two of working with Sam on the floor," said Bates. "Then, when we needed to make the actual skating steps, that's where Marie-France is amazing. She can make steps that work well on the floor, work well on the ice. She's a master at that."
 
They debuted it at a monitoring session in Lake Placid and then showed it at Champs Camp. The positive response was immediate. Bates said they knew it would be because their training mates gave them positive feedback on the dance's uniqueness.
 
They started the season with a win at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City. With the free dance live for the world to see, the reactions were swift and enthusiastic.
 
Making the impact even greater were the costumes and even Chock's hair was all in for the program. "I've perfected the hair since Salt Lake City," said Chock.
 
Chock literally studied images of snakes—their scales and patterns—to come up with ideas for her dress. She wanted her dress to look like a snake's skin, but not like a snakeskin fabric. She brought drawings to costume designer Mathieu Caron, who made sure it was functional while also creating wow moments. "Together we came up with something beautiful," said Chock.
 
For Bates, Dubreuil envisioned a turtleneck shirt. Chock found the braiding technique and showed it to Caron, which he incorporated. "I think it's my favorite costume I've had," said Bates.
 
There have been no major changes to the free dance as the season has progressed, just small tweaks between competitions. "That's given us the opportunity to let the program grow. It's gained so much speed and it's opened up. We're feeling really comfortable with the choreography. It's in our bodies. Now, we can express the music more," Bates said.
 
In the weeks after the Four Continents Championships, they added more character and speed as well as details with the arms.
 
"Being comfortable with the program allows us to hear more accents in the music," said Chock. "Now, there are so many beautiful little pieces and beats that we're hearing that we're now comfortable enough to keep adding and dance to it as much as we can."
 
Of course, Chock and Bates have also put time and energy into the preparation and development of their rhythm dance. While it's jam-packed with technical elements, they want it to feel open with a sense of flow so they can dance as much as possible. For Worlds, they had prepared a more powerful ending.
 
Not swayed by the weight of expectation, they kept cool and focused during the U.S. Championships in Greensboro and planned to do the same at the World Championships in Montreal.
 
"As we've matured in our careers, we've learned to embrace the challenge and find comfort in the discomfort," Chock said. "We feel we've unlocked something and now we're just scratching the surface. We have no much more that we want to improve on and accomplish."
 
"We feel like we've learned a ton in the last year and a half," said Bates, of their move to Montreal in 2018. "We've connected a lot more with each other and we've changed the intention when we're competing to put our focus more on the performance that we're giving and focus less on worrying about placements.
 
"What's been really good for us this year is that we've settled into the new environment," he continued. "We're really comfortable with the team of coaches. We've had our first fully healthy season of preparation and competition in a few seasons. That's been a big thing for us.
 
"This year, we've started to show the progress. It's starting to come across in our skating and our performances. If we continue on this trajectory, we'll have more good things to come."
 
While it's not the ending they trained for, they know they've reached a new level in their skating.
 
"We have momentum and that's something we worked really hard to start to build," said Chock. "We feel the best that we've ever felt in our careers and we're very confident in the work that we've done and the material we've created with our coaches and our team."