Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko will represent Team USA this weekend at Skate Canada International — but new choreography won't be the only update to watch for.
The dance team, who earned the U.S. pewter medal in 2020, said their move to Ontario, Canada, to train with the Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM) has refreshed their attitudes going into the 2021-22 season.
"[Training in Canada] is something we've talked about for many years," Ponomarenko, 20, said. "We decided to make this change to improve our careers."
Carreira, 21, agreed, adding coaches Scott Moir and Patrice Lauzon are responsible for reshaping their technique and perspectives.
"Our goal is to build a new skating style and show constant growth over the next quad," she said. "Our training is harder than ever before, but our coaches keep it fun. Even when practice is grueling or exhausting or frustrating, we're still having a great time."
I.AM — which has campuses at its home base and in Ontario — is infamous for training elite dance teams, like Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker. The program attributes the success of its athletes to its "high expectations for the fundamental values of Sport and Human Interaction."
So far, Carreira and Ponomarenko think the school's positive reinforcement has correlated with their technical performance.
"The coaches and other skaters care more about you as a person than who you are as an athlete," Carreira said. "I've already noticed a huge difference at competitions — we're more relaxed and confident."
While practices and competitions feel lighter, the dancers said they are happier off the ice as well. That shift began on their first day of practice. They had only met their new coaches on Zoom and several of the other athletes were on vacation, leaving them alone with Moir.
"It was silent, just us on the ice, then he started blasting '90s hip-hop for stroking exercises," Ponomarenko said. "We knew right away this would be very different."
Among countless accolades, Moir is a two-time Olympic champion with former partner Tessa Virtue. In February, Moir led the charge in opening I.AM's second campus as the head coach and managing director. Shortly after, Carreira and Ponomarenko announced they would be leaving Novi, Michigan, to train in Ontario.
Carreira and Ponomarenko, who have been skating together since they were 13 years old, said their compatibility with Moir is based on mutual respect for one another and the sport.
"We're both very easy-going people who communicate and compromise effectively," Ponomarenko said. "And Scott has this awesome personality where he'll walk into the rink, even on a Monday, yell and cheer to get everyone excited."
"We have similar approaches to training where we just want to work hard and enjoy ourselves," Carreira added.
The team's enthusiasm toward change translates into their choreography. Their rhythm dance to Prince's "Batdance" was choreographed over Zoom by I.AM's Marie-France Dubreuil, who Carreira described as "a genius."
"Hip-hop has been a theme for rhythm dance in the past, so we knew we wanted to stand out," Ponomarenko said. "The 'Batman' program shows a cool side of our skating, while our process for the free dance took more time to plan."
Set to Daisy Gray's cover of "Wicked Game" by Yola Recoba, the program has less of the rhythm dance's sharp entertainment factors. Instead, its movements feature long lines and dynamic sequences that maintain artful intensity throughout. It's like a foreshadow to the audience, as the pair hints at what's to come in their developing style.
Realistically, their transition to Ontario hasn't been seamless, but Ponomarenko said that's what they expected. Instead, the team is ready to confront their strengths and weaknesses — and the sense of agency is comforting.
"Of course techniques and entire perspective on skating are very different at I.AM," he said. "But we knew this challenge was coming. Like Scott always says, 'You're the boss of your own career, and I'm just here to guide you.'"
While Carreira and Ponomarenko are looking forward to their fourth Grand Prix season at the senior level, they've gravitated away from setting tangible goals for events like this weekend's Skate Canada International.
"Honestly, we want to achieve a lot, so we're just focusing on continuously growing," Carreira said. "Showing improvement at every competition is our main goal."
Fans can watch the action in Vancouver live and on-demand on Peacock Premium. Check out the Grand Prix Series Competition Central page to follow Team USA throughout the season.
