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Post by Admin on May 16, 2016 1:52:55 GMT
Maia and Alex Shibutani are a U.S. brother-and-sister ice dance team who became 2016 U.S. Champions in Saint Paul, MN in January. Their two performances, especially their emotional free skate to “Fix You” by Coldplay, brought the audience to their feet. Maia and Alex made a historic debut on the senior international circuit in 2010-2011 by becoming the first ice dance team ever to medal at both of their Grand Prix events during a rookie season. By earning a silver medal at the 2011 Four Continents Championship, they became the first ice dancers of Asian heritage to medal at a major ISU championship. During the 2011 World Championships, they became the first American ice dancers to medal at their Worlds debut. At just 16 and 19, they were the second youngest team in the history of the sport (and youngest since 1962) to medal at the World Championships. The duo lived and trained in Colorado Springs for two years (2005-2007) and won unprecedented back-to-back National titles at the Intermediate and Novice levels. In 2007, they relocated to Michigan and have since been training alongside the top ice dance teams in the world at the Arctic Edge Arena in Canton MI. They are coached by Marina Zoueva, Massimo Scali, Johnny Johns, and Oleg Epstein.
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Post by Admin on May 17, 2016 1:42:30 GMT
Maia and Alex have collaborated extensively with artists from the world of dance including world champion ballroom dancer from “Dancing with the Stars” Corky Ballas, Michael Jackson’s choreographer Travis Payne and his Dance master for the “THIS IS IT” tour, Stacy Walker, “So You Think You Can Dance” artist, Alex Wong, and former principal dancer from the American Ballet Theatre, Cheryl Yeager. Charitable Activities: Maia and Alex are Athlete Ambassadors for the multi-national organization Right To Play. Other organizations that Maia and Alex support include The Jimmy Fund (Children’s Cancer Research), Skating Friends Support Japan (Post Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Effort), Figure Skating in Harlem, and THE ONE FUND. Honors and Awards: In 2012, Maia became the first ice dancer to be awarded a Travel and Training Grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation. She joined a recipient class that included Olympians Gabby Douglas and the US Women’s Boxing team. Maia was again awarded a grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation in 2014. In 2011, Maia and Alex won the Professional Skater’s Association EDI Award for most outstanding performance at US Nationals. In November 2015, nominated by the US Olympic Committee and with fan support voting for athletes from all Olympic sports, they were named Team USA’s Team of the Month.
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Post by Admin on May 21, 2016 1:44:41 GMT
Here's a quick recap of our post-Worlds trip to NYC in April. We skated on the TODAY Show, walked the Shorty Awards teal carpet, and attended Figure Skating in Harlem's annual gala! Amsterdam was beautiful! Time for our next flight.
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Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2017 19:49:54 GMT
23 Questions with Maia and Alex Shibutani
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Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2018 19:19:09 GMT
Alex and Maia Shibutani are taking home bronze. After a free skate set to Coldplay’s “Paradise” that the NBC commentators likened to an “emotional breakthrough,” the ice-dancing siblings known as the “Shib sibs” finished behind Canada’s repeat gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and France’s Guillaume Cizeron and Gabriella Papadakis who earned silver. The siblings, who have been competing with each other since they were tykes (Maia is now 23 and Alex 26) came to this Olympics determined. As Alex told Sports Illustrated, the two had doubts right up until their final Olympic skate, but the night before, Maia saved the day with nothing more than a home video to remind them of their roots. “Maia did this really awesome thing where she just pulled out her computer,” Alex said, describing the events of the night before and, according to SI, holding back tears. “And we started watching these old family videos that we had of us when we were little kids, off the ice, dancing around together and having a good time . . .”
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