Post by Admin on Nov 13, 2016 23:13:15 GMT
One year after moving up to the senior ranks, the French ice dance team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron took both the European and World title. As a result, they were the first French team to win the World title since 2008 when Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder won gold in Sweden.
In 2016, they confirmed their position as the top ice dance team in the world by repeating as European and World champions; all this despite missing the first half of the season due to a concussion Papadakis suffered after a fall during training.
At only 21 years old, the French ice dancers have achieved a great deal, however, they are moving forward and getting ready for the upcoming season at their training base in Montreal, Canada, with coaches Romain Haguenauer, Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.
“We will skate to a jazzy Blues and a Swing, but not to Hip Hop,” Cizeron said, regarding the short dance. “For the free dance we chose something completely different from last year. It is a program with contrasts, but we haven’t finalized the storyline yet. We searched for the music for a long time and we want to move forward boldly and create a piece of art.”
“The Blues suits us very well because we can express it very well,” Papadakis added. “We also like the Swing rhythm.”
The ice dancers plan to announce their music choice on the day of their first competition. “We want to surprise the spectators and then they should see the programs right away,” Cizeron explained.
The first outing of the world champions will be the national “French Masters” competition in October. At press time it was not clear when and where the competition would take place as the ice rink in Tours, France, where it should be held, had to be shut down for repairs.
