PURPLE REIGN, AGAIN
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir return with a win at Skate Canada, where Prince was prominent on playlists . . . and Patrick Chan prevailed, too.
Jumping into a conversation halfway through lands on this remark: “Anything one-piece and backless, I’m all about that.”
No, we are not at the Paris fall runway shows. We’re at Skate Canada in Mississauga. And fashion matters.
Tessa Virtue is discussing her Prince-inspired short-program costume — a sleek peek-a-boo catsuit with purple ruffle at the throat, exposing her gloriously sculpted shoulder blades. This is a more muscular Virtue than we’ve seen in the past, both gym-cut and voluptuous, maybe a bit heavier. All strong woman at age 27 rather than the coltish girl she’d been when first Virtue and ice dance partner Scott Moir exploded on the international senior skating circuit a decade ago.
Searched high and low in the Prince video archives, did Virtue, for ensemble idea-kindling. “I thought about ass-less chaps but . . . ”
Oh my. We’re definitely not in ingénue Kansas anymore.
Ass-less chaps — check out Prince’s bringing-down-the-house “GETT OFF” performance at the 1991 MTV video music awards. A cheeky rendition with the late superstar turning around towards the end of the song to flash buttocks in the cut-out seat of his pants. Interesting factoid: There was no actual nakedness; Prince’s booty was covered by illusion netting. And illusion netting is widely used in figure skating costumes to appear like bare flesh from audience distance. So maybe the gone-too-soon Prince, so invested in his own iconic imagery, would have appreciated the tribute shout-out from Canada’s 2010 Olympic champions.
“A little daunting, designing costumes and making choreography,” admits Moir, 29, of skating to a short-program farrago of Prince songs — “Kiss,” “5 Women” and “Purple Rain.” “He was a legend. We knew we had to come up with our own little way of doing Prince. We keep joking that we’re going to have to answer to him some day. I’m not sure he’s very happy, looking down.”
Pshaw. One suspects Prince would be utterly chuffed with his musical oeuvre as score for elite figure skating. It’s all showbiz, baby.
The now well-ripened dance tandem, relaunching their Grand Prix career at Skate Canada this weekend after two years of retirement from competitive careers and aiming for the 2018 Winter Games, had long considered using Prince. Over the course of their heavily decorated history, their musical choices have veered from Pink Floyd to Gustav Mahler.
“We were on a Weeknd kick for a while,” Virtue reveals. “The problem with Prince is that we couldn’t find the blues.’’ Important because blues is a compulsory dance pattern for the short program this season. Then coach Patrice Lauzon discovered “5 Women”.
“Having an iconic musician like Prince sets the standard really high and we wanted to elevate our skating to match that calibre,” says Virtue.
The eye-pleasing routine nudged Virtue and Moir into a slim lead over Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates heading into Saturday’s free skate, performed to a piano piece (“Pilgrims on a Long Jour- ney”) and Sam Smith acoustic number.
After two years of show-touring and exploring other professional options, the beloved duo felt the competitive spirits stirring again and announced their comeback, which was met with applause everywhere except maybe among nextgeneration skaters. It’s a rather crowded landscape, especially in Canada, with Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje (silver and bronze at worlds) aspiring to Olympic gold. An ice-dance powerhouse, Canada also has Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier moving up the ranks (sitting third after the short program here).
“I don’t feel like we’re trespassing,” protested Moir, when the suggestion was put to him that maybe this team should have stayed removed from the competitive ranks, content with their 2010 Olympic gold, 2014 Olympic silver and two world championships. “The Olympic and world titles are great — if it’s 2010 or 2012. But this is 2016 and all those titles are up for grabs again.’’ Though Moir acknowledges: “We’re coming back into a field that doesn’t really have room for us, in a way.”
They’re doing it out of a new training club, in Montreal, under the assured ice dance tutoring of fivetime national champions Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil. The now husband-and-wife team was at their career apogee when Virtue and Moir first arrived on the seniors scene and mentored the newcomers.
“They were 12 years younger than us, these little kids,” recalls Dubreuil of first setting eyes on the adolescent Virtue and Moir. “But we could see that they were champions in their eyes and in their heart. We took them under our wing.’’
But what was there left for divine Virtue and Moir to discover in themselves as skaters? That was the challenging part for a new coaching regime as the tandem cut their apron strings with Marina Zoueva in Canton, Mich.
“I think there were not finished with this journey and they didn’t write their last chapter the way they wanted it to be,” muses Dubreuil, and clearly she’s referring to that Sochi silver behind American rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White, also coached by Zoueva. “I said to them, ‘Guys, be sure because two years is a long time and the sport has evolved. It’s faster, more athletic. Do you really want to do this? Because it’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be hard work.’ But they really wanted to. Ultimately, they had a dream to do a third Olympics and to do it in Canada with Canadian coaches. They felt they hadn’t completed their experience as Olympic athletes.’’
And to end it on a golden grace note.