'Bringing the energy': How Scott Moir is moulding the next generation of ice dancers
Scott Moir hasn't lost his edge.
January 10, 2023
Former Olympic dance figure skater Scott Moir, one half of the gold medal team of Virtue and Moir, now coaches teams from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Moir works with Canadian ice dancers Jacob Portz and Alyssa Robinson as they practise at the Komoka Wellness Centre west of London on Friday Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
“We're going to kick Charlie's ass,” Moir, 35, quipped during a lively training session last week at Komoka Wellness Centre. “Quote that one.”
The one-liners, verbal jabs, laughs and hockey talk is so familiar to anyone who closely followed Moir’s career with his longtime partner, Tessa Virtue of Ilderton, to Olympic gold and the top of the skating world.
Later this month, the ice dance superstar-turned-coach will be in San Jose, Calif., to support one of his promising teams – Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko – at the U.S. national championships.
In the fall, he bet Ponomarenko, a die-hard San Jose Sharks fan, the Maple Leafs would beat them. When Toronto didn’t, Moir wore one of Sharks captain Logan Couture’s jerseys on the ice, then handed it over to his student.
“He loved that,” said the head coach and managing director of the Ice Academy of Montreal’s Ontario campus.
The American ice dance team of Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko work through their routine under the gaze of coach Scott Moir at Komoka Wellness Centre on Friday Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
This week, Moir will wear out a path to the Kiss and Cry area at the Canadian figure skating championships in Oshawa. His local crew is looking to take big steps after some international success.
Londoners Lily Hensen and Nathan Lickers aim to crack the Top 5 in the senior ranks while Ridgetown’s Alyssa Robinson and Calgary’s Jake Portz have that potential, too. Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker, who relocated from B.C., hope to grab a podium spot.
Kilworth’s Jordyn Lewis and Ilderton’s Noah McMillan want to earn a junior worlds berth and former novice champs Layla Veillon and Alex Brandys, both Londoners, are taking the next step up the ladder. Lewis and Veillon are also on the Ice Ignite synchro team seeking a junior worlds spot.
Internationally, Leia Dozzi and Pietro Papetti skate for Italy and Samantha Ritter and Daniel Brykalov represent Azerbaijan.
Senior ice dancers Nathan Lickers and Lily Hensen of London work on their routines under the guidance of Olympic champion Scott Moir and his mom, Alma Moir, at Komoka Wellness Centre Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
“The project here is to create two equal schools,” Moir said. “Montreal is, by far, the most dominant in the world. At the last Olympics, they had 10 of the last 20 skaters (in ice dance). That’s a lot. It’s a big ask, but I think it’s possible now.”
Moir studied the Montreal way when he and Tessa Virtue moved there for their dominant run to the 2018 Olympic title. They worked under old friends Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, then Moir brought the spirit of camaraderie and friendly, in-house competition back home.
“The kids have to create the atmosphere they want,” he said. “They cheer each other on. Even though a lot of them will go and be on the competition ice with each other, I learned the real magic is if you have each other’s back. There’s a balance to be struck.
“We (Moir and Virtue) didn’t have the same in Canton (Mich.),” he added. “We had it early when Charlie and I were really firing in 2010. I wasn’t the most mature young man in 2014, so I didn’t use that environment to my advantage. But we doubled down on it in 2018 (alongside the French team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron) and it was to our advantage, for sure.”
Former Olympic ice dancer Scott Moir now has a thriving business coaching teams from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Moir skates past his mom, and fellow coach, Alma Moir, at Komoka Wellness Centre on Friday Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
LENDING A HAND: Moir grew up surrounded by figure skating coaches. That family connection remains at the academy. His mother Alma, aunt Carol and cousins Sheri and Cara are part of the staff.
“It’s fun – it’s kind of hard to call him my boss now, though,” Alma joked. “He stresses a positive attitude to the coaches and an old (veteran) here sometimes, I have to do a check on how positive I am some days. It took a while for the kids to feed into it, but you could see the energy change from the summer to now.”
Moir has some non-family help, too, in Justin Trojek and soon-to-be-married Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz, a Spanish ice dancer. Hubbell, who finished third at the last Olympics with Zachary Donohue, called her immediate jump from athlete to full-time coach a rare transition.
“It was really after meeting Adrian and seeing his love of skating and different perspective that I started enjoying analyzing skating together,” the 31-year-old from Michigan said.
“When we trained together (in Montreal), one of my favourite things was Scott’s energy – whether it was doing back-and-forth cardio or competing on a daily basis. It can feel like a very solo sport and Scott made a point of including you and cheering you on with a compliment or kind word. He’s a big instigator in what I would consider more of a hockey mentality: rowdy, yelling and having fun.”
MOVING FORWARD: Moir, who’s married and has a two-year-old daughter, recently congratulated Virtue on her engagement to Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. Once in a while, he admits he will press her for some inside info on his favourite team.
His skaters want to hear stories about Virtue, too.
“I looked up to Tessa so much and still do every day,” said Carreira, 22. “She came to the rink once and it was literally the best day. Getting to train with Scott Moir every day is a privilege. I grew up in Montreal and they were my heroes.”
Moir believes the much-loved on-ice connection he shared with Virtue can be taught technically, but he has no interest in churning out mere carbon copies.
“These athletes aren’t going to be able to be Tessa and Scott, because in four, eight and 12 years, Tessa and Scott aren’t going to be good enough,” he said. “They already aren’t. We wouldn’t have won the last Olympics. The sport is evolving, the skaters will and I have to, as well. It’s about making it their own. Everyone has a different look and story.”
Former Olympic dance figure skater Scott Moir coaches American skaters Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
Carreira and Ponomarenko, whose parents Marina and Sergei won 1992 Olympic ice dance gold, are developing that mature skating connection that served Virtue and Moir so well. But Moir isn’t designing similar programs for Veillon, 16, and Brandys, 17.
“You can’t coach two athletes the same way and you motivate the man and woman different,” Moir said. “That’s the fun of coaching. I don’t come here to walk down memory lane. I come here to learn, too. How can I teach this kid a counter even though I was a good counter turner? Now, I need to figure out a different way. It’s a challenge and my coaching staff challenges me. Hopefully, this momentum turns into a snowball and keeps rolling.”
The bond is already encouraging.
“Even though I’m one of the youngest, you completely forget an age gap,” Veillon said. “You get to come to the rink every day and skate with some of your closest friends. The coaches are amazing, they want the best for us and we have such a fun time.”
ONE-ON-ON WITH COACH SCOTT MOIR
Former Olympic dance figure skater Scott Moir demonstrates some footwork for one of his teams at the Komoka Wellness Centre on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
Has your approach to the sport changed since on-ice retirement?
“I was much more performance and result-based. I wanted to win. I studied the points and what needed to be better to be on top. My experience with Tessa, as a coach, showed me if I strategize properly, it can work. I was a little riskier as an athlete, because it’s you out there. You’re the one who puts your heart and soul into it. Now, I feel I owe it to the kids. You feel responsible, but you still have to be a little dangerous. That edge is what gives us an advantage. The goal is not personal-best skates alone. It’s taking advantage of your opportunity. Go for it and take the lessons of being able to perform in front of people, because you have to really bring it on this stage.”
What’s the goal of the Ice Academy of Montreal’s Ontario campus?
“To make great people. It sounds so stupid, but we believe success is a byproduct. You’re a good person first, support your teammates, demand the best of yourself, never stop wanting to grow and be ready to learn. It’s not a trade-off. I used to think you can drink the Kool-Aid and be your best self, but I wanted to win. Patrice, Marie-France and Romain (Haguenauer) showed me it all goes hand-in-hand. We’re an elite school and we want to be on top of the world. As we develop these kids and these skills that will serve them well in life, we want to become excellent athletes able to stand on top of podiums. We don’t have a ton of great skating schools in Canada and our success doesn’t mean we can’t have great schools in Scarborough, Vancouver and Calgary. We’re the most dominant skating country with the most rinks. I hope we can get the footprint a little bigger so we can affect more athletes. Hopefully, we can compete against our Montreal teammates and push their boundaries, too.”
How can you affect the skating experience for your students beyond the technical elements?
“I had success in my career, but I got bogged down in the negatives over many years. Who knows if we would’ve beaten Marilyn (Davis) and Charlie, but I think my outlook on skating kept me from being my best self leading up to 2014 (silver medal in Sochi). I’d love for the kids to hear my wisdom and not have to go through the black period I did. At the same time, it’s their journey and they need to have their own path. I can have a direct impact on the negative parts of the sport that don’t need to exist. There are parts of the sport people may think of as ugly or the judging, but being able to be happy about yourself no matter what people think can be a positive. In this age of social media and all that s—, it’s important. Even before the scores, are you personally happy? Did you give everything you had? I’m hoping to prepare for them to deal with those issues the right way.”
How do you impact a generation of skaters who didn’t face the same challenges you did?
“They motivate very differently. It’s tricky for me. I grew up in the other one. My dad was fair and hard on me. If I deserved it, I got it and I deserved it a lot. He didn’t baby me and I thrived. I have fantastic parents. I had some coaches that were a little harder on me and when you go through the Russian schools, of course, that’s the way it is. I loved it. There were also dark parts it created that I also had to deal with later in life. I think there’s a way to expect the most out of these kids and have them expect it, but through love and support. There’s a balance. You can be critical and deliver the message the right way. This generation motivates from exciting things. You’ve got to keep it fresh and keep them rolling and feeling good. My first couple of years, I got bogged down in hammering on them, because I like being in the trenches. The kids felt it was super heavy and it didn’t work. I started being more positive and bringing the energy every day and you see them lift up with results much better. We’re trending that way and it’s natural for me, too.”
Are you able to watch old videos of you and Tessa Virtue skating without finding every little fault in it?
“My perspective of our career is probably the most jaded. You can’t really watch yourself without it. Watching it is getting better and better, actually. You forget the cues you’re supposed to be doing and I’m able to just watch Tessa much more than what I’m doing wrong, so that’s enjoyable. I watch it with a different eye now that I coach. I was very critical and it wasn’t fun to watch tape before, but it’s getting better. I think for the sake of ice dance – and I think that’s why 2018 was such a success for us – the sport evolved. We came back, dove in, pushed ourselves and were able to come away with Olympic gold again. It would be foolish for me to step in and say if I can create 10 Scott Moirs, we’re going to be successful. I don’t believe that.”
—The London Free Press
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The Pulse Within from Vallée Duhamel on Vimeo.
Short film, 2024
Premiered at Tribeca Festival as part of the “AI Shorts program”
Sarah breaks free from the confines of her mundane existence, delving into the depths of her imagination. Through surreal experiences and introspective moments, her reality transcends into a realm where creativity knows no bounds. Utilizing dance as a medium, she embarks on a journey allowing her imagination to shape her reality.
*
Directed by Vallée Duhamel
Featuring: Lauri-Ann Lauzon
D.O.P. Antoine Ryan
Camera operator: Austin Grass
1st AC: Mathilde Lytwynuk
Styling: Tinashe Musara
H&M: Miles Petrella
Produced by Sailor Productions
Produced by Runway Studio
Executive producer: Mathieu Dumont
Head of production: Joelle Raymond
Production manager: Martin Couture
Gaffer: Mathieu LeFrancois
Key grip: Maxime Latraverse
Edit & AI operator: Julien Vallée
CGI & VFX (space & explosion scene): Mr. Flowers.tv & Pipe Camara
CGI (Fred characters floating scene): Vincent Ghiotti
Color grading: Simon BoisX @ Arketype
Music: Nick Chotkowski Parallel People Collective
Sound: Daniele Devirgilio Parallel People Collective
Special thanks Christian Bach, Mathieu Arivisais, Hector Ayuso, Frederick Ross, Psyop, Mels Studios
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iam.o program music 2022-23
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
RD: The Juju Orchestra, Kind of Latin Rhythm; Shirley Bassey, (Where do I begin) Love Story, Something Else (remastered); Gloria Estefan, Samba
FD: Danshin & Arooj, Rainy Streets (Backbone soundtrack),
Public Disquiet (Backbone soundtrack); Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald, Summertime; 101 Strings Orchestra, Summertime
(coaches: Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell, Adrian Diaz, Patrice Lauzon; choreo: Marie-France Dubreuil, Madison Hubbell, Adrian Diaz)
Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker
RD: Pink Martini, Quizas, Quizas, Quizas; Ohayoo Ohio
FD: Phantom of the Opera (All I Ask of You, Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson)
(coaches: Scott Moir, Adrian Diaz, Madison Hubbell; choreo: Adrian Diaz)
Leia Dozzi and Pietro Papetti
RD: Celia Cruz, Quimbara; Bonga Balumukeno, BUNT, Cuba
FD: Adios Nonino
Lily Hensen and Nathan Lickers
RD: Afro Cuban All Stars, Amor Verdadero; Bueno Vista Social Club, Chan Chan; El Rubio Loco, Salsaton
FD: Hozier: Work Song, Movement
(choreo: Adrian Diaz RD, Sheri Moir FD)
Samantha Ritter and Daniel Brykalov
RD: Santana: Black Magic Woman, El Farol, Corazon Espinado
FD: Harry Styles, She
Alyssa Robinson and Jacob Portz
RD: Rodrigo Amarante- Tuyo (Narcos Theme), Deorro (feat. Pitbull & Elvis Crespo)- Bailar
FD: Eweezy- Love is a Bitch, Two Feet- BBY, You
Jordyn Lewis and Noah McMillan
RD: Piazzolla (Gidon Kremer), Oblivion; Hans Zimmer, Seville (from Mission Impossible 2)
FD: Mumford and Sons (w Baaba Maal & the Very Best and Beatenberg), There WIll Be Time;
(coaches: Scott Moir, Adrian Diaz; choreo: Cara Moir, Sheri Moir)
Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys
RD: Johannes Linstead, Sangre Del Toro; New Tide Orquesta, The Swan Crash Concert: Still Life- The Blood
FD: Dear Evan Hansen: You Will Be Found
(coaches: Scott Moir, Alma Moir; choreo: Cara Moir, Sheri Moir)
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