Turkkila & Versluis: “We Want To Differentiate Ourselves From Previous Years”
Earlier this month, ice dance couple Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis skated in the show L'Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) organized in Champéry, Switzerland. The choreography was done by Salome Brunner and Stéphane Lambiel. The Finns were the only ice dancers in the show. How did they end up there?
“Last year, I edited the music for Deniss Vasiljevs' free program The Lion King,” Matthias says. This season, Matthias has done ten different music cuts for Lambiel's students.
“Towards the end of May, Stéphane asked us if we would be interested in joining the show. It was a great honor,” he continues.
“We were with an amazing group of skaters, some of the world's best. It's unique to skate with a live pianist,” Juulia shares.
In the show, Juulia and Matthias performed to Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2. They presented wonderful lifts and spectacular movements. The international audience was impressed by the couple's soulful performance.
Finland's top couple has been training hard throughout the summer.
“Early May, we went to Rome for new choreography. In June, we had some vacation time and in July, we went to the Czech Republic for five weeks of summer camp,” Juulia says.
The rhythm dance theme for the 2024–25 season is Social Dancing from the 1950s–1970s.
“We chose music from the 1960s because we suspect that many teams will use disco from the 70s,” Juulia explains.
The pair found a go-go jive song that they immediately liked, and combined it with James Brown's classic I Got You.
“We wanted high energy music that the audience can recognize. There is no slow part in our rhythm dance. It is challenging,” Juulia reflects.
The couple's free dance is the Argentine Tango La Rubia Mirella, which is based on true events. The story was introduced to the couple by an Argentinian tango dancer, who worked with them on and off the ice.
“The beginning is quite soft, but the end is really strong. We want to show that we can be strong and fast. The language of movement is traditional tango, but the program is not built from typical dance movements,” Matthias shares.
Juulia plays a strong woman initially, but is used and abused by men. Matthias plays the role of a villain. The ending is dramatic.
“When there is a clear story, you have to bring in more emotion and drama,” Juulia states.
The pair's programs will first be seen in the Challenger Series competitions, followed by the Grand Prix events in Finland and China.
“We are aiming for medal positions in both GP competitions, and thus a place in the GP final. We are trying to collect world ranking points so that we can start competitions in the right groups during the Olympic season,” the couple says in unison.
With a fierce tango, Juulia and Matthias will be taking a different path this upcoming season, changing their image as classical lyrical skaters.
“We want to differentiate ourselves from previous years. A new combination lift is in the works for the free program, and the choreographic elements will be totally in character with the tango,” Juulia sums up.
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I'M LIKE SOME KIND OF SUPERNOVA! in the SOURCE CODE are 194 gifs of retired figure skater MARIN HONDA (2001, japanese)! gifs sourced from 2024, are 269*151, & are already sharpened :)
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