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Insights into dance, neurodiversity, and life in general by Labelled? Dance Theatre & Film’s Founder.
My Ice-Sakting Journey...Off The Ice!
July 19th, 2026
I am in my fourth year of ice-skating. So far this year, we have seen the Winter Olympics in Milano and the 8-part series of "Finding Her Edge" (2026) air on Netflix! Spoiler alert! Adapted from Jennifer Iacopelli's book, Adriana is an ex-figure skater who comes from a family of figure skaters.
Her coaching father owns an ice rink that is a family business on thin ice until a property buyer saves the day! After her younger and bittersweet sister's injury, Adriana returns to skating, partnering with Brayden, an old friend of her ex-boyfriend, Freddie whom she skated with until they broke up.
But they fall for each other again. A sister act to Robbie Williams' "She's The One" at the world championships in Paris, is the beginning of the end when/where Brayden walks out on her! The ending sees Adriana and Freddie coming face-to-face with their rivals in the ballet studio: Brayden and her best friend! Expect some frosty family feuds on/off the ice!
But before that, I began my year watching "Torvill and Dean: The Last Dance" which aired on ITV1 the last few days of 2025, and that was how I grew familiar with their repertoire revived from seeing them live at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool (May 2025): "Mack and Mabel" at the World Championships 1982; "Barnum" in 1983; The Bolero at the Winter Olympic Games in 1984; and 10 years later, "Let's Face the Music and Dance!"
Winter Olympics
Before the Winter Olympics, my other essential viewing on Netflix was the documentary, "Glitter and Gold: Ice Dancing" (mid-2020s). "Glitter and Gold" documents three skating couples representing Team USA, Team Canada, and Team France.
Madison Check and Evan Bates (Team USA) have skated together for 14 years. They are 2x world champions, 6x national champions, and 3x Olympians. Their coach is Patrice Lauzon. They were 4th place at the 2022 games. Three years later, they were 1st Place at Free Dance ISU World Championships and Skate America.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (Team Canada) are 3x world medalists, 2x Olympians, and were 2nd place at Free Dance. This Netflix documentary sees them rehearse at Scarboro Figure Skating Club in Toronto. Gilles and Poirier were coached by Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs. They were preparing a rhythm dance routine to RuPaul's “Supermodel” choreographed by Alexandra Crenian.
The third remaining couple represented Team France. Guillame Cizeron is an Olympic and 5x world ice-skating champion. Laurence Fournier-Beaudry was 2023 Candadian champion.
Their coaches were Marie-France Dubreuil, Romain Haguenauer and Patrice Lauzon. They rhythm dance were vogue routines to "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode and "Vogue" by Madonna.
Other interviewees in "Glitter and Gold" were Olympian Adam Rippon and Olympic Medalists Tara Lipinski, Madison Hubbel, and Scott Moir. Mark Hanretty – Professional Dancer from "Dancing On Ice" - was the ISU Commentator in Helsinki.
All couples were up against Yoshida Utana and Morita Masaya (Team Japan); Diana Davies and Glen Smolkin (Team Georgia); Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (Team Italy), Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (also Team Canada) and Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear (Team GB) who came third place with their rhythm dance to a medley of Spice Girls songs ("Wannabe" / "Who Do You Think You Are" / "Spice Up Your Life").
Figure skating returned to our screens on BBC TWO from Prague (Czechia) in March. We saw pairs' free skating won by Team Germany scoring 228.33; Women's free skating won by Kaori Sakamoto (Team Japan) scoring
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238.28; Men's free skating won by Ilia Malinin (Team USA) scoring 329.40; and rhythm dances won by Team France scoring 230.81.
The next Winter Olympics will be held in Nice (France) in 2030.
Advanced Level 1
I returned to skating in January after a 3-month break. I still had it (I knew I would!) We did backwards crossovers into arabesque; Wind-ups into spins; Bunny hops into spirals and/or drags; Forward spirals; Preparatory teapots; Three-jumps; Demi-tour en l'aires; Twizzles (step-pirouettes); Upright half-star spins and brackets. I passed within 6 weeks!
Advanced Level 2
We did brackets on an outside edge; Hydro glides; Spirals (inside edge); Backward crossovers into three-jumps; Wind-ups into spins; and teapots. I passed everything except brackets. I was given the option between staying on Advanced Level 2 or moving up a level. I asked if I would be told to move back down, depending on how I demonstrate brackets at Advanced Level 3. My instructor told me that would never happen.
Advanced Level 3
We did backward spins; Three-jumps; Inside-leg spirals; Teapots; Landing positions; Waltz jumps; Backwards crossovers into three-jumps; Upright spins; Standing rotation off the ice (tour en l'air); S's; Gallops into three-turns; Backwards spins beginning with jazz prep; Salchows; Ina Bauer; Back spins; Twizzles. I was one shy of passing!
I didn't learn camel turns until the last five minutes of the 6-week block! I have missed 9 weeks due to lower back pain. It was my own fault because I walked 12K steps for 2 days round Oxford followed by walking 5-6K steps for 3 days one week later, all without wearing my insoles! It has been hurting around 4-5 on a scale of 0-10 lower back pain.
I saw a nurse and physiotherapist, both of whom confirmed that it is due to stress in the area. Since doing 10-minute Pilates for rehabilitation (Wood, 2026), I want to say that pain is currently on 3 of the scale. I have missed skating dearly (the first few weeks off were misery!)
My next physio appointment is later next month. Depending on how my lower back feels, I will be back once it is better. What felt like an abrupt end is not the end; It's a pause.
Stretch Like A Figure Skater
Standing knee-to-chest stretch – Stand on one leg. Bring the knee of the other working leg to your chest. Interlace the fingers around the shin beneath the patella (knee bone).
Standing leg tuck hip stretch – Rest one foot on the edge of a chair. Bend the other supporting leg and hold for 30 seconds approx.
Sitting leg resting buttocks stretch – Come to sitting. Layer one leg bent on top of the other straight in front of you. Reach towards your foot.
Kneeling quad stretch – Come onto one knee. Lean forward with the opposite leg, so you are in a deep parallel lunge position.
Sitting feet-together adductor stretch – Come back to sitting. Bring the soles of your feet together. Interlace the fingers around the toes and hinge over with the torso or press both hands firmly on both knees.
Each stretch should be held for 30 seconds per side, and repeated 3 times (Walker, 2007).
I will be back later this year with another blog about the beginning of my ballroom journey and select ballroom styles on this year's "Strictly Come Dancing" (2004-Present)!
Be Yourself,
Adam John Roberts (He/Him) - Founder & Creative Performing Artist, L?DT&F
Facebook.com/LabelledDanceTheatre | IG @labelleddancetheatre
References:
Walker, B. (2007) “The Anatomy of Stretching: Your Illustrated Guide to Flexibility and Injury Rehabilitation.” Chichester: Lotus Publishing
Woods, S. (2026) "Pilates for Rehabilitation: Recover from Injury and Optimize Function." USA: Human Kinetics