At the Sarajevo1984 Winter Olympics the pair won gold and became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single programme, receiving twelve perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s which included artistic impression scores of 6.0 from every judge, after skating to Maurice Ravel's Boléro.[1][2] One of the most-watched television events ever in the United Kingdom, their 1984 Olympics performance was watched by a British television audience of more than 24 million people.[2] The couple went on to record an even higher score at the 1984 World Championships, thirteen 6.0s and five 5.9s.
The pair turned professional following the 1984 World Championships, regaining amateur status briefly ten years later in 1994 to compete in the Olympics once again. The pair retired from competitive skating for good in 1998 when they toured one last time with their own show, Ice Adventures, before rejoining Stars on Ice for one more season. Their final routine was performed to Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years", a routine they had devised a few years earlier for competition. Although remaining close friends, the pair did not skate together again until they were enticed out of retirement to take part in ITV's Dancing on Ice. Their career was portrayed in the 2018 biographical film Torvill & Dean.
Both are from Nottingham, England, where the National Ice Centre is accessed through a public area known as Bolero Square, in honour of the pair's Olympic achievements. There is also a housing estate in the Wollaton area of the city with streets named 'Torvill Drive' and 'Dean Close', with many of the surrounding roads named after coaches and dances associated with the pair. In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2002, the British public voted Torvill and Dean's winning performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics as Number 8 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.[3]
Around 1975, Jayne Torvill was a British Junior Pairs champion, and Christopher Dean and his partner had won a British Junior Ice Dance competition. Nottingham coach Janet Sawbridge put them together, and shortly afterwards, they started their ice dancing history. They took their first trophy in 1976. They changed coaches to Betty Callaway in 1979. After a 5th-place finish at their first Olympic Games, in Lake Placid in the 1980 Winter Olympics, and 4th place in the Worlds that year, they never took lower than first place in any competition they entered except the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Singer-actor Michael Crawford was the fourth member of the team, along with their trainer. He became a mentor to them around 1981, and went on to help them create their 1983 and 1984 Olympic routines, and "taught them how to act". Crawford said of them, "I found them to be delightful young people, the kind you want to help if you can." (The Times November 1982). He was present with their trainer at the ringside, when the team won their perfect Olympics score with their Boléro routine.[4]
Going professional
Although Torvill and Dean had been able to leave their jobs as an insurance book clerk and policeman, respectively—thanks to grants from the City of Nottingham—they were not allowed to earn any money from skating as long as they wished to remain eligible for the Olympics. Turning professional in 1984, they took advantage not only of the financial but of the artistic possibilities of their new status. They worked with Australian dance choreographer Graeme Murphy at first, and they were able to create not only routines for themselves but entire ice shows with a thematic coherence, which toured Australia, the U.S., and Europe. Their projects included a filmed fairy tale "Fire and Ice." In general, Dean would imagine the sequence he wanted to perform, and Torvill would work with him to refine it technically. They choreographed, as a team, for other ice dancers and skaters, particularly the Canadian brother–sister team Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, who skated for France at the Albertville1992 Winter Olympics, taking the silver medal with their West Side Story routine.
Return to the Olympics
After ten years as professionals, Torvill and Dean decided to return to the amateur arena for the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway (along with other great skaters of the 1980s, such as Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt, following a change in eligibility rules). The couple moved to Hamar, Norway, in 1993 to practise at the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre which hosted the figure skating events. Their free dance was designed to re-establish some of the ideas about ice dance which they themselves had been instrumental in dismantling; "Let's Face The Music and Dance" had no swooning lovers, theatrical accessories, or strong ideological message; instead, the emphasis was upon pure, light-hearted dance in the Astaire and Rogers tradition.
The routine did have one move, an assisted lift, which pushed the envelope of the rules, though they had danced the routine at the European Championships with no indication from the judges of any problems. According to their joint autobiography, Facing the Music, the lift was technically legal because the rule prohibited lifts "above the shoulders," and the lift they used was not above the shoulders. The judges placed Torvill and Dean third, giving the second to perennial silver medalists Usova and Zhulin, and the gold medal to Grishuk and Platov, who continued to win gold through the next four years.
Life after the Olympics
After the disappointing finish at Lillehammer, Torvill and Dean "retired from competitive skating" on 2 March 1994.[5] Instead, they continued with their planned and very successful "Face the Music" tour, to be followed by numerous other projects: Dean choreographed a suite of dances to the songs of Paul Simon for the English National Ballet, professional competitions, touring with Stars on Ice, and collaborating with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and director Patricia Rozema on the video Inspired by Bach: Six Gestures. In late 1998, they produced an ice show at Wembley Stadium in London, "Ice Adventures," which included a "flying" ice ballet and other wonders. In the meantime, they were still choreographing, notably for the dynamic French Ice Dance team, Anissina and Peizerat, who won first place in the World Championships in 2000.
In 1998, the pair officially retired, each continuing to coach and choreograph separately. Since 2006, they have acted as coaches, choreographers and performers in ITV's Dancing on Ice and its Australian version Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice. The ITV show returned for a fifth series in January 2010. After the 2007 and 2008 UK series of Dancing on Ice, Torvill and Dean took the show on the road for a British tour; a similar tour, the "25th Anniversary" (of their Sarajevo Olympic success) took place in 2009.
In 2014, Torvill and Dean returned to Sarajevo to dance the Bolero one more time, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of their Olympics performance.[6] Invited by the mayor of Sarajevo ahead of the Youth Olympic Games in 2017, the event helped raise funds for a permanent ice rink and reminded the world of their efforts to bring back the Olympics to Sarajevo.[7] 2015 saw Torvill and Dean make their pantomime début at the Manchester Opera House, performing in "Cinderella".[8]
On 14 February 2024, it was announced that 2025 would be their final time skating together, before they would be retiring at the end of their final UK tour which runs from April-May 2025.[9]
Style and approach
Use of narrative and thematic music
After winning the 1981 World Figure Skating Championships (which brought the distinction of MBEs), and with three more years before the Olympics, they began to plan routines which used a single piece of music and had some narrative or thematic element. At that time, Ice Dance "long" routines typically used several pieces of music, often with different rhythms to show off the command of different steps (thus their Free Dance in 1981 used "Fame", "Caravan", "Red Sails in the Sunset", and "Sing, Sing, Sing"); the Original Set Pattern dance used only one piece of music, but the entire routine had to be performed three times in sequence, exactly the same way.
In 1982, they presented a long programme to the overture from the musical Mack and Mabel, which evoked the emotions of a sweet but stormy romance; at the World Championships in 1983, they enacted a visit to the circus with music from Barnum, a performance which brought them the honour of receiving the world's first perfect score,[10] with help from the stage show's star, Michael Crawford; in 1984, at the Olympics, they stunned the world with Boléro, and also with their dramatic Paso Doble (Capriccio Espagnol) short routine, in which Torvill was the bullfighter's cape. They had learned to choose and edit music carefully and design routines that were appealing both technically and imaginatively, and their completeness of presentation included thematically appropriate costumes.
In 1989, during the duo's visit to Australia, they recorded an album Here We Stand,[11] produced by Kevin Stanton with arrangements by Warwick Bone[12][13] and Derek Williams,[14] and recorded while Christopher Dean was laid up in Sydney, recuperating from a torn ligament.[15] Sales of the album were poor, and this may have been due to the fact that the album featured the dancers singing the material ghosted by backing vocalists, instead of the music they danced to, however it survives on iTunes.[16]
Complying with Olympic rules
Torvill and Dean's 1984 Olympic free dance was skated to Maurice Ravel's Boléro. Ravel's original Boléro composition is over 17 minutes long. Olympics rules state that the free dance must be four minutes long (plus or minus ten seconds). Torvill and Dean went to a music arranger to condense Boléro down to a "skateable" version. However, they were told that the minimum time that Boléro could be condensed down to was 4 minutes 28 seconds, 18 seconds in excess of the Olympics rules. Torvill and Dean reviewed the Olympic rule book and found that it stated that actual timing of a skating routine began when the skaters started skating. Therefore, they could use Boléro if they did not place their skates' blades to ice for the first 18 seconds. They timed the performance so that when Torvill first placed a blade on the ice, they would have the maximum skating time remaining.[17]
In July 2018, it was announced that Torvill & Dean, a biographical film docudrama, had been commissioned by ITV, written by William Ivory and produced by Darlow Smithson. The movie was broadcast on 25 December 2018, with Will Tudor playing Dean, and Poppy Lee Friar playing Torvill. Nottingham actress Cassie Bradley performed as Leanne, Dean's first partner. Bradley performed all her own skating for the role.[44]
Jayne Torvill, OBE is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the oldest figure skating Olympic medalists.
Christopher Colin Dean, OBE is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. It is situated just east of the city centre, close to the historic Lace Market area. The NIC was the first twin Olympic-sized ice pad facility in the UK, "heralding a new era in the development of ice skating". Incorporating the Nottingham Arena, the NIC is a combined live entertainment and leisure venue.
Figure skating at the 1984 Winter Olympics took place at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won gold for Great Britain, receiving twelve perfect scores (6.0), in the free dance segment of the ice dance competition, a feat that was never matched. They received the most maximum 6.0 marks of any figure skaters at the Olympics.
Oksana (Pasha) Vladimirovna Grishuk is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. She is best known for her partnership with Evgeni Platov from 1989 to 1998. With Platov, she is a two-time Olympic champion, four-time World champion (1994–1997), and three-time European champion (1996–1998). With previous partner Alexandr Chichkov, she is the 1988 World Junior champion.
Dancing on Ice is a British television series currently presented by Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby. Former hosts include Phillip Schofield, who hosted from 2006 to 2023, and Christine Lampard, who hosted in Willoughby's absence from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their professional partners figure skating in front of a panel of judges. The series, broadcast on ITV, started on 14 January 2006 and initially ended on 9 March 2014.
Evgeni Arkadievich Platov is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. He is best known for his partnership with Oksana Grishuk from 1989 to 1998. With Grishuk, he is a two-time Olympic champion, four-time World champion (1994–1997), and three-time European champion (1996–1998).
The Oxford Freestylers is the team name for a group of young freestyle ice skaters that were formed in Oxford. They were crowned champions on the 4th season of Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice: Ice Star in 2009, where they were to perform in front of 13 million people on live television on the celebrity final of the show. In addition, The Oxford Freestylers went on to perform to a live audience of 42 thousand on the Dancing on Ice Tour at the Wembley Arena.
Penny Coomes is a former English competitive ice dancer who represented Great Britain. With partner Nicholas Buckland, she is the 2014 European Figure Skating Championships bronze medalist and has won six other international medals. They are also five-time British national champions, and have competed three times at the Winter Olympics, in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
The sixth series of Dancing on Ice aired from 9 January to 27 March 2011, on ITV. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby returned as hosts, while Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returned as mentors. As part of a major revamp, the show moved from Elstree Studios to Shepperton Studios, where they unveiled a new set. It was the also the first series to be broadcast in HD.
For the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, a total of nine sports venues were used. The idea for the Games came around from a 1968 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study on promoting winter tourism in Yugoslavia. After Sarajevo was awarded the 1984 Games in 1978, venue construction and renovation took place between 1979 and 1983. Weather postponed the men's downhill alpine skiing event three times before it was finally run. The men's cross-country skiing 30 km event was run during a blizzard. After the games, all but one of the venues were damaged during the Bosnian War and the siege of Sarajevo. After the war, Zetra Ice Hall was rebuilt and is in use as of 2010.
Betty Daphne Callaway-Fittall, MBE was an English figure skating coach who specialised in ice dancing. She was best known as the coach of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the 1984 Olympic champions, and also trained 1980 world champions Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay, and 1972 European champions Angelika and Erich Buck.
The eighth series of Dancing on Ice aired from on 6 January to 10 March 2013, on ITV. Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley returned as hosts, with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean serving as mentors. The series was judged by Robin Cousins, Karen Barber, Ashley Roberts, and Jason Gardiner. Gardiner had departed after series 6 in 2011, but returned to replace Louie Spence, while Ashley Roberts joined the Ice Panel as Katarina Witt's replacement. Barber rejoined the Ice Panel after serving as head coach in series 6 and series 7.
The ninth series of Dancing on Ice aired from 5 January to 9 March 2014 on ITV. It was announced on 22 October 2013 that this series would be the show's last, and would be an 'All-Star' series featuring former winners and previous contestants. Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley returned to present, with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returning as mentors. Robin Cousins, Jason Gardiner, Karen Barber, and Ashley Roberts returned to The Ice Panel. Cousins was unable to appear on the ice panel during weeks 6 and 7 due to him commentating the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and was replaced by original judge Nicky Slater, while Barber acted as head judge.
The eleventh series of Dancing on Ice debuted on 6 January 2019 on ITV. Filming took place in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield. An announcement was made on 11 March 2018, during the series ten finale, that the show had been recommissioned for another series.
Torvill & Dean is a British television biopic written by William Ivory, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, and broadcast on ITV on Christmas Day 2018. It is about the early life and careers of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the Nottinghamshire ice dancers who went on to record a perfect score and win the Olympic gold medal in Sarajevo at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The twelfth series of Dancing on Ice debuted on ITV on 5 January 2020. During the finale of the eleventh series, it was announced that Dancing on Ice had been renewed for another series. The series is once again filmed in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield.
The thirteenth series of Dancing on Ice debuted on ITV on 17 January 2021. During the finale of the twelfth series, it was announced that Dancing on Ice had been renewed for another series. The series was once again filmed in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield, which had been set up for the tenth series. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby returned as hosts, while Ashley Banjo, John Barrowman, Christopher Dean, and Jayne Torvill returned as judges.
The fourteenth series of Dancing on Ice debuted on ITV on 16 January 2022. During the finale of the thirteenth series, it was announced that Dancing on Ice had been renewed for another series. The series was once again filmed in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby returned as hosts. Ashley Banjo, Christopher Dean, and Jayne Torvill returned as judges for their fifth series, while it was announced on 3 October 2021, that John Barrowman would not be returning to the judging panel. In December, Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse was confirmed as Barrowman's replacement. Arlene Phillips also joined the panel on 20 February as a guest judge.
The fifteenth series of Dancing on Ice debuted on ITV on 15 January 2023. During the finale of the fourteenth series, it was announced that Dancing on Ice had been renewed for another series. The series was once again filmed in the purpose-built studio at Bovingdon Airfield. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby returned as hosts. Ashley Banjo, Christopher Dean, Oti Mabuse, and Jayne Torvill also returned as judges. This series decreased the number of live shows to nine weeks instead of ten, and featured one fewer celebrity contestant than usual.
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