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Torvill Deans
British ice dancers, Torvill and Dean are British, European, Olympic and World champions. They were the highest scoring figure skaters of al times in the 1984 Olympics, and turned professional after that. They regained amateur status in 1994 to compete in the Olympics once again, and then retired from competitive skating. However, they continue to work professionally, both separately and as a pair.
Partnership and the Olympics
Nottingham coach Janet Sawbridge was solely responsible for putting them together; Jayne Torvill, who was a former British Junior Pairs champion, and Christopher Dean who had won a British Junior Ice Dance competition. They started their ice dancing history. They took their first trophy in 1976. They changed coaches to Betty Callaway in 1978. After a 5th place finish at their first Olympics, in Lake Placid in 1980, and 4th place in Worlds that year, they never took lower than first place in any competition they entered, except in 1994.
Going professional
Torvill and Dean were not allowed to earn any money from skating as long as they wished to remain eligible for the Olympics, even though both had left their jobs as an insurance clerk and policeman, respectively, thanks to grants from the city of Nottingham. They tasted the scope of their financial possibilities in 1984, when they turned professional. 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.
Return to Olympics
Due to a change in eligibility rules, Torvill and Dean, along with other great skaters of the 1980s, such as Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt, Dean decided to return to the amateur arena for the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Their free dance consisted of their signature moves; just fast, delightful dance in the best Astaire and Rogers tradition. The routine did have one move, an assisted lift, which pushed the envelope of the rules.
Life after the Olympics
Torvill and Dean picked themselves up and dusted themselves off and continued with their planned and very successful Face the Music tour, even after the disappointing finish at Lillehammer. They also carried on with several other projects, such as choreographing 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, producing an ice show etcetera.
Style and approach
One of the most outstanding aspects of the duo's work was the use of narrative and thematic music. They began to plan routines, which used a single piece of music and had some narrative or thematic element after winning the 1981 World Championships.
In 1982, they presented a long programme to excerpts from the musical Mack and Mabel, which evoked the emotions of a sweet but stormy romance; in 1983, they enacted a visit to the circus with music from Barnum, with help from the stage show's star, Michael Crawford; in 1984, at the Olympics, they stunned the world with Bolero which brought them the honor of receiving the world's first perfect score, and also with their dramatic Paso Doble 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.