In Ice Dancing, the Electric Tops the Ethereal

In Ice Dancing, the Electric Tops the Ethereal
Virtue and Moir performed their sensual free skate to music from “Moulin Rouge.” As Lanotte, the Italian ice dancer, noted, the Canadians belong to a generation of dancers where “there is a conversation between the man
and the woman” and the man is expected “to make her comfortable so that you can watch her.”
Seeing Virtue and Moir perform is “like reading a book,” Lanotte said.
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — In a performance by turns athletic, sensual
and expressive, the Canadian ice dancing team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir reclaimed the Olympic gold medal on Tuesday.
Descriptions of their performances, especially the “Moonlight Sonata” routine used at Tuesday’s free skate, venture into the rapturous:
Tom Zakrajsek, a top American coach: “They don’t look like they’re skating; they look like they’re dancing.”
As she ties up her skates for the seemingly millionth time, the U. S. ice dancer Madison Hubbell pictures her routine.
An action of him is a reaction of her.”
In 2010, Virtue and Moir became the first North Americans to win Olympic gold in ice dancing,
a sport once dominated, with some notable exceptions, by Soviet and Russian skaters.
Virtue and Moir now have five career Olympic medals, the most among figure skaters, though earlier generations
did not have a chance to compete in the Olympic team competition, which began at the 2014 Games.
Last week, Virtue and Moir won a second gold medal, in the team skating event.