I wasn’t planning on waiting so long to write another post, but celebrating the progress Dancing on Ice has made on the new series while the rinks remained closed just seemed distasteful. While pubs and restaurants has been allowed to re-open back on 4th July presumably because drunks are well-known for not invading personal space (?) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCSM) announced that UK rinks could re-open on 25th July, before backtracking on 10th July and stating the inclusion of ice rinks in the list of establishments that were being given the green light was an “administrative error”. Fast-forward a couple of weeks and 1st August was given as the new date; rinks began the expensive and time-consuming process of replacing the ice that had been melted months before, sharpening hire skates, disinfecting and installing signage to ensure compliance with British Ice Skating’s guidelines on safe practice (that had been agreed months before), just in time for the DCMS to announce late in the day on 30th July that rinks were in fact NOT to be allowed to open the following day. It was therefore perhaps not surprising that when the next date for re-opening of Saturday 8th August, few of us went to bed truly believing that in a few days time we’d be back on the glorious cold stuff. While premier league football had resumed on 17th June and millions tuned in to see players leaping all over each-other celebrating and by the end of July every Olympic discipline had resumed training…well all that didn’t involve ice skates!
Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Robin Cousins, John Curry…4 British Olympians, 4 British Gold Medal Winners, 4 British SPORTS Personality of the year winners…and yet Ice sports were (and as I write have still been) categorised by DCMS as “lesiure” and not sport. One disgruntled athlete even going as far as to be tasked my their local MP’s caseworker with providing evidence that skating is a sport! As Robin Cousins correctly pointed out on Twitter” Figure skating was first introduced as an Olympic sporting event at the 1908 Summer Games and since 1924 it’s been part of the Winter Olympic Games. Ice Dance was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1976 and the team event in 2014″. Although last Saturday common sense prevailed and skaters (in England) were finally allowed back and Scottish rinks are (currently) due to re-open on 31st August (for Wales the wait continues), the fact remains that DCMS has not only shown nothing but disrespect to our athletes leading to the hashtag #overlookedolympicsport the continuation of placing rinks in the same category as casinos leaves the very real possibility that come a second wave, ice dancers will be the first to be forced to halt training.
A little over 48 hours after skaters in England were allowed back on the rink I headed over to a public skating session at Whitley Bay (my local rink), having not stepped on the ice myself for a couple of years. As those who’ve read this blog will know i’m a huge ice dance fan (obviously) but my skating experience is from childhood/teen recreational street skating and at the start of lockdown I purchased my first pair of quad skates in fifteen years. As street skaters know, and ice skaters have been discovering, there are few public spaces with ground smooth enough to enjoy. Which is why a few months back I was forced to ring my Dad for a lift home having rocked the chasis off one of my skates on the uneven council tarmac!
Having read and seen much of regular ice dancers being forced to practice ‘off-ice’ and concentrating on the potential benefits they’d find back on the ice, I was naturally curious to see whether i’d too find myself embracing the comparative lack of friction and lightness of the boots. I arrived 15 minutes before the session began (you don’t need to pre-book but they do ask you to attend a quarter of an hour early to be processed, those with skates need to enter booted up, while if like myself you require hire skates you enter the ice via a separate entrance) and spent a few minutes worried i’d have the rink to myself. Much as I’ve spent a quarter of this year dreaming of standing solo in the middle of the rink, in reality given my mediocre skills the idea of being watched was rather too much to bear. Thankfully, a young girl in hockey skates soon arrived accompanied by her (I presume) boyfriend in hire skates, a father and his seven or eight year old daughter, three young athletes and their two coaches joined me. Face masks must be worn on entrance (thankfully I found a scarf down the back of my passenger seat after I realised I’d left mine at home) and with the exception of the coaches, can be removed while skating.
For a recreational skater like myself the session was a dream; nobody clinging on to the sides or falling all over the place getting in your way, talented athletes practicing in your vicinity demonstrating perfectly the art of this glorious sport, inspiring you to skate harder, faster and challenge yourself to try new things, a freshly laid surface (I went to the 11am session so less than 2 hours after the Zamboni had given it a good polish) and freshly sharpened hire skates that probably hadn’t been used since sharpening. While I’d forgotten how heavy hire skates are (plastic, with tight straps) compared to my leather lace-up quads, the smooth gliding blades and friction free ice reminded me quite why Jayne Torvill has been repeatedly quoted as describing it as “the closest thing to flying”. Having roller skated (off and on) for 33 years, I was shocked to find how much easier I found basic skating. Despite beginning skating way back in 1987 (aged 3), due to a combination of financial and geographical limitations and priorities I’ve never had any lessons. As a child, the only way to learn was to give it a go (possibly still the best way). Over thirty years later with the availability of countless Youtube tutorials I’d been trying to relearn crossovers on my quads, briefly managing a few (basic but not entirely satisfactory) forward crossovers (backwards skating still seems to be alluding me). While I was confident enough racing round the ice, bubbles (or cola bottles as they were named on our street) seeming even easier on ice, short spurts on one foot, trying to work out which edge to use meant I didn’t conquer crossovers on ice but I won’t be defeated!
With the Prime Minister announcing a new government strategy on tackling obesity the sweat dripping off my back (sexy it was not) just twenty minutes into the session, the weightless sensation (as with swimming) enabling you to push harder and faster, one would suggest the rink would be the perfect place to get Britain moving. While gym addicts are reminded of the dangers in forgetting ‘leg day’, skating provides an all body work out and aside from the athletes those on the rink are just normal folk, too busy staying upright to judge anyone else. While I confess my calves burnt with lactic acid when I got back in my car, at no point on the rink did I even notice a slight twinge. Needless to say, I will not be leaving it a few years before I head back. If it wasn’t for the clash with my improv classes (currently only Tuesday classes are available) I’d be signing up for lessons like a shot. At £54 for 6 sessions it also works out cheaper than a trip to the gym.
Which just leaves, the small issue of this year’s Dancing on Ice? While our future Olympians were left to flounder, the show was left pondering whether it would be at all possible to get round this (having it’s own rink which is used for filming the show at RAF Bovingdon). Back-up plans were put in place, to film special episodes utilising clips from the vast back catalogue. Come July, however it seemed that the show was back on track having been given permission to place celebrities on the ice and begin the audition process, aiming to launch the live shows as usual in early January 2021. Although, John Barrowman (who joined the ice panel last season) has admitted that it’s as yet unclear whether the show will go ahead. With contestants rumoured to include Towie’s Billie Faeires (who I must admit I’d quite like to see), Coronation Street’s Sally Dynevor (Sally Metcalfe) and former England footballer Wayne Bridge (husband of ex-Saturday member and Strictly contestant Frankie Bridge) it is to be hoped that now the rinks have re-opened a government guideline friendly way can be found to keep the show on air. Although regardless when the next season airs the decision not to recontract last year’s winning professional Alex Murphy is one decision I could never endorse.
White Skates 