Saturday, the Olympics will feature ice dancing, and the skaters will begin their programs with Rhythm & Blues. The Rhythm & Blues portion of the competition used to be referred to as the short dance. Each year, contestants are required to use rhythms in the short portion of the program. This year’s rhythms include street dance rhythms, jazz, reggae, and blues. The International Skating Union defines “street rhythm” as swing, hip-hop, krunk, disco, popping, and funk.
Ice dancing will kick off Saturday morning at 6 a.m. on USA, Peacock, and NBCOlympics.com.
Here are the ice dancers who have performed so far and how they have ranked.
Germany’s Katharina Mueller and Tim Dieck
This couple performed to a Joker/Harley Quinn – inspired piece. This was a cleaner performance than their previous event which put them in 10th place. This dance put them on the board with a score of 65.47 points.
Finnish Skaters Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis
These two performed to the popular song, “River.” They earned 68.23 points. The couple debuted to “Breathe You in my Dreams.”
Ukraine’s Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksim Nikitin
It was Throw Back Saturday as the ice dancers moved to “Hit the Road Jack.” They earned 65.53 points.
Checheslovokia’s Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler
This brother and sister ice dancing duo performed better in the Rhythm & Blues dance than in the team event. They earned a score of 67.22 points and for now, they are in second place.
Currently, the top three ice-dancing couples are Turkkila/Versluis, Taschlerova/Taschler, and Nazarova/Nikitin.
Lithuania’s Paulina Ramanauskaite and Deividas Kizala
This couple performed to Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette” and “Hard.” This mashup earned them a score of 58.35.
Japan’s Misato Komatsubara and Montana’s own Tim Koleto
Koleto is representing Japan in this competition with his wife Komatsubara. They were 7th out of 10th place and earned 65.41 points for the Rhythm & Blues portion of their program.
Poland’s Natalia Kaliszek and Maksym Spodyriev
This couple has danced themselves into the lead with 70.32 points, placing them 2.09 ahead of Turkkila and Versluis. They danced to “Quick Musical Doodles by Two Feet” and “Glory by the Score.”
Georgia’s Maria Kazakova and Georgy Reviya
Skating into 4th place with Ushers’ “Yeah!” with 67.08 points, which was significantly better than their previous performance.
This makes the top three dance couples Kaliszek/Spodyriev, Turkkila/Versluis, and Taschlerova/Taschler.
Russia’s Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin
This ice-dancing couple is the first of three from Russia. They performed to”Boom Boom Pow” and “Bom Bidi Bom,” taking 1st place with 71.66 points. Davis’ mom, Eteri Tutberidze, is the coach of all three Russian women’s competitors at these Olympic Games.
Armenia’s Tina Garabedian and Simon Proulx Senecal
This is the first time since 2006 Armenia has competed in the ice dancing competition. The couple performed to “Respect” and “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” earning 65.87 points.
China’s Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu
An Elvis Presley medley brought this couple into 1st place with 73.41 points.
Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha
This team is the first of three Canadian ice dancing teams performing in the Olympic Games. This team took the audience to “Funkytown” and earned 72.59 points.
America’s Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker
This team made their Olympic debut Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” and “Bad Girls,” earning 74.58 points and propelling them into 1st place.
Currently, the top three ice-dancing couples are Hawayek/Baker, Wang/Liu, and Lajoie/Lagha.
Spain’s Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz
This couple kicked off their group of ice dancers with Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary.” This earned the couple 77.70 points and put them in 1st place. Diaz is engaged to marry America’s Madison Hubbell, who will be skating with partner Zachary Donohue in the next group.
Canada’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen
This couple represented Denmark for five Winter Olympic competitions and Canada for four seasons. The couple danced on the ice to a medley by George Michael and took the lead with 78.54 points.
Russia’s Aleksandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin
This ice-dancing couple got the crowd rocking with “Monster” as performed by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber. Their performance was a hit with 84.09 points.
Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
A KISS medley garnered this couple 76.45 points and brought them into 4th place.
Still left to skate are France, the third Russian couple, two American couples, the third Canadian couple, and Italy. Be sure to tune in to see who will be the victors. Ice dancing can be viewed on USA, CBSOlympics.com, and Peacock.
Written by Jeanette Vietti
Sources:
Click 2 Houston: LIVE UPDATES: Olympic ice dance begins with hip-hop and blues programs
W Top News: Saturday’s Figure Skating Start List
isureresults.com: Results
Featured Image by Martin Rulsch Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons License
First Inline Image by Martin Rulsch Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons License
Second Inline Image by Clément Bucco-Lechat Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons License
