Ice to see you back! Torvill and Dean skate in the wild for the first time and recreate their Olympic-winning Bolero
Almost four decades ago they unveiled their Bolero to the world at the Winter Olympics.
But Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean had always harboured a dream of performing in a more remote arena – the wilderness.
The gold-medal winning duo have now made that wish come true by recreating the iconic dance on a frozen lake in Alaska.
It was filmed for last night’s ITV documentary Dancing On Thin Ice, in which the pair investigated the impact of climate change on the region.
Almost four decades ago they unveiled their Bolero to the world at the Winter Olympics. But Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean had always harboured a dream of performing in a more remote arena – the wilderness. The gold-medal winning duo have now made that wish come true by recreating the iconic dance on a frozen lake in Alaska (above)
The routine was filmed for last night’s ITV documentary Dancing On Thin Ice, in which the pair investigated the impact of climate change on the region. They were unable to wear their purple chiffon Renaissance-inspired costumes, which they sported for the Olympics, in minus 25C (minus 13F) cold – but the duo compromised with indigo jumpers
All the while, they were looking for the perfect place to wild skate and perform a special version of the routine that won them gold – and perfect scores – at the 1984 games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
Racing against the elements, they eventually found a perfect lake that hadn’t yet thawed too much, and the film crew set about moving several feet of snow with ploughs and shovels and smoothing the surface.
Miss Torvill, 63, and Dean, 62, then recreated the famous dance, though some of the more daring moves were taken out.
And they were unable to wear their purple chiffon Renaissance-inspired costumes in minus 25C (minus 13F) cold, but the duo compromised with indigo jumpers.
Miss Torvill said: ‘It’s always been a dream for Chris and I to be able to skate the Bolero outside on a frozen lake in beautiful surroundings.’
Above, the routine that won them gold – and perfect scores – at the 1984 games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. More than 24million Britons watched in 1984 as the pair were awarded nine sixes for Bolero
After completing the routine she joked she was ‘out of breath’.
Dean said that he was ‘humbled’ to have been able to do the dance in the ‘wilderness’ alongside his skating partner of more than 45 years.
‘That was once in a lifetime, so inspiring, so at one with nature,’ he said. ‘To be here in the wilderness with my best friend… it’s been quite the journey.’
Dean has previously said that skating in the wild had long been a dream of his – inspired by a mural on the ceiling of his boyhood training rink in Nottingham.
He told the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine: ‘There were skaters and mountains in the background … I still remember how atmospheric it was … I was transfixed by the people on the ice, like they were flying.’
More than 24million Britons watched in 1984 as the pair were awarded nine sixes for Bolero.
Ravel’s music had been deemed too long for their routine, but they got round the rules by kneeling and swaying on the ice for the opening bars.