Sinead and John Kerr, British ice dancing champions, on life in the U.S.

Sinead Kerr and John Kerr, five-time British ice dancing champions, wowed the crowd a few weeks ago with an exhibition program at Rockefeller Rink in New York City. They were there courtesy of Ice Theatre of New York, an organization that promotes ice skating as a theatrical artform, and by the way, are also available for corporate parties, events, commercials, you name it. So on that evening, a company decided to hold their holiday party at the rink and Ice Theatre and the Kerrs entertained the crowd with performances and afterwards provided the attendees with skating instruction.

After Sinead and John's skate to At Last by Etta James, they stopped to chat with me about relocating to New Jersey from Edinburgh, Scotland two years ago, their coach Evgeny Platov (two-time Olympic champion with Oksana "Pasha" Grishuk), their daily training schedule, their original and free dance for this season, and their success so far medaling at Skate America and Trophee Eric Bompard.

What an engaging brother and sister duo! My favorite story they told? How they wound up skating to At Last. Once they got to the rink, they realized, uh oh, where's the music? Did you bring the music? No, I thought you brought the music. Thankfully, just previous to their arrival, a couple got engaged at the rink (via Engagements at the Rink) and brought along the CD to At Last. Sinead and John were listening to the song and immediately told the rink personnel to play it -- John explained that it was similarly tempo-ed to their planned song from Gladiator and all they had to do was make some minor adjustments. I guess that's the sign of real pros -- the ability to adapt at the very last minute and no one noticed a thing.

Next up for the Kerrs are the British National Championships, which will be held in Nottingham, England, from January 11 - 16, where they'll be going for their sixth straight title. [Update 01/13/09: Sinead and John won their sixth title. See results here.] Afterwards, it's a quick turnaround to the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland. (Ah...I have fond memories of Finland where we produced our story about the Rockettes, world champions in synchronized skating.) Then the next major competition will be Worlds in Los Angeles, from March 22 - 29. Best of luck to Sinead and John!

Comments

[Shelagh]

does ANYBODY know the title of the music that John and Sinead danced to at the free dance in the World Competition in L.A. this year? I can't find out from anywhere, HELP!

[Toothpilot]

Let me know when you find it!

[Jillkana]

Try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPan6C5eG28&feature=player_embedded#
(Linkin Park's Krwling)

...and I also read they used Mahler's Fifth Symphony, but I'm still trying to find it on YouTube.

Cheers ~