Not getting married or being romantically involved with each other is one of the reasons ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean credit for their long and successful career.
As they prepare to hang up their skates after 50 years of dancing together with their anniversary tour, Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance, the duo skated into Belfast to reminisce.
“I think because of dancing together, people always assume that we were involved. But if people believed that there was romance between us then we did a good job, because we were playing parts well.
“We both have other partners, but our main focus has always been skating,” adds 66-year-old Jayne.
Iconic ice dancers Torvill and Dean visited Belfast for the first time in 14 years to promote their 50th Anniversary Tour ‘Our Last Dance’.
— The Irish News (@irish_news) November 21, 2024
They spoke to The Irish News' Jenny Lee about their expansive career and how their partnership has stood the test of time. pic.twitter.com/kKWdsYgRQn
The pair have known each other since they were 10 and were partnered to skate together by a coach at the age of 15.
“We’ve grown up together and gone through all those stages of life - our 20s, 30s, 40s, marriage and kids - and throughout that we’ve maintained a strong friendship and mutual respect for each other,” remarks 65-year-old Christopher.
Still performing moves and lifts that would put skaters four decades younger to shame, how on earth have they maintained their fitness?
“We’re lucky, we have a good physio that’s always looked after us for many, many years,” dismisses Jayne, as if ice skating in your 60s is perfectly natural.
Wanting to bow out when they can still perform to a high standard, next spring they will embark on their last ever tour together, paying tribute to their half-century legacy.
“I think we’re ready. In 50 years we’ve skated all around the world and done so many things. We’ve got to an age where we still feel that we can do it well, but we know that’s disappearing. And so, we want to do one last tour that we feel capable and proud of,” says Christopher.
Having last performed in Belfast in 2010, they are delighted to be bringing their final tour to the SSE next April.
“The show itself will be nostalgic. We’re telling our story, our journey from the beginning to where we are today.
“We’ve got a cast of 15 other skaters and multimedia screens. There will be some new dances and arrangements and for those familiar with our old routines, like Mack and Mabel, Barnum and who knows, Bolero, we will be performing those,” he teases.
On Valentine’s Day in 1984, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean made history at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo with their performance to Ravel’s Bolero.
The world was mesmerised by their purple fury of grace and artistry with their self-choreographed routine set the bar for creativity in figure-skating.
The nine judges reached for the sixes and awarded Jayne and Chris maximum points. It had never been achieved before – and never since.
We’ve got to an age where we still feel that we can do it well, but we know that’s disappearing.
— Christopher Dean
What are Jayne’s memories from that time?
“It’s hard to describe. We’ve trained and trained and trained, and when it comes to being announced onto the ice to perform, you put yourself in the zone.
“It was about Chris and I performing that routine to the best that we could. Whatever the marks were, we knew that we’d done the best we could. So that, in itself, was satisfying to us.”
Those four minutes transformed their lives. Having quit their jobs as an insurance clerk and police trainee four years previous, the pair had relied on grants to train full-time.
After their Olympic success they turned professional and after turning down offers to join several ice shows as guest performers, they put together their own company of skaters and bring their style of ice dance all over the world.
For Christopher the arrangements form in his head whilst listening to the music.
“I think about it up here, but then it translates on the ice,” he reveals, pointing to his head. “It’s about the fluidity and flow of it.”
“When we turned professional, we did work with people from the ballet world, and we realised we used to do a ballet class every day before the tour,” adds Jayne, whose famous ice dresses now hang in a museum within the Nottingham National Ice Centre.
Despite their early financial challenges, Christopher was grateful that they enjoyed their success before the advent of social media.
“It’s really difficult for people that get some success now, balancing social media and not losing focus. We had about four newspapers and three TV channels, so we could be isolated and do our training and get on with what we wanted to do.”
The ITV reality series Dancing on Ice featuring celebrities and their professional partners figure skating in front of a panel of judges has kept Torvill and Dean busy on and off the ice.
While the pair are planning to retire from skating together, the good news for fans is that they will remain as judges on the show.
First broadcast in 2006, Dancing on Ice will return to our screens in the new year for a 17th series, with celebrities including Ferne McCann, Mollie Pearce, Charlie Brooks and Anton Ferdinand.
“They’re all starting off on a level playing field. It’s always exciting to see who progresses and who starts to get ahead,” enthuses Christopher.
“It’s too early to say who is best, although we do have this thing on the first show, where we are given an envelope and write who we think is going to win, and then we open it in the final.”
“Chris has been more successful in that over the years,” adds Jayne, giving him a wry look through the corner of her eye.
Their fellow Dancing on Ice judge Oti Mabuse is currently appearing in I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! With no need to train, will we see the pair pop-up as contestants in other reality TV shows?
“I don’t think so,” they laugh. “The jungle is certainly not on my bucket list. I’m waiting for a motor racing version,” adds Christopher.
Having crashed during a celebrity Nascar race in Melbourne back in 1989, tearing ligaments and requiring two months in plaster, it doesn’t seem to have put him off.
“That caused us to stay down there for a few months, and then we cut an album down there. Sold five records... I think.”
“It was hilarious,” laughs Jayne about their Here We Stand album, which featured cover songs by artists such as the Mamas and Papas and Sonny and Cher and was released only in Australia.
As well as holidays, what they are both most looking forward to in their retirement is “not having a schedule”.
“I’ve had a schedule all my life, from my school days. I left school at 15 and a half, and two weeks later, I was training in the police force. There’s always a training schedule and regime, it’s constant. It will be wonderful, and strange, to wake up and not know what to do,” ponders Christopher.
Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance comes to Belfast’s SSE Arena on April 15 and 16. Tickets via ticketmaster.ie
