"Keeping things fresh"
Evan Bates has outlived many takes on ice dance's rhythm dance. What does he think about the ISU's latest take?
Consider this: Evan Bates’ ice dance career has outlived several competitive ice dance format changes.1
When the two-time World Champion started in international competition in 2005, ice dance still used a three-part format: Compulsory dance(s), original dance, and free dance. Then in 2010, the ISU combined the compulsory dance and original dance into the short dance, merging the idea of the original dance (a prescribed theme) with a compulsory pattern as an element. In 2018, the short dance was renamed the rhythm dance. Four years later, the pattern was dropped as a requirement in the rhythm dance.
With the ISU adopting related rhythm dance themes for the next two seasons - 2024/25 is Dance of the 50s, 60s and 70s and 2025/26 is Dance of the Early 2000s - several have worried about how far-removed ice dance has become from the years of the three-part competition with distinct, compulsory requirements. Aren’t these two themes campy? How can people take this seriously?
In mid-August, the top U.S. ice dance teams, including Bates and wife and partner Madison Chock, showed their new rhythm dances for the season to judges and officials at U.S. Figure Skating’s Champs Camp at The Skating Club of Boston. In a session with media on Thursday of the camp, Bates wouldn’t divulge too much about the couple’s rhythm dance for the year. But when asked about the ISU’s theme decisions for the next two years, he pointed out what he sees as advantages of them.
“I don't know if this was the plan all along, but I really think like the three-year arc (we’ve had) is pretty clever,” said Bates. “We had 1980s (last year), now we're doing the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and next year we're going to do post-Y2K.
“I'm really an advocate for innovation and keeping things fresh. I think in ice dance, we've all seen a lot of Latin rhythm dances, or tangos, or you know, rhythms that need to be spruced up a little bit. So I think that the (Ice Dance Technical Committee) has done a good job in keeping it fresh.”
Bates also pointed out that using pop music is important in an Olympic year, when more attention is on figure skating. Similar thoughts led to the choice of “street dance rhythms” for 2021-22, the last Olympic season.
“I think especially in an Olympic year, we’re trying to take advantage of the fact that we have more eyeballs on the sport,” said Bates. “I think doing post-Y2K is actually really clever and could get some younger people to connect with what we're doing on the ice. We have probably the most unique sport, I think, in terms of blending artistry and athleticism. Having these opportunities to make creative decisions and picking our music is such a big part of that. Hopefully we'll get to grow the sport a little bit next year by picking some contemporary and current music.”
Bates is currently a member of the ISU’s Athletes Commission, though not the Ice Dance Technical Committee. He wouldn’t divulge if he and Chock will compete after the 2026 Winter Olympics, but he will be watching to the choices his fellow ISU committee members make for the rhythm dance after those Games.
“I'm interested to see what they're going to do after next year,” said Bates.
Why does it sometimes feel like Bates is the only skater that gets interviewed?
No matter your thoughts on Chock and Bates’ skating (and there are some varying thoughts out there), Bates is one of the better interviews you can get from a current athlete in the sport because his answers are understandable by both avid fans and the 75-year-old who reads the newspaper at his local Dunkin’ every morning.
When I cover skating for the Boston Globe, I have to strike a balance of writing for knowledgeable fans as well as everyone else reading the website or print edition that day.2 Bates’ quotes prove invaluable to any journalist trying to do that. For example, his answers during a Skate America press conference in 2022 inspired an entire sidebar of my coverage for the Globe, because I knew it was something that would appeal to the entire readership of the sports section.
Skaters are often either inexperienced in interviewing or frightened to say the wrong thing. Bates is the opposite, giving both the skating-specific journalist and the more general sports journalist material that is interesting, well-thought out and very useable. That’s why you see him quoted a lot.
Read more about Champs Camp and its first-ever exhibition!
I covered Champs Camp and the Summer Sizzler, the first-ever exhibition to be included in Champs Camp, for the Boston Globe. You can read it here. Plus I posted some videos on my YouTube channel.
Happy Publication Day, Ryan Stevens!
I want to be Ryan Stevens when I grow up, even though I’m pretty sure we’re around the same age. Stevens, who runs SkateGuard, the leading skating history website, releases his fourth(!) skating book, Sequins, Scandals & Salchows: Figure Skating in the 1980s, on Tuesday.3
I read an advance copy a few months ago and I could not recommend it more. I ordered and am eagerly awaiting the hard copy version so I can read it over again.
If you aren’t on Twitter/X, you might not realize this a take on the Twitter account “Evan Bates Outlives” which compares the length of his career to other skaters’ and world events.
Writing for both audiences is not a bad thing. I love it. It’s something my skating-writing idol, John Powers, does so well. Jo-Ann Barnas and E.W. Swift also were great at this in the 1990s. On a related note, could someone hire me to teach a college class in Great Figure Skating Journalism of the 1990s?
If you buy using this link, I may get credit. I may not. I’m not sure if I’ve set up the whole Amazon thing correctly.