The Post-Oly Shuffle: Dance

I wasn't going to bother doing one of these, since it took me so long to get around to it, but it was bugging me that I had one for every other discipline, so here we go.

Virtue/Moir and Davis/White are both sticking around for the foreseeable future, and they're both young enough to last through until Sochi, which is fantastic news for me and for ice dancing as a whole. I love them. I would love to see Charlie and Meryl get the World title since Tessa and Scott already got Olympic gold, but we'll see what happens. I seriously love both teams, so as long as they go 1-2, I won't be too upset.

As anyone could have predicted, Domnina/Shabalin will not be competing in Worlds. They say that they are only taking a year off to rest Maxim's knee but honestly, I can't see them coming back, especially not with the incredible Ilinykh/Katsalapov, coming up. D/S will be replaced in Turin by Rubleva/Shefer.

Belbin/Agosto have also retired, which, again, is not a surprise. Navarro/Bommentre will go in their place, which I am very happy about, because I love their FD and their performance of it at US Nats was one of my favourite performances this entire season. I think N/B are pretty set to retire after this season. Samuelson/Bates are presumably sticking around. I like those two.

The Kerrs will be in Turin, but apparently, they are pretty much certain to retire after this season. which I was sad to hear. I think that, with many of the top European teams likely to be retiring, next season could really have been their time to shine. Hopefully they can skate their best at Worlds, though; they could well have a chance to make the top 5. They will definitely be missed!

For some reason, I thought that Pechalat/Bourzat were a relatively young team, but they're actually not. They do seem to just be peaking now, though, so I would be fairly surprised if they retire after this season; they, too, can absolutely capitalise on the retirement of many of the top Euro teams. I love these two and I definitely hope they stick around a little longer.

Delobel/Schoenfelder, of course, have retired, and will not be in Turin. I'll miss them, too, if only because Isabelle Delobel has always had my ultimate favourite name in figure skating. France are sending Carron/Jones as their second team. I think I remember liking their OD at Euros, but I really wish that Blanc/Bouquet were going, because I live for their FD this year and would have liked to see it one more time. I am definitely interested to see what B/B will do over the coming years.

Khokhlova/Novitsky and Faiella/Scali will both be at Worlds; I'm not sure what either of them are planning on doing after this season. F/S are in a good position to medal in Turin and may well retire, which I have to say I will not be too sad to hear, because I really just can't ever get into their skating. I cannot wait to see K/N's Firebird again, because I love it, and honestly I hope they stick around for at least another season.

Cappellini/Lanotte haven't had the greatest season this year but hopefully they can get it together a little more over the coming years, because I love them a lot. I still miss their Love Story program from last season.

I think that the next four years could be extremely interesting for ice dance, as it certainly seems that Virtue/Moir and Davis/White are setting the precedent for a new and exciting wave of teams!

xxx