Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron: “We take a year off from competitions, but we remain very close to the ice.”
Interview with Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.
source: passion-patinage.com dd 22d December 2022 by Benjamin N.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron showed up at this year’s French Nationals and presented a new exhibition program at the gala.
First, a difficult question…How are you?
Guillaume: Well, it’s going well! Since the end of the Olympic season, nothing has really changed fundamentally for us; our lives are a little different, that’s all. As often at the end of the season, we did several galas, then took a vacation in July. That’s when we saw the difference, since we did not resume training as usual.
Gabriella: Our lives are not very different from last year since we are here at the French Nationals!
Guillaume: We resumed training in October, and we choreographed our programs for upcoming shows. We are no longer officially students of the IM Academy in Montreal, but we were still able to train with our former colleagues. After this gala at the French Nationals, we leave for a 3-month tour with Holiday on Ice, Art on Ice, shows in ski resorts during the holidays, Megève, Chamonix, etc… Certain numbers are ready, more are yet to come! So we quickly found the atmosphere of the ice rinks, a lighter one than before.
How do you manage this different rhythm compared to the one you have experienced in recent years, for example?
Guillaume: There is certainly less stress and physical load. It’s a little in between: our bodies have been used to a lot of sport; on the one hand, this calmer tempo is good; on the other hand, we were used to having a lot of endorphins. In the end, I’m still at the rink every day, but more like a coach, and I continue to do sports off the ice to let off steam. And it would be even different if we had retired from sports. We take a year off from competitions, but we remain very close to the ice.
Do you have a coaching role at the Academy in Montreal? and Geoffrey told us that they had benefited from your advice several times.
Guillaume: No, we don’t have official coaching status; we are more like stakeholders. For my part, I started to modify a few elements and give some advice, and one thing leading to another, I put together several choreographies. Let’s say I’m kind of a part-time coach! I intervene with almost all pairs, as is done in Montreal.
Gabriella: I worked with Evgeniia and Geoffrey a bit to help them work on a connection between them, but my role is more on an ad hoc basis.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates recently stated that they are feeling a little lonely in competition.
Guillaume: It’s true, not having the entire Montreal team in competitions is a little weird… I think it’s stranger for Maddie and Evan and Laurence and Nikolaj than for us!
Gabriella: It is quite logical that at the end of the Olympic cycle, the skaters hang up their skates, but it is also good that some continue.
In the first part of the gala, you presented a brand new program. Where did the idea come from?
Guillaume: At this gala, we presented a program that is still very fresh; it is a new one. We wanted to do something that we like: a bare, sober dance where we don’t rush but still have a final crescendo, a kind of free program that doesn’t follow the rules. It’s not the type of program you’d usually find at a gala; it’s less “commercial” and slower; we decided to go with our instincts, and we hope the audience enjoys it.
Related topics: Gabriella Papadakis Guillaume Cizeron
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