It was time for entertainment in the Rhythm Dance - and Canada’s reigning ISU World silver medalists Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier danced off with the lead, followed by teammates Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha and Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud of France.

Ken and Barbie, Austin Powers, Boney M and the Bee Gees – the Rhythm Dance had it all.

Gilles/Poirier chose songs by the Beach Boys and “Barbie and Ken at the beach” as their theme. On the ice they were not swimming, but executing intricate footwork and a whirling rotational lift that drew extra cheers from the crowd at the Scotiabank Center. The Canadian Champions collected a level three for the footwork and a level four for the rotational lift to score 86.44 points.

Gilles/Poirier (CAN) - ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada 2024 Halifax - ©International Skating Union (ISU)

“It was our first competition of the season, our first time presenting this program in front of an audience,” Poirier said. “It was a lot of fun to skate - something that we really wanted to capture with this program is just our enjoyment of skating and our enjoyment of dance styles. It was a really strong, comfortable first outing. We know where we want this program to keep growing as we go through the season, but we’re really pleased with how today went.”

The couple has made four different costumes for the Rhythm Dance and chooses on the day which one to wear. Today it was the red-white “lifeguard” outfits.

“It’s one of the costumes that we were really comfortable from the beginning,” Gilles said. “It’s one of the first ones that was done, so we’ve had the most time to practice in it. Our coach Carol (Lane) really liked the idea of it being red and white, being in Canada.”

Lajoie/Lagha (CAN) - ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada 2024 Halifax - ©International Skating Union (ISU)

It was “Austin Powers” for Lajoie/Lagha and they got the attention of the crowd right away with their fun performance. The ISU Grand Prix Finalists earned a level four for the twizzles and the lift. When Lagha slipped and fell on a connecting step, the spectators gasped but the couple got back into the performance quickly and finished on a high note, scoring 77.34 points.

“I feel for us, it was the obvious choice to do Austin Powers since it’s like the incarnation of the guy in the 60s and at the same time, he also traveled in time to go to the 70s. So we thought we’re covering two decades instead of only one,” Lagha said. 

Asked about the mistake, he added: “Sometimes mistakes happen because you’re nervous or because you’re tired physically, but this one was really almost out of my control, which is a good thing. But it’s also scary because you realize that you can do mistakes that are kind of out of your control. It didn’t really affect the rest of the performance.”

Three-time ISU Grand Prix bronze medalists Lopareva/Brissaud went for a Boney M medley and produced fast twizzles and an impressive rotational lift to receive 76.76 points. 

Lopareva/Brissaud (FRA) - ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada 2024 Halifax - ©International Skating Union (ISU)

“We wanted today to show a great performance and I think we achieved this goal,” Lopareva said. “We have to work on our technique to have better levels, but otherwise we are pretty happy with our performance.”

It was not so easy for the French team to pick their music with three decades from the 50s to the 70s to choose from. “We struggled at bit in the beginning,” Lopareva said. “We wanted to take something from the earlier time, like somewhere around the 60s. We were looking at Brigitte Bardot as well. But we find that music wasn’t uplifting enough for us to perform to the public. One day Romain (Haguenauer, coach) just showed us this music (Boney M) and said, ‘Guys, that will be very fun’.”

Just one point separates Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik (USA) from the podium. The U.S. couple lit up the arena with their dance to the Bee Gees (75.63 points). Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler (CZE) came fourth with another strong performance on 74.97 points, while Oona Brown/Gage Brown (USA) are currently ranked sixth (72.18 points).

Check out the ISU Grand Prix Standings to find out who is on their way to qualify for the Final:

Men       Women            Pair Skating      Ice Dance

What & When

The schedule of Skate Canada International is as follows

Friday, Oct 25: Pairs & Women’s Short Programs

Saturday, Oct 26: Rhythm Dance, Men’s Short Program, Pairs & Women’s Free Skating

Sunday, Oct 27: Men’s Free Skating & Free Dance

Follow the ISU Grand Prix events:

The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event are available below:

1. 25 - 27 Oct 2024                       Skate Canada International in Halifax (CAN)
2. 01 - 03 Nov 2024                      Grand Prix de France in Angers (FRA)
3. 08 - 10 Nov 2024                      NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN)
4. 15- 17 Nov 2024                       Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki (FIN)  
5. 22 - 24 Nov 2024                      Cup of China in Chongqing (CHN)

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final: 

1. 05 - 08 Dec 2024                        Grenoble (FRA)