Tessa Virtue says taking on dance without skates is 'terrifying' and 'invigorating'
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taking → say → skates
Olympic champion makes her dance debut in a new solo performance at Toronto dance festival
For most of her life, Tessa Virtue has built a career on control.
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Virtue → make → control
On the ice, she learned to find the precise balance point on a blade, trust a partner implicitly and make even the most difficult movements look effortless.
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movements → learn → partner
With Scott Moir, she transformed ice dance into storytelling built on speed, precision, trust and emotion.
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she → transform → speed
Together, they won three Olympic gold medals, three world titles and a permanent place in Canadian sports history.
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they → win → history
- Video
Tessa and Scott reflect on their partnership 5 years after retirement
Virtue and Moir lead star-studded group of inductees into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Now, Virtue is being asked to do something that runs against much of what made her an elite athlete: lose her balance, embrace uncertainty and perform alone.
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her → reflect → uncertainty
Her new contemporary dance solo, choreographed by Alyssa Martin, premieres Oct. 15 at the Fall for Dance North Festival in Toronto, where Martin is the artist-in-residence.
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Martin → choreograph → residence
It is Virtue's first major performance on a stage rather than in a rink — and a return to the art form she first loved.
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she → love → form
Virtue says she feels excited and honoured to be asked to participate, but the opportunity has also brought mixed emotions.
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opportunity → say → emotions
"It feels very much like returning to something and also utterly terrifying, but I think that's what's making this feel kind of electrifying and invigorating," she told CBC News.
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she → feel → News
She began at three, and dance studios became places of comfort whenever skating took her away from home — first at 13, then again when she moved to Michigan at 15.
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she → begin → 15
But returning to dance has not meant simply transferring the skills she developed as an ice dancer onto a stage.
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she → return → stage
Virtue says the two forms demand fundamentally different relationships with the body.
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"On the ice, I was technically proficient at finding the balance point on my blade," Virtue said.
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Virtue → find → blade
"In dance, it turns out the momentum and energy that you can create on stage comes from actually tipping off axis and playing with the recovery of that.
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For Virtue, that has meant moving away from the controlled perfection demanded by elite skating and toward something looser, riskier and more exposed.
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that → mean → something
She describes the process as embracing "the messiness and the raw feelings" — a shift she calls cathartic for her nervous system.
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she → describe → system
The solo also marks the first time in years that Virtue has performed alone.
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Virtue → mark → years
She even asked Moir whether he wanted to join her for a duet.
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he → ask → duet
"He's busy coaching his other athletes and he has a life," she said, laughing.
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she → coach → life
Instead, Virtue found a new kind of partnership in the rehearsal room and through the wider dance community.
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Virtue → find → community
Martin says she was drawn to Virtue's performance style long before they began working together.
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they → say → style
"There's something that she brings to her performances that is just so authentic and open and generous," Martin told CBC News.
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It's quite loud and just so overflowing with this warmth and this power."
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The work is set to Céline Dion's It's All Coming Back to Me Now, a song chosen by Martin, who says she immediately knew Virtue could bring power to it.
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Robert Binet, Fall for Dance North Festival's artistic director and co-CEO, says the collaboration is exactly the kind of artistic risk the festival hopes to encourage.
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festival → say → risk
"It's a real adventure in bringing two artists who have had very different artistic upbringings and careers together, but who share this absolute love of dance," Binet said.
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Binet → bring → dance
He hopes audiences will see Virtue in unfamiliar territory, and recognize that the qualities that made her an extraordinary ice dancer can travel beyond the rink.
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"People know her as the most extraordinary ice dancer in the world," he said.
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"I really want people to see that if you love ice dance, you also love dance, and it's just about people moving to music and sharing parts of themselves with you."
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people → want → you
Virtue, meanwhile, hopes audiences remain open to whatever they feel.
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"You don't need to know the vocabulary of dance," she said.
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"You just need to enjoy and remain open to feeling something."
As for what comes next, Virtue says she's leaving the door open.
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"While I might not always feel confident in taking on a challenge, I can always be courageous," she said.
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she → feel → challenge
Virtue's solo premieres Oct. 15 at Fall for Dance North in Toronto.
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The festival runs Oct. 15-25.
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