Jayne Torvill

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Jayne Torvill Personal information
Country represented:  United Kingdom
Date of birth: 7 October 1957 (1957-10-07) (age 52)
Partner: Christopher Dean
Former partner: Michael Hutchenson (pairs)
Former coach: Betty Callaway, Janet Sawbridge
Retired: 1984, 1994
Olympic medal record
Competitor for the  United Kingdom
Gold 1984 Sarajevo Ice dancing
Bronze 1994 Lillehammer Ice dancing

Jayne Torvill, OBE (born 7 October 1957) is a British ice dancer who with her skating partner Christopher Dean won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Early life

Torvill was born in Clifton, Nottingham, England, and grew up in Nottingham, and worked there as an insurance clerk.

Ice skating

She became hooked on ice skating at the age of 8 following an after-school trip to the local ice rink. In 1971 at age 14 Torvill became the British National Pairs Champion with her then partner Michael Hutchenson. After parting with Hutchenson, Torvill continued to skate on her own for a while before teaming up with Dean in 1975. After placing 5th in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, Dean gave up his job as a policeman and Torvill gave up hers as an insurance clerk to skate together full-time.

Torvill and Dean's free program at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, performed to the music of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, became world famous. They received twelve perfect 6.0 marks for artistic impression, the only time ever all perfect scores have been awarded. This is one of the most popular achievements in the history of British sport, watched by a British television audience of twenty four million.

Torvill and Dean turned professional after their 1984 Olympic win and under then existing Olympic Committee rules their professional status made them ineligible to compete in the Olympics again. However in 1993 the International Skating Union relaxed the rules for professional skaters, allowing the pair to participate in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer where they won a bronze medal.

They now star in the ITV show Dancing on Ice. The duo took the show on tour to arenas across the country in 2007, 2008 & 2009.

Recognition

Torvill was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999. Torvill and Dean were admitted to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1989.

Personal life

Torvill currently resides in Sussex, England, with her husband, Phil Christensen, and their two adopted children, Kieran and Jessica. She is, to this day, close friends with partner Christopher Dean.

Amateur competitive results (with Dean)

Event 1975-1976 1976-1977 1977-1978 1978-1979 1979-1980 1980-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984 1993-1994
Winter Olympic Games 5th 1st 3rd
World Championships 11th 8th 4th 1st 1st 1st 1st
European Championships 2nd 4th 1st 1st 1st Withdrew 1st 1st
British Championships 2nd 3rd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
NHK Trophy 1st
St Ivel International 1st 1st
Oberstdorf 2nd 1st
St Gervais 1st
Morzine Trophy 1st
John Davis Trophy 1st
Northern Championships 1st
Sheffield Trophy 1st
Rotary Watches Competition 2nd

Professional competitive results (with Dean)

Event 1984 1985 1990 1994 1995 1996
World Professional Championships 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
Challenge of Champions 1st 1st 1st
World Team Championship 3rd 1st 1st

The professional years 1984–1998, 2006–

Song of India 1984

• Music: Rimsky-Korsakov
• Known performance period 1984–1987
• Versions available on video/DVD or internet: yes
• Competition: World Professional Championships Washington 1984
  • Result: 1st (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.) Technical piece

Designed in Autumn 1984 for the World Professional Championships held in December 1984 (source Facing the Music: 1995:148).

The piece was choreographed jointly between Jayne and Chris together with Graeme Murphy, Artistic Director with the Sydney Dance Company at the time[1]. The costumes consisted of both Jayne and Chris wearing billowing orange/red trousers with brief top pieces adorned with India jewels. The piece consists of a tremendous amount of drawn-out lifts, twisting, intertwining, and even sitting and rolling on the ice to create a balletic piece which they describe at evoking Indian sculptures[2].

The piece was first performed at the 1984 Royal Variety Show in London, before going on to win with straight 10s at the 1984 World Professional Championships. An extended Company version of the dance was devised for the 1985/1986 World Tour[3]. It is also known to have been performed again for the one-off televised production with the Russian All Stars at the Luzhniki rink in Moscow in 1987[2].

The piece contains a unique move of immense technical balance, design, and strength, whereby Dean lifts Torvill feet-first, allowing her to take hold of his lower calf. He then lifts his one leg back with Torvill held horizontal across his body as he completes the lift gliding forward on one leg. The obvious difficulty and stunning symmetry of the lift made it quite a show stopper, and they can be seen to repeat the lift during the 1993 Skates of Gold Exhibition in Boston USA when they take to the ice with their peers from their amateur period: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko, and Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin. Dean and Torvill showed that the years have done nothing to detract from their skill, strength and balance when they incorporated the same lift into a re-worked version of Bolero for the 2007 series of Dancing on Ice.^{[citation needed]}

Encounter 1984

• Music: “January Stars” written and performed by George Otis Winston
• Known performance period 1984–1995
• Versions available on video/DVD or internet: yes
• Competition: World Professional Championships Washington 1984
  • Result: 1st (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.) Artistic piece
• World Team Championship 1994
  • Result: 1st

Encounter runs at over six minutes and was for Torvill and Dean their most enduring professional performance, winning them the World Professional Championships in 1984 and known to be used as performance piece until 1987. They resurrected the piece in 1994 to win at the World Team Championships. It is last known to have been performed at Wembley for the Face the Music World Tour filmed in June 1995.

The theme of the piece involves two people who walk past reach other in the street, notice each other, do a double take, and instantly fall in love. What follows is a brief encounter of two people very much in love but destined to be apart. The costumes were minimalist and unobtrusive, in keeping with the understatedness of the piece, consisting in the 1980s of a small sleek light grey-blue dress for Torvill cut like a mini-skirt and a silver-grey outfit for Dean. When Encounter was performed in the 1990s, Torvill wore a dress designed to look identical to the original, while Dean now wore shirt and trousers to match the colour of Torvill's outfit exactly.

Heaven and Hell 1985 (Group Number)

• Music: derived from the Seven Deadly Sins Ballet
• Known performance period: 1985–1986
• Versions available on video/dvd or internet: none known

A ten minute group number, with Torvill and Dean taking part in the Heaven section, dressing in cream-white outfits.

Venus 1985

• Music: Gustav Holst (The Planet Suite)
• Known performance period 1985–1986
• Versions available on video/DVD or internet: yes
• Competition: World Professional Championships Washington 1985
  • Result: 1st (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.)

This dance was devised as part of their first World Tour, and formed their number in the Planet Suite, with various members of the Company performing the other planet pieces and the whole company performing Jupiter.

The premise of Venus is that Jayne is the Goddess of Love looking after the world (source Facing the Music: 1995:167). The world is actually physically represented in the piece by large globe lit up inside and suspended by a wire (controlled by a boom operator) orbiting Torvill and Dean throughout the dance. The opening of the number was most unusual, consisting of an immensely tall Jayne Skating on in a large voluminous cloak and sending the globe/sphere into orbit. Chris was in fact concealed within the cloak, lifting Jayne throughout the opening sequence, to then be revealed as the dance begins. The dance is extremely graceful, with many unusual lifts and intricate moves. The costumes were white, with Jayne wearing a white headscarf adorned with a gold coronet.

The dance was used as the artistic piece for the 1985 World Championships which they won for the second year in a row.

Jupiter 1985 (Group Number)

• Music: Holst (The Planet Suite)
• Known performance period: 1985–1986
• Versions available on video/dvd or internet: none known

The spectacular finale piece for Torvill and Dean’s first World Tour involving Torvill and Dean spinning like heavenly bodies with half a dozen fliers around them in orbit on wires. At the end, all the lights would go off except for ultraviolet, leaving them apparently spinning in space (source Facing the Music: 1995:167).

Diablo Tango 1985

• Music: ‘Valentino Tango’ Janko Nilovic
• Known performance period 1985–1987
• Versions available on video/DVD or internet: yes
• Competition: World Professional Championships Washington 1985
  • Result: 1st (10, 10, 10, 10, 9.9, 9,9, 10.) Technical piece

Another dance devised as part of their first World Tour, and also used to win as the technical piece in the 1985 World Professional Championships.

This dance was Torvill and Dean’s first real venture into humour. Later notable comic dances would be Hatrick, Low Commotion, and Trunk Tango, but this remains arguably the most slapstick. Dean’s costume is Spanish in appearance, reflecting the Spanish music, consisting of an open-neck white shirt with a loose black tie, black trousers, and a large purple sash around his waist. Jayne is in a black 1920’s outfit, complete with arm-length gloves and basin hat.

Shepherd’s Song 1986

• Music: Baylero – A Shepherd’s Song from Songs of the Auvergne
• Composer: Joseph Canteloube; Sung by Kiri Te Kanawa
• Known performance period: 1986
• Versions available on video/DVD or internet: yes

This dance was designed specifically for the 1986 Sports Aid Gala, the proceeds of which went to causes in need in Africa. It is not clear whether it was ever performed again thereafter, but the photo caption on page 76 of Fire on Ice (Wilson:1994) suggests that it was then incorporated into the World Tour, at least for its next visit to Wembley.

The lyrics are in fact those of a very simple old folk song depicting a Shepherd and Shepherdess calling to each other across mountain pastures. The booklet with the CD "A La Francaise" gives the following translation of the song:

“Shepherd, across the water, you are scarcely having a good time,
Sing bailero, lero, lero.
Scarcely, and you?
Sing bailero, lero.
Shepherd, how do I get over there, there’s a big stream, sing bailero, lero.
Wait, I’ll came and get you,
Bailero, lero, lero.”

The dance begins and ends most unusually with the dancers lying entwined together asleep on the ice. The opening depicting daybreak and the end nightfall. In the reverse of Bolero, it is Dean who steps onto the ice first and brings Jayne to her feet. The dance is highly balletic, with operatic movements incorporated. At one point in the dance Torvill and Dean encircle each other catching hold of each others’ ice skate in constant succession creating a very beautiful, intricate and highly technical fluid movement. The costumes are very simple, with Torvill in white and Dean in a loose fitting armless shirt piece and brown trousers with white leg ties.