Olympic Champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean mentor Great Britain’s Rhythmic Gymnasts for the London test event
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean recently visited the University of Bath training centre to meet and extend guidance to the rhythmic gymnastics team. The team is scheduled to represent Great Britain at the London test event.
Torvill and Dean’s best known combined achievement is their gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games of 1984, held in Sarajevo.
The ice dancing duo also has a bronze medal to its claim from the Lillehammer Winter Olympics of 1994.
The pair has earned at least 25 titles for their performances in amateur competitions, meanwhile maintaining a record of sharing at least 10 titles between themselves in professional competitions.
Gymnastics is a performance sport holding traits similar to those of ice skating. Of the many disciplines under the sport, rhythmic gymnastics is probably the one which incorporates the highest level of dance skills in its executions.
“I have seen rhythmic gymnastics on the television a couple of times, but not often enough as is the case with most of sports. It is fascinating because there is definitely a cross over with skating, it is balletic and athletic, and you are doing routines
to music,” Torvill commented.
December 3, 2011 proved to be an insightful day for Great Britain’s rhythmic gymnasts as they spent time with the 2012 Team GB Ambassadors, Torvill and Dean.
The power duo imparted artistic guidance to the gymnasts and gave them pointers on how to optimise their performance.
According to Dean, who thoroughly enjoyed watching the rhythmic gymnasts’ routines, he and Torvill could contribute to the “performance quality and musicality” of the routines.
During their talk, Dean emphasized on the importance of being relatable to the audience. He elaborated that in order to do that it is important to understand how the audience feels.
“If you win the audience then hopefully you can win the judges over. There is a sense of warming to something that you are going to watch, feeling confident,” he reiterated.
The seven-strong training group will have the honour of becoming the first rhythmic gymnastics team to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.
The group is merely a month away from the London test event which is slated for January 16, 2012. The test event, which will take place at the North Greenwich Arena, will close on January 18.
Annie Bartlett, Francesca Fox, Georgina Cassar, Jade Faulkner, Louisa Pouli, Lynne Hutchison and Rachel Smith make up the team representing Great Britain in the Olympic test event.
Competing against them will be teams from Italy, Ukraine, Switzerland, France, Israel, Greece, and Spain.
The girls’ routines have already been choreographed and practiced, but they still recognise the worth of Torvill and Dean’s pointers and plan on incorporating their advice effectively into their performances.
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