Where Sport Meets Art

they're keeping their programs under wraps til they compete, but they continue to work with IAMO:

Pereira and Michaud continue to split their training between Brantford and Milton, Ontario, while making regular trips to London to work with the choreography team at I.AM. During the season, they typically visit every two or three weeks for skating skills, performance work, and run-throughs. The trips become even more frequent during the choreographic process. The pair collaborate with an accomplished coaching team that includes Alison Purkiss, Nancy Lemaire, Michael Marinaro, Paul Macintosh, Olympic champion Scott Moir, and choreographers Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz. “We’ll go there for skating skills, performance work, run-throughs, and choreography,” Michaud said of I.AM. “It depends on our schedules and theirs, but we try to make it work regularly.” Working alongside some of the sport’s most accomplished ice dancers has become a key part of the partnership’s development.

interesting that besides IAMO coaches they work with Paul Macintosh in Waterloo, since two of the Waterloo dance teams seem to have moved to IAMO. not sure if they're all working together?

Much of that artistic growth has come through their work with Hubbell and Diaz, whose perspective as elite ice dancers has changed the way the pair approach every movement on the ice. “Ice dancers look at things through a different lens,” Michaud said. “They’ve helped open our eyes to different patterns, movement qualities, and ways of performing. It’s also helped improve our skating skills.” For Pereira, the influence has transformed the way she thinks about skating itself. “When I was a singles skater, I was very jump-driven,” she said. “Now I’m much more invested in the performance side of skating.” That attention to detail now extends far beyond the elements themselves. “It’s not just about landing the elements anymore,” Pereira explained. “It’s about every position, every movement, every detail. Ice dancers are so detail-oriented, and we’ve really embraced that mindset. As we’ve matured as skaters, we’re finding that we connect more deeply and can truly tell a story.”