Humans, Artists, Dancers

And then this look he gives her. That adamant shake of the head ‘NO’. As if the thought of it is sickening and upsetting. As if he’s responding to her saying that in the form of a question and he’s responding in the most compassionate way of saying ‘no don’t be ridiculous’. That one look encapsulates their nearly 21 years together at that point, and not one moment in that time would skating with someone else even be considered. In that look, their entire lives together flashes before his eyes and his is picturing any of those moments with out T and it immediately upsets him. The thought of skating with anyone else is painful for them. There’s that time T said (on the stupid show) that she felt lost and didn’t know what to do without him on the ice with her. He was away for like a day and she said she missed him, she missed having her partner by her side. It would have been like missing a limb. 🥺

I don’t doubt for a second Scott would have retired with Tessa. He just would not have done it without her. When she was out injured the first time and they tried to get him to skate with other girls-for training but with what figure skating is, who knows if there was other stuff going on. He said fuck this and trained by himself with sand bags. Post Vancouver they gave an interview where he said he knew how strong she was and would do everything to get back and coz there’s ‘no other girl in the world you can just throw out there’ (throw with Scott because it’s Scott and Tessa, no one else). Tessa was the one who made him believe he was a good dancer- their bodies move together without even thinking. Scott wanted to be an ice dancer because of Tessa. I don’t think it’s lost him what giving up the National Ballet School ment. Later on I’m sure he would’ve gone to see ballets with her. He would have watched a tonne of ballets for program research- all their classical ones, Carmen, MR- since the ending was based on Manon. He knows how ballerinas and the best female dancers move because he sees that superior quality in Tessa. He sings praise of how stunning her upper body movement is and for him, TESSA, what she does with her upper body along with their ability to play out their relationship and magical connection through any storyline is what ice dance is all about. AND HE’S RIGHT. Ice dance should be DANCING with all the quality of a ballerina and her partner, (*not all programs should be balletic, I mean the body awareness, strength and quality that allows her to perform any style to perfection) it is exclusively dancing between and man and a woman- there’s no same-sex dance couples in Olympic level ice dance (not yet anyway). It is a dance between a man and woman. He knows she would’ve been a star ballerina of the National Ballet or any company for that matter had she not chosen him. Not skating. HIM. And as they grew up and he became more invested in dance and understanding of what Tessa could’ve had, I doubt a day goes by in his life, even now, that he is not eternally grateful that Tessa chose him: “I thank my lucky stars everyday I get to go out there with Tess”. “At first I didn’t want to get shown up by her, but I was and continued to be for another 20 years”.

That’s what he thinks of her and her talent, and the fact that, in terms of skating, she is HIS. I often feel in their hugs, for example, especially a certain few in the comeback, as they melt into each other and become one breathing organism, through the way he stokes her and cradles her, he is saying: “My Tessa, my beautiful Tessa”. As I just said, in terms of skating and dancing, she is his. And he is hers. That’s what the point of this post is. That no one else exists when it comes to their partnership. In this respect, they belong to each other. They found a home in each other. He loves her with all his heart and is so incredibly protective of her. I often think back to that interview at SCI 2011 where Tessa is saying after she came back from her second surgery, he was so protective and so gentle with her, afraid she would break. He was always loving and caring of her, but after that, physiologically, in his mind he had very nearly lost her twice. Even after the 2nd surgery things didn’t really get better. They figured things out and when they were finally healthy again, is when I think his demeanour to her became this incredibly beautiful SOFT ™️, gentle quality, and during the comeback that only intensified to a level our poor hearts nearly couldn’t take. That gentle, protective quality truely set in after the experience of nearly losing her twice. It’s why at the end of MR you see him cradle her head like one would a delicate little infant. Why he is always giving her the kindest looks and gently guiding her around the ice on warm ups. Helping her all the way out of an ending pose and not letting go until he is sure she’s balanced on her feet again. So adamant about helping her off podiums and even off-ice, guiding her by having his hand just there behind her back in case. The way he treats her physically says absolutely nothing that he ever once diminishes her worth as the strong, inspiring, independent woman she is. But on the ice, he was taught from the youngest age you protect your woman above all else. It is his job to protect her and I feel to him that doesn’t just mean stopping her from falling or getting injured. It means protecting her soul. Her heart. It means when the whole world is watching them, being the safest place in the world for her. Being her home. Their love seems so real because it is so much more than just any friendship or romantic relationship. It’s so deep it’s indescribable. And everything I just said about the way he protects her because it is is job, she is the same with him.

They would not be able to do what they do without each other. They could not and would not. They are soulmates. And this is what they decided to do with their intrinsically connected souls. They chose to create art and share it with the world. Be a gift to humanity. They never really even decided that they were going to be figure skaters. It just sort of happened. Because deep within their souls they were becoming artists who would paint together. With each other, with each others bodies they would tell stories that resonate- that would move us and challenge us. Make us cry and smile. Make us fall so deeply in love with them that until we first laid eyes on them, we didn’t think love this pure could really exist.

Tessa brought out Scott’s love of dance and acting and performing. The incredible performances he gives are all for her- to make her smile or laugh or cry. To go on this journey together. To take her to another world. To make her feel like she’s flying. That’s what makes their performances superior, because they are so honest, and what they do for each other within their performances. Because they aren’t showing off or doing it for anyone but each other. They don’t perform for anyone. They live a story together. They live an experience. No matter how trained they are, they allow a part of themselves to be taken on a journey they haven’t experienced before. Every performance they do is imbued with so much of their own story and relationship. This again is why they are so beyond superior in their field. People think art (in the realm of FS especially) is all about the images and the pretty lines and the moody, minor key instrumental music. Not to get too far into it but It is so dangerous to limit what art is in a certain field-to say two things being judged against at each other in a dance competition (in this case) that one is and one is not art. That forces the sport to become constricted and not allow for new ideas to be explored. And because winning and results are so important, people are willing to do that. TS never limited themselves artistically. They may have felt at times they were guided in the wrong direction thematically and choreographically, but they found the human beings within themselves in every one of those programs each time. The stuff I have said so far probs seems a bit eclectic and ethereal, but I can say from experience, where Tessa and Scott allow themselves to go in their stories, while still maintaining all the technical perfection and composure on the biggest stages in the world, is what every dancer strives for, and if they say they don’t, then they didn’t understand the brief.

Imagine Tessa thinking when she was injured, because, she loves Scott so much and wasn’t going to be the one to get in the way of his dream of going to the Olympics, imaging her thinking of saying to him, “If you have to, go on without me”. But he wouldn’t. Because deep down they knew, even if it took a while for them to realise, their dream wasn’t the Olympics alone- it was the Olympics together. And once she got back on the ice, even though they were struggling personally, all they thought about and all they felt was they were just so grateful to have each other and be skating together and how much they loved dancing together. That first surgery lit a spark under them that they COULD NOT loose each other. And they WOULD NOT do this without each other.

Of course they have all the skating skills in the world and could skate amazingly by themselves. But they COUND NOT skate with anyone else. They are the one team, maybe ever, that could not skate with other partners. You could not put them with anyone else and they would skate as well or create anywhere near the same magic. Really almost any other team, the top teams included, you could jumble up and they would manage to skate with someone else. Obviously there would be adjusting. But they could mix everyone up and it wouldn’t matter, because the the connection on the ice between any pair wouldn’t change or create anything near as special to what Tessa and Scott do together. That why it bothers me when people joke about ‘If Scott wanted to come back for a season I would skate with him’ and I’m sure guys have said the same thing about Tessa. I know they don’t mean anything bad by it. But Tessa and Scott are sacred. You can not deny the magic they have. I’m sure other skaters mean it from the POV of what great partners the are technically. But that’s not what made them special. And the idea of wanting to partner them just for their partnering skills, thinking some of that magic might exist with anyone but the two of them is ignorant and idiotic thinking. In that respect- their aura and their magic, that needs to be respected and left alone. And neither of them would ever do it. They refuse to do Dancing with the Stars or Battle of the Blades because they refuse to dance or skate with anyone else. Watch them in any group number and you are bound to find multiple times, Scott is eyeing her making sure she’s ok. He’s always the one, if not just doing the lift with her, but the lifts with more than one guy, instructing and guiding the lift up, not because he doesn’t trust the other guys, but because she is his partner. And that’s his job to keep her safe, and if something went wrong and he wasn’t there to save her, I can’t imagine the guilt and pain and anger he would have felt- probably just as much if he dropped her himself, but still different and consequential in a different way.

When they retired, it was “when are WE going to stop skating”. Not one of us and the other does another tour, or does something with another partner. It was always them = One.

All these things. This is why I equate what they have and what they do with an intimate, romantic, exclusive relationship. And I really really feel like they do as well. The frequency with which the use the term ‘we love skating together’ and how much they credit the other with how enjoyable a performance was or helping the other through a tough skate. They have never denied they don’t love portraying romantic themes in their programs. They’ve said every program they do is infused with some sort of love. But they don’t have to. They are the most talent artists and skaters their sport has ever seen and are capable of portraying anything, but they chose to portray love because it’s real for them. And because they are so versatile the amount/level/quality/context of the love they portray always varies and is relative to the program. Literally every single free dance they did portrays a different kind of love. Even the programs most would say are similar, ie Valse Trieste, Mahler, Seasons. Partly due to just where they were at both personally and as skaters, as they matured it changed, but as similar “styles” as those programs are, they are not simply a repeat of the same program and the same emotions. Latch is a program I absolutely adore because there is not one moment in that program that portrays romantic love. In that program they are, simply put, baring their souls to the world in the most naked, vulnerable way. They aren’t playing characters in that dance, it’s just them, exhibiting their undying love for each other for what it is. Supporting and lifting each other up, nothing to do with a desire to fuck. They love to portray love in all their programs because that’s what they feel about skating with each other. Love is the emotion they most often use to describe what they get to do together athletically and artistically. Their love for each other can exist without skating, but their love for skating does not exist without each other. And while basically all of their programs have some element of ‘love’ infused in the story and in the movement, and while not every one of them is romantic love, I suspect they enjoy and connect to portraying romantic love because that’s where they feel they can express that kind of love for each other. For what ever reason, by choice or by laws of the universe, that’s where they can be romantically in love with each other. On the ice, that’s where it exists, off ice, that element is missing. Their whole career can be seen as a metaphor for love and a thriving commitment to that love for eternity.. it could be seen as a metaphor if that’s wasn’t exactly what it was in reality. Substitute skating for anything else, but keep their relationship and bond the same. Yet I struggle to believe a bond and love like their’s could ever really exist in the real world because who is willing to equally put the commitment and dedication to improving it, every waking hour, every day if their lives? There is too much going on in the real world to compromise and sabotage it, no matter how badly two people want that kind of unbreakable love and kindness to each other. Everyday of their career they woke up and either consciously or subconsciously thought ‘How can I be the best person/friend/partner for S/T today’. “We are still learning how to be our best selves, and there’s really no one else I’d rather do that with”.

Everyday they chose each other, and you know what. They continue to chose each other every day. It’s just in a different capacity now. Everyday they continue to support and care for and love each other. Tessa was asked once, if Scott told her he wanted another Olympics, he needed Beijing, would she do it for him, and she said she would. But she also said that him knowing she was doing it for him is the very reason he wouldn’t do it. And she confirmed the opposite to be true also. Each other’s happiness is more important to them than anything else in their partnership. He won’t force her to coach with him as a career if she doesn’t want it. Her living her dreams and forging her own path brings more comfort and love to his heart than being the reason she’s not happy. To be an Olympian is often seemed to be incredibly selfish. It’s not just the toll it takes on you but your family and everyone in your life, to see the hard work, fails and triumphs has an effect on everyone close to you. Of course their own families had to deal with that, but I can’t help but believe that Tessa and Scott are some of the least selfish people on the planet. And it’s because they had the courage to set each other free when their time came. That’s a true partnership.