Photo by Michelle Pedone
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Romance on Ice
By Lorenzo Benet, March & April 2006
Five couples, one shared passion for creating art on a rink. When it comes to love, all agree: better skate than never
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Turin, Italy, isn't the only place where dedicated ice dancers have been lacing up their skates this winter. At rinks across America countless couples of all ages take to the ice to work out the finer points of the Starlight Waltz and the Canasta Tango. And year-round they gather by the thousands for ice-dancing weekends. Often, couples in middle age or beyond compete for the big prize. "Ice-dancing is great for everybody, because there's no jumping—it doesn't jar your body like jogging," says Ron Kravette, a former U.S. ice-dance champ and a coach in Boston. As for the side benefits, here are five couples who discovered that the ice can be the perfect place to flame the coals of romance.
Perfect Pair
Joanie + Chip Thayer
Chip really didn't have much in the way of style on the ice when he and Joanie began skating in 1990—as a former hockey player, he was used to executing power plays, not deft spins. But like all good women, Joanie patiently taught her man the finer points of life. After a year of practice (part of which involved Chip's doing a quickstep while carrying a Zamboni tire), the two began competing. Of course, along the way they discovered they had a lot more in common than toe picks, and in June 1996, on an ice rink in Delaware, they said "I do" before 280 frigid guests (who surprised them by waving 6.0 "perfect score" cards after the ceremony). "Skating has taught us patience and teamwork," says Joanie, 59. She and Chip, 67, have also found that skating helps preserve the romantic side of their life. "You hold hands when you're skating," says Joanie. "And if you can still hold hands, then you know the romance is still going strong."
Taking a Bow-wow!
Mary + Robin Pape
It seems like a lifetime ago that they first met: skating at a rink in Sunnyvale, California, in the early 1970s. They lost touch but reconnected by chance in 1984, ice-dancing together briefly as Mary got ready for an ice-dance competition. Both were married at the time. Not until 11 years later, in 1995, when they were again single and attending an ice-dance weekend in San Jose, did Mary and Robin really skate into each other's lives. They linked up as a dance team, competed at three national events, and married in 1999. "We were middle-of-the-pack skaters competitionwise," says Mary, 58. "But we loved socializing with other couples year after year in places like Michigan and Lake Placid." Last year the pair took 50 skating-related trips, 36 of them to Los Angeles, where Mary trained with the California Gold synchronized-skating team. "Robin and I skate together every day," she says. "And if I'm off judging a competition, Robin comes to help out with music or announcing. For one skating program we did together, we even used our dog as a prop." And lest anyone think a skating judge is someone who has given up trying, she adds, "I have gotten more limber—I still do laybacks and spirals." They live in the Silicon Valley town of Los Gatos, California, but Robin, 71, is waiting for the day when retirement homes are built not only near golf courses but also alongside ice rinks. "We'd move in tomorrow," he says. "Then, when Mary gets stressed, I could send her down to the skating rink."
Whistle Stopper
Judy Bremer + Deane Olson
It started with a wolf whistle. On a sunny day in the late 1980s, Judy was crossing a bridge near Boston's Charles River when she heard it. She tried to ignore it and kept on walking, but the whistles persisted. Finally, Judy looked back—and recognized Deane as the source. The two had met earlier that day at an ice-dance weekend. He was from Connecticut; she was from New Jersey. But they spent the next hour strolling along the Charles, discovering they were both divorced and both had kids the same age. Most important, says Deane, 73, "she cut a mean European Waltz on the ice." Now the pair have been married for 19 years, heading for their Connecticut neighborhood rink twice a week and swimming daily in their own lap pool. They're still a force to be reckoned with on the ice: in 2004 Judy, 64, and Deane won a silver medal while competing at the U.S. Adult Nationals.
G.I. Love to Skate
Kathy + John Gatti
Just back from military service in Asia, John wanted to leave the the rink the minute he let his mom rope him into an ice-dance session in Phoenix. But Mother knew best: she wanted him to meet Kathy, a competitor who needed a partner. "Kathy's mom was there, and she wouldn't let me leave," recalls John, 59. "I was a male with figure skates, a rare breed." After 30 years of marriage, says Kathy, 55, "skating's not about making it to the podium. It's about catching up with friends."
On This Rink, I Thee Wed
Jeanne Moorman + Loy Shick
"We met on the ice, I proposed to her on the ice, and I was joking when I said, 'Let's get married on the ice,' " says Loy, 50. "But Jeanne called the rink, got a hockey game canceled, and we got married." That was back in 1983, and now the Duluth, Georgia, couple still attend up to a half-dozen ice-dance weekends a year. "A lot of our married friends envy what we have," says Jeanne, 55. "Many of them don't spend time together. Skating helps our friendship. When I'm off on a trip, I won't skate without Loy, because skating without Loy just isn't fun."
People magazine editor Lorenzo Benet is coauthor of Scott Hamilton's autobiography Landing It: My Life On and Off the Ice (Kensington, 1999).
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