Dancing on Ice: Lesley’s Thoughts on This Year’s Series

At Adlington Retirement Living, we love hearing from our homeowners about their passions and experiences. Lesley, one of our homeowners, has a fascinating background in ice skating journalism and a wealth of knowledge on the subject. With her keen eye for technique and performance, we were delighted when she agreed to share her thoughts on this year’s series of Dancing on Ice.

Here’s what Lesley had to say:

Dancing on Ice vs Figure Skating as a Sport

Figure skating is a sport I have attempted, watched, reported on, and written about for nearly 40 years. Dancing on Ice is to competitive figure skating what Saturday morning bike rides are to the Tour de France.

That’s not a bad thing, though. Both show how hard the activity actually is and hint at the amount of work and dedication it takes to reach the top. Both can provide physical and mental exercise without the need to compete – but in the case of skating, it helps to live near an ice rink!

Nearly everyone has heard of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Not many are aware of the millions of people who have learned to skate in the UK ever since the first artificially frozen ice rink was opened in 1876. Thousands still learn – some compete seriously, others skate for recreation – lots of them inspired by watching Dancing on Ice. The current British Ice Dance Champions, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, performed on the show recently, and Lewis said so himself!

Mark Hanretty is one of the Dancing on Ice professionals, currently in his 12th season (partnered with Michaela Strachan), and he was inspired to take up the sport by watching Jayne and Chris. Professionals on the show have included World Champions (Eric Radford, currently) and others who found their niche performing in shows (like Dan Whiston). It is a great shop window for the sport, which has been sadly absent from our TV screens in its competitive form for far too long. I was glad to hear mention that the European Championships will be in Sheffield next January – for the first time since 2012 – and this should inspire many more.

Lesley with John Hamer, three-time British Champion

Back to Dancing on Ice. Skating isn’t easy, but the better you get, the easier it looks. Make no mistake, training can be brutal, and lifts are dangerous, so kudos to the male skaters who have to be confident enough to lift their partners (those female pro skaters are tougher than they appear!). This, the 17th series, is probably the closest-run so far (I write as the quarter-finals approach). The standard of skating is pretty even, so I guess the result will end up being a popularity contest rather than a test of skill.

I am a little biased, as I have known Mark Hanretty since he was a 16-year-old junior skater, and I would love him and Michaela to win, as this will be his final season! If Dancing on Ice raises the profile of this amazing sport and inspires others to give it a try, it has my vote.

You can read more of our homeowners stories, including Lesley and why they chose to make their next move one to enjoy retirement living.

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