New Team Series: Jasmine Robertson & Chase Rohner

Photos by Yoriko Suzuki

For the next entry in our New Team Series, we meet Jasmine Robertson & Chase Rohner, junior ice dancers who represent the United States. The team won the gold medal at Junior Grand Prix Varese and finished sixth at the 2025 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Tell us about your individual skating journeys, including any early special memories.
Jasmine: When I was three years old, as we passed the Manchester Ice Centre in McCall, Idaho, I asked my mother about the building. She explained, in simple terms, that it was a place where people danced on ice. Each time we drove by on the way to school, I would tell her that it was my ice rink and express my desire to skate. My enthusiasm proved beneficial for my mother, who describes me as a very energetic child—one who constantly needed new activities. Given the climate in McCall, Idaho, children typically participated in figure skating, hockey, or ski racing. When asked which sport I wanted to pursue, I spun around and told her I wanted to dance on the ice. Later that fall, I enrolled in the Learn to Skate program and began private lessons at the age of four.

My journey in skating has brought numerous blessings and remarkable experiences. Skating played a crucial role in helping me navigate difficult times, such as my parents’ divorce during my early years, my mother’s diagnosis of Stage 3 cancer when I was ten, and our move across the United States to Nashville, Tennessee. The ice rink became a sanctuary—a place where I could momentarily escape life’s challenges and find tranquility through movement, music, and the freedom of gliding swiftly on the ice.

Chase: I first started skating very young at about two years old, and I did some competitions and shows on and off until I was eight. After that, I decided I wanted to get more serious about skating and started really focusing on training. I skated singles through intermediate, when my mom suggested I try dance to improve my edge quality. After about six months of doing dance, I was hooked.

What drew you to ice dance?
Jasmine: The reason why I gravitated towards ice dance is that I love to perform. From a young age, I would put on productions, style bold outfits, and dance. Once I grew a little older and started to figure skate, I found that ice dancing was the perfect outlet to let my light shine, and I haven’t stopped since. Plus, I love sharing the experience with a buddy.

Chase: I like doing footwork and complicated steps, like some pattern dances, and the precision of it all.

Tell us how your partnership started. Describe the tryout.
Jasmine: The Novi coaches told me about a possible tryout with Chase. We had two tryouts: the first was a brief test of our compatibility, which went well, so we scheduled a second week-long tryout. I felt we worked well together, and I ended the week with a positive impression of Chase as a dance partner.

Chase: After the first one, I had decided that this is what I wanted to do and that I wanted to try to make Team USA. I felt like we both clicked pretty easily with each other and I was looking forward to skating with Jasmine.

What’s something that surprised you about your partner when you first started training together?
Jasmine: The thing that surprised me the most about Chase, and is one of my favorite things about him, is his ability to take corrections and apply them right away.

Chase: I was surprised by Jasmine’s willingness to communicate and talk clearly about everything in the partnership.

What experiences do each of you bring to the partnership? 
Jasmine: I have worked with a number of coaches in Novi, Nashville and McCall. I achieved gold level in U.S. Figure Skating Moves in the Field and Pattern Dance. With a previous partner, I won the 2024 U.S. championships at the novice level.

Chase: Prior to skating with Jasmine, I had a lot of competition experience in solo dance nationally, and experience with a short list of partners in partnered dance, also nationally. Before switching to dance, I was a singles skater, and I had already finished all of my moves in the field tests, a lot of pattern dance tests and through my juvenile freeskate test. That gave me a good foundation going into this partnership.

What has been the biggest adjustment for each of you so far in the partnership?
Jasmine: My biggest adjustment was returning to skating with a partner. I spent a year developing my individual skills between Chase and my previous partner, so I hadn’t done much partner work during that period. When Chase officially became my partner, I had to reacquaint myself with the dynamics of skating alongside someone else.

Chase: For me, the biggest adjustments have been moving from Utah to Michigan and going from one coach to a whole team. In Utah there weren’t a whole lot of dancers, let alone teams, so it’s been a good change to be training around a lot more teams here in Novi.

What is it that you already like most about dancing with your new partner?
Jasmine: The reason why I love dancing and skating with Chase is because of his intentions and efforts he puts into his own skating and the partnership. He needs no external push to work hard and apply the information that we receive. The other part that I really like about dancing with Chase is that he is just a great human being, because of his willingness to listen when I need support and his openness to communicate through any challenges we face.

Chase: Jasmine has a great work ethic, and there’s a good amount of humor mixed in day to day.

Tell us about your training site. 
Jasmine: Our training takes place in Novi, Michigan, where we benefit from phenomenal coaches dedicated to motivating and guiding us to excellence. The skaters around us are skilled and supportive – seniors set a strong example of greatness that I aspire to be, while juniors foster a welcoming yet friendly, competitive atmosphere. Throughout the week, everyone at the rink joins dance classes such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, and more. Personally, I add long distance running, Pilates, barre, weight training, and recovery with a sports massage therapist. Of course, I try to add in a good balance of sleep for recovery too.

Chase: The ice is good, and it’s a nice quiet environment, which gives us all the opportunity to focus on what we’re doing. The facility also provides space for dance classes and lift training.

Who are your coaches?  Did either or both have to relocate? If so, tell us about the move(s).
Jasmine: Our coaching team consists of Igor Shpilband, Pasquale Camerlengo, Natalia Deller, and Adrienne Lenda. We also work with Renee Petkovski, the off-ice dance instructor, Oleg Ouchakov, the lifts coach and Michael Lee, the acting coach. I truly value the experience, expertise, and opportunities I’ve gained at this school.

Three years ago, I decided to relocate here from Nashville, TN, and the transition was easy—I’m glad I made that decision. Ice Dance of Novi turned out to be the right choice for me. The transition has not been so easy for my parents. We still have our home in Nashville. My mom travels back and forth with our dog, Banjo. She misses home in Nashville and said next year, she’s moving back to Nashville full-time. I’m excited to start living life on my own.

Chase: Our coaches on the ice are Igor Shpilband, Pasquale Camerlengo, Adrienne Lenda, and Natalia Deller. Off the ice, are Renee Petkovski, Oleg Ouchakov, and Michael Lee. We have a team of seven coaches on and off the ice. They each bring something different and valuable to the team effort. I moved just after turning 17 from Utah. I am fortunate to live in the home of another skating family in Michigan.

Who is choreographing your programs. Is someone else arranging your music? If so, please share those experiences.
Jasmine: Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo serve as our principal choreographers and are primarily responsible for music editing. On occasion, someone else is used to refine transitions and enhance musical endings.

Chase: Choreography is a collaborative effort, mainly between Igor and Pasquale, with input from our other coaches as needed. Music is mainly done by Igor.

If you could have a lesson with any ice dancer past/present, who would it be? Why?
Jasmine: I would love to work with Madison Hubbell. Her skating demonstrates both elegance and strength, and she seems particularly skilled at conveying a magical narrative through her performances. I greatly admire Madison Hubbell’s abilities and aspire to emulate her level of artistry and technique. I believe that receiving instruction from her would significantly contribute to my development and allow me to refine my skating in alignment with the admirable qualities she exhibits.

Chase: Scott Moir. Since I started doing dance, I have greatly admired his skating abilities. I had the opportunity to meet him a couple years ago at U.S. Championships in Columbus, which was very exciting.

What have been your biggest challenges this season? What are you looking most forward to for the remainder of the season?
Jasmine: This season, I have been eager to compete again. Since we are a new team, I had no expectations for the outcome this year. My only goal was to grow as a new team and as a junior ice dance competitor. Our biggest challenge so far has been the process of skating as one. This is typical for a new team, and it takes time and mileage to become one unit when skating.

Chase: I’m looking forward to us continuing to improve as a team and trying to progress from each competition to the next, including improving on the international level.

Tell us about your competitions so far this season. You won the gold medal at a JGP event. What was this like?
Jasmine: At the start of the season, I didn’t have any expectations for how competitions would turn out. Traveling abroad for the first time was thrilling, especially since we reached the podium at our debut JGP event. After a short week at home in the U.S., we quickly headed off to Italy. When the competition ended there, I was both ecstatic and surprised by our victory—I truly hadn’t anticipated it. That experience boosted my confidence and inspired me, affirming that ice dancing is where I belong and that my commitment and hard work were paying off.

Chase: I had no real anticipation of how anything would go, because we were a new team. Getting international assignments was very exciting and unexpected, so I didn’t have any specific goals in mind. We had no idea where we would fit in on the junior international level, so it was very incredible to win a gold medal in Italy.

You qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final in your first season. When you set your goals for the season, was this something you were shooting for?
Jasmine: One of my goals this season was to focus on improving and strengthening our partnership so we could become a competitive team and qualify for a JGP. I am proud that we achieved this goal and are surpassing our own expectations for the year. It has been an incredible start to our journey as a dance team.

Chase: We definitely had a goal of reaching nationals, but we were not thinking internationally at the start of the season. We exceeded every possibility we could have set as a goal.

What’s one word that best describes your partnership?
Jasmine: Cooperative – as an adjective – working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or goal.

Chase: Determined.

Please share anything you would like our readers to know about you as a team.
Jasmine: We often share plenty of laughter, joking around about various things. I especially enjoy making Chase laugh, often getting a great reaction from him by opening my stories with something surprising or dramatic. After a good laugh, I finish telling my story. These shared moments mean a lot to me and are the highlights of my day.

You can follow Jasmine and Chase on their Team Instagram @Robertson.Rohner25.