{"id":28072,"date":"2022-01-29T00:36:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T05:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=28072"},"modified":"2022-01-30T22:54:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T03:54:53","slug":"smart-diaz-the-evolution-of-zorro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/smart-diaz-the-evolution-of-zorro\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart &#038; Diaz: the Evolution of Zorro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>by Anne Calder | Photos by Robin Ritoss<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">What happens in an Olympic Season when your country has two elite ice dance teams, but only one spot for the Games? Sara Hurtado &amp; Kirill Khaliavin and Olivia Smart &amp; Adrian Diaz both represent Spain and faced that challenge in 2018 and again in 2022.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This awkward situation actually has its genesis in 2006. At the time, Hurtado (14) and Diaz (16) were single skaters looking for a new direction in their sport.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>When the Spanish Federation sponsored a Summer Camp organized by French coach, Romain Haguenauer, the two friends attended together and loved the discipline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Two years later former British skater, John Dunn arrived in Madrid to coach and officially their ice dance journey began. They competed as juniors on the international level and in 2011 as seniors at Europeans and the World Championships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cHe took two single skaters with completely different techniques to International competitions where we competed as the first couple in the history of Spain,\u201d Hurtado said back in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In September 2011, they moved with their coach to England, but were unhappy with the training setup.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The duo had spent summers in Montreal with Marie France Dubreuil and liked her coaching style.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Four months later, they moved to Canada. At Nebelhorn In 2013, they qualified Spain for the Olympics.\u00a0\u00a0The following year they attended the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia as the first Spanish team to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In late 2015 the partnership was dissolved. Diaz remained in Montreal and began skating with Olivia Smart. Hurtado returned to Spain before joining Kirill Khaliavin in Moscow, Russia to train with Alexander Zhulin\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Since Spain qualified only one ice dance team for the 2018 Olympics, the Spanish Federation<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>announced in July 2017 that spot would go to the team with the highest combined score at the 2017 Golden Spin of Zagreb and the Spanish Nationals.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The final deficit between the two teams was 0.95 in favor of Hurtado &amp; Khaliavin who were assigned to Europeans and the PyeongChang Olympics. Smart &amp; Diaz competed at the ISU World Championships in Milan, Italy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"28074\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/smart-diaz-the-evolution-of-zorro\/smart-diaz-3971\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?fit=342%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"342,400\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Robin Ritoss&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS-1D X Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1642281303&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Ritoss&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;300&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;2500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.000625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Smart-Diaz-3971\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?fit=342%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-28074\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?resize=342%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"342\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?w=342&amp;ssl=1 342w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?resize=257%2C300&amp;ssl=1 257w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3971.jpg?resize=128%2C150&amp;ssl=1 128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/>Again in 2021, the two teams faced off to qualify for the Olympics. The Finlandia Trophy, the Spanish Nationals and the ISU European Championship\u2019s cumulative scores would determine who would compete in Beijing. By a total margin of 13.33 Smart &amp; Diaz earned the 2022 assignment to the Winter Games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">At Skate America in late October 2021, IDC chatted with Choreographer Romain Haguenauer, Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz about the selection of their free dance music, which includes the following pieces:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p6\">\u201cI Was Always There\u201d by Henry Jackman<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p7\">\u201cThe Fencing Lesson\u201d (<i>The Mask of Zorro <\/i>soundtrack) by James Horner<\/li>\n<li class=\"p7\">\u201cI Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You\u201d (T<i>he Mask of Zorro<\/i> soundtrack) performed by Tina Arena, Marc Anthony<\/li>\n<li class=\"p7\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe Plaza Of Execution \u201c(<i>The Mask of Zorro<\/i> soundtrack) by James Horner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe were looking for music for the season,\u201d Haguenauer said. \u201cThey had to compete for the Olympic spot, so we needed to do strategy. First they had an idea to do something Spanish, but the other team used Spanish music last season. I told them it would be too comparable. Then Adria jokingly suggested we use Zorro, which I thought was not a bad idea. Actually, I thought it could be great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cWe listened to the music. Some was a bit cheesy. It had been done a long time ago. No dance team has used it for a lot of years,\u201d Haguenauer continued. \u201cI\u2019m a coach for a long time, so I remember what the previous team did with the music. We should put this part here to make it look different than what the skaters used in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cI told them that you have to do the role &#8211; the character. When you make the decision to do the role, you do the whole role. You don\u2019t do it halfway, or people won\u2019t understand it. They followed my idea of the program and the choreography,\u201d he ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">Smart and Diaz shared their thoughts on the program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cWe chose this program to please everybody in a little way,\u201d Smart explained. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t like Flamenco or Paso Doble, we added a love story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cIt\u2019s always fun to perform the program when you know people can relate to the story,\u201d added Diaz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cWe had an idea in our minds, a concept,\u201d said Smart. \u201cRomain helped us with that. He had a very clear idea what music he wanted to use. There were so many options. At the beginning it\u2019s a bit mysterious, then the twizzles, then a bit more sexy, and the aggressive choreo steps at the end with the Paso Doble. We fully trusted Romain when he suggested that. It\u2019s a great mix. It\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cAs a choreographer,\u201d Haguenauer said. &#8220;You don\u2019t have an idea in the morning, and that\u2019s it. It\u2019s a process with the skaters on the ice. We had a lot of fun playing with the character. It\u2019s why I was happy to see a standing ovation when the program made its debut here [at Skate America]. It showed me that the program worked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cPeople started cheering halfway through our choreo steps, and we weren\u2019t near the end of the program yet,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t help but smile and feel proud of what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">Haguenauer reflected on how his history with Diaz has made it easy to work with the team.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of choreography for Adria from the very beginning. I discovered him in Barcelona [Spain] when he was a single skater a long time ago. I put him in dance, and it worked very well. The collaboration to find a good thing and to explore different choreography makes it a pleasure for me to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Anne Calder | Photos by Robin Ritoss What happens in an Olympic Season when your country has two elite ice dance teams, but only one spot for the Games? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1280","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-interviews","category-featured"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Smart-Diaz-3768.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team IDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/author\/idcadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"by Anne Calder | Photos by Robin Ritoss What happens in an Olympic Season when your country has two elite ice dance teams, but only one spot for the Games? [&hellip;]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-7iM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28087,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28072\/revisions\/28087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}