{"id":3262,"date":"2015-06-22T23:39:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T23:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2015\/06\/22\/fournier-beaudry-and-sorensen-break-new-ground\/"},"modified":"2015-06-22T23:39:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T23:39:21","slug":"fournier-beaudry-and-sorensen-break-new-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/fournier-beaudry-and-sorensen-break-new-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Fournier Beaudry and S\u00f8rensen Break New Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"15FBS-3068\"by Jacquelyn Thayer | Photos by Robin Ritoss<\/em><\/p>\n

Danish ice dancer Nikolaj S\u00f8rensen has found much to reflect on after finishing 11th at the World Championship\u2014and ninth in the short dance\u2014with partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2004, I remember sitting down and having a meeting with the federation,\u201d he said. \u201cI was 15 and we [S\u00f8rensen and then-partner Anna Thomsen] did our first Junior Grand Prix [JGP Pokal der Blauen Schwerter] that year, and I remember setting my long-term goals. And you know, my long-term goal was to be top ten at Worlds.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was a result S\u00f8rensen, who finished 15th at that early JGP event before a series of lower-tier placements at the Junior World and World Championships with Thomsen and subsequent partners, once considered distant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been weird to just think about where do we set the bar for next season after this, because this is where I thought I was going to end up when I was ready to quit, you know?\u201d he continued. \u201cAdri\u00e1 Diaz told me straight after the short dance, he said \u2018Well, Nik, it looks like you\u2019re going to be quitting a lot sooner than you thought, because right now you\u2019re top ten in the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In their debut competitive season of 2013-14, Fournier Beaudry and S\u00f8rensen finished 18th at Europeans and missed qualifying for the free dance at Worlds. Goals for 2014-15, then, were modest but forward-thinking: top 15 at Worlds, top 12 at Europeans\u2014an event at which they would actually finish ninth, a best-ever achievement for a Danish team. <\/p>\n

\"15FBS-3192\"\u201cI think this season was very unexpected for us because we didn\u2019t really know what to expect,\u201d said S\u00f8rensen. \u201cLast season [2013-14] we had pretty good results, but in small international competitions and nothing that really means anything. And we came to Europeans and qualified and we did Worlds and we didn\u2019t qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the team had yet to finalize next season\u2019s specific goals with coaches Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon\u2014\u201cI think they always aim a little higher for us than we do for ourselves, because we maybe hadn\u2019t realized that we had the potential of being as high as we were this year,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said \u2014the achievements of last year have already begun to pay dividends in the form of a first-ever Grand Prix spot, courtesy of a berth in 2014-15\u2019s ISU top 24 Season\u2019s Best scores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are both very excited to be joining the Grand Prix circuit,\u201d he said of the team’s assignment to Skate Canada International. \u201cNeedless to say, we are very happy and of course we are hoping to maybe get a second!\u201d <\/p>\n

The two especially appreciate the Grand Prix\u2019s impact on World Standing, with the team sitting 28th on the current list. \u201cWe really need those, because we\u2019re not getting enough points right now,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cWe only get points from two Senior Bs and a championship, where the other teams that we\u2019re competing against are getting two Grand Prix [events], two Senior Bs, and a championship. It\u2019s tough to make up the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in preparation, they\u2019ll kick off their season at August\u2019s Qu\u00e9bec Summer Championships, an event scheduled to feature several of their Montr\u00e9al rink mates and which will serve as a good testing ground for their current training emphases. One key technical focus has been the dance spin\u2014\u201cIt\u2019s one of the elements where we\u2019re just sort of surviving, according to our coaches, so we need to improve it a lot,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said \u2014while they\u2019ve also added new lifts to their arsenal and are continuing to refine what they consider one of their greatest strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing a lot of compulsory dances, a lot,\u201d said S\u00f8rensen. \u201cLast year we got level 4 on the Paso Doble at pretty much all the competitions, and that\u2019s a goal of ours. We did it in the Finnstep, too\u2014even though we didn\u2019t even qualify at Worlds, we were one of the teams to get a level 4 on the Finnstep. And it\u2019s something we need to keep us in the competition. Our components are a little bit behind; we can\u2019t afford to lose the technical side.\u201d
But they are, too, polishing those aspects more focused on by judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to improve our leading and following,\u201d Fournier Beaudry said. \u201cI think that is one of the qualities our coaches are trying to make us work on the most.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not one of the crazy gymnastic teams with crazy lifts,\u201d S\u00f8rensen continued. \u201cWe have a pretty good proportion in size and we\u2019re both very, very strong skaters, so for us, it\u2019s important to really develop the connection and the dance side between the two of us. I think that\u2019s what people saw the biggest difference from year one to year two\u2014that we looked like a team that skates together a lot more than we did. It\u2019s like that first year, it\u2019s always tough, you have a new partner, everything is new. So we\u2019re just working towards the same thing. I think you just become even more blended together as one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the process, they’re taking on a pair of romantically-tinged modern compositions with this season\u2019s programs, from a waltz short dance set to \u201cNever Tear Us Apart\u201d by INXS to a free dance combining \u201cWoman,\u201d by folk-rock musician Shawn Phillips, with original material from composer Karl Hugo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very powerful, a little bit contemporary,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to try to bring it a little bit on the contemporary side, like our free dance to Peter Gabriel two years ago. It\u2019s not exactly the same style, but it has some elements that you could find a resemblance like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Also contributing to their ongoing development are instructors from the off-ice realm, including theatre teacher Catherine Pinard and ballroom specialist Ginette Cournoyer, who assists from the boards. \u201cShe did choreography for Marie and Patch when they were skating,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cShe\u2019s very big in the world of ballroom. She\u2019s a judge at the world championships and she came to the States and taught there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The training regimen and international roster at Montr\u00e9al’s Gadbois Centre have offered a sound foundation for the couple’s quick progress, but can serve, in its way, as a double-edged sword for those competing on behalf of a far-off nation. While skating for a small federation may mean obvious opportunity\u2014Fournier Beaudry and S\u00f8rensen were the only contenders for Denmark’s senior dance title in 2014 and 2015\u2014it can also mean limited resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you need minimum scores to go to Worlds, but you know, there\u2019s always a spot to go to Europeans, to get to the big competitions. You\u2019re going to be able to go to international competitions,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cWhat\u2019s tough is that there\u2019s not a lot of funding\u2014they don\u2019t have any money. They try and do what they can, which is not a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"15FBS-1\"Given Denmark’s comparatively small skating tradition, with certain events like pairs often not contested at the national championships for lack of entries, achievement of a particular standard is also necessary to international representation. \u201cDenmark is also very conservative,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey\u2019re a little bit strict, and they try to make sure that what they do send is not completely ridiculous, so they don\u2019t fall in the category of the small country who will just send people that can\u2019t really skate.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with Fournier Beaudry a Canadian citizen, participation at one major international event seems unlikely. <\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we haven\u2019t exhausted all of the options, but from what history tells us, it\u2019s pretty much impossible for Laurence to get a Danish passport,\u201d said Denmark native S\u00f8rensen, who relocated to Canada at age 20, of the couple’s Olympic odds. <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, we won\u2019t be living in the country, not if we\u2019re going to keep training, so you can forget about that. And secondly, once you get your permanent residency, you can apply after ten years of living in Denmark, and if you\u2019re married, it\u2019s only seven years. I mean, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to be planning to skate for another ten years.\u201d <\/p>\n

So while the career continues, the two devote their limited spare hours to work and leisure. \u201cWe spend a lot of time together,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cI spend a lot of time in front of my computer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fournier Beaudry works as a coach, at one time balancing triple-duty with university studies in biomedical science before injury in the 2014 off-season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a pretty serious concussion last summer,\u201d she said. \u201cI tried to go to the university again in the session before Christmas, but then with the work I do coaching and training, it was really hard. I started to have the same problems from my concussion coming back and it scared me, so I finished my sessions and then I took a session off of school because it was too much. And the coach also told me that if I was going to school, then I was not focused towards Worlds, and it was going to be much easier to achieve my goals if I was focusing on skating.\u201d <\/p>\n

For both partners, the rink is often its own diversion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sort of a team that hangs around the arena,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cWe\u2019ll go upstairs and do some lifts, stretch, watch the other teams on the practice, just hang out, go to the gym, get home late. Just because you go home early from the arena and you feel like you\u2019re only skating the four hours in a day\u2014the day is long afterwards to just be sitting at home doing nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And after a wide-open Worlds with few expectations, the duo will be using that time to ready themselves for new competitive territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where after Europeans, I was so nervous, being top ten at Europeans was already a shock and then being in that second-last warm-up group, I think we were both ready to pee our pants,\u201d S\u00f8rensen said. \u201cSo just getting used to that, also, is a goal. Getting used to being in the group with the best, believing that you belong there, is something that I think we have a hard time doing. It\u2019s really just opened up a new world.\u201d

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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