{"id":997,"date":"2008-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2008\/05\/01\/kharis-ralph-a-asher-hill\/"},"modified":"2008-05-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-01T00:00:00","slug":"kharis-ralph-a-asher-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/kharis-ralph-a-asher-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Kharis Ralph &#038; Asher Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Three years, three Canadian championships.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"996\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2011-canadian-national-championships-senior-preview\/ralphhill\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/ralphhill.jpg?fit=268%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"268,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ralphhill\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/ralphhill.jpg?fit=268%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-996\" style=\"margin: 3px; float: right;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/ralphhill.jpg?resize=207%2C254&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ralphhill\" width=\"207\" height=\"254\" \/>Kharis Ralph &#038; Asher Hill are the reigning Canadian junior dance champions, a title they captured in their first nationals at that level. This should come as no surprise, however, as Ralph &#038; Hill were the 2007 novice champions, also in their first year. Completing the trifecta, the duo claimed gold as pre-novices in 2006.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sixteen-year-old Kharis Ralph was born in Washington, D.C., but Toronto is now her home. Seventeen-year-old Asher Hill hails from Toronto and calls Pickering, Ontario his home. Partners for six years, the 2007-2008 season put Ralph &#038; Hill firmly on the international ice dance radar when they placed an impressive eighth at the Junior World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, their debut at an ISU championship.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The duo took time out from their training at the Scarboro Figure Skating Club in Scarboro, Ontario to answer some questions for <a href=\"http:\/\/ice-dance.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ice-dance.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>IDC: When did you start skating and how long have you been ice dancing?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: I have been skating since I was around 6 or 7 years old. I have been ice dancing for 7 years.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: I started skating at the age of 4 and started dancing at the age of 11.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What made you choose to specialize in ice dancing?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: My first coach, Donna Iijima, was a kind of \u2018scout\u2019 for Ice Dance Elite. When she told me that I looked graceful when I skated, she proposed that I started dancing with a partner. Eventually, as ice dance required more time, I quit free skate and moved into ice dance full-time.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: Well, I did solo dance at first and then eventually got a partner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Did you have previous partner(s)?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: Unlike Asher, I had a partner before him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What do you like best about training with your coaches, Carol Lane and Juris Razuglajevs?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: I like how the styles of both Carol and Juris blend and complement each other. Working with them makes you feel like stretching yourself further and harder than you thought was even possible.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: They are both strict and fun at the same time. They are also very innovative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Your training group has had many successes this season; to what do you attribute the successes?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: I think that all of us at Ice Dance Elite have been successful this season because of the contributions and hours put in by our fabulous team of coaches: Carol Lane, Jon Lane, Juris Razgulajevs, and Donna Iijima. Also, the environment at our club promotes hard work, discipline, teamwork, and fun.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: I thank all my coaches and the great environment in which they train.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Asher, you continue to compete in singles at the National level. How do you balance this along with your ice dance training?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: I dance in the morning and free skate in the afternoon and evening. It\u2019s actually not as bad as some people think. But, my school does suffer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Do you feel your singles\/ice dance training is an asset to the other discipline? How?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: Yes, I do. Both disciplines essentially complement each other. Dance helps my skating skills, and free skate helps my reflexes and power.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: There has been discussion regarding whether or not compulsory dances should still be a part of ice dancing. How do you feel about this? Should they be removed or still be included?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: I think that the compulsory dances should still be a part of ice dancing. After all, it was because of these many compulsories that ice dancing became a discipline.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: To me, it doesn\u2019t really matter. But, the only reason I think that the compulsories should stay is because it is what makes ice dancing, ice dancing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Do you have a favorite compulsory dance? Which one?<br \/> <\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><br \/> Asher<\/span>: Yes, the Paso Doble and the Cha-Cha Congelado.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: The Cha-Cha Congelado and the Blues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What is your favorite dance element?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: My favourite dance element is the spin since there is a variety of positions that one can make.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: Rotational lifts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Your African folk original dance was one of the most well-received of the season, who developed the concept and choreography for the program?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: Well, we got the music from the South African show, <em>Umoja<\/em>, which my dad successfully brought to Toronto. We also wanted to do an African program because we wanted to be different since there were at least 1000 gypsy dances in one event. Ha ha ha.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Can you tell us a little more about the show and how you got to see it?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: \u201cUmoja\u201d is not exactly a Broadway musical as much as an ensemble that showcases young South African talents. In the production, [the performers] offer in song and dance different aspects of South African life from ancient to contemporary times. Asher\u2019s dad and a business partner organized that the ensemble performs in different cities in Canada and the United States. We watched it in Toronto.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Were doing a literal interpretation of the show or an unrelated OD using that music? Can you talk a little about that music choice and about what the program meant?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: Asher and I were merely interpreting different clips of music from the show. It was our coach, Carol Lane, who went through the entire soundtrack of <em>Umoja<\/em> and selected the three pieces of music that comprised our OD. Carol and Juris choreographed our OD. Asher, who had seen the show many times and had even attended some seminars with the performers, also contributed during this phase. It was only when we worked with our African dance coach, Peter Scott, that a story started to develop. The beginning of our OD represents the sun rising and the people of a small village waking up and greeting the day. When the second piece of music starts, we depict the \u201cpreparation\u201d before a hunt. The third piece of music (which is entitled \u201cUmoja: The Spirit of Togetherness\u201d) is about an end of the day celebration in which we thank the gods for a good day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: Tell us about your World Junior Championships experience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis:<\/span> We were both really excited to go to Bulgaria for Junior Worlds (especially as it was our first year in Junior). We met so many interesting people and saw so many other talented skaters from around the world. We\u2019ll always remember that competition with fond memories.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: It was a fun, great experience and I think it was our peak performance. Not to mention all the memories that will last a lifetime.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What are your non-skating goals?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: One of my principal non-skating goals is to be accepted at either Oxford or Cambridge University and pursue a degree in English, History, or Linguistics.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: To go to university and get my Bachelors of Science and perhaps a Masters Degree and PhD.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What do you like best about skating with your partner?<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: The best thing about skating with Asher is that he is very patient with me when I find something difficult. He also has such a great sense of humour!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: We get along great and she doesn\u2019t like to argue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: What is something that <a href=\"http:\/\/ice-dance.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ice-dance.com<\/a> readers may not know about you? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: I have been learning Spanish, French, and Mandarin for almost ten years.<\/p>\n<p> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asher<\/span>: I love to learn languages and aspire to learn Russian and Japanese. I can also translate and transliterate English to Ancient Greek and vice versa.<\/p>\n<p> <strong>IDC: One final question: Have you decided on which level(s) you are going to compete next season? Junior internationally and senior in Canada?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kharis<\/span>: We are still in the process of deliberation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Three years, three Canadian championships. Kharis Ralph &#038; Asher Hill are the reigning Canadian junior dance champions, a title they captured in their first nationals at that level. This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-interviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.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\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.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":"\u00a0 Three years, three Canadian championships. Kharis Ralph &#038; Asher Hill are the reigning Canadian junior dance champions, a title they captured in their first nationals at that level. This [&hellip;]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-g5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997","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=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}