Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez on their biggest goal for the season

Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez have known their goal since the start of the season: to qualify for the Olympics.

The ice dance team debuted their 2024/25 programs at the British domestic competition, August Qualifiers. “I really enjoy this competition,” Bekker said. “I feel like there’s no pressure. It’s just showing what we’ve been working on all summer. Obviously, with the mistake in the free, it’s a little bit of a downer, but it’s set our sights for what works, what doesn’t, and what we need to work on for the future.”

“We love both of our programs, we really wanted to show that to the audience and judges,” Hernandez added. “These programs are very different to last year and we feel like they’re steady vehicles for us and that we suit both programs and it’s rare that we get that. We’ve got a very British theme and we genuinely can’t wait to keep on working on them.”

“It’s our British year,” she joked.

For the Rhythm Dance theme of ‘Social Dances of the 50s, 60s, and 70s’ they opted for a medley of songs from The Beatles. 

“We went through so much music. There’s thirty years of music and so many different styles,” Bekker explained. 

“We’ve always touted with the idea [of The Beatles.] No one’s done it a lot, and there’s a reason for that and we found out it’s really hard to make a program with their music sound circular in a program,” Hernandez described. “We found a few versions of these songs (Get Back, Twist and Shout, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) by chance and we knew what we wanted to do with them. We started off with one tune we really liked and messed about with the steps to it, then added more. The program was basically made in sections and came together.”

“When we were looking, I — and I feel like everyone — went straight to disco. I thought ‘I really want to skate to ABBA’, we love ABBA so much and Mamma Mia is one of my favourite movies,” Bekker said, “But then the more we listened, it got more difficult – the music is so fast and there’s not really a style to it and it’s a bit difficult to connect to it. Then we had second thoughts about disco and thought everyone else would be doing the same, so we feel quite lucky that we picked something different as we went for Prince last year and everyone else did Prince!”

The team tried out different dance styles to find what worked best. “I could pull up about twenty videos of styles we played around with, but this is the one that stuck.”

For the second season in a row, they started out with another costume vs the mail mishap. While Hernandez went to visit Mathieu Caron in Montreal for his fitting, Bekker did a virtual fitting but they never received her information. Her pale yellow dress came from a last-minute trip to Zara but complimented Hernandez’ maroon two-piece. 

Bekker used the yellow dress for several competitions, switching to the Caron designed flowery-sequined dress in December. 

For their free dance, they were inspired by the 2021 James Bond movie No Time to Die, both loving the track Final Ascent composed by Hans Zimmer.

“I remember watching it in the cinema thinking [Final Ascent] would be so special to skate to,” Hernandez said. “We were going through free dance ideas for this year, we agreed before anything what the concept we wanted for this year — we wanted to play to our strengths.

“Last year was very contemporary and modern but we struggled throughout the year to find what our story was in that program, so we wanted this year to have a clearer story. We agreed on that before agreeing on music. We both said we loved this one song, we don’t know how we can turn it into a program. So we went away and paired it with Billie Eilish (the title theme – No Time to Die), then we wanted a bit more James Bond in there but not a huge amount because we really wanted it to be Final Ascent.” 

They were really happy with the first version of music received, with the most iconic music associated with James Bond opening and closing the program. 

The team’s next competition was in early October, the first of three Challenger Series events they’d enter and continue to improve upon. At the Denis Ten Memorial, they placed seventh with a total of 166.95, a couple of weeks later they competed at the Cup of Nice and bettered their score to 169.92, with their final competition of 2024 ending with their first Challenger Series win at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. At the European Championships in January, the team improved on their previous year’s placement by four to finish thirteenth.

“We were a little disappointed again with no Grand Prix but we know it’s not enough to show up at the last competition of the year and skate well, we have to do it through the whole season. We did a Q&A with the younger kids on the [GB] National Team and they asked what it’s like to transition through the levels, and our answer was every event matters – you have to bring your best.” 

This year at the World Championships in Boston, skaters have the opportunity to qualify allocations for their countries for the Olympics, which is now only eleven months away. 

Bekker, Hernandez, and their team have had this as their goal from before the season began. “We’ve set it as our goal for the season. We have our whiteboard for every day with our goals, what we need to do today, and we have it written down in the corner and it stays there.”

Hernandez described the joint goal as a uniting factor. “It’s why we turn up, why we put in the extra work. There’s never been such a clear goal.” 

“We’ve got two programs we really believe in and are really happy with, The Beatles program is so fun and the James Bond program is something I’ve always wanted to do. This is our year to show everyone what we’ve got.” 

Follow Phebe & James!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Please support us and join our Patreon!

Visit our Redbubble Shop!

Most Popular:

Golden Spin 2024 – Preview

The 2024/25 Challenger Series concludes with an event in Zagreb, Croatia from the 5th-7th of December. Here’s a rundown of who you can expect to see competing at this event and some information about them. Women Pairs Men Ice Dance

Read More »

对话斯蒂凡·兰比尔 A Conversation with Stéphane Lambiel (Chinese Translation)

Thank you so much to Eledhriel and Sempre Libera for translating this article into Chinese! Find the English version here. 两届世界冠军斯蒂凡·兰比尔在去年取得了里程碑式成就——他的学生宇野昌磨同样加冕世界冠军。就像昌磨一样,斯蒂凡并没有居功自傲,而是鞭策着自己和他的学生们继续创新提升。他对滑冰的炽爱从他的一言一行中清晰可见。聆听他的话语,你会相信滑冰不止是一项运动——它超验玄奥,通过艺术与情感将人心相连。 我在布拉迪斯拉发的内佩拉纪念赛男单自由滑练习结束后与斯蒂凡进行了交谈。他的学生丹尼斯·瓦西里耶夫斯在短节目开场的4S重重摔倒后,遗憾屈居第四。 截至目前,你对赛况感觉如何?我的意思是,昨天很艰难,但你整体的感受如何? 整体的感受啊,我觉得……对他来说,第一步肯定富有挑战性。这是本赛季迈出的第一步,是首次尝试在短节目中加入4S。因此在新节目中存在很多首次尝试。基于这些,我感觉他自然没能发挥到最好,但我欣赏他的付出与投入以及准备的方式。我知道结合[他的]自律,以及对他所做之事的信任与信心,还有他的性格,最终他将能展示出他与我构想中的成果。是的,我觉得第一步已经迈出了,现在我们要从这里开始构筑。 迈开第一步。 一点没错,就是这样。 对你和丹尼斯来说,在经历了像昨天那样艰难的一天后如何重整旗鼓?你会做什么来让自己进入今天的状态,将昨日抛诸脑后? 我认为重要的是保持专注,因为短节目后比赛尚未结束。专注于比赛中,快速复盘短节目,哪里好,哪里糟,哪里需要打磨,这就是我们做的事——一个快速的复盘,然后恢复休整,为长节目蓄力。不要被情绪所左右,而是说完需要说的话,将[情绪]释放出来,别让自己太过心烦意乱。今天要比长节目,所以两场比赛的间隔很短。 本赛季在短节目中加入四周,这一决定背后的想法是什么? 我认为他证明了自己能够完成,因此我希望他能根据自己的意愿去练习,并在短节目和自由滑的正赛上去做。冒这一风险需要勇气。从长远角度来看,这是他所需要的,也是他所希望的。他是个很强的选手,在体格方面很健壮;但他在技术方面同样也很强,他用刃和跳跃的方式都是教科书级别的。因此我认为,即使这条路会长一点,但他的基础相当坚实。我真的觉得在花滑界,你滑冰的方式格外重要。所以我真的很享受与他的合作,因为他力求卓越。长远来看,这很有益。 昨天在练习中有过一个漂亮的4S,看见它的感受就像是:你知道的,他可以做到,只不过是把技术稳定下来的问题。 是的,我认为还有在心理上做好成功的准备。这是一个巨大的挑战——对他来说,一个大挑战。他是一个大男孩,高个子,所以在体格方面要比稍矮的人做起来更难,因为他们可以转得更快。但这对他来说是可以做到的。有了信任和稳定性,他就能跳成得更多。 你可以分享一点关于丹尼斯德沃夏克自由滑的编舞过程吗?你是如何将整部交响曲浓缩成一个节目的? 我想节目最难的点就在于音乐剪辑了。因为我爱整部交响曲,但整部……我不知道,大概全长有30分钟? 可能有40分钟了。 啊,是的。从40分钟到4分钟,这就像“天啊,我们要怎么弄?”而莎乐美[莎乐美·布鲁纳,与斯蒂凡经常合作的编舞师]和我听了很多遍这部交响曲,我们把我们认为重要的部分标注出来。于是就有了很多重点部分。当你把它们拼到一起,就会感觉内容太多了。所以挑战的点就在于找到一个合适的结构让乐曲的戏剧性和谐过渡。这不单单是因为旋律不断走高走高走高,而是之后还有着那么多的高光部分,所以我们得找到一个合适的节奏。 我所期待且钟爱的一段就是在定级步法开始的时候。这段十分平和,时间几乎就此凝滞,之后伴随着芭蕾大跳,最后一浪将你送上高潮。我也非常喜爱末尾飓风到来前的宁静一刻。我觉得他很有芭蕾风格——他滑冰的方式,他的姿态。我们对这首交响曲很久以前就有想法了,我们在从训练或比赛回来的车上听过很多遍。看到他逐渐发展和表达自我的方式,我认为他已经足够成熟,能去滑这一大师之作了。 你觉得他有在讲一个故事吗?或者描述着什么? 我们讨论过一些情绪和场景。我不知道他是否深有同感,但我在编舞时是这么想的,我也试着与他分享。但我觉得他是一个特立独行的人,而这首《新大陆/新世界交响曲》讲的正是将这种特立独行带向世界。作为一个个体,他身处一个小小世界,他并不知道外面会有什么。比如当他开始做定级步法时,他就是在为自己辟路,去探索这片全新的大世界,凭借着他的特立独行在新世界中掀起巨变。 这就是节目中的意象,因为他是如此特别。他的个性……这就是他,再也没有第二个人。在他解释东西的时候,我们有时都跟不上,他有着对事物的自我见解。甚至他给我发短信的时候,有时我都不太懂他在讲什么,我就仿佛一脸“你什么意思?就……这是关于滑冰的还是……?”所以说这种特立独行需要展现出来。我认为他是那般独特,这与需要他的这个新世界非常相配。 我非常期待观众看到这一节目!你是如何决定哪个节目是你来给选手编舞,哪个节目是跟其他编舞师合作的?这其中是否存在一个思考的过程? 我很高兴选手们能有跟其他人合作的可能,不止是花滑编舞师,还有那些对动作和创新感兴趣的有趣之人。我能记起的有Sarah Dolan[加拿大编舞师],她跟丹尼斯和高志郎合作过;有Khoudia [Toure,塞内加尔编舞师],她为丹尼斯编了一个冰演节目,我也跟她合作过。我们还跟Khoudia为组内的内部演出一起编舞。我们创作了一些片段,利用这些片段提高自己想要的技巧或者感受到的东西,在这个过程中,有时我们找到一些音乐,或者来学校担任客座教练的人会有主意,而这个主意也许与一些选手的个性相契合。 所以说这其实就是一种随机性——遇见一些人,与一些人合作,与带来新想法的人相识并创作。我们也不局限于“好吧,我今年编短节目,明年编自由滑”,我们并没有一个固定的模式。但我当然希望能尽可能多地为选手们吸纳人才,让他们得以成长并展现自己的才华,并且感到舒适。比方说,高志郎与杰弗里·布特编排了《Sing Sing Sing》。他很久以前就想跟杰弗里合作了,而在疫情期间,这样的安排是不可能的。之后,我跟杰弗里参加Fantasy on Ice巡演,我们设法挤出时间来完成编舞。这源于我们有想法,有期望,还有去做的动力。当机会出现,我们就紧紧攥住并享受。这基本就是我与选手们合作的过程了。 高志郎看起来很喜欢那个短节目。他也滑得不错,我昨天看到了。[高志郎当时在东京地区赛短节目后暂列第一]

Read More »

Junior Grand Prix Varese 2025 Preview

The 2025/26 Junior Grand Prix continues with an event in Varese, Italy from the 3rd-6th of September. Here’s a rundown of who you can expect to see competing at this event and some information about them. Women Men Ice Dance

Read More »