Three years after its creation, the junior ice ballet team from Epinal will take part in the world championships in Boston in April. Les Épines Blanches do everything possible to fully live their American dream.
Les Épines Blanches were quick to make their mark. The junior ballet on ice team from Epinal is preparing to participate in the Nations Cup, the equivalent of the world championship in the discipline in Boston from April 20 to 23, 2023. The Vosges ballet has obtained its ticket for the States United by finishing third in the French championships last year, during his first full season.
“We were a young team and we didn’t really know what awaited us in competition. This qualification was a big surprise and we are very proud”savors Inès Arnoult, the captain of the White Thorns. “It’s a crazy opportunity! We’re going to go skating in America, in Boston! It’s still pretty crazy! completes Lucie Lehmann, one of her teammates.
Ballet on ice has been developing in France for about twenty years. The Epinal figure skating club decided to embark on the discipline in 2019 after hosting the Nations Cup at the Poissompré ice rink. The White Spines are made up of fourteen girls and one boy. All skate or have skated in pairs or solo. They very quickly flourished in this collective adventure.
“It’s really fun to be in a team. We all get along really well and there is real cohesion, says Camille Wagon, one of the White Thorns. The ballet is really something other than the solo: there is more expression, we are more free”.
A freedom that seduced some girls who had nevertheless hung up their skates. “In solo, there are a lot of hours of training (about 12 per week) and it’s not necessarily compatible with studies or work, explains Ninon Mire. With ballet, the program is lighter and this allows us to continue to compete at a high level”.
Our goal is to give chills to the jury
Roxanne Battu, choreographer of Les Epines Blanches
In competition, each team must present an imposed choreographic exercise (short program), as well as a long program of five and a half minutes. Synchronization, harmony, artistic expression and technique are taken into account by the jury.
“We’re basically an ice dancing club, so the judges aren’t going to expect spectacular jumps or tricks from us, says Caroline Morel, coach of the Epinal ice skating club. They will take more into account our elevations, our pirouettes, our rotations on one foot”.
At the world championship, the long program of Les Épines Blanches will have as its theme violence against women. They hope to reach Americans through their choreography. “We chose songs in French, but beyond the language, our goal is to give chills to the public through our gestures, our movements and our expressions. Everyone must understand the importance of the subject discussed, explains Roxanne Battu, the choreographer of Les Epines Blanches.
During the first competition of the season in Colmar, this choreography in any case marked the spirits. The Vosges ballet finished on the top step of the podium.
The trip to Boston for the whole team and its staff will cost around 40,000 euros. Loto, sale of brioches, cheeses… Les Épines Blanches have multiplied actions in recent months to finance it. An online kitty has also been launchedin order to allow the people of the Vosges to live their American dream.