“When you found the place in your performance where it just feels like everything comes perfectly together, that the head heart, soul, the body is so in alignment and in tune with my partner, Patrice.” - Marie_france Dubreuil
Marie-France Dubreuil
Coach of Olympic Ice Dance Champions & Co-Founder of Ice Academy of Montreal
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Never Give Up - Charter of Values
By: Xamas Global, January, 2021
Recipient of the Skate Canada Lifetime Achievement award, Marie-France is a true luminary in the world of Ice Dance. After nearly three decades of skating and delighting fans at the top competitions, Marie-France founded the pre-runner to I.AM with skating partner and husband Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer. Marie-France’s achievements, with Patrice, include five Canadian national titles, silver medals at Grand Prix Finals and World Championships, gold at the Four Continents Championships, and participation at two Olympic Winter Games. Marie-France’s dedication to high-performance coaching is borne out of a vision that one’s full potential can be tested and expanded through Ice Dance – and all forms of skating, allowing participants of all levels to experience the thrill of both artistry and athleticism.
Marie-France felt very fortunate as a skater competitor, performer, and now as a coach and choreographer to be able to pick out magical moments in performances to cherish and capture. As she said, " “When you found the place in your performance where it just feels like everything comes perfectly together, that the head heart, soul, the body is so in alignment and in tune with my partner, Patrice.” She considered winning worlds with first-time dancers like Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron and seeing her three teams after a short dance winning first, second and third place in Winter Olympics 2018.
Marie-France shared that as a coach and choreographer, she too needed to keep growing or she wouldn't be able to make her skaters, students, and people she worked with growing. Keep growing with the vehicle of figure skating, Explore with each team and each skater, their own avenue, their own voice, their own creativity, and their own little imaginary world that they like to perform from and In growth, there is so much potential and things to evolve with and just be excited about. These are the keys she believes to keep the interest and focus. "This is how I see myself every day in this growth pattern and bringing this energy to the rink and to encourage my skaters to do the same”, she added.
As a coach, she follows the I.AM's ( Ice Academy of Montreal ) Charter of Values that she established. She believes that this is the core foundation of who we are. We value people. It's as simple as that. We value differences, and we value that we are training people that have 100% confidence in our capacity to make them better. The charter is the academy's guarantee to parents and students to coach with integrity, to value who the students are, to value differences, to give support in many different ways, such as no bullying, no regression, and a holistic way of training kids in a safe, good, positive environment.
Marie-France shared that the Charter of Values stemmed from the belief that it is possible to create champions who embody so much more, inside and out by training them with the highest values, without resorting to abuse, as so often read in the news about some high-level coaches.
Marie-France was led into ice dancing because the president of her skating club noticed her artistic talent. She admitted she was not a very good jumper, she would be creating choreography on everybody else's music and program during jumping sessions. Her first ice dance partner was the son of that skating club president.
Her dance inspirations and resources are ballet and any type of dancing, dancing shows like "So you think you can dance" and "Dancing with the Stars" Dance videos found online can also be inspirations.
For an elite ice dancing couple who are the top skaters in the world, their training routine involves good management of athleticism and aesthetic. Marie-France understands that it's not easy to train at this level. She thinks that I.AM has holistic all-around coaching in the best possible way to find balance, so the skaters feel energized by their training and not drained.
She enumerated points to take note of for an Ice Dancer training.
1. Ballet Training 2. Pilates training 3. Taking care of themselves physically, mentally, emotionally. 4. Follow a solid routine where skaters check-in and coaches check in with them to ensure their well-being, such as whether they are eating and sleeping well. 5. Making sure skaters are balanced and that they are happy to show up at the rink.
She also enumerated elements to create a champion like talent, perseverance, and commitment.
Marie-France believes it takes a team to create champions, not just one person. She thinks I.AM is doing a great job in finding the best specialist for each aspect of training, for example, for interpretation, developing skills for lifts, etc. She list more points below:
1. She is one of the three head coaches at I.AM and they are very open to collaborate.
2. Collaboration is necessary especially when they have 22 teams and each of them need a little bit of special attention.
3. Growing their staff of specialists who have a similar vision.
4. Huge group of specialists who give knowledge generously to the kids who spread them.
5. Good to have a rotation of coaches who want to develop the kids in their best way.
6. Rotation of this expertise also gives kids a different point of focus at different times.
7. At different times, we need different expertise.
Today I.AM is the biggest and most successful Ice Dance school in the world and home to an impressive amount of Ice Dance champions including 4-time World Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.
About XAMAS
XAMAS is a luxury performance sports and skatewear brand created by haute couture designer and former professional athlete, Samantha Giraud. As a former figure-skater and coach, Samantha injects her personal style and practical experience into the designs she creates. Each one of her collections seamlessly melds functional utility and style with unique designs developed with the latest sports fabrics and technologies.
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