Ice dancing and the cancan don't always mix well, but, like Isabelle Delobel a few years ago, Nathalie Pechalat and her companion, Fabian Bourzat seem to have worked out a nice routine and a very interesting costume for Ms. Pechalat for their appearance at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships and some prior events. A quote from the Toronto Star, is instructive:
"It might be quite proper to ask what the heck the French can-can has to do with the Yankee Polka.
The latter is the mandatory musical theme commanded of ice dancers by the International Skating Union in the short program this season. Most of the six elite teams at the Grand Prix championship final took the edict with artistic latitude. None more so than France’s Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat. Their routine was utterly Moulin Rouge.
And while the question was in fact posed — how the duo managed to dance around the rules in their third-place performance — there was a more, um, provocative query put to the skaters by a hard-nosed beat reporter afterwards.
“Do you find it decent?’’
This was a reference to Pechalat’s shall-we-say racy costume, specifically what was flashed from beneath: bikini-cut panties.
'The most interesting part is under my skirt — what happens downstairs.'
She did enjoy flashing that bottom stuff, with teasing flourishes built into the choreography. Up top, Pechalat was equally daring, very nearly popping out of her bodice. Bourzat made it clear his input was critical in the design. "I was thinking about something with less material. She didn’t agree at first.'"
Vive le France!
The photos of the event are scattered, but here are some links, starting with the one for the great photo above:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/skating/2012/12/07/tessa_virtue_and_scott_moir_trail_american_rivals_at_grand_prix_figure_skating_final.html (the source of the quote above)
http://www.tsuyuha.net/xc-fs/tag/nathalie-pechalat/ (slow loading - scroll down)
By way of comparison, Ms.Delobel's costume looked like this:
