European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Too smooth for their own Goodby Ron Mckinney staff writer .-1 on ice Paul and Isabelle Duchesnay make dancing look too easy for their own Good it s hard to truly appreciate something that appears so effortless. Gliding onto the ice the Duchesnaye look every bit the part of figure skating s yuppies. Paul Rolls up his shirt sleeves and wears a Loose tie. Isabelle wears a knee length red dress with numerous slits Cut to varying Heights. A the Duchesnaye Are Young they re pretty and most of All they re talented. R when the music starts the French. Canadian brother sister team goes on the attack in an innovative style that has brought them both critical acclaim and disillusionment from International judges. And although the Duchesnaye Are a crowd favorite they re not convinced the spectators fully comprehend the. Work that goes into their ice dancing. Quot it looks easy but you have to try it Quot Paul said. Quot people just take everything for granted. Until they see us workout. Really sit there and look they Don t realize what goes into it. It s really. Frustrating Quot said Isabelle shortly before  in the gala of ice revue in Frankfurt Germany last month. Even More frustrating has been the tandem s standings in International competitions. At the 1988 Winter olympics in Alberta Calgary the Duchesnaye skating for France brought the crowd to its feet two. Nights in a Row including the routinely sedate set pattern dance a with startling programs that dared to. Be different. The judges however were indecisive in their opinion. 1 he a / Duchesnaye artistic impression scores a on their african Congo freestyle. Program ranged from 5.0 to 5.8 their technical Merit scores varied trom 5.2 to 5.7, As they finished in eighth place. Quot i Don t think they re being a understood Quot the International skating Union s Lawrence Demmy was quoted in sports illustrated in explaining the disparity in scoring. Still the Duchesnay Sidn t. Complain. Quot we did t say anything Quot said Isabelle the More talkative and. The self described Leader of the team. Quot we did t pay too much attention to the scores. We were just Happy with the Way we skated. T hat was the main thing Quot Paul said. Lately the Duchesnaye have become the main thing in ice dancing forums winning Over the crowds wherever they perform despite not capturing a Gold medal.  with a Bronze and Silver in the last two world championships. But now they re in the Home stretch of their Amateur careers. Paul 29, was born in it nce. Isabelle 26, was born in Canada where they lived before moving to Oberst Dorf Germany in 1985. The 1991 world championships will be in March in Munich just a Short drive from their Home in Southern Bavaria. The 1992 Winter olympics will be in France the country they represent. The Duchesnaye have no plans to Shelve their originality. Instead they continue to explore the outer artistic boundaries of ice dancing discarding the popular sensual movements for program far More eloquent and one dependent upon precise body synchronization. And that s what makes their ice dancing so difficult. Quot a singles skater does very difficult jumps but. He does t have to worry about anybody. But himself. Whereas when you re dancing you can do the moves but you have to always have an Eye on the other dancer Quot Paul said. And unlike with singles skaters there can be no improvising during the program. Quot if i Don t feel like doing a lift and i m scared of it there s no Way i can go around it. We Don t have an exit. We be got to do it and it s got to be right every time Quot Isabelle said. They also toss aside any notion that Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay Are preparing for a run at olympic Gold in ice dancing. A amps. Michael Abrams the Duchesnaye show the flair that makes them crowd favourites. Sensuality scores Bonus Points with the judges or the audience. Quot it has absolutely nothing to do with it. You re going to see people go out and wiggle their Butts All the time. Anybody can do that. Doing something different is what s difficult to find Quot Isabelle said their innovative choreography is the brain work of Christopher Dean Isabelle s Fiance and the 1984  in ice dancing with Jayne Torville. The Duchesnaye explain that their program simply. Evens the workload. Quot what you re used to seeing is the Man being a backdrop for the girl who s twirling and jumping. What i we re doing is splitting up 50-50. He s doing As much work if not More with the pushing and lifting now Quot Isabelle. Said. Sharing thoughts and feelings Are just two of the benefits of being siblings and partners of an ice dancing team. They also Sayi they re More direct in discussing their skating differences than they would be with other partners. Quot that person could just leave As for 1 could never leave Paul Quot said Isabelle. Quot we re part of the same family. Obviously one of us could go find another partner but nobody wants to. Because we know it s just wrong. We re just going to stick together so we you know Tough it  january 70, 799 7 stripes Magazine