Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier-Beaudry kicked off their partnership at the Masters in Villard-de-Lans, winning the competition with a comfortable lead.
Skate Info Glace: What are your impressions about returning to competition?
Guillaume: I would say there is something a bit surreal about it. I never thought I would experience this again, this adventure feels quite unexpected, like a beautiful surprise in life. I am very happy to be in Villard, on the ice and not behind the boards as a coach. We were quite emotional as we took our positions at the beginning of the programs, and that’s exactly what our free program is about: a leap into the unknown. We don’t know what will happen, but we are living it fully. And it always takes a bit of courage to go for it.
Skate Info Glace: What did you think of your performances at the Masters?
Guillaume: It’s a good start to the season. Things went well, even though I had a technical issue with my skate. We are happy with our performances, they reflected what we’ve been doing in training over the past weeks. Technically, I was afraid I might end up flat on the ice because of my skate during the rhythm dance, so I executed some steps a little cautiously, and that had an impact on the technical score. But our main focus was the dance and the connection we wanted to show. It proves that despite our lack of experience competing together, we’re able to get through technical problems. Now, the goal is to make everything more fluid, add more details, and work on the performance from beginning to end. We don’t just want to execute the elements, we want to reach the highest score possible. That requires a huge amount of work.
Skate Info Glace: Regarding your rhythm dance, some reactions have mentioned a similarity between voguing and waacking, especially in the arm movements. What do you think?
Laurence: They are very different.
Guillaume: If we put it that way, it’s also just skating… You know what I mean: a waltz position is still a waltz position. These are two dances that were born in the queer world, but they remain really different. It was a big learning process: the technique is extremely difficult, requiring incredible coordination. We are very happy with the result and with the work it took. We brought in a choreographer from Brazil, who is a reference in this field, because this dance is mastered by only a handful of people worldwide. More precisely, it’s a branch of voguing called Arm Control Movement. In voguing, there are nearly 200 categories, and this is one of them. In balls, you won’t find waacking, or only very rarely. They are two different worlds: waackers are not necessarily part of the ballroom scene, they are more often found in battles.
Laurence: There’s an entire culture behind this dance that we didn’t know about. I was really glad to explore it, because in skating, we usually only skim the surface of these worlds. This time, we decided to go all in. With the choreographer, we worked intensely on the movements, to make sure it was truly voguing, not waacking.
Skate Info Glace: Can you tell us about your free dance?
Guillaume: We are skating to the soundtrack of the movie The Whale. The first part is very contemporary, with a raw and mysterious soundscape, almost silent. The second part is more melodic, it really reaches straight for the emotion, for the heart.
Laurence: The first time I listened to it, when Guillaume told me it could be a good idea for our program, I was deeply moved. I had chills and tears in my eyes. We decided to go for it, thinking that if we felt that way just by listening, we would be able to create something strong and beautiful on the ice.
Skate Info Glace: What is the story of the movie ?
Guillaume: It’s a very moving film about a man suffering from morbid obesity who tries to reconnect with his daughter. But that’s not the theme we wanted to bring into our program. Composer Rob Simonsen gave the music a metaphorical dimension, with a very aquatic universe. That’s what inspired us: working around water, this element, to nourish our movements and our interpretation.
Laurence: In everything water can represent: its organic side, the force of the emotions it brings, its power but also its serenity. This allows us to explore different layers within the program, playing both on our skating strengths and on the universal emotions that water can evoke.
Skate Info Glace: Laurence, weren’t you bothered by your loose hair in the free dance, and the fact that your dress is quite long?
Laurence: No, I’ve already worn longer and looser dresses in the past. For the hair, we need to practice with it styled that way in training, to get used to it since it can fall in my face, but it really fits the atmosphere and character of the program. We wanted to create movement both with the skirt and with the hair.
Skate Info Glace: In adapting as a couple, were some elements easier to put in place than others?
Laurence: We were very surprised by how quickly the elements came together. We adapted to each other’s styles quite fast, and then we immediately started working on the vision we had for the programs, on the material we wanted to build together. We didn’t face any particular difficulty with any element. We are always in an artistic search that goes beyond the basic element. So if it sometimes takes us a bit more time, it’s mostly because we are aiming for something more original.
Guillaume: We have a coaching team that knows us very well. They know us inside out, and I think they’ve guided and supported us perfectly through all these steps.
Skate Info Glace: After a break from competition, returning can be physically demanding. Was it difficult to regain physical condition, or had you managed to maintain it?
Guillaume: I think it’s difficult, even impossible, to maintain the same level. There’s a big difference between only doing shows and training for competition. But I had stayed in fairly good shape, so the comeback was relatively smooth. I know my body and my abilities very well, and we managed it well as a team. I didn’t feel like I was hitting a wall, it was quite a fluid progression.
Laurence: I didn’t stop long enough to feel a real break. But of course, I wasn’t training three hours a day on the ice anymore. As Guillaume said, we started again gradually. We also built a new team with a physical trainer who followed us so that we could reach the level we are at today, injury-free. We know our bodies very well and we have experience. With the goals we have this year, it was essential to manage this progression to build a solid form and avoid injuries.
Skate Info Glace: Do you feel the risk of injury is greater now than it was ten years ago?
Guillaume: Yes and no, because we’re not too old yet. Of course, there’s wear and tear: elite-level sport is not necessarily the best thing mechanically. So yes, there’s always that risk, but I think we’re quite lucky.
Laurence: We have a good team around us, and we know ourselves very well. In situations where, when we were younger, we might have pushed harder, today we have the maturity to say: “Ok, let’s be careful with this aspect, let’s take a step back.”
Guillaume: We also know our weaknesses. For the record, the moment I was really scared was when I had a pneumothorax in October 2024. I was worried because I couldn’t breathe.
Laurence: At first you thought it was just a cold!
Guillaume: I didn’t understand why I couldn’t breathe. I spent two weeks with that pneumothorax before being hospitalized.
Skate Info Glace: Some skaters say that after stopping competition, they miss the very structured daily routine. Does getting back into that organization feel reassuring for you now?
Guillaume: Yes, I think everyone experiences it differently, but for me stopping was quite difficult. There’s a real identity reconstruction to go through, and even physically it’s not at all the same life with your body. You have to relearn how to live differently, and it’s not simple when you deeply love what you do. I did a lot of shows, but it’s not the same as that search for excellence, for being at the top of your abilities. Psychologically, it’s hard to let go of that. I think it was also a sign that I still wanted to compete, because I really love training. Coming back into a routine therefore brings a certain familiarity. Even if some things evolve, there’s that feeling of putting on an old pair of shoes. Of course, day-to-day it’s destabilizing because you’re constantly pushing yourself, there’s stress, and a lot of questioning. But it’s a world I know, and it’s less unsettling than having stopped.
Skate Info Glace: What role did Stéphane Lambiel play in your preparation?
Laurence: It was a week for us to get to know each other and work on new exercises. For me, it was my first collaboration with him, while Guillaume had already worked with him before. We started creating pieces, thinking about music for our programs. We really appreciate his artistic approach: he puts a lot of heart into what he does, and it’s close to the vision we want to bring onto the ice. It was like a discovery workshop, with exercises we hadn’t necessarily done before and that we’ve now added to our toolbox. It was interesting to experience that together.
Skate Info Glace: Even though Stéphane Lambiel has a strong artistic side, he doesn’t come originally from the ice dance world. What did that bring you?
Laurence: That’s exactly why we went: to get a different perspective and new energy for our skating style. We tried to keep some of the exercises we did with him and integrate them into our program.
Guillaume: As a new couple, it was important to start the season with a shared experience outside our routine. It gives a breath of fresh air for the rest of the year. The idea was also to reconnect with our first passion for skating. It was a playful approach, focused on discovery, without the rigidity of daily training. It brought us back to that excitement we had as kids, discovering new things on the ice.
Skate Info Glace: Do you have any updates regarding your naturalization process, Laurence?
Laurence: I haven’t had any news so far.
Guillaume: The only thing we know is that we should be hearing something soon.
Laurence: Everything seems positive, but we don’t have any concrete information yet. We know the file is moving forward. In the meantime, we keep going step by step: this first competition is another milestone.
Skate Info Glace: You shared your season schedule on social media, but Worlds wasn’t on it. Do you plan to take part?
Guillaume: Yes, of course. I had only published part of the calendar. Then, there are stages where you need to qualify. We’ve received a lot of messages from people who want to come see us, but they don’t always know which competitions we’re entering.
Solène Mathieu - Skate Info Glace
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