By: Dylan Nazareth

Ontario ice dancers Summer Homick and Nicholas Buelow are off to a dazzling start this season, with bronze medals and personal bests set in Junior Grand Prix stops in Baku, Azerbaijan and Varese, Italy. 

Those big results are a testament to the hard work they’ve been putting in since partnering up last season. Speaking with Skate Ontario, Homick shared she’s glad they’re able to show that on the ice.

“I’m proud of the way that we’ve carried ourselves so far this season,” said Homick. “At every event that we’ve been to, we’ve shown what we can do and how prepared we were.”

After impressing internationally and collecting some hardware on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, they’re now focused on fine-tuning their skating ahead of some domestic competitions, with one big event down the road in the back of their minds.

“Pretty much now we want to just keep working on the stuff that’s going to make us better,” said Buelow. “We really want to improve our speed and keep pushing the technical elements higher and higher.”

“And then for our long-term goal, we want to go to Junior Worlds,” added Homick. “That’s been our goal all season. So we hope to kind of improve in every single aspect we can to try and earn ourselves a spot.”

Canada will send two ice dance teams to Junior Worlds this season, meaning Homick and Buelow will have to battle hard amidst a deep pool of talent. Facing that tough competition, coach Mitch Islam shared it’s been a year of growth to get the young dancers where they want to be.

“It’s a lot of general development that has been going on for both kids,” said Islam. “We’ve been pushing the quality of their skating, the length of their push, and all this sort of limb awareness and polish that goes into ice dance as a discipline. At the same time, we’re honouring qualities that they already have and trying to bring those even further, things like their performance quality, their ability to connect with one another and also the audience.”

That mix of showcasing their inherent abilities as well as their growth can be seen in the two very different programs they’re skating this season. For the rhythm dance, they’re skating to the Backstreet Boys. Islam said it has really “pushed their comfort zone,” but just shows how hard they’re willing to work to learn new skills. Meanwhile, the free dance is what Homick calls their “comfort program.” Skated to a track from the musical Ghost, it showcases the best of their performing abilities, with a love story infused with tragedy.

Of course, one thing the two programs have in common is that they love any chance they can to skate them and show them off.

“I love the thrill of competing and performing,” said Homick. “I love training the programs the way I would want to put them out. I feel like there’s something so rewarding about a great skate.”

Still junior in their skating career, Homick and Buelow take inspiration from watching some of the best ice dance has to offer, including Skate Ontario’s own Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. As the veteran pair eyes Olympic glory this season, Homick and Buelow shared what they admire about Gilles and Poirier’s performance abilities.

“Definitely their commitment to connecting with each other,” said Buelow. “I really noticed it in their free dance last year. It was a tango, and they had such an intense look between the two of them that was so engaging to watch.”

“Yeah, I always find myself drawn to their expression and the way they match the music so well,” added Buelow. “I feel like their package as a team is so connected and so in line with what they’re skating to and the story that they’re trying to tell.”

Taking notes from Gilles and Poirier, Homick and Buelow will look to showcase the best of their own performing abilities, as they take to the ice this weekend for the Skate Ontario Sectional Series event in Rockland.