Csumrik and Gallagher View Post-Olympic Years

Laura Csumrik and Kevin Gallagher

January 7, 2006
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

Laura Csumrik and Kevin Gallagher just missed making Canada's international team last season, finishing eighth at Canadians in 2005 in their first season as seniors. So far this year, the couple finished first in the free dance and second in the original dance in their first competition of the season at Minto Summer Skate in Ottawa, Ontario in July. Then they finished first in the compulsory dance and free dance and second in the original dance at Octoberfest in Barrie, Ontario. In November, the couple placed sixth at their first international, the Golden Spin of Zagreb, Croatia.

This year, their goal is to make the 2006-07 team and get a few international assignments. "We want to put ourselves in a good position for after the Olympic year," Gallagher said. "We assume several of the older teams will move on and that will open some doors for us." He doesn't plan to stay in competition as long as some of the older couples. "Skating's a great part of life but there comes a time when you have to move on," he said. "Once I'm done, I'm gone."

Gallagher began skating when he was five. "My Mom wanted me to keep my teeth," he said. "She wanted me to do something fun, but that wouldn't get me into trouble. She was looking for something that was organized and fun that my younger sister and I could do together. She liked he fact that there were professional coaches in figure skating at Etobicoke. Vern Taylor, the first man to land a tripe axel in competition, was coaching there and that impressed her. So she took me to skating lessons rather than hockey. I loved it and never stopped. I've had hockey coaches approach me because I'm a big guy but I wouldn't want to do both."

"I skated singles until I was thirteen when I got to tall to jump well," he continued. "I didn't have the body type to be a long-term jumper. I was always a better skater than a jumper and I had already started dance when I was eight or nine. I wasn't really in the competitive stream in singles, just the test stream, and only got up to double loop. I was always more into the performance aspect of skating anyway. Dance has a lot about it to like. It combines acting, theatrics and drama with skating ability."

Csumrik started skating when she was three. "My sister, Erin, was 15 months older and I was always following her around, " she said. "My mother took us both for swimming and skating lessons. We both stayed in skating. Erin's doing synchro now at university. I skated singles until I was 13 or 14, up to my junior silver test. I had my first dance partner when I was nine and I was more into dance than singles." She moved to Barrie, Ontario when she was in grade nine to begin training at the Mariposa School of Skating.

The dancers started skating with one another in May 2004. "We had competed against each other in the previous year," Csumrik said. "When our partners split, we had a few tryouts with other skaters before we tried out with each other. Kevin was in Calgary and we both had school so it was hard to get together. At first, I wasn't used to skating with someone so big throwing me around, but it got better." "I saw right away that we had a good color match and good lines," Gallagher added. "Laura knows what she's doing and she's easy to skate with. I've had nine partners and she's the easiest to get along with and skate with and that's why we've had the most success." "Kevin's a great partner because he's a hard worker," Csumrik stated. "I've always had to make my partners work before."

The dancers train for three or four hours on the ice, five days a week with another two hours four days a week in off ice training. Their coaching team includes David Islam, Kelly Johnson and Pavol Porac. Csumrik as trained with the team for the last four years full-time although she was coming to Barrie part-time since she was nine. Gallagher has trained there for the last year and a half.

Johnson choreographed their original dance to music that includes "You're My Everything" by Ana Gabriel and "Descarga de Hoy" by Cubanissimo. "We had three choices originally," Gallagher said. "We decided to do a long rhumba and a Mambo." "The music was in the movie, Dance With Me," Csumrik added. "I watched it one day and knew what I wanted to skate to this year."

Porac and Johnson choreographed their free dance to "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" by Evanescence. "We started with something else and had the free dance almost done," Csumrik said. "Then we needed to do a show for our club and picked Evanescence for the show number. Kelly liked the way we did it so we thought about it for about a day and then did a whole new free dance. We first heard the music on the radio and we both liked the songs right away."

"We're still trying to find our own style," Gallagher said. "We've been fairly versatile. Last year we were traditionally classical with 'Ode to Joy' and "Ave Maria' and this year very modern." He listens to all genres of music off ice, while Csumrik enjoys hip-hop. "Kevin played a lot of hip hop in the car and it grew on me," she said. Gallagher is also a musician, having earned his Grade 7 Royal Conservatory certificate in piano. Now he plays the guitar. "I like to learn to play songs I hear on the radio just for fun," he said "mostly the rhythm guitar parts."

Both of the dancers were involved in gymnastics, soccer and T-ball as youngsters. Gallagher also played power forward for five years on his high school basketball team. "I never played before grade nine," he noted. "I was able to balance basketball and skating because the coaches for both were very cooperative." Csumrik ran track and cross country in public school, primarily at 3.5 kilometers, and made Canadian Nationals in her age group. "I think there's a lot of skaters who do well in other sports in public school because they're in better condition than the average student," Gallagher said.

As for their studies, Gallagher is attending Glendon at York University, where he is in his third year of studies in international relations. "I'm very interested in international politics," he said. "I believe in globalism. I think politics that bring the world together will become more prevalent and every industry will be affected. I don't know if I want to go into public or private industry, but that kind of knowledge will be helpful in either one." Csumrik is in Grade 12, where she is taking some extra credits such as mathematics, one of her better subjects. She hasn't decided on a career path.

On weekends, Gallagher likes to visit his parents and friends in Toronto. "I like to get some rest," he said. In summer, he gets in an occasional round of golf. Sometimes he plays basketball with other skaters from the rink during the week. As for hobbies, he acknowledged that he had a huge baseball card collection but that it was sitting around gathering dust. Csumrik works during most weekends helping her Dad run a marina. "I pump gas, wash the boats, everything," she said. She enjoys going to the beach and doing other things outside as well as being with friends and watching movies.