Reklys Finds Dancing Home with House

Nicolette Amie House & Aidas Reklys

April 2, 2007
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

Long-time Lithuanina men's champion Aidas Reklys has found a new way to continue his competitive dreams, ice dancing with Nicolette Amie House, a 17-year-old from Arlington Heights, Illinois. The couple began competing for Lithuania this season by placing ninth at the Karl Schaefer Memorial in Vienna, Austria, then finished sixth at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. In January they finished 25th at the 2007 European Championships in Warsaw, Poland. They finished the season with a 27th place at the World Championships.

"This season, we just wanted to have fun and have the crowd enjoy our programs," Reklys said. "I was very nervous for the compulsory dance," House said. "I like going to the practices and seeing all the top couples. Everyone has been very friendly and we got a lot of experience."

"We just wanted the kids to get a taste of what the big competitions are like," coach Vladimir Fedorov noted. "Next year will be much harder since we will only have one team at Europeans and Worlds and the other Lithuanian team has more experience. We will do a lot more physical conditioning and stroking this summer. We'll work to improve the quality of their skating and their timing so they're more together. They both have good expression and feeling for the music, but they have to look like more of a team."

Reklys began when he was six. "My parents saw an ad in the paper and took me for lessons," he said. Sports were part of his family's life as his father was a professional long distance runner. Reklys enjoys participating in all kinds of sports including swimming, soccer, basketball and kickboxing. In skating, he learned a double axel and triple salchow when he was 16 and landed all of the jumps up to the triple axel. He still takes two freestyle sessions a week so he can continue to practice his jumps. "Jumping is like a drug," he said. "You cannot stop."

The 24-year-old won the men's championship in Lithuania six times and competed at both Europeans and Worlds several times. His best placement was 24th at Europeans and 31st at Worlds. "When I missed going to the Olympics by one place in the Olympics qualifier, I was really sad," he said. "After Worlds, I wanted to quit skating so I saw my coach, Lilija Vanagiene, who is Povilas Vanagas' mother and told her I quit. She told Povilas and he and Margarita invited me to try dance but I told them no thanks. But after three weeks, I thought maybe it could be a good future and then I could coach both singles and dance. I did dance with a French girl for three months several years ago in Paris so I knew I could do it."

House began skating when she was four. "My parents were both skaters and my mother was a coach," she recalled. "My mother was my coach until last year." House tested up through senior freestyle in the United States, landing all of her jumps up to a triple salchow. But she preferred dancing, competing in solo dance for the last four years and winning a bronze medal at the Lake Placid Dance Championships in 2005. "I like dance because it's more interesting," she said. "There's more music to pick from and you can do different styles of programs."

She started working with Drobiazko and Vanagas in Sun Valley, Idaho in the summer of 2005, but still did not have a dance partner. "They told me that they might have a guy, but didn't tell him," she continued. "In December, I went to their Flames on Ice show in Vilnius and met him and had a tryout. Then in June 2006, we started training together."

Margarita Drobiazko, Povilas Vanagas and Vladimir Fedorov coach the couple, which trains primarily in Sun Valley and Chicago. "We usually skate for three and a half hours a day, usually five days a week, but sometimes six," House said.

Drobiazko and Oleg Epstein choreographed the couple's programs for the 2006-07 season. For their original dance, they selected "Una Musica Brutal" by Gotan Project and "Libertango" by Bond. For their free dance, the couple used "Cantara" by Dead Can Dance and "Incantation" from Cirque du Soleil. "Margarita and Povilas bring us music and we listen to it and see what we like," Reklys said. "Dance is so much fun it doesn't matter what music it is. You can dance to any kind of music." "I like to skate to different kinds of music," House said, "but my favorite is Latin." They used a tango for their tour program, in which Reklys begins as a singles skater and then starts to dance with House as a violinist plays the music live. The tour performed in several cities around Lithuania.

House is a senior at Saint Viator High School and plans to study sports psychology in university. Reklys has completed his university studies in physical education and works as a skating coach.

Off ice, the skaters enjoy listening to all kinds of music, "whatever is playing in the car," Reklys said. He enjoys club dancing, playing paintball and volleyball, snowboarding and swimming. "I like all extreme sports," he said. "I want to jump with a parachute." House likes reading mystery books, swimming and playing tennis.