Lithuania’s ice dancers Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius paired up in 2017. They are the national champions of Lithuania 2017-2018. At the European Championships, which were held in Graz this January, the skaters took 11th place with a total score of 174.24.
Allison and Saulius gave this interview a few weeks before a tragic event in Allison’s family – on March 14 her brother Chris Reed, a 10-time champion of Japan in ice dancing, a talented skater and a very kind and positive person, died suddenly. We offer sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of Chris.
Allison, you’ve had a very interesting career so far – besides Lithuania, you also represented Georgia and Israel at international competitions, while you were born in the USA and you have Japanese roots. Would you please tell a bit about that?
Allison:
Yes, I’m half American, half Japanese. My father is American, and my mother is from Japan. As for my career, my first partner was Georgian (Otar Japaridze – Blossom on Ice), and we skated for Georgia at the Olympics. After we broke up, I teamed up for Israel (with Vasili Rogov – Blossom on Ice) and, after that ended, I took a break for two years. I didn’t skate. Then, I wanted to come back. I met Saul, and we really hit it off. It wasn’t only on the ice, it was off the ice too. We got along really well, and I knew this was going to work. I knew this was going to be it for me, and I really hoped that we could achieve something great together. And I think we really are, and it’s meant the world to me.
How long have you been skating together?
Allison:
This is our third season. Three years.
Not so long, and you’ve already accomplished a lot.
Allison:
Yes. And to achieve what we’ve done in such a short period of time, I’m super proud of us. Super proud (smiles).
If you hit it off right away, like you said, you must have a lot in common in terms of your personalities?
Allison:
A lot, yes, and a lot, no. It’s surprising. There are things where we are totally on the same page, and some things that are completely different. But I think that, that synchronicity, and also the differences that we have, our different personalities, really help our relationship, both on and off the ice. So, hopefully they come out when we skate.
Saulius:
There’s something that we rely on each other for. For example, there are some things in ice dance that she’s done a million times more often that I have, and I rely on her expertise.
So, you complement each other in a way?
Saulius:
Yeah, exactly. There’s some stuff, of course, that we annoy each other with, but that’s a part of the work.
Please tell us about your programs this season. This year, you have a very uplifting, very positive rhythm dance. It seems to me that some positive energy comes from it on the ice.
Allison:
This year, I have to say, I really love our short dance. It’s more my style. The tango from last year was a bit hard for me, but this one is very uplifting. It’s kind of lovey-dovey, and I like that (smiles).
Saulius:
We both like that. We always have fun when we skate. When we don’t frustrate each other with the preparations and the practice, we really have fun on the ice and this kind of reflects our character a little bit.
Allison:
As for our free dance, we always try to do something different. We always try be a bit more abstract. And I think this season, we really went for it and we both enjoy our free program.
Yeah, your free dance is very good, I like it very much. I think, for me it’s one of the best free dances this year.
Allison:
We really appreciate it, thank you (smiles).
The last major event this year, as it turned out, was the European Championships. Did you have any specific goals in mind going there and how satisfied were you with your performance?
Saulius:
We feel pretty good about Graz. It was a fight. We tried to pull it off, and a few times barely fitted to the rink (both laugh).
Allison:
Yes, a few hiccups, but other than that, it felt like a great performance. We always try and give 110%. We prepared really well for the Europeans and I’m happy with how we skated.
Did you have any specific goals like scores or placement, or just wanted to do your best?
Saulius:
It sounds like a kind of cliche for everyone to say that we want to do our best. But to be honest, the better we are as athletes on the ice, the more we try to over achieve what we do. We try to be our best versions every time, while performing to the judges and to the people. This is the biggest achievement, and the scores reflect it. We rely on it. So, when you say that you feel happy about our performance because it uplifts, that’s the best result that we can hope for, and we are really happy.
Speaking of competitions – Allison, your brother and sister, Chris and Cathy Reed, were also competitive skaters. You must’ve competed a lot against each other?
Allison:
Yes. Pretty much my whole life, up until last season, I competed against at least one of my siblings (smiles). My sister and brother competed together for years, and then my brother got a new partner (Kana Muramoto – Blossom on Ice), and I was competing against him during that time too. Now they’re both retired and work in Japan as ice dance coaches. I’m super proud of them and they support us all the time. It’s really nice to have a whole family that knows what we do, and is a good supporter of us.
It must have been pretty challenging for your parents, especially at the beginning of your career, to have so many competitive skaters in the family.
Allison:
So many skaters, yes… I mean, my parents are saints (smiles). They’ve gone through so much for all three of us, and all of us wouldn’t have the careers that we have had without them. So, mom and dad, I love you.
Saulius:
Hashtag – #MomDadIloveyou (both laugh).
Ludmila ORLOVA