WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
the most obvious choice. “Every time I’m on camera — whether it be as a host or as a reporter — I become more and more comfortable being myself in that role.” At the Olympics in Sochi, she worked for
NBC Sports as a reporter for Sports Desk, do- ing features on nonskating-related topics, mostly human interest. Tis summer, she spent more than three weeks in Nanjing, China, covering the Youth Olympics. For the 2012 Olympics in Lon- don, she worked for
NBCOlympics.com, based in New York. She finds the backstage interviews and
AT&T Ice Desk anchor duties for icenetwork great fun. Surprisingly, skating commentary for icenetwork and Universal Sports has proven quite challenging. “I have my own opinions, which I’ve
grown more confident in sharing in terms of providing general commentary of what I like and what I think could improve,” Belbin said. “As far as choosing your critical comments and placing them in effective moments within the performance, that is a skill that takes the lon- gest to develop. I have so much respect for those long-standing commentators like Scott Hamil- ton, Sandra Bezic and Tracy Wilson, who have really honed their skills to know what to say, which educates the viewer in the most effective and distinctive manner.” It was Hamilton who sat with Belbin when
her then-boyfriend, now fiancé, Charlie White and partner Meryl Davis skated their Olympic free dance in Sochi. She was incredibly emotion- al and expressed deep gratitude to Hamilton for holding her hand and then signaling her thumbs- up when Davis and White’s gold medal came up on the monitor. After the Vancouver Games, Agosto and longtime girlfriend Merrie Parr moved to Olym- pia, Washington, where he began coaching. He has also worked with Cindy Stuart as assistant choreographer on three Disney on Ice produc- tions: “Dare to Dream,” “Rockin’ Ever After” and “Frozen.”
Last May, he and Parr moved to Phoenix,
where he accepted the position of director of dance at Coyotes Ice Den in Scottsdale. While building an ice dance program, he also works with singles and pairs on skating skills. Te own- ers recently bought a rink in Chandler, where Agosto goes once or twice a week. He is also teaching power skating to the Coyotes’ junior travel hockey program. “Tat’s been a really exciting change of pace,
Top to bottom, Agosto and Merrie Parr support their skaters, Hannah Eby and Logan Weaver, at the 2014 U.S. Championships; Agosto gives his first seminar at Coyotes Ice Den; Belbin interviews U.S. champ Gracie Gold for icenetwork; and she speaks with a basketball player at the Youth Olympics in China for NBC.
do commentary with skating is really invaluable because they’re such different skills. I don’t feel pressure at this point to nail one down in partic- ular as my forte. I’m going to keep trying to do as many different things as they allow me to for as long as I can until one avenue presents itself as
10 JANUARY 2015
because it’s a totally different energy working with thirty 14-year-old hockey boys at one time,” Agosto said. “Te guys who are running the Ju- nior Coyotes program, when they were young, they all worked with figure skaters back in Can- ada. Tey realized all the stuff they didn’t enjoy doing back then made a big difference for them later in their hockey careers.” Agosto loves the process and scope of the
Disney on Ice productions. Stuart and Patty Vin- cent, director of Disney on Ice, welcome creative input, and he enjoys being part of the team. Belbin also coaches and does choreography,
but due to her busy schedule she doesn’t work with ice dancers. She has found the choreography exhilarating and said it has unleashed a fresh cre-
ative streak. Belbin and Agosto performed in shows for a
while after retiring, but then she wanted a break, feeling the need to rip off the Band-Aid, so to speak, and transition to a life where she didn’t skate. Once she’d bolstered her self-confidence and proven to herself she had a future out of skates, she was ready to reunite with Agosto. Tey returned to the ice together in 2013,
and are now scheduled to tour alongside Davis and White with Stars on Ice this spring. Short- ly after the tour is over, Belbin and White will get married. Her mother, who made her skating dresses throughout her career, declined to make the bridal gown, but did go with her to pick it out, and she will make the veil. Given White’s time on “Dancing with the Stars” and Belbin’s own dance training, an elaborate first dance is expected. “I’m fairly certain that our first dance will
be much more about enjoying the moment emo- tionally than worrying about choreography,” she said. “For once in our lives, we’re not going to feel pressure to perform.”
While both decline to take any credit for
Davis and White’s success, Agosto said he deeply appreciates how the Olympic gold medalists have credited their predecessors for laying a founda- tion of achievement and possibility for U.S. ice dance. Many young dancers would agree. “As a coach now, it’s really interesting be-
cause I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of working with ice dancers who preface or finish their lesson — depends on their personality and how shy they are — saying that they started ice dance because of Tanith and me,” Agosto said. “Tat is the high- est compliment I could probably ever receive.”
White and Belbin attend a University of Michigan football game; Agosto and Parr hike in Oregon.
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