BC Ice Dancing pair, Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker have an exciting week ahead of them.
The team, which has been practicing together for almost five years, will be competing at their third Canadian National Skating Championships in the senior category.
Sales, a Quesnel native, says although the competition, which will be held in Saint John, N.B., is a very big deal, they feel ready.
“We did Skate Canada International for the first time in October, so that was a good taste of what the nationals will be like,” she says.
“It’s about the same amount of skaters and the same crowds.”
This has been a breakout year for the pair.
At the beginning of the season they got together with their coaches Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe and decided to look elsewhere for some choreography, a key element to any successful ice dance routine.
Wing and Lowe had been providing it up until then but the group thought a fresh perspective might help them.
“We went to North Carolina and our free dance was done by Matthew Gates,” Sales says. “So that was our big new idea of the season and it’s been really awesome.”
This is the beginning of a four year plan for the skaters, so they thought some experimentation to start it off might work to their benefit.
For the free dance the choreographer opted to use two Celine Dion songs.
“He thought it would be appropriate for Canadian figure skating,” she says.
“They were a big hit at Skate Canada International this year, so it’s been fun.”
Sales, 22, has come a long way in her skating career
“I was a singles skater until I was 15 years old and was quite good at it actually,” she says. “I received a national medal for novice women and I was going up the ranks in the singles but I didn’t have the passion for the jumping and the spinning and being on my own on the ice.
“I had some interest in pair skating but ice dancing really intrigued me. I’m a musical person and I love dancing and singing and performed a lot of theatre as a young girl.”
Sales was also a big fan of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
“I remember watching them at the 2010 Olympics and it was very moving for me. So when I had the opportunity [ to start ice dancing] I jumped on it.”
While the pair are hoping for the best in Saint John, they are not too focused on outcomes.
“We kind of know our place going into it,” Sales says. “There are still some big names in our event and we love having people to look up to, so we’re really just going into the competition trying to improve ourselves.
“We are just trying to be noticed and we want to please our viewers.”
As for placement on the podium, Sales says confidently, “Our time will come.”
READ MORE: Quesnel figure skater heads to Nationals with ice dance partner
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