NOTES

Paul and Isabelle Duchesnay are still fuming over being told by ice dancing officials to cut out the steamy stuff.

The Duchesnays, who settled for the silver in Monday night’s competition, said that after the sport’s officials told them to tone things down, it would have been suicide not to acquiesce.

“Several high-ranking people told us their impressions, influenced our choice of music and movements, and we were influenced by these people and held back very much,” Isabelle Duchesnay said Tuesday.

“The program last night was not 100 percent the Duchesnays.”

Meanwhile, gold medalists Sergei Ponomarenko and Marina Klimova were performing a sensual, risque routine that featured several unique lifts and carries and ended with an embrace and a passionate kiss.

Paul Duchesnay said the suggestions that they stick to conservative moves went against the grain.

“They want to keep ice dancing as a sport, keep it from being too artistic, theatrical or innovative,” he said.

Christopher Dean, their choreographer, even called for the abolishment of all the rules governing the sport, only an Olympic event since 1976.

“Rules like what kind of lifts, whether someone touches the boot--every area needs to be interpreted. At the end of the day, it seems to be what the judges like,” said Dean, Isabelle Duchesnay’s husband and former innovative ice dancer.

“One man’s meat is another man’s poison,” he said. “You’re left with a decision: Do you please yourself, the public or the judges?”

In pairs figure skating, couples are required to execute a series of jumps and other moves. In ice dancing, couples must be in unison and stay in contact with one another for most of their routine, but jumps and overhead lifts are prohibited.

At the Calgary Olympics in 1988, the Duchesnays finished eighth, but electrified the event with their innovative style, renegade lifts and separate skating.