Canadian Choreography

If you watch Figure Skating, and you listen to the announcers, you'll notice that you hear the same names over and over again when they talk about choreographers.  In Sochi, at the Men's Figure Skating event, 7 of the top 8 men skate to choreography developed by a Canadian.

Jeffrey Buttle and David Wilson

Jeffrey Buttle and David Wilson provided the choreography for both Yuzuru Hanyu (1st, Japan) and Patrick Chan (2nd, Canada), and David Wilson also works with Javier Fernandez (4th, Spain). 

Lori Nichol has been busy, working with Denis Ten (3rd, Kazakhstan), Daisuke Takahashi (6th, Japan), Han Yan (7th, China) and Peter Liebers (8th, Germany).  Lori also works with Thomas Verner (11th, Czech Republic) and with Kevin Reynolds (14th, Canada). 

Shae-Lynn Bourne also works with Kevin Reynolds, and on the Ladies' side, she and David Wilson both work with Ashley Wagner (USA), while Lori Nichol works with Carolina Kostner (Italy), Mao Asada (Japan), and Gabby Daleman (Canada).  And, gold medal favourite, Yuna Kim (Korea) also uses choreography by David Wilson.

Of the top 8 finishers in the Men's event, only Tatsuki Machida (5th, Japan) does not use a Canadian choreographer.  Amazing.  What makes Canadian choreographers so good, and so in demand?