The figure skating duo are former British, European, Olympic, and World champions

Image of a Torvill and Dean Last Dance poster on the side of the National Ice Centre ©Bauer News

Author: Charlotte LinnecarPublished 12th Jul 2025

Today, Torvill and Dean will perform their last show together in the very place they first were made partners 50 years ago.

They’ve since becomes British Ice Skating royalty, having sprung to fame at the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics, where the pair won gold and became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single programme, receiving twelve perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s which included artistic impression scores of 6.0 from every judge, after skating to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro.

“They’re legends.”

Following that they competed some more, and toured with their own show, before joining Dancing on Ice in 2006.

Both are from Nottingham originally and learnt to skate where the National Ice Centre is. They’ve since been honoured in several ways there, with a public area known as Bolero Square, in honour of the pair’s Olympic achievements. The rink has also been renamed after them and they also now have a plaque at the centre with houses some of their original costumes.

There is also a housing estate in the Wollaton area of the city with streets named ‘Torvill Drive’ and ‘Dean Close’, with many of the surrounding roads named after coaches and dances associated with the pair.

Well, this final tour, called ‘Our Last Dance’ is Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s tribute to their half-century legacy, that gives audiences a unique opportunity to experience and celebrate their iconic partnership for one last time.

Martin Ingham, the CEO at the National Ice Centre, said:

“They’re one of the reasons the National Ice Centre even exists. They learnt to skate on this site, and they’ve been skating together for those 50 years. So, it feels like coming perfect circle for them to finish here… their very last skate… their very last show.

“When they skate, you know, the country stops and everyone watches them. They are these great advocates for the city, they were fantastic advocates for the sport and so many hundreds of thousands, millions of people have probably taken up skating directly as a result of watching their performances and thinking ‘I want to have a go at that’. They’re legends”