The Moulin Rouge soundtrack is a very popular choice for figure skaters at the Winter Olympics this year, and while they might not all compete in the same category or event, the Canadian ice dancing team set the bar (and brought down the house) with their Moulin Rouge free skate.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir—who previously won gold and silver for ice dancing in 2010 and 2014, respectively—were the last skaters to perform their ice dancing routine in the team figure skating competition that had taken place over the past few days. Their Moulin Rouge medley included “El Tango De Roxanne” and “Come What May,” bringing plenty of lifts, twirls, twizzles, and sexual tension. Reports shortly before the Olympics suggested that Virtue and Moir had removed the sexiest part of their skate, but a similar lift does occur during the performance.
Dancing: Hard.
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018
Dancing well: Harder.
Dancing on ice: 😳.
Maia and Alex are elegant. #WinterOlympics https://t.co/fmMl0BMYXF pic.twitter.com/SLR65sPHZV
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's free dance capped off a gold medal-winning performance for Team Canada in the figure skating team event. #WinterOlympics https://t.co/fmMl0C4Amf pic.twitter.com/gIPzNS7AsC
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018
Leslie Jones, who is back to livetweeting the Olympics, was all in after watching Virtue and Moir’s performance. According to Jones, Virtue and Moir had the best outfits and even at the very beginning of their performance, they were “starting with the best tricks already.”
I don’t know y’all Canada bern bringing it!! @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/59OvEIk7u6
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 12, 2018
That’s the bomb version of “Roxanne” whoa!!! @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/9ky5dEEYFe
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 12, 2018
Yep! @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/7lzeXmxY3V
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 12, 2018
One wrong move!! @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/9cSY1L6yZl
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 12, 2018
Even Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann was a fan, tweeting his excitement over his movie’s songs being used by multiple athletes prior to the Olympics.
Moulin Rouge on ice! It’s moving to see so many champions skating their way to @pyeongchang2018 to the music from #MoulinRouge, including @TeamCanada's @tessavirtue & @ScottMoir ⛸ #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/SeM9tsS8ZY
— Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann) February 3, 2018
If you want to see Virtue and Moir’s full skate, you can check out their perfect performance at the 2018 Canadian Skating Nationals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2xBr5EmSo
Virtue and Moir had to score more than 112.01 to take over the U.S.’s Alex and Maia Shibutani for the lead and win the category. (After everyone in a category competes, their placing coordinates with a number. The three teams with the highest overall numbers at the end of team competition will win medals.) They not only eclipsed it at 118.10, their lead in the category cemented Canada’s team gold medal win.
H/T Billboard