Word of the Week: Twizzle

Twizzle. Twizzle. Twizzle. I can’t stop saying it. Add me to the list of recent Ice Dance-loving converts. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, officially America’s new sweethearts, have shown us the whimsy, fun and unbelievable athleticism that is ice dancing- that wacky sport that is essentially ballroom dancing meets synchronized swimming on ice, with a few Twizzles thrown in for good measure.

The Twizzle itself is a relatively new phenomenon. No doubt, people have been dancing on the ice for decades but the Twizzle was first officially performed by skater David Grant in 1991. The Twizzle seems to be the Triple Sow Cow of the Ice Dancing world. The trick of the Twizzle- maintaining synchronization throughout the multi-turn sequence. As much anxiety as those Twizzles seem to bring those hard-working ice dancers, they sure are fun to watch.

And can we talk about Meryl Davis? She’s like a Disney princess meets Geisha meets Angela Basset from What’s Love Got to Do With It. Those guns, those dated but strangely appealing updos, that face-  can’t get enough. And Charlie White and that mop top- so good. We all know the story, they’ve been ice dancing together since they were just wee skaters, their moms go to each and every competition together but the figure skating topper on the cake… the fact that these two hail from Detroit- brilliant.

They’ve had us all Twizzling like crazy in our living room. Totally inspired.

Image: Koichi Komoshida, Getty Images

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