Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance review – Olympic champs’ classy glide down memory lane

OVO Arena, Wembley, London
This highlight reel of totemic routines interspersed with some dazzling cast numbers showcases the couple’s former greatness and timeless elegance

Apainfully mirthless Dancing on Ice skit during Torvill and Dean’s farewell tour stages an assault on their signature Boléro. Set to a grating banjo version of Ravel’s score, the scene encapsulates our fear: will the former Olympians trash their legacy by taking to the ice in their nana era?

But Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are a class act, and leave the memories intact. This final show, a glide down memory lane, narrates their highlights and revisits totemic routines. With filmed chat and nifty graphics, they take us from childhood meet at Nottingham Ice Stadium (their personae of “blond prince” and “queen bee” established early), through to Olympic gold in 1984 and a resurgent career in reality TV.

Vanessa James and Eric Radford in Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/REX/Shutterstock

Now in their mid-60s, the pair naturally lack their youthful flex and fire, but keep it elegant. Only in the Fred and Ginger number, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, do lifts slump effortfully out of line. In their prime, they brought cheek and heart to ice dancing – it’s no surprise people assumed they were an item, because their numbers often held an emotional charge (their coach insisted they maintain eye contact, for added tingle). And even today, Dean is a charming partner while Torvill brings the drama, her large eyes registering roguish mischief or distress.

They devolve dazzle duties to a 15-strong company, many of them Dancing on Ice pros. Peril can hone the edge of skating’s art, and some of these younger artists dare more: especially Philip Warren, all speed and swagger, and Vanessa James, held at heedless angles by partner Eric Radford. The choreography is by Dean with Dan Whiston and even the cheesiest numbers (circus, line dance, 80s montage) catch a frisson: a full-hearted circle, a bold tilt.

The stars themselves weave through the scarlet and black opener from The Greatest Showman, a yearning Summertime and goofy Mack and Mabel. They can’t compete with their past selves, but when they do tackle Boléro, it’s with unvarnished simplicity, tracing their landmark routine with dignity. Torvill and Dean can’t stop time – but they make a few last golden memories.

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