After many decades, legends of the ice Torvill & Dean are set to make their long-awaited return to Australia for a final farewell tour.
It’s been three decades since the duo last visited Australia, and forty years since they made their mark at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
Their Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance tour marks their first visit to Australian shores since their last tour in 1994 and will celebrate their illustrious career before retiring from skating together.
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean made their retirement announcement on 14th February this year (“Bolero Day”, as they fondly call it) whilst in Sarajevo to commemorate their historic Gold medal winning performance to Ravel’s Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics – exactly 40 years to the day.
While there, they relived the memories four decades on from their iconic heart-stopping performance which had a UK television audience of 24 million people and an estimated worldwide audience of hundreds of millions of viewers, on the edge of their seats.
It became one of the greatest sporting moments of the 20th Century and set a new standard for world-class figure skating.
Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance tour kicks off in the UK in April with the Australian leg following in June 2025. This will be the very last chance to see the world’s most famous skating superstars in action on the ice together – 50 years since they formed their incredible skating partnership.
The pair shared their excitement about skating out in front of audiences one last time.
“We’re delighted to be bringing our farewell tour to Australia next year. Performing in Oz has always been very special for us. So ‘Our Last Dance’ will be a final opportunity to celebrate and say thank you to all of our wonderful fans over there who have supported us consistently for many years.
“Whilst we will continue to work together off the ice, the tour will be the final time we will skate together following our 50-year partnership. It’s going to be very emotional for us, but we promise to put on an amazing live show – and we really hope to see you there.”
The tour will begin with two shows in Brisbane on 14th June, before heading to Melbourne (18-19 June), Sydney (21-22 June) and finally Perth on Friday 27th June for a show at RAC Arena. Tickets will be on sale from Thursday 11th July 2024, from Tiketek.
While announcing the tour Christopher Dean reminisced about the pair’s first visit to Australia, which was many decades ago.
“We were first invited to come and perform in Australia in 1984 just after we had won the Olympic Gold. The promoters were putting together a show of world class ice dancers with the Russian Olympic team on board.
“They flew over to see us in the UK for one day to discuss the opportunity for us to appear in the exhibition show. We flew over to Australia for 3 weeks initially to appear in 14 shows, 3 months later and many more shows later we had fallen in love with the country. After coming back to the UK briefly, we went back to Australia to train and develop our own show. It always has a special place in our hearts.”
Jayne Torvill shared that she’s spent a lot time in Australia over the years.
“After that year in Australia, we had made a lot of friends and fallen in love with the country. So much so, I bought a house with the idea that I would spend 6 months of the year there and 6 months in the UK. I had that house for almost 10 years and even spent some of my honeymoon there. I will always have such amazing memories created there.”
