Holly HARRIS and Jason CHAN are Australian ice dancers who have been skating together since the 19/20 season. They train at the Ice Dance Academy in Montreal and always serve a variety of amazing programs. We talk About programs, training, and their season.
A small note: this interview was done earlier in the season but, due to many factors, we’re belatedly releasing it now. Please support and love our favorite mermaid duo of the 23/24 season 🫶
Special thank you to Becs (@becsfer on Twitter) and Karly (@kirbyzirby on twitter) for transcription and editing. Photos by Gabb (@tegomass).
Gabb: How was your off-season [summer 2023]?
Jason: Pretty good, actually! Smooth, with program creation and working on some of our weaknesses off-ice and in the gym.
Holly: I’d say it felt pretty productive, and I think very targeted towards what we want to strengthen on and off the ice, and I think we really focused off-ice on strength, to build more stability on the ice. We focused a lot on growing that on the ice, and choreography. I felt like it was a productive off-season. Last season was a bit of a rocky off-season because I was sick a couple times, so this year it was a lot smoother, which was good.
Gabb: Did you guys do anything off-ice not skating related that helped you feel energized?
Jason: Well, Montreal is pretty lively in the summer, there’s always these festivals that you can go to on the weekends, and spend time with friends.
Holly: I think it was a nice balance of being outside with friends and training. It was really enjoyable.
Gabb: So, about your programs. How did you guys come up with your short program? Let’s talk about your short program first, and then we’ll talk about the free.
Jason: I think you had the idea for the…
Holly: Well, actually, I wanted to do ABBA really badly, and I had picked pieces and sent them in the group chat, and the second half of last season I was convinced. And then Romain [Haguenauer] texts in the chat like “That’s not 80s.” I was like “What? How did I miss this?” So I was attached to these pieces that weren’t even fitting the criteria. But it’s fine. And I think you had said a couple times that Madonna would be good.
Jason: Oh, I did say we both liked Madonna.
Holly: And then Marie [-France Dubreuil] was also suggesting it, and I was like “No, I want ABBA!” And then it wasn’t even 80s, so I was like let’s do Madonna. But I think it’s better, I think it’s a good choice for us.
Gabb: Yeah, I think it suits you guys really well. When I first heard it I was like “Oh my god, that is so Holly and Jason.” So I’m really glad you chose it, especially Material Girl. Very good choice.
Holly: Thank you!
Gabb: And for your free dance, how did that come about?
Jason: So we were kind of looking for music and nothing was really clicking, and I kinda got inspired by a TV show on Netflix called “Love, Death, and Robots.” There’s one episode that has a siren in it, and it lures in soldiers. But then I was like “What if…” Because usually the trope is that the guy is the sailor or soldier, and the girl is a siren, so I was like “What if we switched that up? What if I’m the siren and Holly could be the soldier or the sailor?”
Holly: And I was like “Absolutely not! Don’t take this away from me, I want to be a mermaid! Your idea is really cool, but I want to be a mermaid too!”
Jason: I was like okay, fine. We can both be sea creatures. So that’s how the concept came about.
Holly: We were playing around off-ice a lot with Sam [?] and playing different pieces of music and moving to it and instantly felt super inspired by the concept of underwater and sirens.
Gabb: And your costumes are perfect. The minute I saw it I knew it was a merman and a siren.
Holly: I’m so glad you got that! We worked with Mathieu [Caron].
Gabb: Yeah, how did you guys come up with the concept? Did you work closely with Mathieu?
Holly: Yeah, so I started a Pinterest board of different ideas that I loved, and then we had a meeting with Marie and Mathieu and us, and we showed him, and she explained the vision and the program, and he drew something up and the first drawing I was like “Yes, that’s it!” So it was a super easy process coming up with the free dance this season, it felt like everything fell into place, and throughout the whole process of choreography and costumes, everybody was on the same page and sharing the same vision and super inspired. I really like it a lot.
Gabb: And when you say you had a Pinterest board, was it for both of your costumes together?
Jason: Well usually, it’s Holly’s costume, and that gets done, and then it’s like “What can Jason wear to complement the Holly dress?”
Holly: When I make the vision board it’s normally for my costume, we both collectively search for information, but Marie came up with the concept of Jason’s, and then Mathieu brought it to life. I feel like he did a really good job of hearing our ideas and creating something original and not too generic.
Gabb: It’s really good. Honestly, one of my top five dresses so far this season.
Holly: Thank you so much, I’m so happy!
Jason: Put in a good name for the ISU Awards for Best Dressed.
Gabb: Oh my god, yes.
Holly: I don’t know if they do that. Do they do that every year?
Gabb: I don’t know. I feel like they might do it again this year, but I’m definitely gonna do a costume photography detail shot, and I’ll tag the ISU. I’ll put in a good word for you. Okay, so for you guys Worlds is here at home, since you train here, how do you feel training with everyone and so many high-level skaters?
Jason: Honestly, I feel like it’s the athletes that train with us that make the environment so friendly and so welcoming and so inspiring, training every day. I think your competitors are the ones that know exactly what you’re going through day-in and day-out, so it’s really nice to have that support from one another. I don’t know if I would be able to train by ourselves.
Holly: We’ve done that before.
Jason: Yeah, in Australia.
Holly: And we were so lucky to have the support of the skating community in Australia, but it’s a different feeling when you’re training with people at your level and also doing ice dance. It’s really inspiring every day, and super motivating, and everybody’s really supportive of each other, and we help each other out. It’s definitely an environment that we flourish in.
Gabb: Yeah. So, fun fact, my friend Evie, back at Australian Nationals 2019…
Jason: Yes, I remember! That was our first nationals.
Gabb: We’re on the same podcast! That was your first nationals, how do you feel like you’ve grown since?
Jason: I feel like that was such a long time ago, especially with COVID, so that kind of separated the time more, but I feel like we’ve grown so much, on and off the ice. On our own, and how we work together.
Holly: We’re finding out what works best for us as a team and individually.
Jason: It’s an ongoing process obviously, but we’re completely different.
Gabb: Anything that is working especially well for you guys since?
Jason: I think since that time at Australian Nationals we’ve become more independent, more drivers of our own career, and we know exactly what we want and how we want to do it, so I think we’re just trusting the process.
Gabb: And I have some other questions, not related to anything. Is there any music you guys \want to skate to in the future that you haven’t done yet? It could be a specific song, it could be a genre.
Holly: That’s hard… there were a couple pieces we thought we were gonna skate to this season that we had saved from last season that we didn’t end up using, so those, but I don’t wanna say what they are.
Jason: We have a joint playlist and whenever we think of things we chuck them in.
Holly: Nothing crazy specific, there’s some classic pieces I like like Clair de Lune, but Jason’s not super into it. I’m like “Come on, we could do it in a new way!” and he’s like “No, it’s been done before.”
Jason: I’m less into the classics and more into the original pieces.
Gabb: Do you guys have any fun stories from the off-season or any competitions? Anything silly.
Holly: I’m terrible with remembering stories! I have to think.
Gabb: Or just highlights of the year so far!
Jason: I mean, last year going to Japan…
Holly: Oh my god, this is a good one.
Jason: So, we get to the airport, everything’s fine, and because we’re transiting through the States we get to customs, and I go through, and I’m waiting, and I’m like “...Where’s Holly?” And apparently…
Holly: My ESTA had expired like two days ago. And they don’t tell you, so I had no idea. I applied for a new one right away hoping it would come through in time, but it didn’t, so I missed my flight to Japan! And I told Jason to go, because he shouldn’t miss his flight, I didn’t know if he could get on one the next day, and I had status with United so I was sure I could get on one. But it was pretty dramatic, obviously, you don’t wanna miss your flight to Worlds!
Jason: We won’t miss our flight this time!
Gabb: You guys are like, a drive away.
Holly: But yeah, I was super lucky to get on the same flight the next day. I had basically a rest day at home, which had its perks. Hannah [Lim] came over, and we just hung out. She supported me while I was trying to calm down and reset. But I made it to Japan, and it was fine.
Gabb: But you had a good time in Japan, though?
Holly: A very good time. We loved it. It was amazing.
Gabb: With the cherry blossoms, I’m sure it was very nice.
Holly: So beautiful! And the group of people we were there with was really fun.
Jason: We stayed a little bit after also. I went to Kyoto with Alison Reed and Saul [Ambrulevicius], and her sister [Cathy Reed], so it was nice to have somebody to show us around.
Gabb: And then basically fans always want to know, what kind of plushies do you guys like on the ice?
Holly: Oooh, that’s such a good question!
Jason: Well, I guess for this year, some sea creature plushies.
Holly: Mermaids! Or I always love tigers, that’s my favorite. It’s a little inside thing with my family. Tigers or mermaids, I think.
Gabb: With Worlds, you can actually take plushies you get, you don’t have to lug it in a suitcase back home.
Holly: True! I can actually keep them! Four Continents support was so amazing, I had a huge bag of toys, and…
Jason: She’s like, “Do you have room in your bag?” I’m like “Noo…”
Holly: No one had room in their bag for my toys, I was so sad! But I took back a few tigers and bears. I donated the rest, so that was nice, at least.
Gabb: Yeah, this year’s no worry for bringing them back home. So, last question: any last thing you wanna say? Last words for fans, or anything?
Holly: I think we just wanna say, thank you so much for the growing support. I’ve been noticing a lot more support on social media for us, and I really appreciate it. Every time I see something, I’m so honored, and I can’t believe it. We’re just really grateful for everybody. Thank you so much!
