After three decades since last performing in Australia, ice skating icons Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are set to return to Australia for their farewell tour, Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance. This tour marks their first visit to Australia since 1994 and celebrates their illustrious career before their final retirement from skating together.
Torvill & Dean announced their retirement on 14 February this year, which they refer to as “Bolero Day,” in Sarajevo. This announcement coincided with the 40th anniversary of their gold medal-winning performance to Ravel’s Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Yugoslavia.
The Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance tour will commence in the United Kingdom next April, with the Australian leg of the tour to closely follow in June 2025. Torvill and Dean expressed their excitement about the tour, sharing:
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 Australian leg of their tour is being produced by Paul Dainty AO and TEG Dainty, who shared their own excitement about the opportunity, stating:
Bringing Torvill & Dean back to Australia after a 30-year absence is truly special. Their performances have captivated audiences around the world, and it’s an honour to host their final tour. Australian fans are in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience as we celebrate the extraordinary career of these skating legends.
Held across Australia between 14 June and 27 June, a total of seven states and four states will be covered, with the following dates locked in:
- Saturday, 14 June – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, 7:30pm
- Sunday, 15 June – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, 2:00pm
- Wednesday, 18 June – Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, 7:30pm
- Thursday, 19 June – Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, 7:30pm
- Saturday, 21 June – Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, 7:30pm
- Sunday, 22 June – Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, 1:30pm
- Friday, 27 June – Perth RAC Arena, 7:30pm
Tickets for the general public will go on sale at 12 noon (local time) on Thursday, 11 July 2024. For those interested in attending a session and want to know more information about ticket bookings, visit the official tour website.
Reflecting on their first Australian tour, Christopher Dean reminisced:
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 adds:
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 six months of the year there and six 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.
