Last night, Loena Hendrickx won the women’s short program at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships with a new personal-best score. It was a triumph for the Belgian skater–one of many this season, which has seen her winning a Grand Prix event at Skate America and her first European Championships title. And Hendrickx is doing more than just winning competitions–she’s also exciting crowds with her powerful, dynamic skating to modern techno dance programs. Hendrickx’s choreographer, Adam Solya, is part of her team along with her coach and brother, Jorik Hendrickx. Solya offered his take on Hendrickx’s creative direction after last night’s short program.
Q: Loena has such an interesting modern style to her programs this year. At Skate America, she spoke about how she wants to bring something different to the ice, not just the same old, same old. What’s your view of her artistic approach to skating?
Solya: I’ve worked with Loena for many years, since she was a little girl. I got to know her genre and her body language and what she’s able to perform. Also, I’m trying to influence her every year with new kinds of style. For instance, for this season, my main goal was to step away from traditional figure skating music styles. That’s why we came up with this deep house [music] in the short program. And in the free program, we came up with the vocal and all these extra little accents in the program. We tried to create something different. We tried in the previous years many different styles. I always like to challenge her every year with something new, something different. The first time we came up with this idea, especially for the short program, we’re like, Oh, my God, this is different. But we are thinking, Yeah, why not? We can step away from the traditional pieces. She’s a very powerful skater as well, and it would really fit. That was my purpose. And, especially when she goes to the boards [in the step sequence], that’s my choreographic choice. I wanted to really bring down the barrier between the judges and the skater herself, so that they are all in one space. That’s how I came up with these ideas, and she agreed on that. So we created this program. I’m really happy that she was open to my crazy ideas.
Q: Have you gotten any pushback from judges about the programs or the style? Any negative feedback? Or have they been open to it?
Solya: I’m really open for feedback, because for me, as a choreographer, it’s my main goal to be evolving myself. As the sport moves forward, as a choreographer, I need to be aware of the new stuff that is going on, music-wise, dancing-wise. I have to say I did not receive negative comments. I got feedback that it’s a bit out of the box, it’s not what we are used to seeing or hearing. That it immediately takes the crowd in itself, and it’s too much beat, it’s very intense, a lot of power.
But I really believed in this idea, to do something different. And we just kept going with this. I did not get any reaction like, Oh my God, you should change it. Because mostly, they said it really fits with her, because of her powerful execution of the movement and the emotions. I was scared, though. We created the program, and I had question marks–what if, what if. But I believed in that, and I just went for it. We went for it.
Q: Tonight, Loena received the highest PCS marks in the competition. Does that validate the direction you chose?
Solya: I’m proud of her, Jorik, and myself that we received that score. It’s nice feedback for a choreographer, when you can see that the points and components are reflected from the choreography as much as I desire to see.
Note: Loena Hendrickx will take the ice on Friday night, March 22, to perform her free skate and attempt to win her first World Championships. She won a World silver medal in 2022 and a World bronze medal in 2023. Is this her year to stand on top of the podium?
