Figure Skating

They lock eyes, clasp hands and the music starts, and for the next four minutes Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skate as if there's nobody else in the building.

The Canadian ice dancing duo is among the best in the world, known for their innovative lifts, their intricate spins and footwork, and classic elegance in a discipline too often characterized by its kitschy costumes and cheesy routines.

Much of their allure is their unquestionable chemistry, their ability to capture an audience with their utterly believable romance.

But the two are just friends, their relationship forged over sweat and spills and spirals in the more than 10 years they've been partners.

"Maybe the reason why we've lasted so long is we respect each other as individuals and we love each other,'' Moir says. "We've been together for so long, we've grown up together, and we just have this respect for each other, and the skating works.''

It wasn't always so.

For the first year of what would eventually flourish into a medal-winning partnership, Virtue and Moir barely spoke to one another.

"Noooo,'' Moir's mom Alma says, laughing. "He was kind of sweet on her at first, and at that age when you have to hold a girl's hand, it's like 'Oh no, I can't talk to her too.' It was funny the first little bit.''

Alma and twin sister Carol, both former skaters who coach in Ilderton, Ont., a town of about 2,000 just down the road from London, partnered the two when Tessa was just seven and Scott was nine.

The sisters were standing together on the ice pondering a potential partner for Scott when Tessa happened to glide by.

"I thought, 'She would be pretty good,''' Alma says.

Virtue, 20, and the 22-year-old Moir - who did date briefly when they were younger - quickly developed into one of the top young dance tandems in the country, and in 2006 became the first Canadian ice dancers to win the ISU world junior championships.

"They were always good skaters, but they just had something that you can't coach,'' aunt Carol Moir says. "They just had a rapport with each other and even at a younger age it came through. They're both performers so they like to be out there, but they had something with each other. . . a good respect. And you cannot coach it.''

The Canadian ice dance stars are beloved by a huge fan base. There are dozens of YouTube tribute montages, set to songs such as Queen's "You're My Best Friend,'' Chris Brown's "Forever,'' and "Wherever You Will Go,'' by The Calling, their views all numbering in the thousands.

There are fan blogs and a Facebook group: "Addicted to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.''

"Business partners'' might be a better way to describe their relationship.

"To a certain extent, absolutely,'' Virtue says. "We have a strong working relationship and at this point, this is our job so that's how we have to look at it.

"That said, we love each other and we're great friends. We have the best of both worlds.''

The two have a favourite show program in which Moir wears a hockey jersey, jeans and a tuque tugged down over his ears. Virtue is in a ballerina dress. It's an image that suits them perfectly.

Scott is the baby in a family of three boys that grew up at the rink. His brothers Danny and Charlie both skated and played hockey, his mom and aunt skated, and his dad played hockey. His three cousins all skated, including Sheri and Cara Moir, members of the NEXXICE team that won the 2009 world synchronized skating title. Every member of the family still either competes, coaches or volunteers.

Scott began skating when he was three, and stuck with it - initially to improve his skating skills for hockey and to be around his mom, who always seemed to be at the rink.

He's a big Maple Leafs fan, his boyhood bedroom decorated in the colours and paraphernalia of Toronto's NHL team. He once listed his heroes as Chuck Norris and former Leafs captain Wendel Clark.

"He's outgoing, but it makes it exciting, he brings such energy every day to the rink,'' Virtue says. "You know when Scott's in the building and it's such a treat. He's so passionate about skating and it really brings life to the whole rink and to our relationship for sure. It's awesome.''

Virtue is the quintessential flip side to Moir's gregarious demeanour.

"I'm kind of crazy, but when it comes down to the training stuff, I get pretty serious,'' Moir says. "I have a very weird mind, but skating is one of the only things that focuses it, and skating with Tessa, she kinds of keeps me calm and focused.''

Virtue, who also grew up the youngest in a large family, did ballet and gymnastics before focusing her efforts on skating.

Blessed with classic good looks, she loves fashion, and can see herself working in the fashion industry some day.

Virtue once listed her mom Kate as her hero: "Not only is she brilliant, witty and independent. . .she has also taught me everything I know about fashion!''

She began skating when she was six, when her class had scheduled a field trip to the rink. She didn't want to look silly, so enlisted her brothers to give her some lessons.

Fast forward more than a decade and Virtue and Moir have formed a great connection that is evident when they step on the ice.

"So much of it is about communication, and things we don't need to say when we get out on the ice, if it's a look or one key word, or a squeeze of his hand,'' Virtue says. "We know each other so well, he'll know what to say to me depending on my mood, and vice versa.

"I think it's easy to take for granted, but it's what we know, it's what we've grown up with. If we kind of step away from it and take a bird's eye view, it's pretty cool the relationship we have, we're pretty lucky.''

Their close bond would be the buttress that propped them up last season, a year that tried their patience and tested their resolve.

Virtue had surgery in the fall of 2008 on both legs to alleviate compartment syndrome that caused chronic pain in her shins. Each of her calves still bears the four circular scars, puncture marks from the surgery.

While Virtue went home to London to recover, Moir remained at their training base in Canton, Mich., substituting hockey sticks and sandbags for his partner as he learned the dance programs the two would eventually perform under coaches Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva.

The two skipped the Grand Prix circuit, making their season debut at the Canadian championships in January. Twelve weeks later, they captured bronze at the world championships in Los Angeles - remarkable considering they say they went into every program last season hoping simply to survive.

Virtue's recollection of their free dance at the Staples Center in L.A. is a blur.

"I think I blacked it out, I was talking a lot, I was just a mess,'' she says. "I remember thinking, 'If we can get through this, we can get through anything.' Luckily Scott was so supportive, I kind of blocked everything out and just focused on him.''

Adds Moir: "It's all part of our story. We got five years of experience in six months last year. We take it like it is, and we learned so much, so we wouldn't have had it any other way, now looking back.''

The two bounced back stronger than ever. They opened this season with a pair of Grand Prix victories, at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris and HomeSense Skate Canada International in Kitchener, Ont., where they earned the first perfect 10.0 (for performance) ever recorded in ice dance under the new scoring system.

They won silver at the Grand Prix final in Tokyo, and ran away with the Canadian title in London.

The two returned to their romantic roots for this Olympic season, choosing Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 for their free program after skating an edgy number last season to music by Pink Floyd.

Their free dance is punctuated by several breathtaking lifts, including a signature move they've nicknamed "The Goose.'' The manoeuvre, that invariably elicits cheers of delight from figure skating fans, has Virtue balancing on one leg on Moir's thigh, her arms outstretched before she spills into his arms.

The two, who narrowly missed making the 2006 Turin Olympic team, say they're rounding into form just in time for the Vancouver Games.

"What's great is I feel like we're just kind of skimming the surface of what our programs could do,'' Moir said, "and the potential is there to grow even more.''