“ONE DAY I AM GOING TO USE IT – BUT I’M GOING TO WAIT FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE”
But first there’s that: a memory brought to life by one of Romain’s former students.
“At one moment I had an information that I totally forgot”, Romain laughs. “My ex-student, Luis Fenero, reminded me that when he arrived from Spain to train in Lyon, a long time ago – he was 15 maybe and he stayed for a couple of days at my home until he found an apartment – I apparently told him: «I found a piece of music, an idea of a program… One day I am going to use it – but I’m going to wait for the good people». I completely forgot [saying] that…”.
But what Romain didn’t forget is that his sister and former skating partner, Marianne, brought that piece of music to him, Concerto no. 23 by Mozart, through a TV documentary.
“She said: «Look…», and it wasn’t about Mozart, but about Aurélie Dupont, a star of the Opera in Paris, and during this two-hour TV documentary, she was shown repeating the ballet «Le Parc». And it was fantastique – and I fell in love with it. So, I don’t know, I had this idea in mind for the right people, but it wasn’t more that that…”
It stayed like that – an idea he never pursued – for a while.
But then something happened.
“When we arrived in Saitama for 2014 Worlds, Gabriella got an eye infection. In the plane, coming from Paris to Tokyo. We land, and for three days she couldn’t practice: at first she spent 24 hours at the hospital, I went with her, Guillaume was a bit down… During those days they didn’t practice I spent a lot of time with him. Usually, we don’t do that – they do their stuff, we, coaches, do ours. And we were at the Starbucks in Tokyo, close to the hotel, and I said: «Ok, I have an idea for the next season».
I don’t know, I felt the need to say that, I wanted to change his mind, not to be depressed because Gabriella was not feeling well.
«But you have to be really open, you have to really open your mind», because, at the time, Gabriella and Guillaume always wanted modern music – so for them never, never, never they would have imagined themselves skating on a classical music!
«What’s the idea?», he said. «No, I don’t tell you the music – I am going to show you a piece of dance, and listen to the music…».
So I showed him «Le Parc», the ballet, the documentary… and he loved it, immediately”.
Romain breathed a sigh of relief. “Gabriella loved it too, so we had the music for the next season and that was exciting…”
“NEXT YEAR YOU NEED TO BE FIGHTING FOR A TOP 5 AT WORLDS”
Somehow unbeknownst to the two, the coach had already started planning next season.
And that season – the season post-Sochi – was crucial, Romain believed. And because he was convinced they needed to move up the rankings at once, he didn’t let things adrift – he acted.
“I knew for them it was an Olympic cycle that was starting, they would become French number one, with Péchalat and Bourzat retiring, so I said: «We must step up! It’s now or never! If we stay in the gray zone…»
And I knew they could be, very fast, competing for podiums. «Next cycle, you have to be…» not World champions, I never expected that, «but you need to be Top 5 at Worlds, fighting for a Top 5 at Worlds».
I knew with a good material, with the levels, with repackaging everything, making them look more senior, not [just] the good juniors, I knew this was doable. Of course, you never know if that would happen, but… that was the plan! And I knew the timing was right.
And so I said: «We need to change, to find who you are». And as soon as we decided on Mozart, I asked myself: «Who is going to do that?», because I needed to create with them a relation of… not love, but a bit, something romantic.
And I said: «It has to be Marie-France and Patrice, to do that», so I called Marie-France and I asked her: «Have you seen my team?», «Oh, yes, they are quite good», «I need them to step up – and you are going to do a masterpiece for them. I have the music, I have everything…»”.
Romain laughs while remembering the conversation – but, at the time, everything felt so very serious.
He had even started to work with Gabriella and Guillaume on the concept of the program, had saved “the kiss” from the ballet as an essential moment in the future free dance as well.
“The plan, basically, was: «I send you Gaby and Guillaume for two weeks in June»”.
LOOKING FOR THE MISSING PIECE – AND, SIX ALBUMS LATER, MARIE-FRANCE FOUND IT
But for the much-desired masterpiece, something was apparently missing.
Romain was at his sister’s wedding when “Marie-France called and said: «I watched the documentary, and the cut you want, the music you want is very similar…», and so she suggested to maybe change the main music, to take Mozart, but not this one, and I was: «No! It has to be this music.»”
Clinging onto Concerto no. 23, laughing while remembering, the coach acknowledges they had a problem.
“We had to find a fast piece, for the change of tempo, and so Marie-France said: «I am going to listen to Mozart…», and, I don’t know, she listened to all Mozart [laughing], while I said: «I don’t do that, because I’m on vacation right now! But, please, find the good music» [laughing still]. And I am not like that – I don’t listen, I’m really lazy. When I find music, I play the beginning, and if I don’t like the three notes at the beginning, I change it. So probably I missed a lot of good music like that. But I picked the good one: when it’s good, it’s good! [laughing] And Marie-France did a fantastic work of research, she found the [missing] piece of fast piano – and Gabriella and Guillaume went to Montreal for choreography”.
►►► Marie-France Dubreuil: “They wanted Mozart, the Concerto no. 23 – and then I listened to six albums, because I wanted to find a piece to go with it. And I didn’t want a piece that would disturb the moment the Concerto brought, because in Mozart you have pieces that are so high and so intense that it would kill the other one…
So, six albums later, driving to Toronto and back, I found this perfect little piece, and I thought: This is like just perfect, this is what it needs to just make things light in the middle and finish with the intensity of the Concerto. Because it’s intense in emotion, but it’s very quiet in music, so it’s very subtle to play with it. But I knew this piece needed a lot of emotion, and a lot of effortless gliding, which is one of their force…”
THE MOVE
But then something else happened – other than Gabriella and Guillaume getting choreography for their new free dance in Montreal.
Something that was half-organized, half-unexpected. But very much welcomed.
Romain digs into the layers of the moment: “I also wanted to spend some time with them when they were doing the choreography – so, during my vacation in New York, the plan was to come two days in Montreal to see how things were working. The choreography was nearly close to be finished [when I arrived] and… just after that, the story of my move happened”.
Fast as it may seem, Romain Haguenauer’s decision to join Marie-France and Patrice at their school in Montreal was not a part of the plan.
But it overlapped with some of his own questions and dilemmas about his professional future – and it came at the very right time. [Who says fate doesn’t play a role here and there…]
The coach is more than eager to explain the circumstances.
“I had been working for 18 years in Lyon, it was my hometown – but there were a lot of things not working at the club, a lot of things that needed to be done differently, the club had its problems with the French Federation…
In Montreal, I reconnected with Marie-France and Patrice – they had been my students, we worked together in France and we always stayed in touch, they knew about the problems [I was facing].
And when I said: «For me it’s not working anymore, I’m already thinking to maybe move to US, ’cause I had some offers…», Marie-France told me: «If one day you decide to leave France…» – which I wasn’t sure, I was in Lyon for five generations, I love France, I am very French, I was never someone who dreamed to leave somewhere – «…If you decide to leave, instead of going to US, we just started our school, we know you have the experience, we don’t have this experience as coaches, and we can work well together»”.
So [the move] was not prepared, but it happened because it was easy, because it had to be this way, I think. I myself wanted to achieve a lot of things – I knew I could do more in this sport”.
“IF YOU LEAVE, WE LEAVE WITH YOU”
His decision taken, Romain announced Gabriella and Guillaume: “I just want to let you know that I’m going to move to Canada”. Simple as that.
And, according to the coach, the feedback came really fast: “«We already came from Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon for you, so, if you leave, we leave with you».
Yes, everything happened very quickly – but, you know, Gaby and Guillaume, they are super sensitive people – they feel a lot a situation, they understand it, you don’t have to explain a lot of things. And when I announced them [I would leave], they knew the reason. So it was easy for them to… No, not easy, they could have said: «No, Romain, we don’t care, bye-bye» – they could have done that.
It was not like I said: «Come with me, you are going to be Olympic…» No, no, no! I have never done that to anyone, I never promised anything! I didn’t want to have on my shoulders the fact of taking two kids out of their country to move somewhere, and with nothing! Because it was basically nothing then”.
It was June 2014: Romain would go first.
19 at the time, Gabriella and Guillaume would follow the coach less than a month later.
►►► Guillaume Cizeron: “In 2014, we are flying to Montreal. We are both 19. We follow our trainer and choreographer, Romain Haguenauer, 38 years old that year, ex-champion and ex-student of Muriel Zazoui. He chose Montreal to join two of his former students, Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, who created a high-quality school there. But if he had chosen Moscow, we would have followed him to Moscow. […] We follow him because his curiosity about us is limitless and he makes us see what we might be able accomplish under his guidance. He loves what he does, he combines talent and kindness, high standards and encouragement.
The friendship, not to say affection that binds us today, we also owe it to Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon who welcomed us to Montreal as if they were a second family. Thus, all the qualities have been brought together, to enable us to achieve excellence”.
[Excerpts from Guillaume Cizeron, Ma plus belle victoire, XO Éditions, 2021]
Romain recalls: “The French Federation supported this idea for them to move, and that was good. Especially with all the conflict that happened before [at the club]. Basically, the federation looked at them, and paid for the move, for the expenses – so they could take this decision and focus on their career. Because before, they had the school as well and…”
What follows is a digression on the place of sport in both France and Canada, no less interesting than the rest of the discussion.
“I really see now the difference between Canada and France, between the cultures, when it comes to the place of the sport in society. It’s totally different. And for me, as a coach, I’m super happy.
Because in Canada, if you do sport, it represents a value. It’s valuable. In France, no. It’s good, you’re Olympic champion, everybody applauds, but it doesn’t bring more than that. So when you work with kids, they go to school, school is more important, you always hear that. You never hear in France: Wow, you train two hour per day in sport, that’s a value, you can be a champion, or not a champion, but it’s always good. In France is: Oh, you train two hours per day? What about school? Do your homework – and maybe after you go train. So it’s completely the opposite”.
Eyes on the moment, but also with the perspective gained throughout the years, Romain says it simply: “It was a good move”.
It was indeed a good move. For all three of them. And one that proved essential, crucial even, for Gabriella and Guillaume’s trajectory.
In Canada, Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Pascal Denis joined Romain as the French team’s coaches. And their success story, in the safe, inspiring environment of Montreal school, was just about to start. Unbeknown to the world, unbeknown to the protagonists themselves, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron will finish the season – their first season in Montreal and only their second season in seniors – as World champions.
How did that happen? Romain highlights the work, the emotions, the surprises, the revelations of a truly extraordinary year.