Dancing on Ice

Sat.1 had this show where celebrities learn to skate with professionals. I don’t know why I started watching—it’s a stupid premise—but something about watching someone fall and get back up over weeks of practice is weirdly compelling. On ice, you can’t fake progress.

Annette Dytrt was one of the coaches. Five-time German champion, moves like someone who doesn’t have to think about movement. That kind of ease reads as power. It’s what makes ice skating so visually strange—the bodies look both effortless and impossible.

Ice skating has this cultural pull I’ve never quite understood. Sport and performance so tangled together you can’t separate them. The costumes are tight. The tradition goes back to Katarina Witt and before. Being beautiful is kind of the job. Athleticism and desire married in obvious ways. Annette recently did Playboy, which feels almost inevitable.

But what keeps me coming back is just the movement. Watching someone actually good at something. That’s its own thing.