Ice dance career turns a typically graceful full circle

TORVILL AND DEAN HONOURED IN THEIR HOME CITY

- By LYNETTE PINCHESS

AN EMOTIONAL week for Nottingham's ice dance legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean has kicked off in their home city with a celebration of their everlasting legacy.

After 50 glorious years the golden couple will be hanging up their skates for good this weekend in the city that shaped their illustrious career.

Four performances of Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance will take place at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena from tomorrow until Saturday.

After touring the UK and Australia, there was only one location they could perform at before retirement - and that was the spot where it first began in the early 1970s.

Chris, 66, and Jayne, 67, said the response to the 35-date tour had been fantastic but nowhere has there been a more electric atmosphere than the shows in Nottingham earlier in the year.

Jayne said: "We definitely noticed it. It was a great crowd."

Chris added: "I think they had a sense of nostalgia as well. I think a lot of the audience remembers those occasions, but also it put them in their home or wherever they were, and it brought back personal memories for them, whether it was about skating or whether it was about family and things like that, but it's sort of a walk down Memory Lane."