A young couple ice skating indoors at an indoor rink with white flooring and orange boundary lines, natural light from windows indicating daytime. 3:50
On Ice Perspectives channel icon On Ice PerspectivesOriginal creator 4.5M views Save

Ice dancing to Evanescence and Linkin Park

Leah Neset and Artem Markelov are junior ice dance champions. For this practice skate in Colorado Springs, their team picked rock over ballads. more

She's 16, he's 18, and they had been partners for only a few months. They're at the U.S. Olympic Training rink, and the ice hasn't been cleared for them. Other skaters are out there too, going about their own practice.

Two people hold hands on an ice rink, one looking up while standing still. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Leah Neset and Artem Markelov hold hands on the practice ice.

The dance opens with "My Immortal" by Evanescence, a dark and haunting song. One fan joked that this is what happens when kids who grew up on these songs become choreographers. Leah and Artem move through it hand in hand, smooth and calm, and never fall out of step.

Two people on an ice rink hold hands and face each other, practicing figure skating moves together. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
The pair skates face to face, hands joined, matching each other step for step.

Then the music rolls into Linkin Park's "In the End," in a version by Tommee Profitt, and the mood turns. A lot of fans say this is where they got chills.

A young couple ice skating indoors at an indoor rink with white flooring and orange boundary lines, natural light from windows indicating daytime. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Leah Neset and Artem Markelov are junior ice dance champions.

Late in the dance come the spins. The camera stays right with them and circles them as they turn, so close that it feels like being out on the ice too.

Through all of it, the other skaters never quite clear out of the way. Some pass terribly close, but the pair never bumps anyone and never looks rattled. They keep their lines clean while the rink moves around them.

A person stands on the ice with arms stretched out, holding hands with someone just out of the frame. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
One skater stretches out while still holding a partner's hand.

Dark songs on a crowded rink, and the skating never looks hard. And this was only practice.

#dancing