Team
March 16th, 2021
Starring: Kai (male, late 20’s), Rosa (female, late 20’s)
An ice rink. Kai and Rosa (a decorated ice dancing duo) stand in the bleachers, talking to a camera crew for an interview. Each is being interviewed separately, however, so the piece cuts back and forth between the two. In Kai’s footage, Rosa is seen skating in the background. In Rosa’s footage, Kai is skating in the background.
KAI
…Us?
ROSA
Us as in...?
KAI
Like are we...?
ROSA
Ummm
No.
KAI
Hahaha
No.
ROSA
It doesn’t work like that.
KAI
We’re a team.
ROSA
We’re a team.
KAI
Anything beyond that's a nono boundary.
ROSA
Nobody does it in this sport. Nobody at our level, at least.
KAI
I’m engaged.
ROSA
I’m married.
KAI
But that’s not even the most important—
ROSA
It’s about the chemistry.
KAI
It all comes down to trust.
ROSA
When you see us together on the ice? That flow, that give and take?
KAI
You see a male and a female in the world, working intimately—
ROSA
It’s so easy to point at and say, “oh, they must be screwing.”
KAI
It’s that caveman mindset.
(imitating a caveman)
“Man plus woman equal sex.”
ROSA
It’s insulting.
KAI
It undermines the artistry of what we do.
ROSA
The effort involved.
KAI
We’ve been a pair since 2008.
ROSA
You have no idea how long it takes to build greatness. To even try to do what we do—
KAI
You have to understand every part of your partner.
ROSA
The physical, the emotional—
KAI
Every atom of her being.
ROSA
I'm closer with him than anyone.
KAI
Which is why our chemistry works. We have so much invested in that other person—
ROSA
It's beyond love. Really it’s...I don’t know, what’s beyond love?
KAI
Hard to put it into words.
A shot of each of them look at their partner, skating on the ice. They turn back:
ROSA
I mean
I have thought about it
KAI
There was this one time...
ROSA
Him
KAI
This was maybe 2012?
ROSA
Once.
KAI
For a few days after Olympic qualifiers
ROSA
Like two years ago.
KAI
I sort of felt this
ROSA
It was a normal day of practice
KAI
Tug?
ROSA
As normal as it could be
KAI
That whole week I felt it. This extra little pull
ROSA
And at the end we’re taking off our skates
KAI
Towards her
ROSA
I look up at him and he smiles back and
KAI
I actually thought I was gonna
ROSA
I wanted to.
KAI
Go for it.
ROSA
Jump his bones.
…
…
KAI
It was gone by the weekend.
ROSA
Then bang—completely vanished.
KAI
Over before it started.
ROSA
Like something popped out and back into place.
KAI
Never felt a tug ever again.
ROSA
Nope. Never again.
…
KAI
You don’t mind—
ROSA
I don’t think he knows about the—
KAI
keeping that on the downlow—
ROSA
so just...off the record—
KAI
In the interest of trust
ROSA
For chemistry’s sake
KAI
We’re not...
ROSA
We’d never...
KAI
No.
ROSA
No.
...
KAI
We’re a team.
ROSA
We’re a team.
They each stare out at their partner out on the rink, then back.
They flash a media-ready smile.