Biography

Since teaming up in the year 2000, the sister/brother ice dance team of Sinead Kerr & John Kerr have distinguished themselves for their creativity, individuality, teamwork and sheer determination. They are the first skaters from Scotland to win a British title and the first skaters from Great Britain to medal at the European Championships since 1994. They have accomplished these things by being true to themselves.

“We’ve always thought that when an audience comes to a competition, they’re coming to be entertained,” says John Kerr. “They’re coming to feel something. Despite all the rules, despite all the boxes we have to check to earn points (under the International Judging System), we’ve always felt a duty to make the audience feel something, feel an emotion. You’re trying to affect them in some way.”

After winning their first British title and debuting at the European and World Championships in 2004, the Kerrs were immediately recognized for their unique style, offbeat musical choices and cool moves. With programs choreographed by British ice dance legend Christopher Dean, they earned their first Olympic berth in 2006, finishing an impressive 10th in Torino, despite the fact that 50% of the time they trained on their own in Edinburgh. Their coach, Joan Slater, was based in Manchester, and they traveled there to work with her. 

“We’ve always had something inside us motivating us forward,” Sinead Kerr says. “The way it shaped us is it made us very independent and very opinionated as to what we want to look like.”

Slater introduced them to ballroom dance instructor Jean-Paul de Loose, who taught them to be aware of the smallest details in each dance. The Kerrs brought that sense of artistic vision to life in their original dance for the 2007-08 season, an authentic Scottish folk dance that (with ISU permission) John performed in a kilt.

After their successes at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and World Championships, the Kerrs realized they needed to change their training situation and relocated to New Jersey to work with two-time Olympic ice dance gold medalist Evgeny Platov. This season, former World Swing Dance Champion and renowned choreographer Robert Royston has also joined their coaching team.

“When you surround yourself with good people who have a similar mindset to you, it makes training a lot easier,” says John. “Since we’ve been working with Evgeny, by him bringing a bit more discipline into the way we train and us allowing him to come into our little world and suggest things, we have definitely progressed.”

Sinead and John have also enjoyed some exciting off-ice adventures. Like many young men from Great Britain, John is mad about football (what Europeans call soccer). He appeared in the Robert Duvall film A Shot at Glory as a double for Ally McCoist. Sinead had her celebrity moment as a model for couture designer Alexander McQueen, who added a skating surface to one of his shows at London Fashion Week. Wearing a spectacular ball gown covered in crystals, she skated on a special runway in front of A-listers like Jude Law and Kate Winslet. Together they appeared on the British cooking competition show Ready, Set, Cook, where they earned money for autism research, in honor of their younger brother, David, who is autistic.

They try to return home to Scotland to see their parents and brother as often as possible. It also allows them time to reflect of all they’ve accomplished since they took the leap of faith to team up, defying the critics who said they weren’t a good match.

“It is kind of incredible what can happen when two people have a real determination to achieve something and set out on a journey that leads you to lots of interesting places,” John says. “It’s pretty amazing.”

“We’ve always been pretty creative, artistic people,” says Sinead. “We’ve also wanted to keep it real and show a bit of ourselves in every routine. Not just do something or look like something that someone is telling us to do, but our expression is coming from within.”

Sinead and John retired from competitive skating in April 2011 and look forward to performing in shows, which gives them a chance to show a full range of creative artistic expression.