November 30
Born Today:
Olivier Schoenfelder
Ice dancer Olivier Schoenfelder (1977-) was inspired to skate after attending a performance by brother and sister team Isabelle Duchesnay (1963-) and Paul Duchesnay (1961-). His mother was a ballet teacher and he studied dance as a youngster before adding skating. Schoenfelder and his partner Isabelle Delobel (1978-) were paired in 1990 and went on to win first place in the 2007 European Championship, the 2008 World Championship and placed fourth in the 2005-2006 Olympics.
Also Born Today: Ballerina Luciana Savignano (1943) studied at La Scala and the Bolshoi schools and later performed with La Scala and choreographer Maurice Béjart (1927-2007) created Leda and the Swan (1987) for her. She founded the Lombard Dance Company in 1998 along with choreographer Susanna Beltrami and since 2009 she has judged the Rai 2 Italian Academy talent show.