MGG Winter Waltz

After the success of our inaugural ski ballet gathering and event back in April 2024, this year we knew that we needed to go bigger - much bigger.

We began planning our newly titled MGG Winter Waltz earlier this season, and therefore a considerably larger roster of athletes was able to attend, including the freestyle and ski ballet legend himself Bob Howard, and Winter Olympic icon, Philip Richard. Indeed, this was to be the largest gathering of ski ballet athletes in more than 25 years!

Most of the athletes had arrived by the morning of Friday 28th February, and many of them joined us for a practice session on the same slope where the event would take place on the following day (the Les Esserts nursery slope at the top of the town of Verbier). The Swiss TV station Canal 9 was there to film a pre-event report, which you can watch HERE.

Albertville 1992 Winter Olympic gold medallist Fabrice Becker being interviewed by Canal 9

Later that day, the athletes joined us at our store in Verbier for a welcome drinks party. We shot a portrait of every athlete, so keep an eye out for what should be a fantastic who’s who collage image of ski ballet faces in due course! We then made our way to the nearby Alp & Horn pub for dinner.

The following day, Saturday 1st March, we began with the Swiss première of our new documentary film, Dancing on the Edge: A Ski Ballet Story, at the wonderful Cinéma de Verbier. This followed the Canadian (Montreal) and UK (London) premières, which had taken place in previous months.

“Dancing on the Edge: A Ski Ballet Story” gets the big screen treatment

The renowned Swiss freestyle judge, commentator, two-person monoski inventor (!), technical advisor, Olympic Flame carrier, and veteran of no less than seven Winter Olympics, Philip Richard, had the audience laughing out loud as he removed layer after layer of coats and jackets from numerous Winter Olympics and competitions from years past!

Winter Olympic veteran Philip Richard has the audience in stitches!

There was barely a dry eye in the house during the screening that followed. Our CEO & Founder Tom Bata was then joined on stage by the stars of the film - Fabrice Becker, Annika Johansson, Christine Rossi, and Justin Holland - who each spoke with great passion about their own experiences of being involved in the film, and what being reunited with their freestyle family has meant to them.

The scene was then set for the MGG Winter Waltz itself! As the sun set on a stunning Verbier evening, Bob Howard and Philip Richard held court, the athletes started to warm up, and the audience grew. The athletes began with a free-flowing jam session, with Bob explaining to the excited crowd the names of the various manoeuvres and tricks that each athlete was performing. The athletes also side-slipped the event slope a number of times to smooth the snow, in preparation for the main event.

An awesome simultaneous triplet of frontflips performed by Fabrice Becker, Simen Andresen, and Antti Inberg

And then, as darkness fell, we were privileged to witness an extraordinary sight: With Noah Carmichael, son of US National Ski Hall of Fame skier Jan (Bucher) Carmichael in the DJ booth playing the tune chosen by each athlete, and Bob Howard on the mic commentating, 28 former professional ski ballet athletes, who between them had won three Winter Olympic gold medals (Hermann Reitberger & Christine Rossi in 1988, and Fabrice Becker in 1992), more than 180 World Cup gold medals, more than 450 World Cup medals, 6 World Championship gold medals, and 11 World Championship medals, danced their way down the floodlit event slope in front of the wide-eyed crowds!

Lara Rosenbaum demonstrates exquisite poise and balance

It’s hard to put into words what a sensational spectacle this was and, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so we hope that the images in this report go some way to doing the event justice. It was an evening for the ages, and an incredibly exciting moment for this unique sport which, as the supremely talented athletes who took part showed, is still very much alive and well.

Ute Lehrer and Ruedi Schutz, 4x Swiss Champions in Pair Ballet, giving a masterful performance

The full list of ski ballet athletes and luminaries (in first name alphabetical order) who flew in from around the world (from as far away as Australia!) to join us for the MGG Winter Waltz, is as follows:

Aline Bot (SUI)
Annika Johansson (SWE)
Antti Inberg (FIN)
Beatrice Stocker (SUI)
Bob Howard (USA)
Cedric Good (SUI)
Christine Rossi (FRA)
Claudine Cloue (SUI)
Dan Ross (USA)
Fabrice Becker (FRA)
Hermann Reitberger (GER)
Ian Edmondson (USA)
Isabel Brun-Rickli (SUI)
Jan (Bucher) Carmichael (USA)
Jason Bodnar (USA)
Jeff Page (USA)
Jonas Lundblad (SWE)
Justin Holland (USA)
Klaus Mühlstein (GER)
Krista Arthur (USA)
Lara Rosenbaum (USA)
Mark Pigott (AUS)
Monica Biondi (ITA)
Niklas Jernberg (SWE)
Philip Richard (SUI)
Ruedi Schutz (SUI)
Simen Andresen (NOR)
Stefan Kast (GER)
Thomas Heyerdahl (NOR)
Timo Heikkinen (FIN)
Tina Spillmann (SUI)
Ute Lehrer (SUI)

Albertville 1992 Winter Olympian and 3x World Cup winner Annika Johansson with a huge gut flip with a twist!

We are immensely grateful to these supremely talented individuals for their enthusiasm, boundless energy, passion, skill, and above all the sense of FUN that they brought to our event! Without them, none of this would have been possible. Who would have thought that we would get this far? To think that an MGG team dinner table chat one evening back in early 2023 led to many of the greatest freestyle ski athletes who ever lived joining us for such a spectacular weekend almost two years later here in Verbier, is difficult to fathom. What a time to be alive!

Aline Bot, the youngest athlete in the field and protégé of Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic gold medallist Hermann Reitberger

The entire weekend was again filmed by Scott Goedkoop and his team - please scroll to the bottom of this page to view the film!

Antti Inberg showing extreme technical prowess in the air

We would like to thank Yannick Ducrot and his assistant Iso for planning and managing the main event, and for making everything run so smoothly; Sonoval for providing the lighting and sound; Código 1530 Tequila for supporting the event and sending us 25 bottles of their excellent liquor for everyone to enjoy; the Alp & Horn pub for hosting all the athletes for dinner & drinks on the Friday evening and for delivering a brilliant after-party on the Saturday evening; and Verbier 4Vallées for collaborating with us to make the MGG Winter Waltz possible in the first place.

What a simply amazing weekend. Thank you all so much.

Watch the MGG Winter Waltz Recap Film: