Adrenaline and elegance on the slopes
While the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo are in full swing, I am sitting on the edge of my seat in front of the TV. Not for Jutta Leerdam's skating — although that gold medal is obviously wonderful — but for the snowboard final of the just 19-year-old Mia Brookes. If you ask me what a snowboarder is doing in a dance blog, you probably haven't seen Mia fly yet. What she shows in the Big Air final is pure choreography, but at a height of thirty meters.
In my thirty years in the dance world, I have seen thousands of pirouettes and jumps, but the body control of this young Brit is on another level. Mia Brookes is currently in third place after her second run, after landing a crystal-clear Backside 1260. That means three and a half rotations around her axis while slicing through the air. To a dancer, that might sound like an extreme 'tour en l'air', but with the extra challenge of a board under your feet and gravity pulling at you.
The technique behind the jump
According to the latest reports from the BBC, there is already speculation in the British camps about a '14' or even a '16'. We are talking about the number of degrees of rotation here: 1440 or 1600 degrees. That is four to nearly four-and-a-half times spinning around your axis. At Miss Salsa, we always emphasize the 'spot' — the point you look at during a turn to avoid getting dizzy. Mia has no fixed point in the air; she must rely on her proprioception, the ability to feel where her body is in space.
It is precisely that 'spatial awareness' that we also see in top dancers. Whether you are performing a complex salsa combination or making a double somersault on a snowboard, the basis is the same: a rock-solid core and the ability to control your momentum. Mia Brookes is not just an athlete; she is an artist who defies the laws of physics with a nonchalance that many a professional dancer would be jealous of.
The link with ice dancing
It is interesting to see that at the same time Mia is chasing her medal, British figure skaters Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are starting their campaign. According to TNT Sports, they hope to win the first British figure skating medal since Torvill & Dean. Although figure skating is naturally much closer to traditional dance forms, I see a similar 'flow' in Mia Brookes.
Just look at the way she lands. That isn't just putting a board on the snow; that is absorbing energy, just like a dancer lands a jump in a deep plié to save the joints. If Mia doesn't land perfectly, her run is over. In the dance world, we call that 'stuck the landing'. The difference is that for her, the stakes are an Olympic medal, and a small mistake can result in a hard crash on the ice.
What we as dancers can learn from Mia
I often hear from students that they are afraid of falling or making mistakes during a fast turn. Mia Brookes shows that fear is an advisor, but not a blockage. She is currently tenth out of twelve in the starting order for the final run, which means the pressure is enormous. Yet you see her laughing and enjoying herself with her 'fan club', including her parents who are waving Union Jacks.
Specifically, there are three things we can take from her performance for our own dance practice:
- Commitment: As soon as Mia goes down the ramp, there is no turning back. She commits 100% to her trick. In dance class, I often see people 'stop' halfway through a turn out of uncertainty, which actually causes them to lose their balance.
- Visualization: You often see the snowboarders at the top of the mountain going over their movements with their eyes closed. They 'dance' the run in their heads. This is a proven technique that we as dancers should use much more often for complex choreographies.
- Resilience: The competition is cutthroat. Anna Gasser, the reigning champion, made mistakes. Mia stays cool under that pressure. That mental resilience is half the battle.
The atmosphere in Milan and Cortina
The atmosphere at the Big Air final is electric. There is a huge French presence that is noisy, but the Mia Brookes Fan Club almost drowns out everything. It reminds me of the energy during a major dance competition or a congress. That collective passion for movement is what connects us, whether it's on a parquet floor or on a snowy slope in Italy.
As I write this, Mia is preparing for her final jump. She has the 1260 in her pocket, but to take gold from Japan's Momo Suzuki or the Austrian top athletes, she will have to pull off that 1440. It's all or nothing. And that is exactly the passion I admire so much in sports and in dance. The courage to give yourself completely, knowing that the whole world is watching.
Whether she goes home with gold, silver, or bronze, Mia Brookes has already proven that she is one of the most fascinating movers of this generation. For the dancers among us: watch the replays tonight. Pay attention not only to the jumps, but to her posture, her focus, and that incredible 'airtime'. We can all learn something from that.