When Caroline Green and Michael Parsons skate, they want the audience to feel the love they have for ice dancing.

If the audience is smiling at the end of a performance, they know they did a good job. And if the judges are smiling — or rather hiding their smiles in their score sheets — then they know it was an exceptional showing.

While their competitors may take on more serious tones during an Olympic season, Green and Parsons went with a routine set to a mix of ‘Groove is in the Heart" and “I’m Too Sexy.” Parson describes it as a fusion of ’90s dance and ’90s kitsch, complete with a colorful costume for Green and lots of spunk from both of them throughout.

“It’s super bubbly and fun and like a little bit ridiculous and tongue-in-cheek at times,” Parsons said. “We just want everyone in the audience to have as much fun as we’re having.”

They’ve stuck with ice dancing because it’s fun. The passion they have for the sport has taken them from Montgomery County, where they grew up skating at Wheaton Ice Arena, first with their respective siblings and then with each other, to adulthood as they’ve represented the United States as part of the National Team.

They were alternates at the 2022 Olympics, a placement that they viewed as a jumping-off point for the next Olympic cycle. Since then, they’ve switched coaches, moved to Michigan and continued to showcase their passion for the sport to fans around the world.

Now the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. On Jan. 8 and 10th, they’ll compete at the U.S. Figure Skating National Championship. Skaters’ performance there, combined with international results, will determine who will earn one of three pairs’ spots on the 2026 U.S. Olympic Ice Dancing Team.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are seen as a lock for the first spot. Beyond that, Green and Parsons will compete with pairs Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, and Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik for the final two spots.

The team will be announced on Jan. 11. The Olympics will be held in February in Milano Cortina.

“Green and Parsons are very theatrical and exciting and have a lot of international experience, and with a clean skate could certainly challenge for one of the spots in Milan,” said Johnny Weir, a two-time Olympian who is now a commentator for NBC. “What I love most about this partnership is the way they always allow their personalities to shine.”

Montgomery County, while flush with summer Olympians, hasn’t had much success in the Winter Olympics. Freestyler Ashley Caldwell, who was born in Montgomery Village but grew up in Virginia, was the sole athlete with county ties at the 2022 Games. The last known Olympic ice dancer to come out of the region was Kent Weigle in 1976.

Parsons and Green want to change that. While they may no longer train in Maryland, they still consider Derwood and Rockville to be home. And come February, they want to be in Italy, representing not only their country but the community that sparked their joy and helped them get there.

From learn-to-skate classes to world-class elites

Parsons never intended to be an ice dancer. His goal was to be a hockey player, but his mom, Christine, told him he first needed to take a figure skating class to learn the basics. She also signed up his younger sister, Rachel.

It wasn’t long before Michael fell in love and ditched his original plan.

“I thought ‘Oh, this would really help my skating skills for hockey when I transition to that sport,’” Michael Parsons said. “Still waiting for that transition.”

Christine Parsons, who grew up on ice and is now a skating instructor, was already in this world. Mary Green, Caroline’s mom, wasn’t. She put her kids in skating lessons because her husband is from upstate New York. He wanted them to learn so they could skate as a family.

As they were learning the basics, Russian ice dancers Alexei Kiliakov and Elena Novak were launching the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy (WISA). To find talent, they scoured local ice rinks. They spotted the Parsons siblings and invited them into their program shortly after they launched in 2003. The Green siblings were recruited and followed a few years later.

With WISA, Kiliakov and Novak created a rigorous training program that included skating, ballet, ballroom and hip hop classes. The D.C. area doesn’t have many year-round ice rinks — Montgomery County runs just two — but here was a team full of budding elite ice dancers. Soon, WISA was attracting talent from all over the world.

“They really built it from the ground up, this grassroots skating school that became at many points one of the most powerful ones in the country,” Parsons said. “Before them, there was really nothing in the Maryland, DC area.”

That team became a community. Family vacations for the Parsons and Greens became trips to ice dancing competitions, where the families bonded over dinner or in hotel lobbies. Neighborhood Fourth of July parties instead became a team event in the Parsons’ backyard.

“I think a lot of times you hear about skaters being really isolated in their home rinks or going to train with other groups of skaters and leaving home,” Green said. “I think we just really lucked out with the fact that we had that in our backyard and had a lot of people that were going through the same things that we were.”

They all had success, both pairs winning junior national titles — 2017 for the Parsons and 2019 for the Greens — and competing at Junior World Championships. And while they did bicker occasionally, the sibling pairs, for the most part, got along. They didn’t have to deal with the politics that other pairs might have. If there was an issue, they could fix it as a family.

The families allowed their kids to continue down this path on one condition: They had to be having fun. For most of their childhoods, the answer was always yes.

Until 2019. Gordon Green was graduating from high school and wanted to have a normal college experience. Rachel Parsons was struggling with the standards set for women in the sport, Michael said, and skating was no longer a happy place for her. She moved to Florida, where she found her spark again, Michael said.

As they watch their siblings living normal lives, neither Caroline Green or Michael Parsons allows themselves to think of life on the other side. They’d rather focus on being grateful that they still find joy in the sport while reminiscing on the time they had with their siblings.

“If I could go back, I would do it exactly the same,” Michael said. “Rachel and I experienced so much together, and we’ll always have that to reminisce over or just laugh about. I had such a great journey with her.”

A new partnership

After Gordon Green and Rachel Parsons retired, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons were left without partners. As they tried out new ones, the two practiced together. It felt natural and easy, like they had been skating with each other their entire lives.

Because, in a way, they had. The pairs shared ice time together, traveled to the same competitions and were part of the same community. They trusted each other, the most important trait in a sport where a flinch can turn into a devastating injury.

The transition, they said, was seamless. By the end of 2019, they had their first international medal — a bronze at the Challenger Series Warsaw Cup. They entered 2022 with an outside chance of being selected to the Olympic team. They were named first alternates, a nomination they saw as confirmation that they are on the right path.

“To have that in your back pocket, to remember when you are really doubting yourself and what you are doing, to remember like ‘I can do this. I’ve done this.’” Parsons said. “It’s a good motivating factor.”

Following the 2022 season — which ended with a gold medal a the Four Contents Championships — they felt like it was time for a change. Olympic ice dancers Tanith and Charlie White had just opened the Michigan Ice Dancing Academy, an elite training team, right outside Detroit. With Green graduating that spring from Richard Montgomery High School, it was the perfect time for them to make the move.

“It’s hard when you’re in one place for so long it can be hard to find new ways to grow,” Green said. “It just got to a point where we really felt in order to grow, not just as skaters but as people, that it was time to try something new. The environment that we found at the Michigan Ice Dancing Academy has been really incredible for us.”

At Michigan Ice Dancing Academy, they were granted the independence they hadn’t experienced before. On ice, they were now responsible for dictating how they wanted to train. Off ice, Caroline, who had previously lived at home and was accompanied by her mom on all trips, was learning how to be on her own.

“It was a huge risk making the change that we did,” Green said. “With that, not only came a lot of discomfort with the newness of the experience and training with a whole new group of people, and learning to build trust with a whole new group of people, but overcoming the self-doubt that comes with. ... Like, I’ve uprooted my whole life for this? Was it worth it?”

That question, whether it was all worth it, is something both of their parents have pondered. Their children gave up a normal childhood and college experience to spend hours on the ice. And the sport is expensive — the Parsons used the money they set aside for Michael’s college, and also raised money on GoFundMe.

But at the end of the day, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons love what they do. And that alone, regardless of what happens in January when the Olympic team is announced, is enough to have made it all worth it.

“It would be fabulous, I’m not going to lie, if she and Michael make the team,” Mary Green said. “We love both of them. The Parsons are on the same page with that. If it happens, we’ll be ecstatic, and if it doesn’t, well, they’ve accomplished so much, and we want to support that. We are so proud of them regardless.”