Prepare to get up close and personal with Olympic ice-dancing champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on January 2 when W Network premieres Tessa & Scott, a documentary series starring the irresistible ice dancers. The six-part program promises to reveal the compelling day-to-day lives of Canada’s skating sweethearts as they prepare for Sochi 2014. With one Olympics already under their belts, Tessa and Scott are stronger than ever, poised to take home the gold once again. We chatted with the duo about the stress of competing, the next generation of ice dancers and and what happens after their last skate, which might be sooner than we think. Canadian Living: How long does it take to perfect an ice-dancing program? Tessa Virtue: It really changes throughout the entire season. This year we started playing with music at the end of March [2013]. The programs will continue to change right up until Sochi. We’ll get the skeleton down, figure out the technical elements, but it will continue to evolve and change right up until The Games. CL: Do you like that the program continually changes? TV: Yes, it definitely keeps it fresh. It is an interesting thing. We’re both perfectionists and we’re striving for perfection, but it doesn’t exist in our sport. We look back on our Vancouver performances and find things that we’d like to do better. So I’m not sure if we’ll ever be completely satisfied, but you’re always looking for that. CL: You look so grounded when you compete. Are you nervous? Scott Moir: I think as your career goes on, there’s more and more on the line, and people expect you to know how to do it, so that creates a whole new type of nerves. Some days it just creeps up on you. CL: What do you focus on when you’re skating one of your programs? SM: You do it so many times sometimes you’re just going through the motions. So we try to makes the connections real, and that brings so much more story, and it helps you relate to each other and brings that unison. For us it’s all about being in sync with each other. If we fall out of that, we find ourselves in big trouble quite quickly. CL: Do you have a message for young skaters? TV: I was fortunate growing up to have parents who stressed balance. They always wanted to make sure that, just because I was a skater, it didn’t mean that was the only thing about me. I didn’t identify myself with my sport. When I came home from the rink we didn’t talk about it—it was my hobby and my thing. I was exposed to different sports and different activities, and it was all about balance. Nowadays, it seems that there are a lot more kids who are one-sport focused, and that scares me. SM: Especially for young kids too, we always talk about being passionate and really loving what you’re doing. I had so many loves when I was growing up—I loved playing hockey but I also loved ice dancing with Tessa. More important than the hours of training, it’s to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, especially when you’re young. We see kids that don’t get their childhood anymore—they’re training for nine hours a day when they’re six, seven, eight years old. It’s not necessary. And you’re not getting anything more than the kid who’s there for an hour, who truly loves what he’s doing, begging for his mom and dad to take him to the rink. CL: If you weren’t Olympians, what would you be doing? TV: I would have danced a lot longer. I went to the National Ballet for one summer and I loved ballet. I had to make a choice because I was already dancing with Scott. Now school is really important to me. There’s a masters program in Positive Psychology that I’d like to do, or maybe law school one day. Since the Olympics I’ve also learned that I love the business side of things, so I see myself in that role. CL: Scott, what’s in your future after skating? SM: Good question. I lay awake at night thinking about what I want to do. As a boy, my goal was to lift the Stanley Cup above my head. My first love was hockey. I wouldn’t have made it to the NHL, I wasn’t good enough, but I’d like to think that I’d be involved in sports in some way. I really do love to coach, so I do see that as part of my life going forward. Watch Tessa & Scott on W Network Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST starting January 2. And for more on Canada's favourite ice dancers, read Team Canada Ice Dancers: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, from Canadian Living's February 2014 issue. Photo courtesy of W Network