Shortly after Belbin decided to switch from singles ice-skating to ice dancing, she and her coach started their search for a partner. After a two-hour tryout with Agosto, the two skaters became a pair. They, along with their families and coaches, debated on how best they could bring the two together geographically. In the end, it was decided that Tanith should move to the United States.

SM: How has your career affected your personal life? What kind of sacrifices have you had to make?
Belbin: A lot of the sacrifices were made by my family. I will forever be indebted for what they’ve given to me. But personally [the sacrifice was], obviously, just moving when I did from Canada and kind of uprooting the life that I knew. As close as the United States and Canada are, they are very different. So, it was a switch for me to come to Northville in Michigan—which is a very upper class, wealthy neighborhood—and to be in that atmosphere and to be struggling so much financially because of the sacrifices we’d made.