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STANDARD DISCLAIMER
These are my own opinions and observations. I may not always be
100% accurate and my ideas are certainly open to debate and criticism.
I prefer the Russian style of skating and may not be as enchanted with
the "popular favorites" in North America. I hope that these reports are
enjoyable to most readers, but I do not apologise for stating my own
feelings.
Most of this review appeared on the skatefans e-mail list. I had a wonderful time getting to see some of my very favorite skaters in the world, very up close. Saint John is very hospitable and I plan to attend the 1997 Junior World Championships there.
(NB: The ISU was playing around with the "Junior Champions Series" concept and had junior events at this event and at 1995 Trophée Lalique). Jayson Denommée of Canada skated a bluesy program with Budding Boy Tart moves but took a fall on the triple axel. Silvio Smalun of Germany had gorgeous flow and hung on to a triple lutz combination and then a nice triple sal solo. If I were Dick Button, I would have said that he could have used a little more sit in his sit spin. But I'm not and so I simply said, "yummy." Zoltan Köszegi of Hungary was the slowest of the men and put in a 3 turn after his triple lutz. He had a nice double axel out of a spreadeagle and wore a waiter outfit (his day job?). Stanick Jeannette of France was the guy to beat in the triple axel category and landed a nice one with 2 toe. Derrick Delmore of the US blew it in the short with a bad fall on the triple axel with no speed entering the jump and then a fall on the lutz. Sit spin variation - the "foetus spin." Cheesy music and suitably cheesy costume.
Köszegi went first with "Rhapsody in Blue" in another waiter outfit (this time blue) and had a great performance with a triple lutz, toe, and sal, and a 3 sal/2 loop combination. Slow, no footwork, funny-looking camel spin. Cute. Denommée took another fall on the 3 axel to start his long, but skated quite well thereafter. Footwork was quite fast and well integrated, good musical sense and flow. Delmore had the best flow and most interesting choreography of the bunch and skated very well in the long, landing the triple axel to Yet More Paso Doble music. Fell on the loop and didn't land the lutz well. Groovy split flip and illusion spin. Jeannette, the guy with the big triple axel, took a seat on it to start off his long program and then completely fell apart. Nice speed in a program that seemed to consist of crosscuts and desperate attempts to re-do popped jumps. Desastre. My boy, Silvio, had rather a tragic free skate himself and placed last in the free but fourth overall. Beautiful expressive arms, great spreadeagles, and a nice double axel and triple sal. Nothing else was working for him, though.
I didn't believe it at first, but it was really the same Evelyn Grossmann who won Europeans back in 89/90. She had to start off the women's event, looked very nervous, and fell or stepped out of every jump. Not a lot of ice coverage or anything else, for that matter. She represents Germany for those who don't know and I guess has been around all this time. I had assumed she had retired. Jennifer Robinson was up next skating to "The Mission." She was very slow and almost put her hand down on the double axel, although she did manage the triple lutz/pause/single toe. Hanae Yokoya of Japan wore a yellow and black dress and skated to weird music that Maria Butyrskaya used in 1992. She had a great triple lutz/double toe and then a very nice triple salchow. The electronic music suited her and she looked very solid and fast. Krisztina Czako of Hungary skated to "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and fell on both the lutz and the triple toe. The most distinctive thing about her program was her double axel entry, like a lutz (from a counter). When I saw it for the first time live, I thought she was forgetting what she was doing! It was only later that the Midori precedent was remembered.
Josée Chouinard started out strong with a triple lutz/double toe and a big death drop. Because of her music, I wrote in my notes "one tough Tweety Bird." Unfortunately she then fell on the loop. Canadian Susan Humphreys was next in an icky pale pink dress and bland performance with a 3 toe/2 toe and a doubled sal. Olga Markova of Russia skated to an electronic version of "The Four Seasons" and wore a black dress with a white under-ruffle. She was not very on in any of the practices or this performance and skated rather slowly, with uncharacteristically shaky spins and a fall on the triple lutz. She has apparently had a tough time with a foot injury. Yelena Liashenko of Ukraine had some nice footwork, but doubled the toe loop and fell on the lutz. Not her night! Michelle Kwan of the US was next with her flamenco guitar program in the ruffly red dress. Oh, now you've all seen it so I don't need to describe it. It was very nicely done if a bit slow. She seems to have de-Oksana-ized it in stages since Best of the Best. Last was Lucinda Ruh of Switzerland in a new short haircut and a wetsuit- looking blue dress skating to "Rondo Capriccioso." I didn't recognize her until she spun. She skated rather slowly with below average ice overage and then singled her axel.
Yelena Liashenko was first with last year's long program to "Le Cid" and "Widow of Valencia." She managed the triple lutz and triple flip, both with "Steven Cousins" entries (half the ice covered in heinously prolonged set-ups), but had lots of problems thereafter. She has nice speed and good footwork, but needs some "matoority" in her presentation and in the integration of jumps into her choreography. Krisztina Czako skated to gypsy-type music in a red dress and had a pretty much disastrous program. Susan Humphreys also wore red and had good flow and a very nice spiral. Two footed the flip, doubled the lutz, and fell on the loop. Not an amazing comeback performance. Jennifer Robinson skated to Spanish music in a white dress and had lots of jump problems in a program that had little in it besides stroking around. She was by far the slowest women's skater and came in last overall. Evelyn Grossmann managed a whopping triple salchow and triple toe loop. Next up was Hanae Yokoya, who skated to "tribal" sounding music in a cool outfit that consisted of a light blue sparkly short-sleeved jacket top over a dark blue skirt with a silver waistband. Lots of technical content, but the choreography seemed to consist of her skating back and forth between jumps. Lucinda Ruh wore a hot pink dress so much in the same style as her short program dress that I wondered if it was in fact the same dress, turned inside out. She had a lot of jump problems as well and was probably not thrilled with her first "Skate International Series" performance. Her spins are, of course, breathtaking.
Michelle Kwan of the US was next with "Salome." You've all seen the performance, so I won't say anything about which jumps she landed. She skated slowly and with little sparkle. Less technical content and less intensity than Skate America. My neighbour wrote "ZZZZZZZZ" in her notebook and while I wouldn't go quite that far, I would qualify some of the oohings and aahings by saying it was not the most exciting program or the most fabulous "artistry." Her flow is wonderful and I love her spreadeagle. The funny thing about her new "matoor" style is the incongruities involved. I have no problem with her wearing a lot of make-up. Or with wearing a midriff-baring dress. But because she still has a little-kid body, the "sexy" dress just looks like a dress up, or a bathing suit, or as my ZZZZZ writing neighbour put it, "Disney Salome." I mean, Kurt is welcome to his own opinion, but if Michelle is not skating a seductive program. If she is, I missed it. Josée Chouinard was up next in a deep blue dress that looked wonderful on her. Opening seconds were strong with a gorgeous triple salchow, but things degenerated rapidly and there were at least three bad falls - flip, lutz and loop. She also doubled the second triple lutz and popped the double axel. Olga Markova was last skating her "Miss Saigon" program. She two-footed the triple lutz and fell out of the landing of the triple sal, but otherwise skated much better than in the short. Somehow she came in fourth, which struck me as very curious considering Josée's performance. Olga got rather unfavorable presentation marks and I wondered if her "drive-by Bestemianova squat" in front of the judges' panel put the proverbial nail in the coffin. Needless to say, I was NOT happy with that final result.
Yelena Beloussovskaya & Sergei Potalov of Ukraine - same short as Skate America. He put hand down on 3 toe, big unison problem on spin. Nice speed. Maria Petrova & Anton Sikharulidzhe of Russia - red costumes, Tchaikovski violin music. Nice side by side triple toes, great flow and unison. He just about lost it on a spin but somehow managed to keep rotating awkwardly to keep in time with her. Jodeyne Higgins & Sean Rice of Canada - drippy music, blue fluttery costumes. She fell out of the double axel landing. I noted that she had a really nice air position in the lift, though. Lynne Haddad & Sylvain Privé of France - blues music. She had a fall on the double axel. Michelle Menzies & Jean-Michel Bombardier of Canada - jazz medley in grapey costumes (last year's program?). Both fell on the SBS triple salchows. Connection to music??? Yevgenia Shishkova & Vadim Naumov of Russia - beautiful traditional pairs program to "Ave Maria." White costumes with subtle yellow and pink dye on sleeves and draping fabric. Perfect SBS triple toes. Lesley Rogers & Michael Aldred of Great Britain - black and silver costumes and jazz music. Both fell on triple toes, painfully slow pairs spin. Shelby Lyons & Brian Wells of the US - Spanish music. He fell out of the SBS triple sal and then they had some unison problems in the spins. Nice death spiral with Shelby holding one of her ankles behind her.
Haddad & Privé - good speed on lifts, nice throw triple salchow. Not much technical content. Rogers & Aldred - "Lawrence of Arabia" music and blue and white costumes. Couple of falls. She walked through a jump at the end of the program. Menzies & Bombardier - nice opening death spiral with change of foot (hers, that is). I don't think they had a single SBS jump without one or the other two-footing or popping. When Jean-Michel popped the opening triple salchow I turned to my friend and said, "you know, he should really just stay at home and cook and bear Josée some children." Lyons & Wells - a great performance in grey costumes (hers had Kerriganesque white sleeves) with SBS double axels, a throw triple sal and a throw double axel, and a great split triple twist. Very impressive and enough to move them up to fourth overall. Shishkova & Naumov skated their new long to "Don Quixote" wearing... oh wait, you've seen this. Well, live it was about the same. A little sloppy and lacking in energy, but they obviously outclassed their competition nonetheless. Beloussovskaya & Potalov had lots of problems with a popped throw jump and him falling on a SBS jump. Their cool ending combination jump was also pretty much dead in the water. Oh well. Petrova & Sikharulidzhe skated to "The Four Seasons" in black costumes with little collars and silver on their shoulders. Again, they had wonderful speed and ice coverage, but couldn't compare to Shishkova & Naumov's extension, footwork, or choreography. They didn't finish with the music, which didn't help either. I missed most of Higgins & Rice because I had to leave, but they apparently made a few mistakes but had enough content to hang in for the bronze.
Scott Davis of the US had to skate first of 15. Bummer. You've seen the program. I thought it was pretty weak. Relying on music with a persistent beat to reduce footwork and/or other choreography does not impress me. Steven Cousins of Great Britain was up next in a pink top skating to Spanish music and wiggling his way into everyone's heart. Good 3 axel/2 toe but a stumble on the exit of his camel spin, which was probably caused by the broken strap on his pants. Solo triple was a toe loop and as I noted, two judges gave him 5.8s for presentation. I have written down "Male Wiggly Show." My friend said he was "too tank-like to be slinky." Personally, I see the makings of someone's thesis in the phenomenon of men as come-hithery skating Chippendales. Not MY thesis, of course. Dmitri Dmitrienko of Ukraine skated a wonderful short program with a 3 axel/2 toe and a 3 lutz. Minor spin problems but inventive footwork and wonderful style. He got absolute crap marks, however. Music was obnoxious pounding piano music that he must have done himself. Costume was adorable - big baggy pants pulled up almost over his stomach with suspenders. UBF: Undermarked By Fascists. Cornel Gheorghe of Romania had lots of problems - fell out of the triple axel, hand down on the lutz, and then fell victim to the Curse of the Wandering Camel. Naoki Shigematsu of Japan, looking as though he were up past his bedtime, skated to Spanish music in an orange costume. Not a lot of choreographic content or connection to the music. His combination was 3 flip/2 toe and solo was the lutz. Eric Millot of France has a great new short program to Big Band music wearing a tan jumpsuit. He pulled off the 3 axel/2 toe but then fell out of the flip. Footwork is better than ever, but unfortunately he was all the way down in sixth after the short.
Former Soviet former Latvian now German Andrei Vlashchenko had a somewhat disastrous short (especially in comparison to Skate America) with very tilted jumps and a step out of the triple axel. Hungarian Szabolcs Vidrai skated to "La Cucaracha" in a black costume with gold military type trim and fell out of a badly tilted triple axel. Barely landed the double axel, but had a nice triple lutz. Sébastien Britten of Canada looked marvelous but couldn't land the triple axel. He then put a hand down on the lutz. His stroking was the best of any of the men and his back camel spin with the bent free leg is truly exquisite. Thierry Cerez of France was up next in a white top and black pants skating to "French sounding music." He fell on the triple axel. Lutz was okay but his positions in spins were quite poor. Markus Leminen of Finland was also working on the triple axel all week with little success and had a bad fall on it in the short. He has a great death drop and nice speed in his sit spin. Aleksei Urmanov of Russia was next and wore a costume that could only be described as "Bestemianova & Bukhin in Middle Earth," skating to "Night on Bald Mountain." He landed a huge triple axel/double toe and a great triple lutz. He has some new footwork and as usual, thematically suited spin variations. No one could touch him in terms of speed and flow over the ice. Even so, his performance was a little tentative. I loved the choreography, but then, I worship the Kleenex he honks his nose in.
Misha Shmerkin of Israel, who was on my plane coming in along with Frank Carroll, skated last year's short program and did a great job with a triple axel, minor pause, double toe, and a nice triple lutz. Jean-Francois Hebert of Canada skated to "Zorba the Greek." Yes, just when you thought it was safe to go back into the rink with Scott Davis around. Fell on the triple axel but lots of other things were working for him: death drop, footwork, and spins with above average positions and speed. Last was Vyacheslav Zagorodniuk, who skated his sailor boy program with a huge triple axel which unfortunately resulted in a huge splat. Triple lutz was better than Skate America but only good enough for fifth overall.
First up was Shigematsu, who opened his program with a big fall on a triple axel. Lack of posture, lack of extension on the camel spin, lots of jump problems. J-F Hebert skated to Grieg in a burnt- orange tunic vest and had a rather disastrous program himself after starting out very well with a strong triple axel/double toe that came out of *nowhere* and a triple lutz landed with no height whatsoever. The show started with Vidrai, who skated to "weird Big Band music" in a Hungarian waiter outfit and had what might have been the skate of his life with a triple axel/TRIPLE toe, triple lutz, loop, and salchow. No choreography and if he spun, I must have missed it. But he was thrilled and the audience was (as usual) very enthusiastic. Thierry Cerez skated to what was perhaps the worst selection of music I have ever heard. It sounded like someone with attention deficit disorder flipping channels on the radio. A radio in Hell that only plays overplayed skating music. The choreographer also needs to be shot. He was happy to be standing (well, squatting) after his opening triple axel, which was underrotated and two-footed. There was an awful lot of the Candeloro run-while-slouching motif. I was dismayed.
Markus Leminen, winner of the Boring Costume Award, had a bad landing on a doubled triple axel and lots of problems through his program with his only solid jumps sal, loop and toe. Some obvious House of Leigh footwork. Dmitri Dmitrienko tried desperately to be normal in his long program, with his own wonderful personality seeping in at various points. He skated to "Hamlet" by Shostakovich and wore a black and silver outfit. A few problems, but a triple axel, flip, loop, and sal. He turned out of the landing of the second triple axel. Vlashchenko skated his interesting program to "Faust" with major problems - popped first 3 axel, fell on the second, etc. Sébastien again opened with a fall on the triple axel, which he has nowhere near the height to land, and then had two more falls later in the program. Same story as the short. Beautiful skating, problems with jumps which seem to build on each other. Eric Millot skated a wonderful Western themed program, as you have seen on television. Looked ready to mosey on down to Edmonton. I think my favorite part was when he put away his guns after landing that gorgeous triple loop. Cornel Gheorghe skated to his usual jazzy stuff in a black costume with a gold sparkly bow tie and belt/cummerbund thing. Overall, I thought he was a little slow and wasn't surprised when bad things started to happen half-way through his program.
Scott Davis was first in the final group of men. I thought he was trying to be balletic in the program with arm movements, etc., and wasn't sure if it didn't work or if it did but it was just boring. I have to admit that his final scratch spin was fabulous, but overall I find him about as interesting as Cheez Whiz. Misha was up next after a moment of silence for Yitzhak Rabin. It was actually the second moment of silence, the first coming in the intermission. When the announcer asked for our attention, I was positive that he was going to say that Bourne & Kraatz had chosen to withdraw. The actual announcement was, of course, a lot more shocking. Misha had another such moment before he began his long program and as he moved to get into his opening pose someone in the audience yelled out, "long live Israel!" A good way to break the tension without minimizing the situation. I won't describe the program since it has been shown on US television now.
Steven Cousins was next with a program to Guns n' Roses and Led Zeppelin and other similar things. Sort of an adolescent male idea of intense artistic statements. Nice triple axel but some problems afterwards. He could use Posture 101 and had really impressive ice coverage on his, um, spin. Oh well. Vyacheslav was next with "Troll's Night at the Ballet." I adore this program but he had a terrible night with only his second, beautiful triple axel standing out as a highlight. I love all the spirals as well as the "toe pick abuse." Last but not least, Aleksei skated to what the program called "Princess of the Circus." Don't ask me, because I've never heard of it. You've seen the program and the costume. I wished for a cummerbund so he didn't look quite so much like a giant plush toy (that's a LOT of velour), but the sequined accent over his tush is good enough to keep the costume from Icky Pairs Skater resemblances. Great footwork and use of lunges and knees (it wouldn't be an Aleksei program...) Nice timing and incorporation of the jumps. And the final spin in front of the judges must be seen up close to be fully appreciated in its outrageous flamboyance. I call it the "F*** You Spin."
This is the event I'm least capable of commenting on with any competence. The Silver Samba is not a particularly complex senior dance, but IMHO needs to be carried out with precision, sharp transitions, and flair to make it carry as a performance. I thought in both dances that Romanova & Yaroshenko were perhaps a bit more "snappy" and faster than Anissina & Peizerat, but maybe they were a little too exuberant and less precise. It was hard to differentiate from my seats in the rafters on that kind of level. Bourne & Kraatz skated quite nicely and did not appear held back by Shae-Lynn's 17 stitches in her knee. In practice, I never saw her smile and in fact, she usually grimaced or looked on the verge of tears. She was obviously in a hell of a lot of pain and skated through it. Thank god, she hasn't reinjured herself by deciding to skate.
The Argentine Tango is a more interesting and complex dance (with not quite as irritating music!) and I had similar reactions to most of the performances. In both compulsories, Drobiazko & Vanagas of Lithuania placed ahead of the Italians, Fusar-Poli & Margaglio, who skated a little further apart and with turns that were not quite as precise. Winkler & Lohse of Germany were last of 10 in both, behind the young Canadian skaters Wing & Lowe. Yes, those names were confusing, but the former are tall and blonde and the latter short and brunette, and so no visual confusion arose.
I missed the first group of Pasos. Apparently I did not miss much with Wing & Lowe or with the French team of Agnes Jacquemard & Alexis Gayet. Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse's I saw in practice and at Skate America. It is quite clever and attractive, if a little short on the complexity and ice coverage.
Irina Romanova & Igor Yaroshenko of Ukraine skated a very nice Paso, not terribly difficult or fast across the ice. Some new positions. Barry told me that she designs their costumes, which I thought was wonderful. I wondered if her hair would go over well with the judges or make some kind of negative visual impact - it is black and frizzy and was not put up or braided for the dance. Barbara Fusar-Poli & Maurizio Margaglio of Italy had a great, audience-pleasing Paso Doble with lots of "fight scenes" and gesticulation. Like a miniature Univision soap opera. Shae-Lynne Bourne & Victor Kraatz of Canada had one of the two most interesting Paso Dobles. It was very sensuous and lyrical and skated very beautifully. My only tiny concern was that I wondered if they had the proper interpretation of a Paso and if any international judges would not be happy with it, in comparison to Krylova & Ovsyannikov especially. Having seen both, K&O'S is traditionally Spanish, fast, flamboyant, full of lunges and snapping turns and twizzles. It's exuberant, whereas B&K's is more dreamy. Despite some cape-like moves with Shae-Lynn stretched out over Victor's leg, I have a feeling they might not get away with this interpretation. I mean, you can do that if you're Torvill & Dean, but B&K simply are not.
Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania had, as usual, lots of twirls and showy lifts and spins. They were probably penalized for focusing more on those non-dancing moves than on the footwork and holds. Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat had in my opinion the best-skated Paso of the night. They used different music from everybody else, which immediately made them stand out. They had great use of lunges, dips, and alternating slow and fast steps and really put on quite a show. I thought they outskated the more tentative (and understandably so) Bourne & Kraatz, and four of the nine judges thought so too. Wow!! Irina Lobachova & Ilya Averbukh of Russia had a Paso with quite a unique focus - that of male display. Ilya is the more flamboyant and dynamic of the pair to begin with, but this dance was quite interesting with a lot of holds and steps with him actually in front of Irina, and moves with him twirling or being displayed otherwise to the judges. (I liked it a lot :-)) Finally, Yelizaveta Stekolnikova & Dmitri Kazarlyga of Kazakhstan skated the other most interesting Paso. I think I already discussed this in the context of Skate America. I worship them. I have decided to dye my hair bright red like Stekolnikova's. No, seriously!
I didn't have my notebook with me for this and so no notes but I will try to remember everyone's program. Jacquemard & Gayet were one of the first couples and had a fall in their program. I think they must have excreted sequins all over the ice because the other dancers in the first group didn't have any sequins of note on their costumes and when Wing & Lowe came on, they spent 10 minutes scooping up sequins and then sent the squeegee patrol out with shovels to clean up the sequins. You have to love a sport where you have a time-out to pick up fallen sequins. Anyway, Wing & Lowe had an enjoyable, simple, somewhat slow performance to modern music. Winkler & Lohse skated their samba in the electric blue costumes with little footwork but nice flair and presentation. They must develop their ice coverage if they want to move up in the world. Drobiazko & Vanagas skated to blues in red, back and white costumes. This was a clever, fun program with some very different twirls and twists. They almost hit the boards in practice while both were skating backwards, producing audible gasps from the people watching in the stands. Fusar-Poli & Margaglio skated what was to me a less interesting program to "I Got Rhythm" and other such music in people-in-a-ballroom white costumes. To me they were a little slower and a lot less fun, but the judges marked them ahead of D&V. Perhaps D&V got marked down for something I didn't catch, but since they had been ahead of F-P&M in both the CDs and the OD, I'm sure they were not happy.
Two Charlestons in a row with Katerina Mrazova & Martin Simecek of the Czech Republic and Stekolnikova & Kazarlyga of Kazakhstan. Mrazova & Simecek's was probably the program of theirs I have most enjoyed and was very fun and skated with good speed and variation of steps. Bright yellow costumes. Speaking of costumes, Stekolnikova & Kazarlyga wore different ones than they had worn at Skate America or in practice. While watching them in practice that morning, I had noted that Yelizaveta's dress, which was bright teal with black fringe at the bottom and cut-out squares of illusion fabric from the waist down, clearly revealed her underwear through the illusion squares. (Maybe it was so dark in that arena in Detroit that nobody noticed?) As my witty friend said, "I see London, I see Kazakhstan..."
The final group was very exciting to watch unfold. Lobachova & Averbukh skated to Neapolitan music ("O Sole Mio," "Santa Lucia," etc.) wearing teal and purple costumes. I think only Lucinda Ruh has a smaller waist than Ilya Averbukh. It was very fast, fun and stylish, thoroughly enjoyable. Romanova & Yaroshenko skated to "Zorba the Greek" in tan costumes. They did their darnedest to put in a step to every beat or every other beat of this very fast music. They don't have a problem keeping up with the music, but they need to do something that holds together as a dance a little more. Anissina & Peizerat skated to cha-cha and mambo type music. This was the "showiest" dance of the lot, up to a cartwheel type move. Although it looked like the best dance in practice, it got a little sloppy in the performance and right near the end of it, Gwendal slipped and fell. I don't want to know what Marina was thinking at that moment, considering how close they had been to B&K in the original dance! Overall, I was impressed with their flamboyance, original choreography, and all-out, bloodthirsty challenge to Bourne & Kraatz. Very intense.
Okay. Please remember that I have only seen it twice, once in practice and once in the competition. BUT, I was very underwhelmed by Bourne & Kraatz's free dance. Maybe they are planning to put more in it. Maybe they were holding back because of Shae-Lynn's knee. I hope so. There was almost nothing IN it, besides one or two moves that they have done for the past three years straight. Yes, and??? You can't fault the music - I love "Harlem Nocturne" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood will never rub THIS girl the wrong way. But I was really not impressed with this and felt robbed. If you're going to talk about how innovative you are and how you are changing the face of ice dancing, well, you had better do it instead of just posturing. Boring costumes too, pink dress on her and a black outfit on him. I really expected something interesting from them. Stroking around and deep edges is not innovative, kids. It's also not all that interesting for four minutes, either.
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