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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.
First up were Kyoko Ina & Jason Dungjen of the US, skating a new short program to "Zorba the Greek" in flowing white costumes with gold accents. Excellent double twist, he turned out/fell out of triple toe. Speed decent, but spins were slow. Next were Yevgenia Shishkova & Vadim Naumov of Russia, another new program to a jazz piano version of the Bach "Toccata." Loved the costumes, which were flowy grey, black and white. Vadim's had a sparkly doggie collar and a white ruffled cape. Yeah, baby! Triple toes were okay, but unison was off. Excellent double twist and SBS spins. The choreography was a bit edgy and less classical than their last few programs, a nice change for them.
Michelle Menzies & Jean-Michel Bombardier of Canada skated last year's short to Debussy, but instead of the teal costumes, they had switched to a red dress for her and a plain blue bodysuit for him, which looked like practice outfits. They were late coming out for the warm-up and I wonder if there was a problem with the other costumes. She has a nice split into the double twist, both missed triple sals, but not too messy, excellent lift - he seems to have bulked up since last year. Danielle Hartsell & Steve Hartsell of the US skated next to "Lord of the Dance" in cream, navy and forest green costumes. Both fell on the SBS triple toes. Lift position not very effective. Very generic choreography.
Marina Yeltsova & Andrei Bushkov of Russia have a new short program to a piano concerto which I found somewhat dull. Good SBS triple toes, and an amazing hand-to-hand lift with multiple changes of position. Shelby Lyons & Brian Wells of the US skated last year's "happy ethnic" program in the same icky powder blue costumes. He fell on the SBS triple sal and they lost unison briefly on the SBS spins. Marina Khalturina & Andrei Kryukov of Kazakhstan also had last year's short, to "Be My Love," but different costumes. She wore a peach chiffon baby-doll dress while he wore a peach top over black pants. Landed the SBS triple sals, but he had poor footwork during the lift, a bit scary.
Last up were a cute couple from Slovakia, Olga Bestandigova & Josef Bestandig. They seemed to get the most mutilation of their names by the announcers (who for the third year in a row that I have attended Skate America were just abysmal). First she got called "Oleg" and then for a while they were both Bestandigovas. They must have left Detroit with some gender issues. Anyway, they were somewhere near the bottom of the standings at Europeans last year and I couldn't really fathom why they had gotten this invitation, but they were pretty adorable. She fell on the set-down from the double twist and then she singled the SBS double axels. They skated to "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and didn't finish the SBS spins at the same time.
First up were Menzies & Bombardier, skating a lovely new program to the soundtrack of "Schindler's List." They have finally hit a style that suits them and brings out all of their best qualities. Unfortunately, they struggle so much with the jumps that they just don't have the overall package to move up in the world. Michelle wore a peach dress and Jean-Michel a grey waistcoat and trousers with a white top underneath. Nice BI death spiral and a solid throw triple salchow. He fell out of the SBS double axels. Their split triple twist looks much improved, it always used to look a bit labored. Hand-to-hand lift to star position, they seem to lack variety in the lifts. SBS triple sals were doubled. Throw double axel okay, landed a bit on the toe. FI death spiral, SBS 2 flip-2 toe sequence, excellent hip lift. Beautiful pairs spiral-Ina Bauer section, he has much better extension than most male skaters.
Lyons & Wells skated next in black and white velvet costumes to jazzy sort of peppy music. Landed the SBS triple loops! Trouble with the split triple twist; Shelby was not fully rotated. Fall on the throw triple loop, travelled on pairs spin. Throw triple salchow was lovely. SBS triple sals - he doubled. FI death spiral - here Shelby has improved her position and her stretch. Interesting lift with some loss of speed. BO death spiral. Decent "platter" lift. Shelby still never seems to fully stretch in the lifts, which makes them look weaker and more tentative than they probably actually are. The technique seems good, but the lifts just don't look nice. SBS 2 flips - he singled - 2 toes. A bit slow and dull for such perky music.
Next up were the Hartsells from the US skating to "Samson and Delilah" in lavender. Yes, lavender. Steve was a good boy and wore a lavender costume without any noticeable embarrassment or squirming, although he did wait until the last minute to come out in the costume and changed out of it immediately after leaving the ice. Split triple twist had excellent extension on Danielle's part, fast rotation. Looked a bit like Kazakova & Dmitriev's. Throw triple sal was also excellent. He fell out of the SBS triple toes. Strong lift with flip-out dismount. BI death spiral, very good speed and position, better than Lyons & Wells. SBS double axels, he may have landed on an inside edge, but pulled it out. A bit of trouble with hand-to-hand lift. Throw double axel nice, not spectacular. 2 flip-2 toe. SBS spins slow, only a few rev's. OK star lift. FI death spiral good. Overall, they lost speed at the end of their program, a strong start, good potential. Some of their individual elements were outstanding.
Last in the first group were the cute young pair from Slovakia, Bestandigova & Bestandig. We noticed that their coach placed a small stuffed pig on the boards while they skated. A good luck charm? They skated to "James Bond" and "Star Wars." Split double twist okay, SBS double axels - she singled, he two-footed. Lifts all seem to end with a "round-off" dismount. Throw double sal, low, break at the waist, but landed. BO death spiral. Lifts not bad. On the press lift where Olga has her arms behind her hips, she always has a look of terror on her face, every muscle in her body totally taut. Throw single axel (oy!), double toes. Good SBS spin unison, but only forward spins, 1 change of position. SBS double sal-double toe, neither worked. BI death spiral with outrageously bad position, Olga's heinie was all the way up in the air. Awww.
First in the final group was Yeltsova & Bushkov of Russia, skating to "Lord of the Dance" in black and silver "Xena the Warrior Princess" style costumes, suitable for the pseudo-Celtic music and the aggressive, stylized look of the program. SBS triple toes, which Andrei just pulled out. Double lateral twist, new for them! Very powerful movements in the choreography. I already like so much more than that god-awful "Day When You Love Me," "is it raining in here" program. Throw triple sal with gorgeous snap. Excellent split triple twist (although I still think Shishkova & Naumov's is the best in the world... I'd give this team the silver), FI death spiral gorgeous. Throw triple toe good, new lift variation, SBS axel-2 toe. DS variant with Marina in a Russian split, very neat and great for the program. Good lift with slight bobble on the exit. They got a bit scratchy at the end of the program, but overall they looked very solid for the beginning of the year. Actually, I seem to remember that this team always does well at Skate America. They must have been bummed to get assigned to Skate Canada last year.
Next up were Khalturina & Kryukov of Kazakhstan, skating a nice new program to "Sing, Sing, Sing" and "Love Story." She wore a nice burgundy coloured dress. He fell out of the SBS triple sals. SBS double axel-2 loops okay. Throw triple loop was huge but two-footed. Throw triple sal, same story, but worse. Very front-loaded program. Beautiful upside-down star lift a la Wötzel & Steuer. Triple twist, collision on landing. FI death spiral excellent. Nice lift. Upside down "handstand" press lift, ended a bit quickly, but interesting. BI death spiral, short on revolutions. Losing a lot of presentation and flow at the end, but nowhere near as badly as they had at the previous year's Skate America. The audience just loved them.
Ina & Dungjen skated a new program to "Polovets Dances" in nice deep teal green costumes with gold trim that looked really good on them. Somebody, and it wasn't me, said that Jason looked like the "cheap American version of Ilya Kulik." Certainly, the American idea of "ornate" costuming doesn't hold a candle to the True Masters from Mother Russia. ;-) Throw double sal only to start, SBS triple toes okay. Good triple twist and throw triple loop. Spin unison way off. 2 flip-2 toes. FI death spiral variant with Kyoko in a "shoot-the-duck" position, and then a BO death spiral variant with Kyoko holding her free foot. These kinds of little touches added up to a more stylish program than I have seen from these two before, and I felt that they were more expressive without coming off as artificial or overly stylized. SBS double axels for which Jason had to pull out the landing, nice lasso-entry lift to finish. Jason apparently had injured his thumb in the warm-up, but I had no inkling that this was the case during their performance. He came out with a big bandage wrapped around it for the medal ceremony.
Last to skate were Shishkova & Naumov, who went back to "Don Quixote" and began with SBS triple toes. Yevgenia fell out of the landing and they were mis-timed. Throw triple sal was excellent, then Yevgenia fell again, on the SBS double axels. Split triple twist still the finest in the world. Gorgeous throw triple toe. FI death spiral. A lovely program, as usual. They seemed a bit off in the practices all week. It was a bit difficult to tell if they were struggling since they skated so little of their programs in practice run-throughs and seemed hot and cold. Despite their troubles, I still felt that it was a privilege to watch this team skate, they are just so refined and polished in what they do.
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