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Laurie's Review
Toronto:
I had never
been to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto before. It is very large and modern.
It looked like a full house for the SOI show, with only a few nosebleed
sections not filled. The crowd seemed a bit more subdued than the usual
Canadian audience, although they were fine. It's just that I'm used to rabid
Canadian audiences, LOL. Perhaps Toronto is similar to New York, considering
itself a tad more sophisticated than the rest of the country...
The SOI souvenier photos are great - Alexei looks gorgeous in
both his own photo, plus in the cast photo, where he's wearing a gray sweater
and his hair is absolutely perfect, LOL......Alexei's photo was often hard to
find by the end of the shows. The lady working the booth said he was bery,
bery popular, LOL...I bought an extra photo to give away as a contest prize.
The opening number is "Let's Get It On," and the cast
members are all introduced in this sexy motown number. Alexei looks veddy
nice, has some sensual moves in it, and gets a big response when he is
introduced.
Next is Scott Hamilton with "I Feel Good" by James
Brown, and dressed all in black. He's greeted very warmly - elements were a
tuck jump, quick footwork, two double axels in a row, a triple sal with a step
out, more nimble footwork, a split jump, flying sit spin, two Russian splits,
and a butterfly - typical, high energy Scott Hamilton program.
At this point, the "Star of Tomorrow" comes out - a
local little boy who skates around in front of Scott. Very cute.
Maria Butyrskaya first comes out for "Reaching for the
Stars," wearing a beautiful, flowing white dress. She does a spiral and a
camel spin. Roca & Sur then come out, with Renee also wearing a white
dress and Gorsha dressed in a white shirt with beige pants. They have speed
and a nice lift where Renee looks like a figurine (know there's another word
for this, LOL) on the prow of a ship, Gorsha being the ship, LOL. Alexei then
comes out, dressed in a romantic white shirt with very tight beige pants. Yep,
that's the kind of costume we like.
He does an effortless looking triple toe and triple loop. Alexei looks very
fluid and graceful - a different look for him than his usual attack and power.
Meno & Sand are dressed the same as Roca & Sur. They did a nice death
spiral. The group as a whole did spirals and spins in unison, more or less.
Steven Cousins has the next solo program. He is skating to
"Higher" by Creed and is wearing a black mesh top with burgundy
leather pants. SOI costumer Jef Billings is our man, yes!
Elements were butterfly, spiral, camel/back camel spin, wonky double lutz,
double axel, camel/sit/back sit spin, tuck jump, triple sal, spiral, cross
foot spin, triple toe, flying sit spin, two Russian splits, and I think he
added a triple toe but stepped out of it. Not his best, but fun.
Josee Chouinard was the next skater, wearing a pretty two piece
turquoise outfit, sparkly skirt and darker, satin top. She skated to
"Can't Fight the Moonlight" by LeAnn Rimes. Elements were a wonky
single axel, double lutz, fast layback, triple toe, spiral, gorgeous spread
eagle into what I think was a triple toe, and finishing with a nice cross foot
spin. Very dancey program.
Scott Hamilton was next, skating to his golf clubs number,
"Double Bogey Blues." He starts off swinging a golf club and hits an
imaginary ball into water and a duck quacks. Elements were a double lutz,
butterfly, triple toe that might have been a double, barrel rolls, camel/sit
spin combo, Russian split, two double axels, backflip over the golf bag. Very
well received program.
Roca & Sur come out, wearing charcoal gray costumes. Their
skating looks effortless, with lots of speed and cool lifts. They skated to
"Everything Must Change" by Nina Simone. I liked the spin where
Gorsha holds Renee by her knees upside down.There was also one where he holds
her by her waist with one hand - must take strength to do that.
Brian Orser has the next cold spot. He's wearing all black with a
sparkly front. He is skating to "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins.
Elements are a double axel, triple sal, camel, backflip, butterfly, single
axel, double axel, butterfly into back sit spin, straight line footwork,
scratch spin. His usual fluid yet crisp performance.
Bourne & Kraatz performed their OD program to their "Jumpin'
Jack/Big Spender" medley. They were wearing black, and Shae's dress had
silver trim. I really like this OD - I thought they got robbed in Vancouver at
Worlds in the OD. (sniff) I like the SBS straightline footwork down the
middle. Skated with sass and verve, finished with their distinctive hydroblade
move.
Kurt Browning was next, skating to Gary Moore's "Bring Him
Home" wearing medium gray pants with a lighter gray shirt. Elements were
a lovely spiral, beautiful triple toe, intricate and difficult footwork, camel
spin with unusual positions, more interesting footwork, single axel, two
double axels, nice spread eagle into something I can't decipher from my notes,
LOL...Another lovely spiral. Beautiful, serious program from Kurt, although I
don't really like the music.
A group program called "Tunnel Vision" was next. This
is a different version than the U.S. version, and I think the U.S. version was
best. For one thing, the dialogue was clearly written with the specific
skaters in mind, and in making substitutions with skaters and using the same
dialogue just doesn't work. For example, Tara was perfect for the
"clearing karma" bit, but Kurt just looks silly doing it. And using
a line meant for Ilia Kulik (the Leonardo DiCaprio lookalike reference) makes
no sense for Alexei. That said, it's still a fun number.
Alexei comes out for "Mr. Big Stuff" in green leather
pants and a purple shirt, and struts his stuff quite nicely.
Those of you who are pining for certain pelvic moves from "Stand By
Me" in Ice Chips will find them right here.
Okay, I know I whined about this sort of thing for "SBM," but for
this number it is fine, since the number is almost a Chippendale's type
program anyway, LOL....I think he did a butterfly and two triple toes, but I
have no real idea
- think I was distracted by his leather pants....
After his "Mr. Big Stuff" strut, Alexei sits down on a chair on the
ice near the end of the rink and props up his foot while the rest of the cast
finish the number. My favorite part of this ensemble program, besides Alexei,
is Denis Petrov as Shaft and Scott as Mini-Me. Very funny! Kurt is his typical
hilarious self, and Todd Sand being funky was very funny, too.
Intermission - at this point, we decide we are not happy with our
seats and move down to first row seats which had been empty that Kim spotted.
The ushers didn't seem to care, only asking me not to put my foot on the
chair, LOL...
The "Terminator" chairs program is first up. It went
pretty smoothly except at one point Denis lost his chair - he had come too
close to the edge of the ice and chose to slide off the chair and grab it
rather than wipe out a couple people in the first row of the on ice seats....
Maria was next, skating to "Dance With Me" by Debelah
Morgan and wearing a sexy, two piece black outfit. Missed seeing her first
jump, but caught the tail end of it - it might have been a triple toe with a
slightly wonky landing. She also appeared to step out of her triple loop, but
the double axel was okay. Other elements were a camel spin, spiral, fast
layback spin. Very cute program skated with spunk, LOL...
Alexei was next, skating to his exhibition version of
"Gladiator" with an extra triple toe in it. The beginning of the
music has been changed slightly and something has been added to give him time
to get to his starting point before the spotlights come on. This was his best
version of "Gladiator" of the three shows I saw. Elements were a
nice triple flip, great triple axel, leaping footwork, easy looking triple
toe, butterfly, hydroblade into a sort of slide move into his one rolling on
ice sequence, (Kim's happy at this point, LOL), camel/back camel, spread eagle
into triple loop, which he puts a hand down on - only flaw in program, but it
didn't disrupt it - slide move, pancake spin, rousing footwork, triple toe,
final footwork, camel/sit/back sit and something I can't read, LOL... Great
crowd reaction - in fact, it is the first one of the night. We hold up the
banner, but don't think he saw it because of the show lighting.
Kurt is next with his "Don't Fence Me In" program in
his blue cowboy costume. This is a comic number from versatile Kurt. Elements
were big double axel to start, triple toe - lots of fun playing with Josee and
the lasso.
Meno & Sand come out, with Todd wearing beige pants and a
pink shirt and Jenni wearing a pretty pink dress. They skate to Bonnie Raitt's
"I Can't Make You Love Me." I liked the lift where Jenni is draped
over Todd. The death spiral was very nice. Good throw jump but I didn't catch
the entry. Another nice death spiral. I like the swing down dismount on one of
their lifts.
Brian comes out for his second solo spot. He's wearing black,
shiny pants with what looks like a black paint spattered white shirt, LOL.
Elements were a double axel, camel spin, didn't catch one jump, triple toe,
what I think is a knee slide (can't read my notes, LOL), another double axel,
scratch spin, and backflip.
Bourne & Kraatz - skated to "L'Histoire D'Amour" -
think "Love Story" with vocals, wearing beautiful blue dress for
Shae, blue shirt/black pants for Victor. This is a beautiful program - speed,
nice dance spins, another hydroblade finish.
Kurt is next with his awesome flamenco program to Hans Zimmer's
"Nyah." He's wearing a bery nice black muscle shirt. This is what we
want to see from Alexei next - who would wear it better than Alexei?
Pleeeeeeeeeeeez?
Standing ovation for "Nyah," and why not. No jumps, just fantastic,
Spanish-flavored footwork and leaps.
Scott comes out for his final program, "My Way" - half
serious, half comical. Elements were double lutz, triple toe, camel spin,
nimble footwork, tuck/split jump, triple sal, followed by two double axels,
two Russian splits, and two backflips. Standing O, of course.
Finale, "If It's Magic" - Shae and Renee come out in
white dresses, the guys are wearing deep blue shirts and black pants. Victor
and Todd come out first. Brian then comes out and does a nice delayed axel,
Kurt does a double axel. Kurt and Brian do unison double axels. Maria, Alexei,
and Denis come out. Nice spread eagle from Alexei. Maria, Alexei, Scott, and
Denis do unison butterflies, then Brian and Alexei do unison Russian splits.
When they are mostly finished, the skaters line up facing us and
at our end. We hold up the banner, and Alexei, who has just been generally
waving and smiling, sees it and breaks out into a big grin and we get
energetic waving from him. We energetically wave back, LOL.
Great skating from Alexei. I'm sure he would have liked to have
had this "Gladiator" performance in Hamilton for the taping, but it
was not to be.
I was stricken by Alexei's skating in the group numbers. It was
interesting to see "understated Alexei," toning down his usually
more aggressive approach, and going for the effortless, elegant, and graceful
look.
Hamilton:
We ran into Ina in the mall, LOL...
The venue is much smaller than Toronto's and more intimate. The
crowd was also much more your typical Canadian audience - super enthusiastic
about everything, and just happily waiting for an excuse to stand up for
someone, LOL. It was an excellent crowd for the taping for the CSOI broadcast
- practically everyone stayed for the retakes and seemed to be having a merry
old time, LOL. You definitely knew this was the show being taped - two boom
cameras and several still cameras were in evidence. Security was tighter here,
too. We had managed to see part of the practice in Toronto - Scott, Josee, and
Meno & Sand - no one seemed to care and no one asked us to leave. But here
in Hamilton, there was no way, LOL...
Since the programs were the same as the Toronto show, I will just
point out the differences:
Steven was more "on" this night. He started with a nice
triple lutz instead of the wonky double he had done in Toronto. I think he
stepped out of his triple toe or triple sal, though.
Josee also had a better night. Her double axel was good and a big
triple lutz was even better.
Scott was also "on." Managed a triple lutz instead of
the double lutzes at the other shows.
Bourne & Kraatz were just beloved here - crowd clapped along
for their OD.
At intermission, Nicole came by to say "Hi!" Sandra
Bezic walked by us twice.
First fall of the night was Maria's. I think she fell on her
triple loop. Kurt also fell once. Alexei fell on what was a gigantic triple
axel attempt. I think he was trying too hard to make it spectacular. He looked
angry with himself after the fall. He also two footed his triple loop. But his
footwork was great, and the majority of the program still worked very
effectively. Crowd loved him.
His "Mr. Big Stuff" in Tunnel Vision was exceptionally
naughty, LOL - must have been for the benefit of the cameras....
We had a bery, bery good view from our front row seats right where he skated
this program. He added several moves most definitely not in the Toronto or
Kitchener shows. We notice these kinds of details.
Um....where was I? Oh, the retakes...
After the finale, Scott or Kurt or somebody announced there would be retakes
for the broadcast and would the crowd please stay. Like they needed to be
asked, LOL! This was fun - more skating!
Brian redid parts of his program. I don't remember what was wrong
with his, but I guess he wanted to rework it.
Josee came out and redid several jumps and sections. She told us
it wasn't her fault, LOL... Kurt and Josee also worked on their lasso sections
together.
When Alexei came out, Sandra told him he needed to reskate his
program because he had flipped his pattern, and then asked him if he was going
to do it correctly this time. Alexei turned to her with a puzzled look, skated
around in a couple small circles for a minute, then turned back to her and
said, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Sandra." He then
pretended to menace her with the daggers - everyone laughed. Sandra then said
something like, "Well, we'll just follow you as best we can." He
redid part of his program, redoing the axel and loop jumps, and moved some
sections, repeated some spins, pretended to need to brush off the ice before
lying down on it, to much laughter. He did reverse some of his moves, but
since he didn't reskate his entire program, I don't know how they will splice
it together. They may just replace the two jumps and have to live with the
flipped pattern. For those who also didn't understand what Sandra was talking
about, LOL, she meant that Alexei had oriented his program or just parts of it
to the other side of the rink. They probably agree on which is the judges'
side, even though there are no judges, and Alexei oriented his program or
certain sections of it to the other side. The reason this matters is the
lighting people pre-set the lighting to the pattern they expect the skater to
make, and if it changes, the lighting is much tougher to do. But maybe Sandra
could have simply told him he oriented his program to the wrong side, which
might have been clearer to Alexei than "flipped your pattern."
Kitchener:
I like Kitchener! I like the town, I like the venue, I like the
venue staff, LOL. Couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful if they had
tried. And Kim and I would never have ended up with on ice, front row seats
without their help. Even the security guys were really nice, LOL. Anyway, I
can't wait to come back for the GP Finals here.
We ran into Nicole and Klara when we got our new seats, and they
told us about the practice with Alexei and his sleeveless shirt - waaaah!
We had been in the practice earlier, and had seen Alexei twice, but he was
still wearing his sweater at that time - darn!
But he definitely knew we were all here....
Differences from the Toronto show:
I think most of the skaters were a little off today. They had had
to skate late the night before, and this was an afternoon show the very next
day. I think they were all pretty tired puppies.
Scott stepped out of his triple sal, Steven's triple lutz almost
went off the ice, LOL. Josee doubled her lutz. Brian doubled his sal and toe
loop. Shae-Lynn fell on the hydroblade move at the end of their OD. Kurt
doubled his sal. Kim
and Gorsha, LOL:
I'm now very suspicious, LOL - Alexei was looking over at us and
smiling before Gorsha went after Kim, LOL - I'm wondering if it was
"planned." During the Tunnel Vision program, when it was Gorsha's
turn to do his sexy stuff, he went over to a woman up in the stands in front
of him, then he abandoned her and went over to Kim, pulled her up out of her
chair and bent her over in a clinch. I was laughing, Alexei was laughing. The
people around us were laughing. Gorsha then went over to another woman and
fooled around with her, then he came back to Kim and gave her his skate guards
to hold. Then it was intermission, and we had several people come down to
laugh with us about the whole thing.
Maria fell on a triple - didn't catch what it was. Alexei seemed
determined to get though his program without falling, but he doubled his flip
and loop, and put a hand down on the triple axel. I think the two triple toes
were good. His footwork was awesome, and he was rewarded with a standing
ovation, the first of the night. Our end got an extra wave when he was taking
his bows.
Josee tripped on her rope and she and Kurt left out some of the
lasso number. Brian doubled his toe loop. Scott had probably his almost best
program. No triple lutz tonight, but a 2LZ, 3T, 3T, 3S, 2A, 2A, 2A program is
nothing to sneeze at for an old guy!
And during the finale, we held up the banner. Kurt spotted it and
alerted Alexei, then Kurt pretended to get all excited and was going to run
over to us himself, but Alexei grabbed him and stopped him, as if to say no,
those are *my* fans....
I lost track of Alexei at this point to fiddle with the banner, and the next
time I looked up, he was right there approaching Kim to give her a hug. I
could see then that I was going to get one, which I expected, because I knew
there was no way Alexei would hug Kim and not me, too - he has not shown any
signs of any death wish tendencies....
But the kiss was a surprise, LOL...the woman sitting next to me grabbed his
arm to get her own kiss, the brazen hussy, but he begged off because he had to
get back to the other skaters for the final bows. And, basically, after that,
Kim and I were total basket cases, just looking at each other and laughing,
completely befuddled about where we were supposed to meet Brenda, and it took
us twenty-five minutes before we found her. We did run into Nicole and Klara
before we found Brenda, and they were waiting for the skaters to come out to
the bus. Shae-Lynn and Victor had left by car, but had signed autographs, and
Scott Hamilton came out by accident, thinking the bus was there, but it
wasn't, it was a different bus. But he graciously signed autographs before
going back inside. When we met Nicole and Klara at the Sheraton later, they
said they had seen the bus leaving, and Alexei was leaning out the window,
waving to fans, wearing his orange T-shirt we saw in the IFS issue. They said
he looked very, very happy.
Laurie
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Well...at least Kurt will be back on tour...thank God
: My poor heart stops everytime. I'm alwacys sared they'll injure themselves.
Like when Scott jumps over the gold bag
I just find that they've made so much progress with Tarasova...it's
incredible...and not just the skating. I think they have more confidence in
themselves. I also like the look on their faces...they've lost that
"we're-the-best-ice dancers--and-should-have-won- the-gold" look, and
now seem so much more relaxed, more mature, and just simply glow. Oh...and the
Colgate frozen smiles have been replaced by real happy to be skating smiles