Practice      Laurie's reports      Kim's first sighting of Alexei      Kim's practice photos of Alexei      Laura's stills of Alexei's practices The Show      Laurie's general show review      Laurie on Alexei's performances      Kim's review of the show      Janice's review      Laura's screen stills of the show! Backstage!      Laurie on being backstage      Kim's out-of-body experience

I think everybody is going to like both of Alexei's programs this year. The Chopin piece was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention his costume. He was wearing black pants and a black t-shirt and looked absolutely wonderful in it. I think he should use this as his costume for this number all season! I absolutely love the music, as I hadn't heard this piece before. I also loved his Gladiator program, especially the costume. However, I would love it if he could wear what the real gladiators wore so we could see his legs! That would probably be way too distracting for the judges, though!    The entire show was wonderful. Sasha Cohen was the only skater to have any problems. She had problems on one jump and fell on another. She skated rather late in the show though, and the ice may not have been that great when she skated. Besides Alexei and Sasha the skaters included the male pair team of Vladimir Besedin and Alexei ????? (I don't remember his last name), Hartshorn & Sweiding, Steven Cousins, Leonova & Khavalko, Lucinda Ruh, Gia Gudot, and Josef Sabovcek. Everybody skated perfectly and I really enjoyed the show, even if it was cold. When Josef skated by where I was sitting during his second number, he yelled out "Are you guys as freezing as I am?" We all yelled out "yes".     I got Alexei's autograph after the show. I had him sign "The Rose" picture (the photo for October 2000 in the calendar), as it is my favorite. It's great that my two favorite photos are the October photos, which happens to be my birth month. They are great birthday presents. While I was waiting to go in, Steven Cousins came out, and I got him to sign the blank page in the front of the calendar. He is very nice. He really skated well Sunday night.    It was fun to watch the practices on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. I really enjoyed it. I kind of wish the practices for pro competitions were open to the public, so we could watch the practices. If you go to eligible competitions and the practice sessions are open, you should attend some. I really enjoyed watching Alexei practice. He wasn't practicing any triple axels or quad jumps, but we got to see some beautiful triple toes and toe loops, and beautiful spins. Not to mention that he looked gorgeous in the black pants and t-shirt that he was wearing for practice. I just hope he doesn't get his hair cut before the season starts--it looked really good.    I'll try to think of some more things later. I still haven't totally recovered. I didn't get a nap when I got home yesterday, so I was up for 26 hours straight. Those of you who will be going to Skate America and Skate Canada are in for a treat. He was having to take oxygen since he skated 2 programs in one night at an altitude of 6,000 feet. Maybe it will prepare him for Skate America in Colorado Springs. Janice