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

Alexei comes out in a black sleeveless T-shirt and black pants (what I think he wore for the "Gladiator" performances in Germany). He is introduced as Alexei YaguDIN of Saint Petroburg. LOL! Alexei seems oblivious to the butchering of his hometown's name and looks serious. And when I see the "costume," I think he is going to do "Gladiator" first, so I'm confused when the music seems to be some sort of "2001 Space Odyssey" type music. But when the Chopin etude kicks in a little later, I realize I'm watching the debut of his new short program, and I freak. Kim realizes it at the same time, and we both can hardly contain ourselves. I felt sorry for the people sitting around us, LOL...    His opening pose is really cool - his hands are down and his head is turned to the side, then he turns and stretches into an Ina Bauer. He does a triple toe, followed by a triple loop (I'm sure these jumps will be different for competitive versions, LOL), then he does a deathdrop. This is the point where the Chopin "Revolution" etude begins. He has a footwork section here with a lot of turns, he does another triple toe, a sit spin, more footwork with turns, a Besti squat - but a very short one - a short lunge. He kicks forward and finishes with a sit spin, Mazurka, back sit spin, martini glass combo.    The program is clearly very new. He's not totally comfortable with it yet, and he seemed focused more on getting all the elements down than in selling the program to the audience. It is a very different program from either "Nutrocker" or "Circus," even though he is borrowing his ending spin combo from "Nutrocker," along with some footwork. This is a much more serious program. It is fast-paced, dramatic, and intense. I can't wait to see it again when he has a few more performances of it under his belt - which I guess will be in Boise at the Masters pro/am - and I'll be there! Now for "Gladiator".... The costume:    He is wearing very tight, black velvet pants with some type of legging to simulate boots on the calves. I think the pants will look different under competitive lighting, but under stage lighting, they leave very little to the imagination, LOL....okay, enough about the pants, ahem...the top is black cut-out sections, simulated to look like leather. There is a gold fillagree design with the black, but it is subtle. One arm is black cut-outs down the entire arm. The other arm has a maroon-red, short cape.    I really like this costume.    You can't imagine what was going on in my mind when he skated out in this costume, because I knew this was the real thing, that we were seeing his "Gladiator" costume for the first time, as well as, of course, the "Gladiator" program itself. The music:    The entire program just uses the "Wheat" and "The Battle" tracks from the soundtrack. Since this is obviously the exhibition and interpretive free skate version of this program, I don't know if he will use different tracks for his eligible competitive version, but this version just uses "Wheat" and "The Battle," although "The Battle" has been recut, and sections of it are before other sections which occur on the soundtrack version.    The program starts with "Wheat." He is holding two prop knives in his hands, and he never releases them throughout the whole program, including the jumps. He starts on his knees, he raises his hands to the sky. The music changes into "The Battle," and he picks things up with a triple toe, followed by a triple loop (I think all the skaters are nervous about the ice - the hardest jump attempted all night is a triple loop). Again, I think the jumps will be different in his competitive versions of this program, LOL. Then he goes into a type of stag leap (but it isn't a stag leap), the new lunge move that our practice observer liked so much, he ends up on his knees, followed by another stag-type leap, followed by a butterfly. Then "The Battle" really kicks into gear, there is lots of footwork with lots of turns, another butterfly, and a sit spin. The music slows down - this is the slow section from "The Battle." He gets down on his knees, rolls around on the ice, "dies," raises his hands, and gets back up. He follows this with camel spins, a spread eagle, a triple loop, a sit spin, pancake spin, then a footwork section, and a triple toe. "The Battle" music picks up steam again, there is very fast footwork here, and he finishes up with a camel spin/sit spin/back sit spin/scratch spin combination, then he throws his hands up in an ending pose.    Wow! This program is loaded! But there is no way he can do this particular program and throw in all the quads and other triples he will need for an eligible GP program. There is just too much going on and he will wear himself out. But it is a great program as it stands. Clearly, he has been working on this one longer and it shows. He's already very comfortable with it. And this is not "Broken Arrow" revisited. It is a completely new and different program, and I like it very, very much. Backstage!