There’s an official “Ice Age 2008″ magazine available in Russia. For the 2nd edition Ekaterina and Egor were interviewed.
Many thanks to Monika and OlyaS for the translation:
KATIA/EGOR
For the sake of participating in the Ice Age, he has turned down other projects, and Katia has arrived especially from America, where she has her home and family. It may be said that this pair is the most beautiful and shines the brightest on the ice. And in life. Here, their first interview. It was both playful and serious. Honest and reserved.
Egor – prior to participating in the show, did you know what it was about?
Egor: I’ve always loved figure skating and when I had the chance I watched this show with great pleasure. I was a fan of Ekaterina Guseva and Roman Kostomarov, and then in the second season Dima Marianov and Ira Lobechava. But I was never itching (burning with the desire) to participate and I did not think I would do so someday because all these television show projects are very far from me and my hobbies
And still, you agreed to take part in the show. What influenced your decision?
Egor: First Ilia Averbukh invited Ksyusha (editor’s note: Ksenia Alferova, film and theater actress and the wife of Egor Beroev). To her it seemed interesting. She agreed to it immediately and started practicing right away. In the following days, Ilya found out my phone number from Ksenia and called to invite me to the show. What I told him is that I liked the show very much but I did not see myself in it. He listened to my position and I think he understood me. Then he calmly mentioned a last name that consequently resolved the issue – GORDEEVA.
So you wouldn’t have participated if it weren’t for Katia?
Egor: If it weren’t for Katia, no. Absolutely not. And, moreover, when it gets close to the end of the show and we have to switch partners, as they did last season, I will not change mine. I ONLY SKATE WITH KATIA! Once when Andrei Khvalko and Katia were practicing for a promotion, they did an element that went badly and as a result Katia hurt her shoulder. So I categorically (strongly) prohibited her from skating with anyone but me.
Egor, did you ever skate before participating in the show?
Egor: No, the first time in my life I stood on skates was in July of this year. I don’t like pools or skating rinks or any restricted spaces. Although I did play tennis for some time. But I like nature, I love to be (in its elements) in natural habitats. I really love mountain skiing. I really love the ocean. But, having accepted Ilia’s offer, I had to put on the skates and come out on the ice. I tried and I don’t think I was afraid on the ice. I think it’s important for a figure skater – to be afraid or not afraid, right?
Katia: Right, and you can see this right away when some one goes out on the ice for the first time. One person tries (?) but is scared inside, another goes out on the ice for the first time and is not afraid to try it
Egor: So (?), I started skating. I hit it off with Ilia from the beginning. And then Ekaterina Alexandrovna appeared (smiles).
Do you always address your partner this way?
Egor: Well, these demands of hers—she’s Olympic Champion after all (both laugh). I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to address her informally (translator’s note: with the informal form of addres “ti” rather than the formal one “vi”), but she wouldn’t allow it in any way.
Katia: Yes, that was my condition! (general laughter) Seriously though, I was the first one to suggest we address each other informally.
Do you remember the moment when you first met?
Egor: This was in July. I remember very well the moment I first saw Katia. I was in the man’s locker room to change clothes for our first practice session together. The door was slightly open and all of a sudden I see this girl (devushka) passing by. Very serious looking. I saw her and I realized, this is Katia. Then we were introduced, when we were already on the ice. Do you remember this?
Katia: Yes, only in the beginning you sat on the bench and took forever putting your skates on and taking them off, then putting them on again and again taking them off…
Egor: That’s because in the beginning I tried not to promise Ilia anything and until the very last moment I wasn’t sure, so I had to do that.
Do you still have doubts?
Egor: No, not now. I try to live in the present. I accept things as they are and I don’t regret what was. I am happy with this project. I’ve gotten to know and interact with many interesting people, and so this time in my life will be remembered as one of my happiest.
Katia: And then we went out on the ice and started talking. Our first diaologue was this: “I never thought I’d be in a show like this” I said “Me neither.” “I don’t give interviews.” “Me neither….” (translator’s note: I think they’re talking about the interviews they give before each performance”
Egor: I, from the very beginning, felt close to Katia, we see the world with the same eyes (trans.: literally, very close to my understanding of the world). Ilia is a very good psychologist, he’s very thoughtful and matches his pairs very carefully. He did very well with us. Almost too well.
Katia, when we talked about the Ice Age for the first time last year, you said you admired the female skaters who agreed to be in the show. That is because you know too well what risks they are taking to be partnered with amateurs. When the man is a skater, it’s not as risky. Back then, you said that you were not sure you could do that. Yet, you have accepted the invitation. And in the very first program you were doing high lifts with Egor.
Katia: When I first held Egors hand on the ice, I had this sensation that we could right away, from the first day, do a lift. I was pleased because even though Egor had only recently put on skates, I felt that he was holding me, not holding on to me. Training with Egor for me was unusual and interesting. For him it was important to understand and get a feel for everything. In the beginning he just lifted me in his hands. Then he tried to see if he could hold me in his hands. Then he began to take me in his hands and slide on the ice. To me this was strange. I suggested: let’s try to do this lift or this element. But Egor would say, “No I need to test [whether I can carry] your weight.”
At what point did you start trusting him as a partner, in whose arms you felt safe?
Katia: Pretty quickly. May be later in the week after we had started skating together. I, naturally, wanted to do all the complex elements. For better or worse, inside that’s what I wanted! First we rehearsed on the floor. In the beginning we were greatly helped and assured by Lyesha Tikhonov and the two Maxims, Marianov and Staviski. Ilysha Averbukh always encouraged us. He watched us and was behind us when we wanted to do this or that element. He didn’t flatter us, but always told us what we needed to hear. So literally ten days later we tried our first high lift which became our “business card” in the first program.
Egor: I also have a teacher, the show choreographer Maria Orlova, who from the very beginning worked long and hard with me so that I could stand confidently on the skates. As it turned out, after Katia and I had had a few practice sessions, Katia had to go home to America. So I continued to practice with Masha. I remember, at the time everybody was worried that I, having gotten used to skating with Masha, wouldn’t be able to skate in pairs with Katia. The thing is that parity in growth is very important in figure skating. Masha and I were pretty close to each other in height, whereas there’s a big difference between Katia and me. But strangely enough, when Katia returned from America and we started skating together again, I had this feeling that I had always been skating only with Katia. Improbably, it suited me very well. I had no problem getting used to my new partner
Katia: When I got back, something else was also different and interesting for me. Masha taught him many ice dancing elements and ice dancing is very different from pair skating. Even crossovers are different. Since I was a pair skater, I did not know some of these steps that Egor had learned so I had to learn and adjust.
Egor: Once-I think this was in the third work out–Katia told me to not be afraid of the ice, it’s necessary to learn to fall.
Katia. Yes. This was very important. In fact, small children from the very beginning learn how to fall correctly—not flat on the ice, head down, but bending the knees and putting the hands on the ice in time and in the correct position.
Egor: So we started to learn. It was great fun. We would run fast and then fall, rolling over and laughing our heads off.
Only you learned how to do this or other pairs as well?
Katia: We did no see. There are these minutes, when it’s only us on the ice..
Egor: There are moments, on the skating rink, of such inner harmony that we’re oblivious to what’s going on around us. I’m not keen on watching other pairs. Except for Ksyusha and Pavilas (editor’s note: Ksenia Alferova, and Pavilas Vanagas). We watch them as they practice, but the practices of other pairs, I don’t remember…
Now after this time, can you say that you are not only participants in the show but partners on ice?
Egor: Yes, now I can boldly say, that we are a pair. Because in the beginning we really were partners who were trying to represent something, to overcome the nerves, the excitement. Now we are acting. We are able to transfer to our viewers our emotions, our feelings, to tell our stories on the ice together, not each on his or her own.
Each pair has their own relationship. We can often see conflicts, arguments, misunderstandings and hurt feelings. You, on the other hand, somehow managed to avoid this. At least we have not seen any major conflicts on TV.
Katia: Well, no. We have our disagreements and conflicts just like everybody else.
Egor: In one of the first programs, they showed an excerpt from our practice, when I was telling Katia that we should not stop a movement, even if it doesn’t turn out right. Then I read on the internet the viewers’ comments. And there were some statements there, that how could I, whom everybody had come to see as a well brought-up, sophisticated person, I allow myself to be moody and tell an Olympic champion what to do. To be honest, I couldn’t care less about these comments. I was glad that this was in the profiles. Yes, I defended my position. Because I understood this was right. For me this was important, and I am ready to repeat this again. That said, I don’t need to do this anymore because Katia and I have agreed that’s how we are going to work. (trans: I had a difficult time with this passage).
Katia: You know, if you’re going to work together with somebody this way, it doesn’t matter that I am an Olympic champion and Egor is a wonderful actor. This is team work, during which each one of us is learning something new. There were moments when I was very tired, because Egor would say it was important for him to have something repeated again and again…many times over. When he didn’t understand, it had to be done.
Egor: Recently, as I was looking through a taped recording of our Latin dance number, I was watching how Katia played her part. As an actress, she wasn’t just so-so; she was tremendous! So smart, free, not strained, like some people. This was always in her, she was always capable of it. But this dance really brought it out.
Katia: I remember that I really liked this show. I was living in America and I watched both shows. And I watched as many figure skaters like Lesha Tikhonov and Roman Kostomarov open new doors, new professional careers.
What is the process of creating your numbers?
Katia: From the beginning I liked how Egor goes about staging a number. With every program, with every theme, he tries to find the right music for us, music that we will both like. This is just about putting together the elements on ice, it is about a miniature, a small theatrical production on ice. It was important to both of us that we really felt the music, understood every movement.
Egor: It was very important to find a common ground with the director of the dance. Because we cannot work in different directions. That’s what the director thinks and that’s what we think.
And who offers more ideas?
Egor: You know, in our case, we offer more input. For us this is very important. Because at this point we’re not just executing. We’re trying to take pleasure in that which we create, conceive, invent.
Katia: We are interested in the creative process and not just putting together the elements we need to execute. Although, for some people it’s perfectly normal to just do what they are told.
Do you have a favorite number?
Egor: Our favorite number is “Slow Star,” when the theme was Duets. And the Latin number.
Katia: I also liked our flamenco number very much.
Egor: One number that turned out really well was the one set to the song of Iosif Kobzon, “At the nameless hill.” When I was talking with them, Katia and Sasha Zhulin, they were trying to convince me that we needed to include high lifts in the number. I said, Guys, I will not do high lifts in this number. And the argument was very simple. I learned something in theater school, thanks to my professor, Rima Gavrilovna Solntcheva, who taught me the notion of “courageous simplicity.” I really liked this phrase. At the time, as students we acted out an etude set to the music of a song, “Birds do not sing here, trees do not grow here, and only we shoulder to shoulder grow into the ground here” [A famous song about the war.] So we took a guitar and started to “suffer.” Our professor ripped us to pieces. Courageous simplicity–it doesn’t demand suffering or self-flagellation, it demands only that you understand what you’re doing. Then I worked on staging the number and I said, we do not need showy (spirited, enthusiastic) lifts. It’s necessary only that we understand the song, what it’s about. And that’s what we did.
Katia: Egor stated his position and defended his argument so assuredly that I agreed. And we received a 6:00.
Egor: You see, this is the reason we are a pair. There’s absolute trust between us. There’s harmony, without which it’s not possible to do pair skating. And we know this.
What is the most important thing to you about “Ice Age”?
Katia: The time we’re spending here. You know, when you’ve managed to overcome difficulties, this becomes meaningful to you. It’s not possible to single out just one thing. The biggest plus for our pair is that we understand each other.
Egor: For us, it’s not about the scores. We simply receive the love of the spectators. In fact, the judges are also our spectators. And if what we do pleases them, this means a lot to us. Because there are such interesting people in the jury. Tatiana Tarasova feels very about for us. The marks she gives us, her opinion of us, in my view, is always fair.
Katia: She feels very strongly about every pair. And it’s surprising how she always gets it right about every pair.
Egor: I admire her natural, open attitude towards all the programs. And we also get a lot of letters from fans.
New Year’s is coming. What are your wishes?
Egor: I don’t like to celebrate it with big crowds. I prefer to welcome the New Year with close friends and family.
Katia: Above all [I wish] that there be cheer! That there be a big tree, and many many presents for the children underneath it. That in the 12th hour they run to the tree, unwrap their presents and finally that they will be as happy as they can be–to see them laughing and happy.
Egor: And, in conclusion, we want to wish all the readers of “Ice” Magazine, love, happiness, health.
Katia: Do sports!
Egor: Swmming in an ice-hole, skating, on skiis or skates! And before the holiday, buy some champagne and meet the New Year beside your loved ones.
