April 25, 2003
From American television
HALLMARK SKATING SHOWCASE
by Sylvia Yu
First, Katia and Daria were interviewed off-ice before Katia skated "Paradise." They were both wearing the black fleece jackets that Hallmark distributed to the skaters in the show.
Katia: "Most of my life I've been and still I'm very close to my mother [personal photo of Katia and her mom Elena shown on the screen]. And I'm learn, of course I learn from her a lot, and still learning. My Daria, she's very close to my mother [photo of Elena shown] because when I was busy on the road and with a lot of work, she was taking care of her. And, I'm sure [photo of Elena and Daria shown] she's learning from her a lot also. It's just wonderful [photo of Katia and Daria shown] that a good relationship with your parents, I think, is important.
[Clip showing Daria practicing a single toe loop on the ice] She's skated two years and... she likes it so far. It's actually first time when we're going to skate together [clip of Katia and Daria practicing their duet]. It's fun and I'm going to probably be a little nervous for her."
Daria (speaking quickly and with a true American accent!): "I'm really ner--... well, not very nervous about all the people because I've skated in competitions but there wasn't as many people, of course. Well, I guess I'm a little nervous. I'm really looking forward to skating with my mom. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" (they hug and Katia kisses the top of her head, smiling)
Tech. elements in "Paradise" (Katia in sparkly orange dress):
turns interspersed with briefly held Ina Bauers; upright forward spin variation on a very
bent knee; double loop; set up down ice into triple toe loop (this was the first retake
that was edited in afterwards); spin combination of flying camel to layover position, down
to back sit spin, rise with hand on knee and leg curled high behind her; footwork
including a little jump up with both legs tucked, then down into a forward lunge; nice
single walley jump!; forward outside edge spiral to backward outside edge spiral;
butterfly to back sit spin; forward scratch spin; more footwork; double flip; layback spin
to end.
Then Verne Lundquist introduced Katia and Daria's duet to "Hey Baby (Will You Be My Girl)." It was a cute little number, two minutes long, with quite a bit of clapping, arm waving, finger pointing, chest shaking and hip waggling by both mom and daughter! ;-) Daria's main solo element was a forward sit (change foot) to back sit spin, rise to an upright position. The rest of the time, she and Katia pretty much did mirror and side-by-side skating throughout, repeating a bunny hop (simple forward jump with no rotation -- kind of like a skip forward with a toepick assist) into a forward lunge (sliding forward on one knee) rising up and stopping -- three different times in the program. They also did two consecutive side-by-side split jumps (flip jump takeoff). They ended in a hug pose and got a very enthusiastic response from the crowd.
When they got off the ice, Tracy Wilson asked them how they felt.
Daria: "It was really nice and it was a good song 'cause we got the audience really going."
Tracy then asked Daria about her nervousness before the show ("you said your stomach was doing flip-flops"):
Daria: "I totally forgot about it, it was just a lot of fun and I had a really good time with my mom out there."
Tracy then asked Katia what was it like skating with her daughter.
Katia: "I was nervous a little bit and, but it was great to see her so I was watching her all the time. Forgot about the moves I was supposed to do! (laughing)
Tracy said that it looked like she'd have another skater in the family and asked "is she's going to follow in your footsteps?"
Katia: "Hopefully!" (she laughs)
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