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September 1997

STARS ON ICE REHEARSAL

by Rob Moes

Well, probably my one and only chance to see the Stars On Ice group rehearsing at Simsbury. I spent the whole day there, and was *not* disappointed. :)

I got there about 9:15 for the first elite session. We were not allowed to watch from the stands at all today--only spectating from the coffee shop or from the lobby windows was allowed. Couldn't hear talk or music very well, but at least we didn't freeze. A couple of out-of-towners and the rest either rink employees or local groupies--the usual suspects, mostly.

On the ice was Camp Galina: Viktor Petrenko, Ekaterina Gordeeva, and Scott Davis. It looked as though Viktor was very sluggish, most doing walk-throughs and not very many jumps--I thought it was going to be a bad day for him when his first jump was a waxel! I wasn't at all sure about his reported injury or how it might affect him today. His wife Nina was in the stands today, looking on.

He has one new program with a long red silk scarf, presumably belonging to a lost beloved. Gaack. By the end of the day, he had landed 3axel-3toe twice--to the delight of Nina and Sasha Zhulin, who were applauding. Looks as though Viktor is on the mend. Sasha was having Nikolai Morozov do some solo work--apparently Tatyana is looking quite good.

Katya looked fit and radiant as usual. She skated circles around both of the men! She does a lot of footwork as she's warming up, all at break-neck speed, which is very exciting to watch. She's working on several different spins. One that gets better and better for her is her back camel. She's one of the few women who can pull off a back camel out of a back sitspin and keep it going for more than 5 revolutions--not the greatest speed but always beautifully centered and in a gorgeous, fully stretched-out position. Part of a new combination spin is a catch-foot that she carefully lowers to the ice, rather than the usual ker-plunk. She worked herself up through her doubles, struggling quite a bit on the axel, although her triple toe looked pretty solid! She has a new double lutz entrance which is done off a deep back arc with the right foot high in front. She then quickly reaches back with the foot and launches the lutz. Very pretty.

Scott D. basically spent the entire time getting warmed up and not doing much skating. I think a double axel-triple toe is as far as he got during this session. His camel spin hasn't improved much since I saw him first working on it this past spring. Basically expect to see a 2 or 3 rev. camel at the start of his combination spin, then descending into the usual sitspin variations. At less than 4 weeks to go before Skate America, I was hoping he would land at least one triple axel! (Actually in the afternoon, he was much better...3axel, 3axel-3toe, 3axel, 2axel.)

At the end he was interviewed by some skating journalist in the coffee shop. He's so quiet in speaking, I could barely hear Scott even though I was no more than 8 feet away. Apparently he is skating his long program to Henry V. The reporter asked him if Paul Wylie at Albertville was his inspiration, and Scott said that it was. He was asked about working on any quads, and he said the focus was going to be on triple combinations, no quad. Working toward Nagano is still his goal, of course.

Right at 10, over in the opposite rink, were Torvill & Dean, Yamaguchi, and Sandra Bezic. Kristi was kind enough to pose for pictures with a few of the local skaters who had to rush off to school and couldn't stay to watch her practice. They were very animated--getting a Polaroid with Kristi has to rank way up there on the coolness scale for these young ladies!

Torvill & Dean were both in black, doing a photo shoot of some of their moves. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen Jayne in black tights under a skirt very often--she tends to go for those very short skirts and the bare leg look. I like the all black look much better! Don't know the program they're working on. Lots of bends, turns, and circular stepping that they do better than anyone. There's also a neat section of mirror skating with leaps in the opposite directions, ending in a catch and freeze ending pose. Except for maybe a half-hour break, they were on the ice, one rink or the other, the whole time I was there--they are really cramming it in.

Kristi starts off with some sultry rolling and posing on the ice, which I thought was yucko. Sandra B. seems to like having her skate as if she's in a trance or something, and I wish it would stop! Lots of bits and pieces of steps and footwork to this program--I do appreciate the complexity of what she's trying to do. That Kristi is able to pull it off without making it look completely contrived--that's talent for ya. In a missed Kodak moment, Kristi with thrust-out hip nearly did the bump with Jayne with thrust-out hip! A definite had-to-be-there hoot. Kristi looked a bit embarrassed, and Jayne just laughed it off.

Brian Orser arrived about 11. He was the only skater who spent any time at all visiting at the front desk. He seemed to enjoy getting fan attention, patiently did five or six autographs, and chatted for a few minutes in the lobby before going in to practice. He opened with some spectacular tuck axels and nothing but the finest double axels ever seen on that Simsbury rink.

Roz Sumners, on the other hand, went zooming through the lobby area like a freight train, not wanting to be approached and avoiding all eye contact when she was greeted. I warned people that she can be one of the toughest autographs to get! Too bad, since she has that reputation of being sooo nice. Her uptightness seemed to dog her for the rest of the day. She did a double loop and a double flip, but her axels were nowhere in sight.

In the opposite rink, Katarina WItt had come in from the back and was working on a private session with Lea Ann Miller--some sort of driving rock/blues instrumental that you might typically think of as being more Kurt or Hough/Ladret. Kat appeared to be still working out a lot of the basic moves. Gordeeva walked by with what looked to be breakfast: a hunk of watermelon and an apple. Bezic had a quick cup of soup.

By 11:45 the cast was basically there for their opening group number. All but Scott Hamilton.... :( I was pretty disappointed. I'm not sure if he's skipping some of the group stuff to save his strength or what. The opener is an intricate precision-type number done to a drum beat, with different groupings weaving between and around one another, some of it done at pretty high speed. Twelve skaters splitting into men and women, into 3 groups of 4, into 6 couples--that kind of thing. The couples were Roz & Brian, Renee & Gorsha, Kristi & Paul, Elena & Denis, Katya & Kurt, and Katarina dancing with herself. We all decided that HAD to be the spot on the end for Scott. Jayne & Chris were off to the side, watching, not in this number, it seems. And speaking of Doug Ladret, he was there, apparently doing some of the group choreography for the men, while Lea Ann Miller was working with the women.

Then the tape with the announcer comes on overhead--skaters were introduced and took bows as follows: Roca & Sur, Sumners, Bechke & Petrov, Orser, Gordeeva, Browning, Wylie, Torvill & Dean, Yamaguchi. Witt's intro was not played, nor was Hamilton's. Hmmm....

A bit later, they did some work on the group closer, which is "Stairway To Heaven." Probably the whole damn song, in lieu of a montage. :/

Talk in the cafeteria turned to why Scott H. wasn't there. Seems the cast had put in a surprise workday on Sunday, particularly Scott. The rink-rats told me that his speed and his footwork were remarkably improved over the past week and maybe he just needed a rest day. One woman apparently couldn't believe her luck, showing up at Simsbury yesterday and running right into him in the lobby! She had her camera all ready, and then it refused to flash. Scott actually took the camera and tried fiddling with it for her. He told her that the batteries looked to be dead, and she looked heartbroken. He said, "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. Go get some batteries."

Another woman reportedly walked up to Scott very sheepishly and asked if she could kindly take his picture. "Only if you're in it with me!" he said. Now is Scott Hamilton the coolest, or what??? :)

Anybody who left at 1 really missed out. First I saw Brian, warming up jumps, then Kurt, Katya, and Paul. And who is this guy with the beard? It's Scott Hamilton! Paul lets out a mock shriek, and the two of them high-five and laugh. Of course I'm hopelessly biased, but I think Scott looks just fine with a full beard. I would be lying though, if I didn't say that it *does* show his age. <Damn, I really wish I had my camera....> Kristi and Roz are the last to arrive.

Here's the scorecard of what people did:

At about 1:15 a little blonde girl named Daria arrived with her nanny. Scott noticed her immediately, skated over to the sidelines, smiling and waving. Kurt finished his triple-triple and then decided he had earned a little break. He stepped off the ice for a second and returned with Daria! He whisked her into his arms, zoomed her up and down the ice a bit. Then he twirled her into a ring-around-the-rosey pair spin. She loved it! Very cute.

Back to some serious jumping now, which is very electric once everybody starts hitting.

After popping about 4 lutzes right in a row, Scott watches Paul nail his 3lutz. Scott breaks into applause, then sets up very determinedly and nails one of his own! Brian, who is just about ready to leave, runs back on the ice, throws his hands and his boots straight up in the air over his head--the kick is good! :)

Paul does one more 3lutz, then finishes up with a couple of spins.

Katya falls on first try at 3sal, 3sal, falls on the third, new 2lutz twice.

Kristi does a 3lutz of her own, then 3flip-turn-3toe, 3loop twice--then I think she doesn't know what more to do! It was almost too easy! She plays around with more Bezic stuff, outside edge camel.

Doug Ladret comes out and convinces her to do some pair stuff with him--which was a complete surprise! They do a pair back spiral, then a table-top lift, then a press adagio lift, then an incredible drape lift!! Wow! I bet Doug really wishes he were skating in the show...can somebody talk Tuffy into coming back? :(

After the mini-visit with Daria, Kurt fell on 3toe-3toe, clean 3toe-3toe, then three clean 3axels, earning applause from Katya. Next came a 3loop, with what looked to be a hand over his head (a bit weird, not sure if it was intentional or not!), another 3loop, and <gulp> 3flip--landed but wild. Go Kurt!

And, Scott...well, he got only the one triple lutz in there, popped about 3 more, but still he was totally pumped up! He let out a yell and raised his right fist over his head. It was back-flip time, at long last, and he nailed it. Everybody instantly stopped skating and ran over to give him a group hug. How sweet! The audience of about 20 in the lobby all broke out into cheers and applause. What a great moment for him.