November 9, 2002
DIVAS ON ICE
by Pam
Hi everyone! I went to the Divas on Ice show last night in Trenton, NJ, and it was a really great night! Let me preface by saying I’m not knowledgeable at all in the technical aspects of figure skating, so I apologize for my lack of technical terms.
Katia was beautiful as always, and in person she’s even prettier. The show started with an announcer coming out and telling us that since this was going to be taped for NBC, there might be some pauses during the show to make up for some technical glitches. And with that, he introduced the "new" Miami Sound Machine. They came out and did one song, then started the next one, to which the skaters started to come out. All of them but Katia! Turns out she was the first one to skate after the opening number. She did "Paradise," looking back at the "Evening with Scott Hamilton on Ice," that was the same orange outfit. It was a zippy upbeat little number and she was so fast, she really is hard to photograph. She fell once on a jump but other than that it looked perfect to me. The crowd really loved her.
The second time she came out, it was when Cassandra Wilson was singing a really jazzy version of "Last Train to Clarksville." Then Kristi Y. came out, and they did a little routine, and then Yuka Sato joined them. They were all wearing very pretty blue sequence outfits, and Katia’s hair was long in the back and pulled back in the front. Her next number was a more classical piece, it was absolutely flawless and I thought choreographed beautifully. She wore a blue jumpsuit. The next time she came out was with all the skaters, they did a number to Sister Sledge’s "We are Family." What struck me most was that they all looked like they were having such a good time, and really enjoying themselves. The "sister" part really came across. It was a real crowd pleaser. They were all wearing these great 60s-inspired retro outfits with headbands, each with a different color scheme (Katia was green). The finale was next, and all the skaters came out (same retro outfits) with stools, and sat down on a corner of the ice by the stage. Gloria Gaynor sang her signature "I Will Survive," and each skater would get up off her stool one at a time and do a little routine once around the ice. Katia's turn was perfect; I wish I could tell you the technical term for what she did was, but a jump and immediate spin were involved...big round of applause for her. Katia and all of them were laughing with each other on their stools and were really getting down to the music. They’d give each other little diva high-fives when one would come back from doing her solo sweep.
Then after the finale, the producer (or someone) asked the audience to please stay while each skater redid their "goof-ups." This, I thought, was the most interesting part of the evening. Every skater came out and redid spots where they either fell, or did something else that they didn’t like. We definitely got the feeling they all were tired – Nancy Kerrigan told us they’d been there all day – and it took some of them quite a few tries to nail a jump. They didn’t use any music (except Nancy, who asked for it). The announcer would say, (e.g.), "Katia, whenever you’re ready, do 20 seconds of choreography before and after your jump," and the skater would give a wave and then redo that portion of their routine. Seeing the skaters fall after really trying to nail their jumps would pump up the audience – there was lots of cheering and support for them, until right before their jump...then the audience went absolutely silent. When Katia came out for her retakes, she did a few tries of her jump before she got it, and the audience loved her. There were lots of "you go, girl!" and "you can do it!" for each try. At one point, one guy yelled out, "you can do it, suck it up!" to which Katia gave a sort of mock shocked expression and laughed. When she nailed her jump, the audience went wild and she was very grateful, she waved and clasped her hands together at the audience, like a "thank you." It was really neat to see. That’s when I noticed that what you read is right – you cannot hear her skate, she’s so fast and totally silent. What was amazing was that the producer said that the skaters only had Friday and Sat. to prepare for the program – only two days! And they put on such a spectacular show. Wait until you see it, it’s great.
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