September 26, 2004
ARTUR DMITRIEV'S ICE SHOW
by katweige
Hey all, Since the internet cafe is on my way home, I thought I'd stop and write a review of the show I just attended before I head home, and then it's off to Novgorod in the morning!
The show was absolutely wonderful, it could have been longer! Here's the good part that everyone will be happy about...Katia debuted a NEW PROGRAM! I really liked it. I can't identify the music, but I'll try to describe it as best as I can. It had a good beat, which the crowd clapped to, and it was a female voice. The words were in English. It sounded to me like it was someone along the lines of Sarah Brightman, but I don't think it was her. But it was that type of New Age music, I guess you'd say. Her costume was gorgeous...all black with some silver thrown in. It was very flowy and the skirt was divided, sort of "shredded" if that makes sense. She attempted a triple toe, but sort of fell out of it. Other than that she skated beautifully. Her second number was "I Hope You Dance." I just love this number. You can tell it has special meaning to her and Daria. Like at the Great Skate, Daria came out and skated the last part with Katia. They were both wonderful and "floating on air"
I was really impressed with Daria's skating. She is a wonderful combination of both of her parents. She looks a lot like Katia when she skates, but there is a lot of Sergei in her too. She skated to "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast. It was a really cute number for her! I liked it. Both my friend and I thought that Daria and Artur Jr. did really well for their age. Daria landed all of her jumps, a few single axels, double flip, double sal, and double toe I think. Daria has a pretty good layback too. It's nice and fast already.
Artur Jr. was good too, both he and Daria were a lot more serious than the older skaters, but of course the rest have loads of experience in front of an audience. Artur Jr. was introduced by his dad, and it was so cute because Artur told him to come out and ask, "Are you calm? You OK?" It was so cute. Artur Jr. landed all of his jumps I think, he did some nice double axels if I remember correctly.
Artur Sr. was the announcer for the show, and I really like how he introduced every skater before they skated. When he introduced Katia, he said something along the lines of "One of my best friends, my neighbor, and someone very dear to me." You can tell Katia and Artur have a good relationship. And Daria and Artur Jr. seem to be good friends. They were dancing by each other at the finale, it was very cute.
One of the highlights of the show for me was after Katia and Daria skated and then Artur said something on the mic but I didn't catch what it was (Russian is not my first language, obviously!) and then he and Katia did a forward inside death spiral! The crowd went wild! I always love seeing Katia do pairs moves, she enjoys it too, that much is obvious.
Oh, for those curious how Katia and Daria were introduced, Daria was introduced as "Daria Gordeeva-Grinkova" and later as "Dasha." Katia was introduced as "World Champion and Olympic Champion in Pairs....Ekaterina Gordeeva."
This show had some very special moments. The highlight for everyone, I think was seeing Alexei Yagudin skate. Before the show started, Tatiana Tarasova walked in and everybody started clapping. She gave everyone a wave. At the close of the first act, Artur gave Alexei a bouquet of flowers and said, "These aren't from me, they are from St. Petersburg." The crowd loved that. Then both Alexei and Tatiana addressed the crowd. Tatiana said some really nice things, and she kept saying how this crowd was "the very best." They showed clips of Alexei's amatuer programs, and it brought a lump to my throat seeing some of those great moments again. I had a lot of lumps in my throat...seeing Daria skate for the first time, seeing Katia do pairs, and before I forget...I was very glad to see Natalia Bestamianova and Andrei Buhkin skate! That was another highlight for me. One of their numbers was skated to Latin music and I liked it very much!
The downside was that I had a very annoying girl sitting next to me. When Alexei was skating, she shouted "Plushenko is better!" I thought that was very unsportsmanlike and just plain rude. She was also screaming in my friends ear whenever Phillipe Candeloro skated. I'm not a huge Philipe fan at all, but I thought it was neat how he played to the Russian crowd, first skating to a Russian song that I can't remember the title to, and then he skated to the Russian version of "Blue." The Russian crowd loved him...but heck, they loved everybody! Russian crowds are so enthusiastic and very excited to be there. It was such a wonderful experience for me to see a show in Russia for the first time. Kudos to Artur for making this happen!
Sadly, they weren't selling programs, so sorry to those people I told I'd pick a few up for them. There were a lot of people asking for them, and the women at the table simple said that they weren't given any to sell. Considering the show is put on by Artur himself, I'm sure programs aren't his main focus.
I could go on forever, but I'll just mention a few more things...I really like B&S new number. It had a romantic these, but I can't remember the words. I also likeeseeing Igor Borbin skate with his daughter. At first I thought it was Natalia Bestamianova...only when she came out for the finale did I know it wasn't Natalia! They look SO much alike!
I hope I didn't forget anything, others feel free to add their two cents. I will be out of town for a few days, so if you have any questions I won't be able to respond right away.
And about pictures...I took a lot, and usually they turn out really well, but I've been having bad luck getting film developed her in Petersburg. If anyone knows of a very reliable place in Petersburg that has developed skating/action photos before, please PM me. If I can't find a place then I'll have to wait and get them developed next May when I return to the States. That would an agonizing wait!
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