February 24, 2005
STARS ON ICE (Trenton, NJ)
by Sylvia
I attended the Trenton, New Jersey SOI show on Thursday night (Feb. 24) and had a fun time. It had started snowing in the afternoon and continued on through the evening, which probably resulted in some people staying away. But the smallish crowd was enthusiastic and cheered all the skaters pretty loudly. Katia looked really happy to be performing, and I was impressed with how good and "in synch" she looked in the group numbers, especially since she probably just learned the steps and routines fairly recently (this was her 4th show of the tour). Her effortless-looking speed and flow across the ice were a joy to behold in person, as always! Okay, here are all the "Katia highlights" listed in order of the show....
In the opening group number to "Pure Imagination," Katia did a side by side double salchow with Alexei Yagudin, followed by a few solo moves that included a back outside edge catch foot spiral to another back outside spiral to forward outside spiral; footwork into a double toe loop; a cool little half jump followed by a back scratch spin.
Katia's first solo was to Sasha Lazard's "Awakening." Her technical elements, in order, were: double loop; double axel (hand down and fell out into a squat position - she got right back into the program without too much interruption); footwork into double flip; small split jump to the same half jump (a variation on the half loop?) that she did in the opening group number; straight line footwork that ended in a forward lunge; layback spin in a catch foot position; several impressively controlled, traveling 3-turns right into a back camel spin that switched to a forward inside edge (wow!); and a forward catch foot spiral that she stopped on one foot!
Brief "magic interlude" - Katia came out and kept pulling out an endlessly long red hankerchief from her sleeve, to which Steve Cousins was attached, which, in turn, set the stage for his solo beginning the "TKO" guys' group boxing number.
A group number to a medley of songs by The Who closed the first half. All I recall is that Katia was partnered with Steven Cousins for most of it, and later everyone but Ina & Zimmerman opened up big red umbrellas while rain came splashing down from above!
I very much enjoyed Katia's performance to "Heartburn" (Alicia Keys) in the second half. She landed her double axel, yay! (it didn't "flow out" much on the landing, but it was a good enough jump); forward sit spin from which she partly rose up and spun on a bent knee; double loop; a cool inside axel integrated into her straight line footwork; split jump into double flip; butterfly (landed but did not spin on purpose); spin combination of flying camel down to back sit spin up rise to a VERY FAST back scratch spin! (one of the best of the night and her layered pink dress really looked cool while she was spinning)
Katia, Jamie Sale, Elena Berezhnaya and Kyoko Ina were in the "Step-Sisters”/Girl Power Number which began with them skating to Annie Lennox & Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)” around Steven Cousins, who pretty much just ignored them. Katia’s doll-like dress was dark pink with a white pinafore over it. She, and the others, later ripped off their puffy dresses to reveal slinky black dresses underneath as the music changed to Aretha Franklin’s powerful “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves”. Katia's elements included a double toe loop, a split jump, and a sit spin to upright spin at the end.
Katia had two more brief "interlude" appearances in the second half – the first as one of the parade of way-over-the-top mourners for the “operatic flea” that had met his/her accidental, untimely death earlier in the show. Katia wore dark glasses along with the others, and talk about OVER-acting to the hilt! ;-)
And finally, she came out with Kyoko Ina and Jamie Sale and skated a short segment in which they moved around the ice while holding large red feather fans in both hands.
In the “Dream On” (Aerosmith) group number that closed the show, Katia skated out in a short ponytail, did a single axel, was lifted up briefly by 2 of the guys (I think it was Weiss and Cousins), and finally did a butterfly as her solo move at the end as the fake snow drifted down from the ceiling of the arena and created a very magical atmosphere (that matched the real weather outside!).
I don't have time to summarize my other show highlights right now, but among the "notable people" sightings in Trenton were Isabelle Brasseur, Rocky Marval (both coaching in NJ now) and their cute daughter, Gabriella; and Sarah Hughes' mom and youngest sister (and a tiny dog that hopefully didn't get too cold in the on-ice seats!).
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