March 5, 2005
STARS ON ICE (Bridgeport)
by Lisa
Went to the Stars on Ice show in Bridgeport, Connecticut yesterday. Overall, a really great show. I'll go through it all in order as best as I can remember with the Katya bits interspersed. I haven't been to a live skating show since I went to see Katya and Sergei after their second Olympics, I guess that must have been the Champions on Ice Tour. My one recollection of that show is from the opening. They staged it really well so that just as your attention was on Mishketunek (don't hold me to that spelling) and Dimitriev, the lighting shifted and Gordeeva & Grinkov appeared out of the darkness as Sergei lifted Katya into a perfect lift. A very spectacular effect.
But on to yesterday's show. Luckily Bridgeport has a small arena so no seats are bad, but I was in the cheap seats so I can't tell you much about facial expressions or costume details, etc. In the opening, Katya received the second most applause when introduced (Sarah Hughes got the most). I shocked myself when I looked for her among the skaters doing pairs elements - after all this time!
Todd skated first and opened with a dramatically placed jump, which he blew completely. I was worried that might be an omen for the show, but it wasn't. The rest of the program (I can't remember the music - sorry) was quite creditable though. Based on the entire night, Todd seems to have scaled back his jumping and is featuring his artistry and particularly his spins in his choreography much more. I always knew his was a great spinner, but they look much better live and were big applause-getters.
Katya was second skating to Awakening in the assymetrical black and silver outfit as usual. Her hair is definitely longer now and she wore it clipped back and up for this number. She did two double jumps and one triple, all really well-done jumps. I had forgotten how subtle and intricate her choreography can be. I really liked the way she used her arms in the choreography and absolutely love the part where she is skating on one foot and suddenly comes to a complete stop. On one foot! To me, that symbolizes Katya's skating. People who don't watch or do a lot of skating may not notice her skill, but I don't know many skaters who can do that. Katya looks to be in fabulous shape. The consistent speed and flow through this program really stood out. I'd seen this program on TV in its early days, and to me it's really improved since then. Back then Katya seemed a little uncertain of the moves, lots of thinking about what the next move was. But yesterday she skated it with complete conviction and certainty and it really made a difference.
Her second program was to Heartburn in the usual red dress. Her hair was down this time with the sides pulled back in a rubber band on top of her head. That doesn't sound too clear, but that's the best way I can think of to describe it right now. It looks like her hair is about shoulder length right now. She stepped out of the one jump in this program (I couldn't tell if it was meant to be a double or a triple) but she did it right in rhythm and it didn't interrupt the flow of the program at all. Once again, her speed & flow and intricate & certain choreography were striking. I know this type of choreography is different for her, but I like it. When I used to see Katya and Sergei skate in shows, she usually looked uncomfortable doing the choreography for the group numbers, particularly when it was supposed to be done with a sexy-type of attitude. She's so much more comfortable in her own skin now. The one thing I've learned with Katya over the years is to trust her when it comes to choreography - she's just much smarter than I am. If I'm not blown away by a program the first time I see it I just keep watching it more closely because I will eventually appreciate it even if it's years later. Do you remember that a lot of people didn't love Katya and Sergei's Moonlight Sonata Olympic program when they first saw it? I didn't either - it seemed a bit staid and not so dynamic. But after seeing it a few times and especially in retrospect, it's just such a perfect program. I guess I'm just slow. Both of her programs yesterday were very well-received by the audience. I noticed that she doesn't milk the crowd for cheers like most of the other skaters.
I don't remember the order of the skaters, but here are the highlights. Of the most interest to people here would probably be Ilya Kulik. He did This House is Not a Home and Green Tomatoes. The only audience sign of the night was unveiled for him (We Love Ilya, very professionally done) but they only showed it once and I don't think he saw it because he was facing the other direction. His skating was high-quality but he has this odd distant, inward style to it right now. He's very involved with the programs but I don't think he even knows the audience is there. His footwork was particularly notable in Green Tomatoes and couple of times his jumps were landed right in front of my section of the audience – really, really high!
I have to give Sarah Hughes very mixed reviews. She's grown up a lot. I think she may have been one of those girls for whom the hard training delayed her development because she has a completely different body. Hips and chest. She is more artistic than I remember and does especially nice work with her arms. I don't remember the music she skated to in her first program but the program really wasn't very good. Only double jumps as far as I could tell and very blah choreography. She has absolutely no vertical leap right now – even something like a split jump barely got off the ice – and it was painfully slow. The audience response was close to shocked silence with a little polite applause thrown in.
At intermission a lot of the talk was, “Wow - Sarah's big. And not very good.” But she rescued herself with her solo in the second half to Over the Rainbow (and a much more flattering dress). The program was quite lovely and delicate, very Yuka Sato-like.
When she appeared in group numbers she was horribly slow. In the finale she fell flat on her ass just skating across the ice. Maybe she hit a rough spot – I don't know. And she actually cut Todd Eldridge off by accident so that when the announcer called his name to receive applause he hadn't yet reached the center.
Of course as a Gordeeva & Grinkov fan I'm a particularly fond of pairs skating. Kyoka Ina and John Zimmerman are much better show skaters than competition skaters. They're still mismatched and have no line, but they pulled out all the risky tricks and put on a very exciting program in the first half. Lots of oohing and aahing from the audience.
The Russians Bereznaya & Sikhariludze (I'm just making up that spelling) really reminded me a little of Gordeeva & Grinkov in their first number. It was so elegant and beautiful. Their second number was an absolutely riotous rock/hip hop medley. I remember Usher and KC and the Sunshine Band but there were a couple of other songs in there too. Maybe it wouldn't have been so funny if I didn't know it was so unlike them, but they really went all out. Especially him.
Sale and Pelletier's best number was to Who Wants to Live Forever. It was very popular with the audience (and my husband's favorite of the night) but not really my kind of pairs skating. Lots of dancing in place and posing, and very slow skating.
Alexei Yagudin has been watching Cirque de Soleil because the first half of his first number was done in the air on a cloth swing trapeze type thing. It worked for me.
I don't remember too much about Katya in the finale except that she had her hair in a short ponytail and was quite good. You would never know she hasn't been in all the shows because she knows all the moves perfectly.
Between the main numbers are short interludes in which everyone wears red and Katya was in some of those, but it was hard to tell because they were only a few seconds long and my seats were far away. They were pretty funny and kept the kids interested. There's a bit about a dead flea complete with a funeral that had everyone rolling on the floor. There's even a little bit of a magic show to how they change costumes on the ice.
And Katya is part of a quartet of ladies in slinky black dresses that do a very sharp short piece.
On a slightly side note, I had taken my husband (boyfriend at the time) to Champions on Ice shows way back when several times but he's never been to Stars on Ice before and wasn't familiar with the concept at all. He loved how the whole thing was an integrated show, and not just skaters doing their individual, separate numbers. I don't think I'll ever get him to go back to Champions on Ice now.
In the end, I couldn't help but contrast Katya and Sarah. Sarah clearly signed with the show and then started to get in shape and prepare her programs. I should be clear – she wasn't overweight in a real life sense – just not in skating shape and far too inexperienced to be the pseudo headliner. But Katya is such a professional. Even though she's not doing all the shows and even though we know her heart is really more with Daria, Liza and Ilya than skating now, she knew all the moves perfectly and came with really well-thought-out programs. I admire her even more now. I actually went because I thought Katya might not skate for too many more years. If she and Ilya decide to have another child that could be it and I wanted to see her live one more time. But I was so impressed with her and the whole show, I may even go back next year if she's guesting again. Thank goodness I live in Connecticut. If she guests, I can't imagine her missing the shows near her home.
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