September 9, 2006
Iced Energy (Nottingham, UK)
by Su-jan
Hi there,
Just returned from a great weekend in Nottingham!
Here's my review:
As I've already read some reports that Ekaterina and Ilia were seen at the rehearsals I flew to the UK already relieved... My boyfriend, Stephan, and I arrived in Nottingham on Friday night. Saturday afternoon we walked through the downtown and we really liked the city. It's so pretty and we had such good weather!
Of course, our first stop was at the Nottingham Ice Arena - you know - just wanted to see if some skaters happened to be there. Nope. But there was a nice surprise at the entrance of the arena - a big display of skaters through the history and G&G were pictured as well! Yeah!
http://www.gg-corner.de/pictures/2006/nottingham/20060909_iced_energy01.jpg
They, unfortunately, got Sergei's name wrong. They wrote "Grinko" - I don't know what it is - because I've seen this typo so often. They just don't hear the "v" at the end, I guess... Still, it was great to see this G&G picture.
After some lunch and shopping we returned to the arena again at around 6 pm. We were pleasantly surprised about the rink. It was so much warmer and comfortable than the Antwerp rink (which was sooooo cold). Because of our Belgian experiences we brought jumpers and scarfs because we were expecting to freeze, but we didn't need it... Suddenly, I heard my name and Rita greeted me and two seats further away another girl greeted me - it turned out to be Nadine! I had such a great time with Rita and Nadine and it was so nice meeting them! It made it even more fun! Thank you! By the way, Stephan and I had great seats. Very close to the ice with a great view!
Stephan video taped Ekaterina's and Ilia's numbers and I will bring them online as soon as possible. I tried to take skating pictures but eventually just didn't bother anymore because they were all blurry and not very good. I'm just happy to have the videos. Many, many, many thanks to Stephan - as he always accompanies me to these skating shows and does the filming. You're wonderful!
Ekaterina skated as first number "Fragile" by Sting. It was not the original choreography and she was wearing the "Cinecitta" costume. It's a gorgeous outfit and Ekaterina looked absolutely beautiful. As mentioned in the reviews above, she had falls in both her numbers. Personally, I agree that her skating is so wonderful that she just doesn't need to jump. The opening pose of "Fragile" was the opening of "Cinecitta". I think she combined both her numbers to a new interpretation of "Fragile". I think, she used Sting's version in order to be a little in line with the theme "Tribute to British Music". At the end, she also did this dramatic slide as seen in "Cinecitta". I really liked it. Ekaterina's smile, by the way, is amazing. When she smiles the arena lights up! And, she's so stunning. I could hear the lady behind me whispering "she's beautiful". She was in awe!
After Ekaterina Ilia skated to "Too darn hot". Great music and I really liked this number. He popped his opening jump, but all the others were huge and wonderful. He got one of the loudest applauses of the evening. He's a great skater. I totally enjoyed his performance!
The next appearance of Ekaterina was after the intermission. She came out in a black sparkling costume and the music of Sade's "Smooth Operator" started. I got so excited because it's a new costume and new music! But it then turned out to be a group number... Which was also nice, but of course I would have loved to see a new Ekaterina programme...
Ekaterina's second solo was "Heartburn". I think, she just didn't have the time to do a new number. It's still early in the season. She had a fall again and was struggling with her other jumps. I felt sorry for her and really crossed my fingers on every jump... Apart from that I really enjoyed her performance. I think she really got comfortable with the moves and everything. And when she spins, her dress looks very cool!
Ilia followed her with "Picking up the pieces". Really like the music again and he just knows how to move. He's so cute when he's smiling! Also, very enjoyable number.
During the closing number Ekaterina and the other ladies were forming a circle with the guys by holding hands and then the girls would do a slow "sommersault". It was a very cool and impressive move. I hope it's on the videos! Oh, and Ekaterina and Ilia were shaking hands with the people sitting on centre ice. Sigh, Ekaterina was on the opposite side, but I did get to see Ilia in close up! Fun guy! I could also see Ekaterina hugging and shaking hands with some little kids - I'm sure they were delighted...
After the show Nadine, Stephan and I (and some other fans) were staying at the rink, hoping to see the skaters and get some autographs. Unfortunately, no skaters at all, but we did get some signatures as the manager picked up our programmes and brought it to the skaters to sign. Still, it would have been somewhat nicer if we could have seen the skaters in person. And I really wanted to meet Ekaterina again...
Well, after a while we decided to wait at the reception of the arena and, yep, eventually, Ekaterina and Ilia appeared and it was so wonderful! You know, I was fortunate enough to meet Ekaterina several times and she was always very nice to me and she always looked beautiful. But I thought she looked very, very beautiful and absolutely radiant in Nottingham. And she was so nice again. She signed my programme (my first in person autograph! Yeah!) and took pictures. I was totally delighted. I was soooooo happy. She's wonderful! Here are some pictures from the signing:
http://www.gg-corner.de/pictures2006.htm
Yep, originally I'm on some of the pics as well, but I cut myself out. Somehow I just don't take good pictures with Ekaterina or my eyes are closed...
And here's a scan of Ekaterina's page in the offical programme:
http://www.gg-corner.de/scans/shows/2006/20060909_iced_energy.jpg
Who notices the error in the text?
Anyhow, I had a great, great time in Nottingham. Total success! Nice weekend trip, nice city, good weather, an autograph from Ekaterina, good videos and pictures. I'm so happy!
Bye.
Su-jan.
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