Kristi Yamaguchi's holiday show

This was held in Denver on Nov. 10 at the new ice arena at Denver University.  For those who care about such things, DU has a division I college hockey team with an illustrious history.  A few years ago they demolished their old arena and constructed a new practice rink (that's been open for nearly 3 years), and a gargantuan athletic faclity that includes swimming pools, basketball courts, an ice arena (about 3,000 or 4,000 capacity?), health club facilities, and so forth all in one building.   This show was one of the first events at the new arena.

Strangely, the new arena had a real feeling of the old one.  It has steeply raked seats, so the view from everywhere is good.  This event was very badly publicized, so it wasn't a sellout, but the crowd was respectably large.  The parking folks didn't have much practice yet, so it took forever to get parked, and the show started late (but as my husband pointed out, the number of skating shows we have been to in the past 30 years that started on time is zero).

Katya Gordeeva was not there, on account of injury.  The cast included: Yamaguchi, Sumners, Nikodinov, Meno/Sand, Steigler/Steigler, Roca/Sur, Brasseur/Eisler, Eldredge, Browning, Orser, S. Cousins.  Everybody did two numbers, except for Yamaguchi, who did 3.  There were also two "mass" numbers - one to open, and one to close, and a group number to open the second half, of the four male single skaters.

For the most part, everybody did one holiday type number, and one "regular" one.

I'm operating without my program in front of me, so the following is incomplete and out of order.

In the opening number, four skaters stood out as looking as if they had been born on skates, and as if they were totally comfortable in their bodies (I don't know how else to put it):  Orser, Eldredge, Sur, Yamaguchi.   Peter Carruthers and Tracey Wilson were there before the show opened taping some comments, and THEY looked totally at home on their skates as well.  I daresay Peter is more comfortable in boots and on blades than in streetshoes.

I don't even remember what Yamaguchi skated to.  She did very well and was warmly received, but didn't know anybody's socks off.

Angela Nikodinov did her holiday number first, wearing her short program dress.  This is exquisite.  It's lavendar, with shoulder straps.  The skirt is chiffony, and high-waisted.   Unlike virtually every other such dress I've seen, however, this one works.  The skirt is encrusted all over with sequins or beads or pearls, so that the skirt hangs and swings wonderfully. She missed one jump and did a retake afterward.  In order for the retake to fit in, she had to start at one spin, and continue through the jump through the next spin.  I don't think she's ever done this before, because she came out and did it perfectly …. But without the music.  Lea Ann Miller then told her that she needed to do it with the music.  She did it again, with the music, but started after the spin, and hit the jump.  She did it twice more, each time perfectly, but it took the 4th take to get enough of the program to edit in seamlessly.  So I wondered …… will it help her to realize that she actually can do that jump perfectly, in context?  Her second number, by the way, was Dust in the Wind.

Sumners skated to "The River" by Holly Cole, which starts off with "It's comin on for Christmas" and includes the line "I wish I had a river to skate away on" in the refrain.  Her dress was sequined grey, and one of the least attractive dresses I remember seeing her in.  It made her look as if she had no waist.  The second was to The Last Rose of Summer, sung by that 14 year old Welsh girl [Charlotte Church].   Not my cup of tea.  Roz was in pinky-peach chiffon, and the number was quite lovely.  She did only single axels in both numbers (plus some double toes (?)), but all but one of the axels was planned as a single.  The one that had been clearly intended to be a double got a reskate.

It looks as if we are going to have a Santana medley in SOI this year, because both Roca/Sur and Meno/Sand skated to Santana.  And their costumes were "alike" in the way of SOI.  The men in striped black shirts, and black pants.  The women in black dresses with lots of black lace (Roca's had a lot less dress, and a lot more lace).

Sur skated the entire Santana program with a strange and endearing smile, that looked to me as if he were thinking "It is SO wonderful to be able to be out here, dancing like this"  It was an effective number.  I don't remember the second number, except that he was wearing bright purple and she was in maroon, and that they began and ended the number in the same pose, except that they traded places.  They've developed some very cool carries and have also reached that "symbiotic relationship" stage where they know each other's every move.

Meno/Sand have an extraordinarily nifty death spiral. He still has one of the best men's spiral positions anywhere. Their second number was to O Holy Night. She missed the throw jump, landing on two feet and immediately turning forward, RIGHT as the music went "FALL on your knees".   He couldn't help a bit of an ironic grin. It took 4 retakes to get it right. Two actual falls on FALL, and one scratchy landing. Lea Ann Miller asked them if they were happy with it, and they looked up to where she was and shook their heads. The next time is was beautiful. By the way, Meno was wearing her hair down.  Looks good.

Brasseur/Eisler.   The first number was very gentle.  It was full of creative moves that I wished we'd seen more of when they were eligible.  I wondered whether gentle was what we were going to see from now on because of Brasseur's illness. The second number was to Jingle Bells.  It was fast. It had all the normal fireworks and more. It even had a nice diagonal footwork sequence.  The strange thing is, though, that Eisler, while tossing her around with the same aplomb as always, seemed to be treating her very very tenderly. How, I asked myself, can you possibly look "tender" in a "fly high and say goodbye?"  Somehow he did.  They got the biggest standing ovation of the night (there were three:  Brasseur/Eisler, Browning, Eldredge).    Lloyd's got arms like tree trunks.

The Stieglers acquited themselves well.  They did have one lift where he nearly didn't get her up all the way, but he did eventually get here to where she belonged.  They have some nice spins these days, and some nice "shapes" (for instance, at one point, he does a forward lunge in font of her, but arches backward to hold her hands while she is in a spiral. Very pretty. He's developing the musculature for a pairs partner. Now, if he could just learn to close his mouth when he skates, or, if he much have it open, put some kind of expression on it. They did one retake (I forget of what), but it wasn't the lift, so we'll probably only see one of their numbers.

Stephen Cousins was outclassed here.  He did some nice numbers, but had lots of "almosts" and "not quites". He did no reskates, so I have a feeling that we won't be seeing him on the broadcast.

Orser did two smooth programs. I don't remember the first.  The second was "Rootbeer and Licorice". He wears bright yellow pants and a black shirt with huge white polka dots.  The number was really upbeat and had lots of clever footwork and "in betweens". He reskated a triple salchow.

Browning's first number was to "Play That Funky Music".  He was wearing the tight shiny pants and a strange bronzish-striped shirt. He got the first standing ovation of the night. It's very much in the spirit of Brickhouse. He did a reskate of something, but because of how jampacked the program is, he had to start at the top, and skate a LOT of the program before and after the jump to make sure they could do a smooth edit. The second number was "Christmas is Coming" by the Arrogant Worms. (yes).  He comes out with multiple shopping bags, stumbles about a bit. Tosses christmas ornaments into the crowd, skates (and spins) with rolls of wrapping paper, gets tossed a 4' teddy bear and skates with that, and eventually collapses. In clearing up the ice, he inadvertently spilled 4 white envelopes from one of the bags, and they lay on the ice for the next skater (Yamaguchi) and the people with the spotlights didn't even see them to highlight them. After Yamaguchi was finished, a man whose job it appeared to be to pick object up off the ice slid out to pick them up.

Eldredge did Silent Night, and fell on something, but did a glorious 3X and other good stuff.  He reskated the jump, and put it a little farther from the side of the rink than the first time and did it fine. The second number was Glory. He hit everything except for doubling a lutz when it got too close to the end of the rink.  It really does build throughout the program. It got a standing ovation. He reskated the lutz.

The second act began with Orser, Browning, Eldredge, and Cousins all dressed up in Santa outfits, skating to "Is Dat You Santa Claus?" by Louis Armstrong.  They all had santa's sacks, and threw candy into the audience. It was a clever number. There were several pieces of candy left on the ice when they were through (which brought on the first and second appearances of The Guy Whose Job It Was to Pick Up Stuff).

The final group number was to Bring on the Angels  (I think). It was full of good moments, and nicely choreographed, with the highlight being (as it often is) the double death spiral. With Meno/Sand and Brasseur/Eisler. Lloyd got to be the pivot, so Todd had the awkward position of not-quite-pivoting.

At the end, they brought out some more Christmas ornaments and candy, and threw it into the crowd.  Rene Roca has quite an arm!  It was a very satisfying evening.  The retaking is fascinating, especially seeing how the skaters "turn it on" in a split second.

Yamaguchi: Angels we have heard on High (Paul Cardell).  Jingle Bells  (oddly, the program lists the recording artist as Kristi Yamaguchi).  From This Moment (Shania Twain).

Cousins: Belfast Child (Simple Minds).  Let it Snow (Harry Connick Jr.)  Cousins is listed as the choreographer for both. Both were imaginatively  choreographed. He just didn't pull off the skating.

Orser: Root Beer and Licorice (Johnny Favorite Swing Orchestra) .... an odd name for a band, for those who saw that creepy movie about voodoo in which the mysterious missing person was Johnny Favorite.  Please Come Home for Christmas (Jon Bon Jovi)

Steiglers: Carol of the Bells (Deanna Carter). Somewhere Out There.

Roca/Sur: What Child is This? (Moody Blues)