Champions on Ice 1998
I went to COI with my brothers Gordon and Vince and some friends we know from the FSW chat room, Teresa, Suzanne, their respective daughters Brianna and Jennifer, and also Don, and Sharon. I really enjoyed the show (even though none of my pictures came out well) as there were so many of my favourite skaters there including...Todd Eldredge! Yes, I finally got to see my boy skate in person. (Now I realize that I'll have to see him at least once more to get a decent picture) But besides Todd, there were also Kazakova and Dmitriev (my favourite pair), Viktor Petrenko(my favourite guy from 92), Klimova and Ponomarenko, Philippe Candeloro, Evgeny Plushenko, and a couple that surprised me (favourably), namely Rudy Galindo and Laurent Tobel. But I'll get back to them. Here, in no particular order, are critiques of all the skaters as well as I can remember.
Nicole Bobek skated to a medley of three songs by Aretha Franklin. At least, I know Respect is one of hers; I assume the other two, I Will Survive and You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, are hers, too. They certainly suit Nicole.
B&S (or Elena and Anton; no, I'm not going to try spelling their names) skated to Barcelona. Not bad. I think I see some improvement, actually. When I first saw this routine, I couldn't help thinking, these guys are beautiful and elegant, but they have no expression. Well, they are obviously working on that. They are definitely a pair to watch.
Punsalan and Swallow skated to That's Life, and they have obviously seen Sinatra Suite, a ballet by Twyla Tharp. I think I like Baryshnikov better, but P&S were pretty good. Very inventive moves.
Surya skated to Question of Honour sung by Sarah Brightman. Not bad, not bad. I have to admire her for her agility; her walkover backflip and no speed double axel are my favourite moves. If she had stuck with gymnastics, I bet she could have beaten the pants off Shannon Miller!
Weiss skated to When a Man Loves a Woman. I hate that song. You hear this soft, easy-listening keyboard intro, then suddenly someone's screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs. Talk about setting up the wrong kind of mood. As for the program, I missed most of it cuz that's when my first roll of film ran out and I was feverishly trying to change the roll in the dark before he took his bow. (I still can't believe I took 4 rolls of pictures and none of them came out well. Argh!)
Slutskaya skated to some Spanish pop song; sounded a lot like the stuff on my tape of Lambada music. Cute, very cute. I took a picture of her Beilman, but we all know by now that it didn't come out.
Plushenko skated to Slavic folk music. I loved his crimson boots! He is so cute; I think he will be the next Ilia in that regard. (Ilia, IMO, has grown out of it) I took a picture of his Beilman, too, but...sorry, I should stop griping about those pictures.
Meno and Sand were there and I'm blowed if I can remember what they skated to. Some cheesy love song I think. I believe Meno was wearing a little blue-violet number which came dangerously close to clashing with her hair. When is she going to realize that redheads don't look good in red, pink, or purple?
Oksana Baiul skated to All That Jazz. I liked it; it was very lighthearted and cute. She tripped on her footwork, but otherwise it was fine. And she showed her chagrin when she bowed which was a nice touch. She's certainly come a long way.
Rudy Galindo skated to, of all things, the Village People, namely In the Navy, Macho Man, and YMCA. It was hysterical! Whatever else I may think of him, I must admit that he's a good skater and he has a great personality. He also has a nice body, but I'm a little puzzled by the shrieks from the women in the audiance whenever he takes his shirt off. Face it, girls, he's not interested in you, LOL!
K&O skated to Carmen which was a bit of a disappointment. I love the program, but it's really more effective when seen on TV. Ah, well.
Brasseur and Eisler skated to Fly by Sugar Ray (or so I'm told). I really like this pair. They are very athletic and energetic and fun to watch. Pity they didn't do their stripper routine, though. ;~)
Laurent Tobel I had never seen before, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss him! For those of you who haven't seen it, he wore a pink leotard and tutu and skated to a medley of ballet music. Basically he was making fun of the little girls that he teaches. I am still laughing over that one. Tobel has the sort of face that the kindest soul can only call "plain", but boy does he have nice legs! My favourite part was the fake jumps he did. He leaped into the air and just kind of hung there for 3 or 4 seconds; it seemed as if the law of gravity had been abolished. He is definitely a skater to watch for, esp after he turns pro.
Usova and Zhulin skated to a French pop song. Very light-hearted and sweet. Klimova and Ponomarenko skated to something classical that I didn't recognize. She seems to have cut and coloured her hair. I'll have to see it up close before I can say whether I like it or not.
Philippe skated to Saturday Night Fever and was his usual studly self. We were sitting in Row O so we were in no danger of receiving his attention as is his wont mid-program. Not that I would have minded too much; I wouldn't mind being Rockapella's Pretty Woman, either.
Butyrskaya skated to Fever. Very nice. She's finally got a nice haircut, btw. She looked so severe with her hair pulled straight back. She is very beautiful and elegant with this short cut.
As the previous skater was taking her bows, Vince noticed a folding chair being set up at one end of the rink. "Who has a program with a chair in it?" he whispered. I replied, "Oh, I don't...Oh! it must be Viktor. He's going to do his piano routine!" I love that routine. Viktor really plays to the audiance. He knew that people were trying to take his picture and he turned to face each side of the arena as he "played". The only thing that bugs me about this program is that the guy has absolutely no idea where to place his hands on the "keyboard". I know that's kind of nitpicky; I guess it comes from being an ameteur musician. I get a little impatient with people who know little or nothing about music, but pretend that they do.
And finally I come to Pasha and the guy that skates with her. (All Pasha fans had better skip this paragraph because I have nothing good to say about her. Consider yourself warned) I actually didn't see much of the program because I had to change the film again right then. No great loss, in my candid opinion. I am told by my companions that the program, skated to something by Madonna, was R-rated. Teresa said she felt like she needed to cover her 6-year-old daughter's eyes. Vince had threatened that he was going to get nachos when Pasha came out, but intermission came before she did. I noticed that she was singing along with her music. Ugh! I've heard her sing and I can only say that I pity poor Evgeny. Interesting to note, when they skated in Philadelphia, which was televised, she wasn't singing. Maybe Evgeny said he'd strangle her if she didn't stop. They got a rather cold reception in DC; polite applause, nothing more. One last thing: Of course, it has been done to death how Pasha changed her name because she didn't want to be associated with Baiul. (When they both had bleached hair they looked an awful lot alike, but Baiul was still prettier) Well, in the finale Pasha and her partner were skating to You Can Leave Your Hat On and the hat they used as a prop looked like the same one Baiul wore in All That Jazz. Coincidence?
Let me talk about Todd now. He skated to an Italian pop song. (What is it with all these foreign pop songs?) What can I say about my boy except that he was superb as always. I think I screamed myself hoarse when he came out on the ice. I've got to see him again, if only to get a decent picture!
Next to Todd, Kazakova and Dmitriev are my ultimate favourites. Artur is so hunky for one thing! ;~) I love their Sad Waltz program. It's so sweet and playful. There are some really good Kodak moments in that program, but as we all know...oh, never mind. They were great; that's all I need to say.
I'm going to clump the last three together since I don't have much to say about them. Ilia skated to Rhapsody in Blue again and wore that yellow giraffe shirt again. Ho hum. Michelle Kwan...I'm not really sure what she skated to. I've never been wildly enthused by her programs and this one was no exception. Finally, Tara skated to some cheesy, Disney-like song. This kind of music really seems to suit her, but I just can't stand to listen to it! She's awfully cute, though. Just wait till she starts dating!
After the show we hung out at the back garage entrance and got to wave at the skaters as their buses drove by. Rudy literally threw himself to the front of his bus to wave at his fans (isn't he sweet). Surya's mom, AKA the wicked witch of the West (or Morticia as Don called her, though I was of the opinion that Morticia was prettier than that), was also on that bus. I think I spotted her at about the same time as Don because I recall he recoiled in horror and nearly knocked Suzanne to the pavement. After that we went to the Capitol Brewery for dinner and rehashed the event. The general consensus was that it was a great show. After dinner we returned to Teresa's house and watched skating tapes with intermittent bits of Space Ghost and Johnny Quest thrown in as we changed tapes. It was fun to watch skating with other skating fans besides my brothers. I like to voice my opinions when watching skating (though I do restrain myself when I watch it in patient's rooms), and it was nice to be able to discuss it with some different folks. My parents get kind of a glazed look when I try to discuss it with them, lol.
We finally left Teresa's house at 10:30 PM, which meant that we got home at 1:30 AM. The next day was Easter Sunday and we went to Mass like the good little Catholics that we are, but boy! was I exhausted. I've never had a hangover (honest!), but I think I may have an idea of what it might be like. I had to work that afternoon, too; thank goodness I had Monday off. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Though I might try to get my work schedule to fit a little better. Thanks to all my FSW friends who made the trip so enjoyable.