Alexander Abt
Mask of Zorro....black top and trousers. And mask. Woo. Crowd clap at the
start....black top reveals rather a lot of the chest.....lungey little
steps....into a deathdrop to a sit spin.....down the ice into a triple
toe....around and into a flying camel.....emotive arm waving as he does
crossovers in to a spread eagle......good lord that's a huge
necklace....mask comes off...leave it on, go on.....double axel.....down and
into triple toe.....music speeds up crowd clap....more arm waving to the
music....steps.....huge split jump....butterfly.....steps into combo
spin.....and he's done. And everyone loves it while I go eh. Chris sings a
verse of the song of amazing courage.....collapse after qualification, dying
after the free etc etc....Joanne as much as says it was better than his
long. Eh.

Drobiazko and Vanagas
Ooh...lovely sparkley pale green dress for her....matching blouse for him
with black trousers....as the sea opens it up...she lies on his back..they
both stand....lovely lift to start.....then another, as I ponder the
wingythingys on his blouse......she kneels on the ice, as he circles
her....this is a lovely routine....very hard to describe....every move just
flows into the next, and you're totally caught up in it. great lift where
he's kinda in a sitting position and she's lying on top of him....Joanne in
raptures.....another one where he's in the same position going backwards,
she's doing the splits.....and a nice lift to finish....oh that was lovely.
That really really was. Sometimes, says Chris, I wonder how the ice stays
frozen beneath their feet. Kinda says it all really.

Viktoria Volchkova
Could I Have this kiss forever....black trousers, black polo neck with no
sleeves...starts off with camel spin.....spreadeagle ..then into triple
lutz...layback where the tv closeup kills me.....another
spreadeagle....brutal music cut....spiral with free leg horribly
bent....double toe.....flying camel......with illusion on the
exit....layback to half biellman to finish.....and a few more steps and
she's done. Eh. Nice music, nice skating...I'm just not sure that they went
together properly......she seemed like she was holding back an awful
lot...Joanne raves about the quality of her jumps....

Abitbol and Bernadis
Ooh...leather galore. John Miles "Music"(was my first love)....nice close up
of the two of them to start and I dissolve into a puddle of schmoopy
goo.......he lifts her up in a spin....forward inside death spiral into a
lifty thing that they do, you know the swingy thing....great unison on these
steps.....into a banana lift......with one hand!....they stop as the music
waits to build.....crowd clap and I take a break from typing to join
in......huge split single twist!....morfe great unison in the side by side
steps.....music slows asthey do a carry lift...going into a one handed
one....this is great.....perfect throw 2ax!...in perfect time with the
music.....into a detroiter to finish......oh that was great. That was great.
I loved that. Have I mentioned that I loved that? Now, excuse me because my
video seems to have broken down and it's rewinding of its own accord and
it's making me look at that again. Really. It is.

Back again....

And they're back too!...she dances as he stands and looks at her...she moves
over to him....mutual flirting on the ice....as they shake their respective
rear ends and I reach for my rewind button...split.....headbanger wher he
has hold of one skate and one hand and she's doing the splits ...they both
lie on the ice at the end!

Stanick Jeannette
oh hello! blue jeans. dark blue nike tshirt. ....perhaps perhaps perhaps
with a male vocal and backbeat...and look at that footwork! triple
sal....can he dress like this for the free??? ... it's much
nicer......music speeds into a "come on come on come on" mantra.....huge
2ax....he gets the crowd clapping....and this is the best twisty footwork
I've seen since Kurt....flying camel....into camel with a bent knee leaning
to the side.....triple toe.....this is great....triple toe!.....he slides
across the ice with one leg bent under him....flying sit which is so
fast!.....and he slides across the ice on his knees gets up again and is
done.....hello! Hell-oooooooo!!! Have I mentioned that was great?

Lobacheva and Averbukh
Still not used to the blonde from her....his goatee needs to die. She's in
yellow backless dress...he's in black trousers, white tshirt. "Some Sun" is
the music.....I presume she's the sun? Dress has in fact a flesh coloured
back with sparkles. Some of which are in her hair. Skirt is a kinda Proud
Mary affair...nice music....and great straight line step....nice selection
of lifts in here as well as he drags her across the ice flipping her
over.....as I realise there is enough glitter in her hair to do my art and
craft program for at least two years....nice move where she's in a
deathyspiralslidy thing, holding onto his leg..another upside down
lift....more side by side movement.....this is a real nice change of pace
for them.....I'd gotten so used to Little Richard that I'm really not used
to this, but I find myself quite liking it. And I get the feeling I'll
probably like it more when I see it again....and get past the glitter
naturally.

Maria Butyrskaya
Black dress....much of it black neeting. She starts standing at the barrier
and vamps to the tango sounds.....insert your own interpretation of what
Chris said here......she's moving to the music that's for sure!....triple
toe...stop...vamp a little more....double axel clean as a whistle...into
camel spin.....well, you really can't say she's not interpreting the music,
this is really good.....straight line steps....spiral....more nice little
steps....into a layback.....and she's done....and I'm frankly surprised
Chris can find words! It was a superb performance as Joanne says, and
despite my hatred of this particular phrase, she really is the complete
skating package...style to spare! As for the mood of the routine...think
Katerina plus, and you're almost there!

Totmianina and Marinin
Matching black trousers and red tops....they stand facing each other...Era
Amino (SP??)....drums beat as they make in a circle and do a double
toe....lying and rolling on the ice time...in unison mind you......split
2twist.....matching spirals....as Joanne praises the interesting
choreography....throw 3sal....upside down and turny lift.....she does a
biellman..not sure where he is.....crowd find a beat and clap.....star lift.
to antoer...to a shoulder lift, to one where he's in spiral she's lying
across his back...seamless transitions...so hard!....good grief she's
flexible...I'm sore looking at her!....more steps and lifts to death spiral
where she's doing splits...and the music fades out as they stop;....not bad,
interesting,,,,but they need a better ending.

Alexei Yagudin
OK...I can imagine the look on Nora's face now! He's wearing all
black....top is black, short sleeved...with a little zip at the top.....and
I pause here to go "hmm not bad" then slap myself silly. Ballad....nice
steps....more steps into camel change camel.....more steps....just hold onto
the 3ax although he was deep on that landing!....huge flying sit....triple
flip.....spreadeagle....double loop....he slides face down on the
ice....circular step....hydroblade holding onto one foot...oh! and he just
tripped and went! recovered and into much busy footwork.....to combo
spin.....and noone but Rudy should do that spin. He ends curled up on the
ice....as the crowd erupt.
Encore is the final part of Gladiator......Chris recalls how fabulous it was
and I'm telling you, he gave it loads on Thursday and gave it loads here
too! Nice sit spin where he curls his leg up....

Annisina and Peizerat
Black trousers and unflattering shiny top for her...oooh baby baby
baby.....black trousers black tshirt and grey jacket for him. Pause. And
find drool bucket. And play. Susanna is the song....I may change my
name.....nice steps in perfect unison.....lift where he's in squat and she's
standing.....another move where she's standing on his feet and
moving...literal interp of the lyrics, his hand around her shoulder, ran
fingers through her hair....gender bender lift...nice facial expression!he
pulls out his phone as it rings and she pulls him around...he kneels in the
ice on the phone..she kicks him around and walks all over him.....how'd she
get a job like that???? nice dance steps.....jacket comes off...dont' stop
there...think French, think Philippe! ...wow! bumping and grinding, the
judges would have a stroke!...dance spins....she says goodbye to
him....straight line step which is perfect.....lift where she's upside
down...then goes into a sit....genderbender lift where he's in a split...she
leaves him lying on the ice while she vamps. Loved it!

And stop. And rewind. And play.

And it's better the second time around.

Aaaaanyway....

Great slo-mos! Love the facial expressions! And encore! OD from last
year...the Gloria Estefan bit....and the crowd are standing.

Irina Slutskaya
Pale white dress with grey bits.....Schindlers List.....lovely layback to
start...she's got a fantastic position.....piano version of the
theme....double lutz....flying camel....lovely expression from her
here.....triple loop and she does the turns going into it...split
jump.....steps...double sal....back spiral which is
breathtaking......turning steps and running steps interspersed....into a
combo spin which includes her double biellman speciality....just
exquisite.....and excuse me while I just make the observation that jumps
aside, on an emotional level, it beat the bejaney out of her free.
Encore...Because You Loved Me.....crowd find the beat and clap as she
spins....and there's that backspiral I love so much...to spiral...to
biellman backwards spiral....another fantastic combo spin........she only
goes to the first verse and chorus, but trust me, very pretty it was. As
Chris annoints her as tough to beat...she'll be going head to head with
Michelle Kwan...if it were Simon there, I'd be worried. He's got the same
track record as me.

Bereshnaia and Sikharulidze
Santana...Smooth. In blue sparkly dress for her, matching shirt less
spangles for him, with tie and black trousers. They start apart and circle
each other.....she spins...he takes her hand....nice lift where she hops
into his arms....Slow piece to start with.....huge split 2twist....move
where she's on his skates and they're both in spreadeagle...crowd claps as
they do footwork to the beat..spirals. into death sprial into swingy thingy
and Smooth! They dance o nthe ice....she lies back and he dips her....triple
sal throw which she just hung onto ....steps in perfect unison.....lift
where she's in the splits on his back, he's in spiral then he stands and
spins......ooh! and he does the flip her over the back thing! Pairs
spin....more steps....upside dowen entry into lift....she drags him around
by the tie.....back wards lift...over the head, upside down and into the
drop exit to end! Wow! And that dress splits low in the front! That was
really good.....much better than the "You're the Boss" that they had last
year.....they looked as if they enjoyed it so much. And more fantastic
slomos.
Encore...the final part of their free. From the mimey Chapliny stuff. he's
lost the tie. and personal rant here....he mimes the cane with his
righthand....chaplin was left handed. Great unison in the footwork
there.....upside down entry lift again.....she waves to the
crowd...throwtriple loop with a turn out.....that's what it looked like from
the overhead (!!!!?) angle we got....note to camera guys, you're killing me
here!

Evgeny Plushenko
Oh. my. god. Sunglasses! Quickly! He's wearing...are you ready for this?
Flourescent tangerine top with colours on it. Flourescent yellow trousers.
And matching hat is carried. And matching skate covers. There's a palm tree
on the top. And tropical fruit. Hips swivel...stop that!....double
axel....that is one vile costume. triple toe....when he jumps he sticks the
hat on.....music is fast with a female vocal which I can't make head nor
tail of......theres an orange ribbon around the hat did I mention? Mimes
throwing hat into crowd....don't toy with me. spiral in biellman
position.......footwork...quite tricky too.....oh my. those trousers are
giving me a headache. Schmoose the audience boy. Yep, you play
peekaboo....go on.....kisses a ladies hand....mimes fainting.....flicks hat
with back skate blade....doesn't catch it though....triple axel....more
steps.....and he's done. As I adjust the colour on my monitor that I might
get through the encore which is undoubtedly coming.
Encore....who let him out of the house in that? the final part of his free.
...stop with the hip swivelling already!....crowd clap....double
axel.....into combo spin......double lutz.....and it's not the final part of
his free cause he's into the slow part..biellman spiral again..soulful
steps.....triple loop....music builds....camel to combo spin including
biellman.....and that's him finished.

Fusar-Poli and Margaglio
Red dress from her....backless. Missing a bit at the side. But not
especially heinous. Red shirt from him, grey suit. Tango...begins with them
both sitting on chairs.....doing indentical moves as they feign disinterest
in each other until the italian stallion makes his move......that's a high
slit on that skirt. Swingy around under the arm move....then swing her
around a little more...dancey steps....lift....going backwards with him
almost hydroblading.....more tango steps in dance hold....more of that dress
looks gone every time I look , but it's not!....headbanger type thing, but
again with the overhead shot.....circular
sequence....lunges....lift....slide down the length of him.....more steps
and lifts and lunges as the music winds down.... and they end with a dip.
Well.....it didn't do anything for me. Very tricky and intricate, and they
sold it well, but I'm not a tango person. And the crowd didn't get into it
either. (and there I thought it was just me)
Encore.....right. Costume change....she's wearing a black jackety type dress
with hat. He's wearing the same suit....but the shirt underneath it is
gone.....and my Philippe radar is going dingdingding and I'm scared
now........me oh my....Business of Love from the Mask....steps to start it
off.....she gives him both the hats...he somersaults her.....she gets her
hat back.....kneels and spins under his arm...death spiral where his hat is
on the end of his skate, hers is in her mouth.....she bumps him away...he's
once the ice kneeling....get together again, more steps....a lift....hats on
and back to back as her jacketgoes....eeeeeeek!!! no! no! No! put your shirt
back on! no! I'm going to look at her ....she's in a little black top and
skirt, loads of chiffon and she's on her own on the ice.....noone is
spinning her around in a headbanger. Noone is standing beside her taking
bows. Nope. There's no-one there.
And we blissfully go to (jacketcovered) slomos.....

Cut to the closing number thingy.....

And that's it for the week gang.....
See you for Vancouver!