Friday, March 21 - Pairs Short Program Practice
Don't I Know You?
Finding the MCI Center was a cinch. I just asked the bellman of the hotel, and after a short walk, I was there. I went through the main entrance. They just searched my large purse, didn't measure any dimensions, and I was in. I was also carrying the practice schedule and designation of skaters in each practice group in one booklet, a jump recognition and grace elements booklet, an ice dance technical booklet, and some medium sized line paper notebooks to write in. I had bought a flat daisy shaped velvet pillow to put in the back of my seat. It was quite a handful to carry all the parts. And, it was a combination that would prompt some people to ask me if I was an official, a judge, studying to become a judge, or just a topic to initiate conversation.
I had no idea what would be a good seat for the session, so I went to the corner near where I saw a skater in training clothes, stretching off ice in front of the Kiss & Cry area. It had to be a skater - looked like one. I would later learn that skater was Rico Rex of Germany. Dark hair - kind of Ingo Steuer looking. Actually, Ingo is listed as Fitze and Rex's coach, but I never spotted Ingo. So, I sat down on the end of the first row, four chairs from Kiss & Cry, and began to take out my notes, camera, binoculars, etc.
I arrived when Group 1 was on the ice, and the faces looked very familiar. I spotted Dorota Zagorska and Marius Siudek and Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis. It was so cool seeing the first skaters in person! They skated so close to the boards near where I was sitting. This side of the MCI Center had no barricade. And, it was down close to the level of the ice, so the skaters went right by.
Zagoska/Siudek - There was coach Richard Gauthier, sitting in the first row of the stands near center ice across from the area set up for the judges, doing his prompting of Dorota and Marius over the boards. They would stop periodically during their skating and come to confer with him.
The coaches that were sitting in the stands would pass by where I sat to get backstage. They would squeeze through the gate on the end of the row separating the stands from the Kiss & Cry area, walk behind the cameramen's wall and end up at the skater warm up and entrance/exit area to the ice. So, Richard passed in front of me a couple of times and was very polite and said, 'Excuse me please.' And, I was wondering if I'd be allowed to sit there as so many people used the row to pass from backstage to the stands, but there I was.
Back to Dorota and Marius. They looked good in practice. They were practicing a death spiral and several lifts. The skaters are very focused in practice. They don't really look into the stands as they are on the ice. And, this early in the week, there wasn't a lot of people clapping. So, I wasn't sure if I should be clapping at the end of their run-through or after every element they execute, for example a good lift. I wondered what the etiquette was. So, before they left the ice they bowed to two sides of the sparse audience - where the judges will sit and the opposite side. Then, they skated over to where Gauthier was in the stands and did another bow just for him. I would learn this is a practice many skaters did - bow personally to their coach before leaving the ice. It is a nice gesture.
Abitbol/Bernadis - They were practicing unison stroking which I saw several pair skaters and ice dancers do. It is basically where they are skating forward across the ice surface very rapidly. The female partner is usually slightly in front of the male partner, and their opposite shoulders (his right and her left) are aligned together. Both of the lady's arms are extended out at shoulder level. Her left hand is clasped with his corresponding hand, and his right hand is on her corresponding hip. Their feet are in perfect unison with each other - left foot forward of the man corresponds to left foot forward of the woman and so on. It is similar to when the pair team is building speed into a lift or throw. But, they just do this forward stroking with no tricks for several laps around the ice. Their bodies are at quite a lean. It was my impression that it is a warm up move to get in synch or gauge unison between partners. On further review, this warm up move closely resembles the kilian position hold in ice dancing, except the woman's right hand is outstretched at her shoulder instead of holding his hand down on her hip. And, it is only to my delight that the pair skating and ice dancing disciplines can so influence each other, even if this is only a practice move. Picture of this move below under Guerassimenko/Futas notes.
Sarah and Stephane are an attractive couple in person. They were practicing their spins. Stephane was doing double jumps. Their coach was sitting where the judges will sit during the competition. It was evident from the music and their expression that they were skating the circus/clown short program. It should come out nice in competition, and I think the crowd will like it.
Volosozhar/Kharchenko - The couple from Ukraine was also on the ice in this group. They were having trouble with the throw twist element. She was doing a lot of single jumps. A lot of skaters do this to get into the rhythm of the jump revolutions - single axels, single loops, etc.
So, this is how the group practices go. They announce the names of all the skaters in the specific group, including the ones who are not in attendance. That is the cue for the skaters in that group to take the ice. There is a general warm up in which the sound system plays a selection of popular songs that we heard pretty much the whole week. The selections included the Spice Girls' Wannabe (If You Wanna Be My Lover), Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity, Annie Lenox's No More I Love You's, Steve Winwood's Roll With It and more. Then each skater or teams' music would be played one time, and the announcer would say now skating is Dorota Zagorska and Marius Siudek of Poland to be followed by Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis of France. They would then play Zagorska and Siudek's music, and Abitbol and Bernadis would know to be getting into their own starting position toward the end of Zagorska and Siudek's music. Then, after all of the teams' music was played, there would be another general warm up with the pop and rock music selections in the background for skaters to have some more time on the ice. The announcer would inform of the minutes remaining in the warm up. Some skaters would leave early - some even left before their own competitive music selection was played. And, others would leave with time still remaining in the general warm up after the all of the selections were played. Before the skaters left, they would bow to the judges' side of the arena, and then the opposite side. So, that is how you knew who was done with their practice because most of the time, the skaters leave at different times.
As Group 2 was filing onto the ice, I learned something about Team China. They were the most supportive national team of each other. The three Chinese pair teams were arriving to practice - Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, Qing Pang and Jian Tong, and Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. Bin Yao coaches all three pairs. Yao and his entourage filed past my seat in the front row near Kiss & Cry to his coaching point. He was coaching from the same spot near center ice where Richard Gauthier had been in the previous group. His entourage included some members from Team China in the stands watching just for this practice group. A few minutes later, a young lady filed past to join them that I knew looked familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Zhang/Zhang - Hao is very big in real life. I know he looks big on TV too, but he is built very strong. She is the opposite - very tiny, especially with him. They were practicing mostly the side by side jumps and looked strong. He was pouring sweat by the end of the session.
Shen/Zhao - I noticed their extension has improved this year, and they were practicing a lot of the grace moves and in-betweens of the choreography. They also practiced the side by side spins, which were off sync, I'm sorry to say.
Pang/Tong - Jian's wrist was wrapped. As a matter of fact from memory, Qing's was wrapped too. They are my favorite of this group as they seem to be more balletic and soft. It seems they are practicing smiling more during their run-through.
Fitze/Rex - They are skating to techno music. It is Safri Duo. Parts of it sound like Emanuel Sandhu's music in his short program.
Tracy Wilson came down toward the end of this practice group and stood near the warm up area to watch. I later saw her and Canadian broadcaster Debbi Wilkes sitting in the broadcast booth watching practices.
The broadcast booths and media area was already set up, and it was easy to see who got what. There were three main booths nearest the ice, up from and behind the cameramen wall. From left to right, the booths were ABC (U.S.), CTV (Canada), and Japanese television. Behind them were three rows, each with many more booths per row than the main front row. The further back from the ice the booth was, the less complicated the construction of cube walls (if any) and technological accessories.
So, as Team China was leaving the practice, I realized the identity of the familiar looking Chinese young lady. It was the ice dancer, Weina Zhang. I spoke to her as she was passing in front of me to leave the stands for the backstage area. 'You're an ice dancer,' I exposed her. She nodded. 'Will you sign an autograph for me?' I asked. I had a 4 inch by 6 inch spiral notebook with daisies and psychedelic designs on the cover entitled 'autographs' that I had brought in the event that I should actually see a skater up close. She graciously took the notebook and signed. She was very soft-spoken. 'Did you practice earlier today?' I asked. She said yes. 'I missed it,' I said. She gave me back the notebook. I said thank you and she left. I had held up the exit line for a few moments, but it didn't seem to be a problem.
Only one pair showed up for Group 3. It was Maria Guerassimenko and Vladimir Futas of the Slovak Republic. And, don't ask me to pronounce her last name, although it sounded easier when the announcer said it. I thought she had a nice posture and a soft quality in her skating. This was a very diligent pair for they often used up every second of their practice time. And, here they had the ice all to themselves. She practiced the triple jump a lot, and it wasn't working in her favor. Maria and Vladimir also practiced the unison stroking for a while. During their short program run-through, she fell on one of the throws and hit the boards from the slide after her fall. She got up quickly and seemed to be okay. Their coach was very feisty and not pleased during the practice and at the end. He seemed to be very stressed out. They did bow to him at the end of the practice session. I saw the coach later in the halls of the arena, and he still looked the same displeased way.
Group 4 also had only one team present in the form of Olga Boguslavska and Andrei Brovenko of Latvia. They had a nice and deep lean on their unison stroking. They practiced individual skills for a while.
By now, my time clock was completely expired. The night was still fairly young, but I caught myself dozing three or four times at the end of this practice session. This is the result of staying up for the entire night before without any sleep. So, it was futile to sit there in the chair and sleep, and I made a decision to return to the hotel and skip Group 5 of pairs. I know, the American group, but you can read more of my skating patriotism later in these reviews. Additionally, ladies practice was upcoming, but you can also find out later that that is the discipline I was able to follow the least here - another popular American sentiment, of course. So, I called it a night because I knew I would want to be up at 6 a.m. for the dance practice the next day and with good reason.
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