Sunday, March 30 - Exhibition
The Cap On a Once In a Lifetime Week
On the way to my seat, I saw Nora Hoffmann and Julia Sebestyen walking together in the hallway. Not far away, people were gathered around Evgeny Platov, taking photos with him.
U.S. men single skater Derrick Delmore led the parade of flags. He skated out with two young children carrying U.S. flags. They stood by the boards in front of the judges' section of the rink. Then came the entrance of the flag bearers of countries of the world. The Jumbotron displayed each country name with a picture of the corresponding flag. The choreography of the skating of the flag bearers created designs and shapes on the rink, complimented by the exhibition lighting.
The Chesapeake Skating School's Diamonds Ensemble from Chesapeake, Virginia skated first. A group of twenty synchronized skaters in white dresses and white squeegees on their hair buns skated to Love Is In the Air (Everywhere I look around).
Next, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto took the ice. Ben was in Elvis costume and sunglasses.
'Contrary to popular belief, the king is not dead,' the announcer declared.
The piece began with Heartbreak Hotel. Women cheer at Elvis antics. Are You Lonesome Tonight next. Jailhouse Rock and You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog. The arrangement differed from the free dance, and there was more posing. This piece fits much better as an exhibition than a free dance.
Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto were introduced. They skated to I'll Always Be Right There.
I had heard them say in a interview earlier this season that this exhibition parallels their relationship - always there for each other.
sit lift
throw double
lunge together
leap of faith
press lift
rotational lift
double spiral
A very soft and relaxing program.
'Over the years, this next skater has amazed audiences around the world. Pay special attention to the first move called the tornado. It's a backflip with a twist.'
Michael Weiss took the ice skating to the Rolling Stones medley. The tornado appeared almost like a regular backflip from my seat higher up from the ice. He did the maneuver on the heels of his freedom blades which is a slide. I Can't Get No Satisfaction began. A triple jump. He stood on his head. Another triple. The song Hey! You! Get Off My Cloud ensued. He did hops on the ice, breakdancing and a regular backflip.
'Two time Olympians. Seven time World team members. Skating to Adagio, please welcome Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov.'
A neat opening pose where he laid down on the ice: he held her body above his, and she was parallel to the ice. The music is a ballad. They wore black costumes. They did a balance move where they faced each other: he was in a low, crouching position, and her leg was draped over his back. They did some rotational lifts. She stood on his thigh in another balance move. They ended with a lift where she was held upside down to the ice into the final pose. The singer screaming by the end of the song.
'She is one of the most memorable skaters of the last week. She is here to make one more memory.'
Viktoria Volchkova skated to Memory from Cats. The singer is opera style. Catchy, memorable tune.
black dress with gloves
triple lutz
triple
layback spin
triple loop
ina bauer
spiral
another spiral held longer
lunge
She ended with the splits on the ice. Cold finish.
'Combining great strength with great beauty. Skating to The Prayer, please welcome Qing Pang and Jian Tong.'
They began standing together as he held her in front of him.
side by side jumps
throw triple
death spiral
side by side doubles into more doubles
side by side spins
double twist
an onslaught of great lifts - she stood on his thighs while he did a spread eagle, she swung from holding onto his waist while he did 'look mom no hands', press lift
combo spin
A lovely, soft program. They would have received even more points from me if they had used the Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli version of this song.
'The first Chinese man to win an ISU Championship at the 2000 Four Continents. He's landed quadruples and triples.'
Chengjiang Li wore a black costume with multicolored dots around the top and big sleeves.
Spanish song
camel spin
double
triple
sleeves are removable - as he took them off, the music became rocky
Michael Jackson hip shake from Chengjiang?
footwork
besti squat
more hip shakin'
combo spin - ends in scratch spin
The audience clapped along to the music during his skate. Definitely a more playful, carefree look for Chengjiang.
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov took the ice. They both wore white undershirts and black pants. Roman had on a black jacket and she donned a hat. In the opening of the music score, glass breaking was heard. Their dance moves jumpstart the opening to In the Closet. Circular footwork pattern. The sound of a creaking door opening. Latin music portion began. Twizzles and a rotational lift follow.
'The only thing more beautiful than the story is watching this young lady interpret the music. Please welcome the United States' very own Sasha Cohen.'
She skated to Romeo and Juliet in a black dress with a repeating feather pattern on the bodice.
opened with her spiral
spread eagle
double axel
spiral
split jump
layback spin
triple flip
triple
spiral
ina bauer
charlotte
layback to sit to catch foot in front spin
Lovely performance. A good skater to view live.
'The current Russian pairs silver medallists and 2003 Worlds silver medallists.'
Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov were introduced as Worlds silver medallists instead of bronze. They skated to Dance Me to the End of Love by Leonard Cohen.
rotational lift with her arms around his neck
lift where she sat on his arm and he flipped her upside down and back
lift
throw double
double spiral
death spiral
he bent down with his arms around her waist and slid
lift where he folded her body over his knee
lift with Maria in inverted position and Alexei in a spread eagle
final pose
'Five time Japanese champion. Two time Olympian. Eight time World competitor. 2003 World bronze medallist. From Japan, Takeshi Honda.'
Quite a resumé for someone his age. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt.
double axel
spread eagle
camel spin
split jumps
spread eagle
The Haydenettes synchronized skating team were announced as the thirteen time U.S. national champions. They wore all black.
Another synchro team skated which included twenty girls and four boys. They wore orange and black striped costumes.
'Current U.S. pair champions. Four time World team members. 2002 Olympians.'
Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn skated to Frozen by Madonna.
lift where he held her body in the shape of a cross in front of him
throw double
techno part of the music intensifies
he pulled her by the boot while she was in a spiral position
lift with Tiffany in an upside down splits
death spiral
one handed adagio lift with her body rotating horizontally around his hand
'Skating to Objection by Shakira, please welcome 2003 bronze medallists Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski.'
synchronized besti squats with their backs touching
he hopped on his hands and knees on the ice
rotational lift
lift where his lifting hand was hidden by her body
'Four time Japanese national champion. Five time World team member. Current World bronze medallist.'
Fumie Suguri skated to Sanctus sung by the Vienna Boys Choir.
fast camel spin
double axel
popped lutz
triple
slow spiral
layback spin
triple flip
ina bauer - held a long time
combo spin
ended with a fast backscratch spin
She executed the ballerina bow at the end. This lyrical piece by the Vienna Boys Choir really brings out her elegant side.
'Current Russian national champions. Five time World team members. Current Worlds silver medallists.'
Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin skated to Your Song. He wore a white shirt that was open in the front. She had on a black dress.
throw double
one handed hand to hip lift with Tatiana in a splits position
rotational lift around his neck
she did a biellmann position spin while he skated around her
death spiral
'2001 U.S. national champion. 2002 Olympic bronze medallists. Five time World team member. Current Silver medallist.'
Tim Goebel skated to With Arms Wide Open by Creed.
lunge
spread eagle
triple
double
double axel
triple
sit spin
spread eagle
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh skated to Some Sun. Someone yelled words in Russian as they took the ice. Irina has a ponytail again.
spin with his hands on her hips
rotational lift
lift where she was upside down and his hand between her legs
balance move where she kicked her leg over his shoulder
they glide together and she held onto his leg
nice rotational lift with her leg extended above his head
lift
lift where she hugged his waist as he held on to her outstretched leg
Nice lifts. Some Sun is a catchy tune, and it got stuck in my head that afternoon. I think I somehow even learned the words.
Down in the shadows was seen a figure in a black cape with the emblem of a cross on the back. This figure stood near the boards waiting to go out on the ice. My guess was Elena Sokolova by process of elimination of the skaters that had already skated plus the knowledge of most of the other remaining skaters' programs.
'She captured the hearts of audiences this week. World silver medallist, Elena Sokolova.'
She skated to Adagio. And, yes, it has the sound of Bourne and Kraatz's free dance selection.
She attempted to do spins in the cape. She did a split jump and a lunge. She fell on purpose to the ice. When she got up, she removed the cape to reveal a black and silver pant suit underneath.
spiral
double axel
triple
footwork with ski wedging over the cape in the center of the ice
jump
spread eagle
combo spin
She concluded by kneeling toward the middle of the ice and reaching back to cover herself in the cape.
'We would like to present you the 2003 World pairs gold medallists. But due to Xue's injury, they are unable to skate. So, we will show you their award winning performance.'
Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao's free program from Wednesday night was played on the Jumbotron. The audience even gave a standing ovation after the Jumbotron replay of the performance finished. Shen and Zhao, standing off ice, were interviewed in English. They answered in Chinese, and the translator converted their words to English.
Hongbo (on their winning performance): After landing the second triple throw, I felt like we were skating for the audience.
Xue (on their future): We will continue our skating in competition. We will have new programs. We will try to land the quadruple salchow in competition. We will try to have better performances.
Hongbo (in English to the audience): We love you. Thank you.
Evgeny Plushenko skated to Only You and medley.
'Bravo Zhenya!' a man shouted out as Evgeny took his starting pose.
He danced around with the heart balloon and pretended like he would give it to a woman in the audience. He instead let the helium balloon slip through his fingers, and it went wafting upwards. He pulled out the flower and did a similar fake to another woman, only to see it wilt. People laughed hysterically at these gestures. Plushenko lost his head and coat and headed off to dance on the ice.
triple
blew kisses
footwork
Near the ending, he skidded past the head, picked it up and held it while doing a besti squat and spin. He even did his final bow with the head in his hands. For the encore, he flipped down his suspenders, and ladies screamed. He did a jump combination and a scratch spin during the encore.
'Their resumé is truly impressive. Seven times Canadian national champions. (Corrected later to 10 times.) Three time Four Continents champions. The first North American dance couple to win the World Championships. From Canada, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz.'
They skated to Sadness by Enigma.
hydroblade move where she supported his weight
death spiral like move
hydroblade
Victor slid across the ice on his hands, separate from Shae-Lynn
lift where Victor held Shae from her knees while her hands dangled down and touched the ice
For the encore, they started near center ice and did part of their Adagio free dance into the final pose with Shae-Lynn sitting over Victor's knee and him falling backward to the ice.
Liam had given me a sticker of the Canadian flag. This man had all of his patriotic goods. We had talked about Canadian coverage of figure skating versus U.S. coverage. I told him we rarely get medal ceremonies. I asked him if the Canadian coverage of Worlds would show medal ceremonies. He replied that they would probably show the medal ceremony of Bourne and Kraatz. He went on to say, they would probably show Bourne and Kraatz at practices, Bourne and Kraatz stretching, Bourne and Kraatz yawning, and all things Bourne and Kraatz. It was too funny.
'Beautiful. Graceful. Michelle.'
A girl in the audience yelled out, 'Go Michelle!'
A man yelled out, 'Will You Marry Me?' Michelle giggled.
She skated to Fields of Gold.
She received a standing ovation at the end. It rained animals and flowers. For the encore, Michelle did her change of edge spiral.
For the finale, all of the skaters were called back to the ice. The pairs came out all doing lifts. The ladies came out doing spirals and spins. The men and ice dancers also came out with their specialized moves. They all met in the middle, took hands, and bowed to both sides of the arena. The victory lap with all of the skaters followed. They smiled and waved to the audience.
As I exited the MCI Center for the last time, I discovered the snowflakes falling down outside. Imagine that! Snow in D.C., nearly in April. Worlds had come and gone so quickly, and now drops of snow put the finishing touches on an anomalous week.
Previous
Next
Reports
Home