Benefit show in Taylor, Michigan on June 2 w/ Yuka Sato (report included)

Benefit show in Taylor, Michigan on June 2 w/ Yuka Sato (report included)

I'm reposting information about a "Skating Stars" Exhibition Benefit for Aleison Kowalski, a 6 year old girl who was recently diagnosed with a form of leukemia.

Where: Taylor Sportsplex Ice Arena, Taylor, Michigan
When: June 2, 2007 - Exhibition is 5-7pm, DJ Open Skate 7-9pm
Cost: Exhibition $5 donation at door, Open Skate $2--skate rental extra
Featuring:
Yuka Sato, 1994 World Champion from Japan;
Jonathan Cassar, 2006 National Collegiate Junior Mens Champion and 9th place, 2007 U.S. Nationals Junior Men (a very artistic & musical skater);
Jaylyn Kelley and Gabe Woodruff, 2007 US Nationals Novice Pairs Bronze Medalist;
Dearborn Crystallettes, 2007 US National Bronze Medalist and 2007 international Prague Cup Bronze Medalist;
and many local skaters.

All proceeds will benefit Aleison's medical costs.

For more info, including directions: http://www.sk8stuff.com/utility/lister_event_detail.asp?id=3583

Hope some of you in the area can go!

Only $5? wow, how cheap is that! If I lived nearby I would definitley go see Yuka! So nice of her to do this !

My report

Forget COI and SOI, this is where it’s at! If you really want to get down to what figure skating is all about, go to your local club show.

The show played to a full and enthusiastic house. However, the facility is an arena for skating, not for watching, so a “full house” meant maybe 150 to 200 people, mostly families and friends of the skaters.

Here are a few random (very random, LOL) notes.

Warm-up. Faiella and Scali looked so much alike they might have been brother and sister. She is quite tall, almost as tall as he is, they are both equally slender, she had her hair pulled back and they were both dressed in matching black warm-up suits. They looked really cool, like they were going to do a French mime routine or something, LOL. (In their performance they were in full costume, of course, and she had her hair down – quite a different look. :agree: )

Act One

The Dearborn Crystallettes. If I were a choreographer, I would want to do synchro. These are the 2007 U.S. bronze medalists, and they put on quite a show with many eye-catching patterns. Nice flow and speed, excellent unison (well, of course – they’re a synchro team!). Music was a medley of percussion, big band and jazz.

Gail Sombati. I think Sombati is an adult skating champion who is also involved in USFS at the national level. Cute number, nice balance between power and grace (think Slutskaya), some single jumps, excellent spins, especially layback in classic position.

Clara Viola, Annie Rosentreter, Brittany Montie, and Alyssa Carlyle. Four girls, pretty in flowing white. Their opening move was especially eye-catching – 4 in a row, each doing a different spin.

Genevieve Kowalski. So she is about 5 years old, she came out with a toy fire engine and dressed in a fire chief’s uniform, struck her pose, and….

The music didn’t start! She held that pose like a trooper, never wavering. And stood there. And stood there… They never did get her music to play, so they finally called her off the ice and they had to go on with the next number. It was OK, though, because she had another routine scheduled for the second part of the show.

(I assume Genevieve is the sister of the honoree of this benefit show. Maybe not, though. There are a lot of Kowalski’s in the Detroit area.)

Diana Reina and/or Melissa Smith. OK, so here is where I got a little confused. Next up, according to the program, was Diana Reina. Good start, kind of a “modern dance” style to her skating. Very fast, Biellmann position, a 2-jump sequence, layback combo with three positions,

BOOM! A huge clap of thunder and the lights and music went out. A big electrical storm had caught up with us. So after a while they got the music back on and some very dim emergency lights, and it’s on with the show, in the dark.

So a skater came out who I thought was the same one, to finish her routine. But it might have been the next girl, Melissa Smith – either that or Melissa didn’t skate, because afterward they went on to the next skaters in the program.

Anyway, from what I could make out in the dark, she did a fine double (or maybe even triple?) Lutz (?), a fine combination spiral, and an excellent combination sit spin/illusion into a back spiral.

Armanda McLaughlin and Megan Smith. THE SUPREMES! With bright red dresses and microphones as props, they went through a medley of Supremes songs.

Breanna Bird. Finally, the lights came back on, LOL. Throughout the show the spirit was very much, “On With the Show!” (I guess they had to stick to the time schedule no matter what, because open skating was scheduled to start right at 7:00, plus they probably didn’t want to keep the featured skaters like Yuka Sato waiting past their planned time. Most of the numbers were only about two minutes long.)

Breanna (beautiful in pink) did a full complement of elements, lots of moves in the field, I wrote down triple (?) but I’m not sure – almost all of the notations I made on jumps end in (?). (The dreaded triple-question mark, worth 8.0 points in the CoP. )

Forward and back spiral, lunge glide, sit spin combo, back Biellmann spiral, spread eagle to knees for the ending pose.

To be continued...

for Mathman! Glad you were able to attend the show and share your impressions, too! Thank you.

Now, can you make one of the Detroit SC shows next weekend? (June 7-10)

...

Kelly and Woodruff. This was the most entertaining act. They are the 2007 U.S. national novice pairs bronze medalists. I think this was their 2007 exhibition number.

This is quite a striking team. He is very muscular and strong-looking, she is a slender sylph. They did a take-off on “Anything you can do, I can do better.” So it featured some comical segments where she would do a pretty move, then he would try to copy it. The best was a solid double throw jump, excellent landing with good flow out – and then she “threw” him and he ended up sprawled out on the ice.

But in the meantime there was a lot of sound pairs skating, a fine lift (lasso?) with a somersault dismount, side-by-side and pairs spins, a great double twist, and a death spiral to a carry spin.

Amber Rostkowski. Fast, upbeat music. She looks like Rachael Flatt. Flying camel, split jump, good speed into a backward to forward spiral sequence, solid 2A, 2 (?), all of her movements were very crisp and sharp.

Sarah Miller. Lovely in blue, nice ballad. Charlotte, good flow into a 2 (?). Arabesque spiral to spread eagle to Kerrigan spiral sequence, very classy performance.

The Time Travelers. Six skaters listed, but only five were there, which bothered their spacing a little, especially when they were supposed to pair up. The program listed Ashley Watts, Nicole Johnson, Anita Freeman, Julia Sikora, Stephanie Quillen and Amber McDermott.

The “time” that they traveled back to was the 1960s, for this retro rock and roll number (Do the locomotion, do the twist!). Lots of dancing. The typical choreography had four of them in a chorus line, while the fifth took her “solo break” to do a jump or a spin.

Jordan Bohm. Sweet ballad, lovely postitions and moves in the field, and with excellent speed throughout. Great spiral, 1A, brief spread eagle position into layback, another jump.

Mikenzie Frost. IMHO this is the one to watch. I don’t know what level she is at or how old she is (she looked like a little girl, but maybe she is just small?) Very high energy, lots of speed and pizzazz, huge WOW factor. Opened with a spin, then a super 2A -- +2 GOE! Three split jumps in a row, lots of hops and jumps and changes of direction to the music (“Footloose”). Good dance quality throughout, outstanding layback combo, ended with a scratch spin.

Sarah Thomas. Flirty in red top and black shorts, lots of speed, 2 (?), 1A, nice sit spin. Good movement throughout, interesting body and arm positions and movements in transititions.

Nicole Horoszewski. My hat is off to the coaches and choreographers of this show. All skaters moved well and filled up their programs with interesting in-betweens and moves in the field. Nicole wore a big full skirt that flared out to give extra dimension to her program.

Split jump into 1A, spins, hydroplane into spiral into spread eagle, good flow from one element to the next, another hydroplane to end.

Kaitlin Grias. Ballad, soft and light. Split jump, sit spin, 1A (?), spiral to catch-foot spiral, hydroplane, very unique upright position for final spin.

INTERMISSION. Time to hit the bake sale. Homemade cupcakes, seventy-five cents (CAN YOU GET THAT AT COI?), punch – free for whatever contribution you want to make to this worthy cause.

The lights went out for Diana Reina. She did a two-jump sequence followed by a Layback spin with a few nice positions. This is where the lights went out and the music stopped. When emergency power was restored, Diana Reina came out to finish her routine. She performed a Double Loop in the dark, combination spin, followed up by several revolutions of an illusion spin. She skated to Sweet Escape. Diana was announced as the Puerto Rican Novice Champion.

Melissa Smith missed this event, even though she was on the program.

Later, 13 year old Mikenzie Frost skated. She is a great skater, and she performed a wonderful Single Axel. She had a great 3 split jump sequence. All of this fast paced skating was done to Footloose. Mikenzie is a two time Junior National competitor.

This was an exhibition, and for the ladies, only Yuka Sato really performed a Double Axel. Yuka skated a lovely piece to Amazing Grace. This was a wonderful selection in keeping with the charity nature of the event.

Thanks for the extra info. The accoustics in the arena were kind of echo-y and I couldn't catch a lot of what the announcer was saying.

That was interesting that Mikenzie Frost's Axel was a single, not a double. I guess it was so huge it looked like a double to me.

Yuka's double Axel was right in front of me and I could see it well. But her other jump was down at the other end and I couldn't tell what it was (a double, right?). But Jonathan Cassar did a triple Lutz (yes?), excellent outside edge take-off -- oh, he couldn't quite hold the landing!

Yuka performed a lot of lovely skating. It was a double Loop that followed the Double Axel.

Jon Cassar did 3 jumps: fell on a Triple Flip, double Lutz, and a Double Axel that he stepped out of. He probably would have gone for the triple lutz. He did both the 3 Flip and Lutz quite a few times in practice. But probably opted for safety this being a charity exhibition. He had a marvelous Flying Sit Spin with lots of big air (as the X gamers call it).

Mathman - Amber Rostkowski doesn't have a 2A yet unless she got one between AN and now (not likely). She does have a lovely 1A and doubles through 2Lu

Gail is a marvelous person and a great competitor to be in a group with.

Thank you all for the reports! for club shows! :agree:

Okey-dokey, here goes act II.

I will say again, the main impression I carried away from this show was the work that the choreographers and coaches put in. There was never a dull moment, always something interesting to see. Transitions were full of nice arm and body movements and dance-y footwork.

Molly SchendelUnfortunately, I stayed too long at the bake sale and missed most of this performance. Very powerful and dramatic ending, to powerful music. Ended with two jumps and a dramatic spin.

Melissa Yax and Kristen Anderson. This was a very polished and well-rehearsed duet. Music was “Shall we dance.” Excellent unison throughout. Side by side jump sequence. Excellent timing, everything was perfect. Nice unison spins. (For some reason the music cut off way before the end, but they finished strong none the less.)

Jonathan Cassar. Go Grizzlies! Cassar is the 2006 U.S. junior collegiate champion. He is a student at nearby Oakland U. (the Golden Grizzlies ). He was one of the featured skaters, along with Yuka Sato and Fiaella and Scali. I think Fiaella and Scali must have been added at the last minute, because I did not see them listed in the pre-event publicity.

Very high-energy performance to rousing show music. Did three excellent jumps (according to Diashsk8 above, a 3 flip, 2Lz and 2A – I wrote down “quad?,” so it must have been pretty impressive, LOL.) Looked and skated like Lysacek, black and silver costume. Combo change-foot sit spin. Outstanding musicality throughout. Super flying sit spin combo, very low. Played to the audience throughout. Straight-line footwork the length of the rink, quite creative. Camel to sit to A-spin, change, upright blur! Wow!

OK, if this is the collegiate junior champion, what do the collegiate senior skaters do?

Cassar definitely has a future as a show skater, if his interests take him in that direction. (He is a performing arts major, and a handsome dude.

http://www.skateygirl.com/nat2006/jrmen/cassar/free/pages/2006-01-10 065_jpg.htm

He should pair up with Sasha Cohen in the movies. Not to be confused, however, with the Jonathan Cassar who is the director of the television series “24.”)

Mathman said:

Molly SchendelUnfortunately, I stayed too long at the bake sale and missed most of this performance. Very powerful and dramatic ending, to powerful music. Ended with two jumps and a dramatic spin.

Click to expand...

That's so typical of shows at small rinks: there's no booming Tom Collins-like announcement with a one-minute warning, no flashing lights, people milling in the lobby as if nothing were happening in the rest of the arena. The organizers look at their watches and continue, ignoring the chaos.

And the sound systems -- yikes! If I wasn't able to eavesdrop on Charlotte Maxwell's parents, I wouldn't have had a clue who was dancing at Sectionals

Thank you so much for the reports, Mathman

Mathman, thanks for a nice review! You make me want to go see what's happening in my area. I promise to review whatever I find.
xoxo
Rave
PS - the line "I stayed too long at the bake sale" made me giggle; I'm not even sure why. There must be a song in there somewhere...

Mathman said:

I stayed too long at the bake sale and missed most of this performance.

Click to expand...

Math, now we see what was most important to you!!!

You shouldn't be eating all that bakery stuff with your problem.

Dee

Ravyn Rant said:

There must be a song in there somewhere...

Click to expand...

(To the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game.")

Stayed...too long at the bake sale,
Missed...the whole second act!
Lutzes and laybacks and camel spins,
All must wait while I shovel it in!
Now the crowd is cheering for Yu-ka,
In I rush plate piled high...
And it's one, two, three lemon tarts
And an ap-ple pie!

Mathman said:

Stayed...too long at the bake sale,
Missed...the whole second act!
Lutzes and laybacks and camel spins,
All must wait while I shovel it in!
Now the crowd is cheering for Yu-ka,
In I rush plate piled high...
And it's one, two, three lemon tarts
And an ap-ple pie!

Click to expand...

I knew there was a song in there!

At this point in the program I stopped taking extensive notes and just sat back to enjoy the show. My apologies to the performers that I can’t give a fully review for.

Amanda Toranto. Rock and Roll music. Strong moves in the field to open, single jump to layback, another jump, nice entrance to camel.

Lauren Wilfong Music: “Time of Your Life.”

I always wished Michelle Kwan had skated to this as a farewell. “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life!” (I did, Michelle, I did!)

Blue chiffon dress, very pretty. Nice extention on spiral, to a Biellmann spiral. Constant motion, good entrance to 2 (?), excellent height. Sit spin, spread eagle to layback combo to sit position.

Theresa Loruso. Blue and silver outfit. Excellent speed and ice coverage. Opened with two double jumps (or a double jump and a single Axel?). Sit spin combo, includeing an arms down position like Johnny Weir, Ina Bauer directly into a 1A (!). Change of foot spiral into back spiral, layback spin to half-Biellmann spin, combo spin sit to upright.

BTW, to show how ecumenical the sport of figure skating has become, there were two Asian-looking girls in this show. Their last names were Loruso and Kelly.

Twisted Sisters. TWIST AGAIN, LIKE WE DID LAST SUMMER! So, how cool does the twist look done on ice! Seven young skaters listed, only five performed. The basic choreography was the dancing chorus line, with skaters taking their turn at a solo break. A couple of nice single jumps. One girl missed her jump, went right back at it with determination and landed it!

One girl did a great layback to upright combo spin.

BTW, there were no boys in this show except the pairs and dance guys and the collegiate champion. One of the skaters listed for this act was named Carson, which I thought might be a boy, but it was five girls who performed.

Allison Tumas. Spinning footwork to back Biellmann into slower music. Combo layback to Biellmann spin. Jump (?) Back spiral, 1A, combo spin with illusion. Split jump, two jump combo. Final spin (a teeny bit of traveling, LOL – I have to say something to hold up my reputation as a stern critic) into a split ending pose.

The next skater was either Sarah Iatzko or Allyse Reiners. She did a fine back Charlotte, excellent layback combo (for some reason she reminded me of Katarina Witt). Circular footwork, forward shoot the duck laying back on the ice.

Ashley Watts. Flowing blue costume. Opened with 1 Axel, spread eagle to spin. Back shoot the duck entrance into a jump. Spiral, nice entrance to camel combo spin.

Genevieve Kowalski and Chloe Reardon. Major cute alert for these youngest performers. Two spins. Nice choreography. Best moves were side-by-side arabesque spirals (look out, Sasha!) to a “pairs spiral” – holding both hands, one going forward, one backward, each skater on one foot!

Kudos to the coach for a fine program that transcended mere “cute.”

Rachel Kania. Music: Mack the Knife. Black and white dress. Great flow, speed, pracing to the music. Back spiral, camel to layback, circular footwork. Combo sit spin, spiral to Biellmann spiral. Cute ending.

All in all, the whole afternoon was just a fantastic show. :agree:

Fiaelle and Scali. What can I say? Italian national champions, two time Olympians. World class competitors and entertainers.

And…

Yuka Sato. Amazing. Grace.

Mathman said:

Kelly and Woodruff. This was the most entertaining act. They are the 2007 U.S. national novice pairs bronze medalists. I think this was their 2007 exhibition number.

This is quite a striking team. He is very muscular and strong-looking, she is a slender sylph. They did a take-off on “Anything you can do, I can do better.” So it featured some comical segments where she would do a pretty move, then he would try to copy it. The best was a solid double throw jump, excellent landing with good flow out – and then she “threw” him and he ended up sprawled out on the ice.



Amber Rostkowski. Fast, upbeat music. She looks like Rachael Flatt. Flying camel, split jump, good speed into a backward to forward spiral sequence, solid 2A, 2 (?), all of her movements were very crisp and sharp.

[.

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Mathman...I almost mis-read your post, thinking that Flatt, was in the show and that somehow she was in two places at once, but then realized that you said that Rostkowski "looks" like Flatt.

Flatt was back at her first skating rink in San Diego this weekend, as the headliner for the Ice Towne "Lion King" show, along with Luis Hernandez (MEX Natl Champ). We had driven down from LA to watch over 120 skaters from the learn to skate program at the rink perform a wonderfully choreographed show with terrific costumes with the very charismatic Martha Diaz as Simba and Astrea Villaroel as Nala. Hernandez performed an exhibition number at the beginning of the show (Once Upon A Time in Mexico) and also performed as the adult Simba. Flatt did two numbers with the second being an instrumental version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"....absolutely beautiful. Great crowd of over 1,000 supporting the La Jolla skaters!

Sounds great!