- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/36885.html
November 4th and 5th saw control skates by Russian ice dancers in Novogorsk. Icestars watched together with the technical specialists.
Both leading teas skipped the event. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin most likely refrained for health reasons. Maxim’s knee still hasn’t fully recovered. As to Sergei Novitski, his knee, operated two years ago, was bothering him the day before the skate; following a medical consultation, it was decided not to risk his health, but to heal it first. Both pairs plan to show their programs to Russian specialists a little later. Meanwhile, we’ll talk about the impressions the remaining six teams left in Novogorsk. Presenting the results of their inter-season work were the 2008 Junior World bronze medalists Kristina Gorshkova/ Vitaly Butikov, Kirov natives Julia Zlobina/ Alexei Sitnikov, Elena Kustarova’s students Anastasia Platonova/ Alexander Grachev and Natalya Mikhailova/ Arkady Sergeev (who have teamed up after a year’s break), 2007 Junior World champions Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitry Soloviev, and 2008 Russia’s vice-champions Ekaterina Rubleva/ Ivan Shefer. First, all teams demonstrated their readiness for the compulsories “Pasodoble” and “Austrian Waltz”. The new compulsory “Finnstep” will be presented alter, after the Grand Prix series. The commission didn’t outright object to any of the dancers, but for each team they pointed out areas for improvement.
Also on the first day of the event, all dancers presented their original compositions, and on Friday they skated their free dances (those were split into two, as the skaters’ physical form doesn’t yet allow them to skate the four-minute program in its entirety up to par). So…
Kristina Gorshkova and Vitaly Butikov. This team has just finished their junior career, and is trying itself out on the senior circuit. The recent Junior past still comes out in the choreography, technique, and the manner on the ice. In all, both compositions left a positive impression, though they weren’t too clean, and were full of missteps and erros. In the free program set to Nino Rota’s music from the movie “Godfather”, Vitaly fell on a straight line footwork sequence; Kristina and Vitaly will have to work very hard in the remaining time to avoid such accidents during important competitions.
Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov. This duo with Kirov and Rostov roots has firmly planted itself on the reserve team. It’s harder for them to fight for their place under the sun than it is for the Moscow pairs, but the athletes aren’t giving up and are actually improving. A certain predictability of the programs is compensated by the clear growth and desire to progress. No doubt, those guys need to sharpen their technical mastery and presentation, but their new programs look presentable. There was some issue with the lifts, some of which look odd set to Karl Orff’s famous “Carmina Burana”. They should also work on the difficulty of footwork and connecting steps. However, Julia and Alexei can well insist on taking part in the Grand Prix.
Natalia Mikhailova and Arkadi Sergeev. Just before the test skates, this team got the third opening on Russia’s Grand Prix event. This has made their original and free dance skates that much more disappointing. In the original, which is supposed to be set to the music of 20s through 40s of the 20th century, Alexander Zhulin unexpectedly compbined the famous rumba “Perhaps” with a swing melody. It’s unclear if this satisfies the rules. Yet music issues paled next to the problems with the programs themselves and the level of the athletes’ readiness. Natalia and Arkadi’s unacceptable athletic form was probably the most surprising thing for the specialists at this event. Unfortunately, it was a very negative surprise, which was further reiterated in the skate of the free dance set to the music of Evgeny Dogi from the movie “My Tender and Affectionate Beast”. The commission gave the team until the first event of the Russian Cup in Samara to correct the situation. The results of that competition will decide their participation in the Grand Prix series.
Anastasia Platonova and Alexander Grachev delighted us with their togetherness, level of readiness, and not the most trivial of music choices for their free dance (a modern piano melody named “Nocturne”). Anyone can see the skaters’ progress from the Russian nationals – their gliding, edges, and dance positions have all improved. They now, of course, need to work on element difficulty and on connections. Overall, though, Anastasia and Alexander look very confident and convincing. At this point, they are the main contenders for the national team’s opening in the Grand Prix.
Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer have cardinally changed their traditionally dramatic compositions in favor of a passionate and fiery “Flamenco” (a mix of various flamencos). Confident skating, clean gliding, unusual lifts (two of which seem to count on flamenco’s grand skirt), and difficult entries all promise to make this one of the brighter ones of the season, despite being a bit expected for ice dancing. It was also nice to see an unexpectedly good spin in the free dance – in the past, this has been a weakness for Ekaterina and Ivan. IN the original dance, Irina Zhuk managed to create a very believable image of the regulars at the social parties of 1930’s. Among the negatives, it would be nice to see a greater speed without a loss of cleanness and exactness of skating, especially in the free. In all, though, at this point Rubleva and Shefer are the best prepared team among all present at the skate.
Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. Elena Kustratova has distinguished herself in selecting the most non-standard music for the original dance, selecting for her leading duo a complete track of Mack the Knife from Kurt Weill’s “Threepenny Opera”; its increasing tempo takes it from a slow foxtrot to a quickstep. It’s a very remarkable composition, well suited to the athletes’ temperament and technical abilities. The free composition has left ambiguous impression: on the one hand, the soundtrack from “Romeo+Juliette” well suits the skaters’ age; on the other hand, the composition hardly reflects the subject of the eternal story of the young lovers. Straight line footwork to the music of the street fight is certainly successful. In all, Ekaterina and Dmitri showed the most original programs, great motivation and drive to continuous growth, and a solid base for a superb season. They just need to clean up some bumps and minor “dirt”, as well as work on the difficulty of some elements; then, the team of Bobrova/ Solovieve can rightfully enter the elite of world figure skating.
Wrapping up the report on the test skate of Russia’s ice dancers, we’d like to note that almost all Russian teams themes very traditional to figure skating. We’d really like to wish the coaches could take some risks to experiment with unusual music as do the coaches of French and British teams. Perhaps, a non-standard approach to music could lead our dancers to a leap onto the next level. At least, it would be interesting to glance at the Russian skaters other than in the “warhorse” music choices.
November 4th and 5th saw control skates by Russian ice dancers in Novogorsk. Icestars watched together with the technical specialists.
Both leading teas skipped the event. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin most likely refrained for health reasons. Maxim’s knee still hasn’t fully recovered. As to Sergei Novitski, his knee, operated two years ago, was bothering him the day before the skate; following a medical consultation, it was decided not to risk his health, but to heal it first. Both pairs plan to show their programs to Russian specialists a little later. Meanwhile, we’ll talk about the impressions the remaining six teams left in Novogorsk. Presenting the results of their inter-season work were the 2008 Junior World bronze medalists Kristina Gorshkova/ Vitaly Butikov, Kirov natives Julia Zlobina/ Alexei Sitnikov, Elena Kustarova’s students Anastasia Platonova/ Alexander Grachev and Natalya Mikhailova/ Arkady Sergeev (who have teamed up after a year’s break), 2007 Junior World champions Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitry Soloviev, and 2008 Russia’s vice-champions Ekaterina Rubleva/ Ivan Shefer. First, all teams demonstrated their readiness for the compulsories “Pasodoble” and “Austrian Waltz”. The new compulsory “Finnstep” will be presented alter, after the Grand Prix series. The commission didn’t outright object to any of the dancers, but for each team they pointed out areas for improvement.
Also on the first day of the event, all dancers presented their original compositions, and on Friday they skated their free dances (those were split into two, as the skaters’ physical form doesn’t yet allow them to skate the four-minute program in its entirety up to par). So…
Kristina Gorshkova and Vitaly Butikov. This team has just finished their junior career, and is trying itself out on the senior circuit. The recent Junior past still comes out in the choreography, technique, and the manner on the ice. In all, both compositions left a positive impression, though they weren’t too clean, and were full of missteps and erros. In the free program set to Nino Rota’s music from the movie “Godfather”, Vitaly fell on a straight line footwork sequence; Kristina and Vitaly will have to work very hard in the remaining time to avoid such accidents during important competitions.
Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov. This duo with Kirov and Rostov roots has firmly planted itself on the reserve team. It’s harder for them to fight for their place under the sun than it is for the Moscow pairs, but the athletes aren’t giving up and are actually improving. A certain predictability of the programs is compensated by the clear growth and desire to progress. No doubt, those guys need to sharpen their technical mastery and presentation, but their new programs look presentable. There was some issue with the lifts, some of which look odd set to Karl Orff’s famous “Carmina Burana”. They should also work on the difficulty of footwork and connecting steps. However, Julia and Alexei can well insist on taking part in the Grand Prix.
Natalia Mikhailova and Arkadi Sergeev. Just before the test skates, this team got the third opening on Russia’s Grand Prix event. This has made their original and free dance skates that much more disappointing. In the original, which is supposed to be set to the music of 20s through 40s of the 20th century, Alexander Zhulin unexpectedly compbined the famous rumba “Perhaps” with a swing melody. It’s unclear if this satisfies the rules. Yet music issues paled next to the problems with the programs themselves and the level of the athletes’ readiness. Natalia and Arkadi’s unacceptable athletic form was probably the most surprising thing for the specialists at this event. Unfortunately, it was a very negative surprise, which was further reiterated in the skate of the free dance set to the music of Evgeny Dogi from the movie “My Tender and Affectionate Beast”. The commission gave the team until the first event of the Russian Cup in Samara to correct the situation. The results of that competition will decide their participation in the Grand Prix series.
Anastasia Platonova and Alexander Grachev delighted us with their togetherness, level of readiness, and not the most trivial of music choices for their free dance (a modern piano melody named “Nocturne”). Anyone can see the skaters’ progress from the Russian nationals – their gliding, edges, and dance positions have all improved. They now, of course, need to work on element difficulty and on connections. Overall, though, Anastasia and Alexander look very confident and convincing. At this point, they are the main contenders for the national team’s opening in the Grand Prix.
Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer have cardinally changed their traditionally dramatic compositions in favor of a passionate and fiery “Flamenco” (a mix of various flamencos). Confident skating, clean gliding, unusual lifts (two of which seem to count on flamenco’s grand skirt), and difficult entries all promise to make this one of the brighter ones of the season, despite being a bit expected for ice dancing. It was also nice to see an unexpectedly good spin in the free dance – in the past, this has been a weakness for Ekaterina and Ivan. IN the original dance, Irina Zhuk managed to create a very believable image of the regulars at the social parties of 1930’s. Among the negatives, it would be nice to see a greater speed without a loss of cleanness and exactness of skating, especially in the free. In all, though, at this point Rubleva and Shefer are the best prepared team among all present at the skate.
Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. Elena Kustratova has distinguished herself in selecting the most non-standard music for the original dance, selecting for her leading duo a complete track of Mack the Knife from Kurt Weill’s “Threepenny Opera”; its increasing tempo takes it from a slow foxtrot to a quickstep. It’s a very remarkable composition, well suited to the athletes’ temperament and technical abilities. The free composition has left ambiguous impression: on the one hand, the soundtrack from “Romeo+Juliette” well suits the skaters’ age; on the other hand, the composition hardly reflects the subject of the eternal story of the young lovers. Straight line footwork to the music of the street fight is certainly successful. In all, Ekaterina and Dmitri showed the most original programs, great motivation and drive to continuous growth, and a solid base for a superb season. They just need to clean up some bumps and minor “dirt”, as well as work on the difficulty of some elements; then, the team of Bobrova/ Solovieve can rightfully enter the elite of world figure skating.
Wrapping up the report on the test skate of Russia’s ice dancers, we’d like to note that almost all Russian teams themes very traditional to figure skating. We’d really like to wish the coaches could take some risks to experiment with unusual music as do the coaches of French and British teams. Perhaps, a non-standard approach to music could lead our dancers to a leap onto the next level. At least, it would be interesting to glance at the Russian skaters other than in the “warhorse” music choices.
