Alena Leonova's blog in English | Golden Skate

Alena Leonova's blog in English

princess9

On the Ice
Joined
May 1, 2010
Thanks for posting Mikhail! Let us know about all the Russian skaters! I like this girl. She has the great Irina's spunk! I'm sure Irina is who every Russian lady wants to be. I do like Ksenia much better though. She is so very elegant. Please tell us, what is Yags doing? How about Anton? I'd love to hear all about our wonderful skaters back in Russia. We see so few now here in USA.
 

Ellen

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Thanks for posting Mikhail! Let us know about all the Russian skaters! I like this girl. She has the great Irina's spunk! I'm sure Irina is who every Russian lady wants to be. I do like Ksenia much better though. She is so very elegant. Please tell us, what is Yags doing? How about Anton? I'd love to hear all about our wonderful skaters back in Russia. We see so few now here in USA.

I will share some news/romours about Alexei Yagudin, Anton S. and Irina :) Probably you have heard that already.

Alexei is a happy father of daughter Liza (Elizaveta). (Mother - Tatiana Totmianina). He has been skating in very popular Russian show/competition 'Lednikovy period' (boulder-period) shown on TV Saturday nights for several past years, and did really great in pair(!) with a famous actress and finished second last season. (R.Kostomarov won the First place :) ) Alexei also was a presenter in several TV shows and even tried himself as singer!
Anton Sikharulidze now leads the Sports Commitee in the RF State Duma (he is a senator). Not married yet.
Irina Slutskaya is expecting her second baby. She already has a young son. She also has been taking part in the ice shows with stars.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks for the news, Ellen. Could "Lednikovy period" be translated as "Stone Age"? That's the term we use for the early era of human development, when they lived in caves and used stone tools. Is that what the name of the show means? A friend of mine who is Russian-speaking (she's Bulgarian) watches Russian TV and has shown me extracts of this skating show on YouTube. She says that it's the equivalent of a show we have here, "Dancing with the Stars," in which celebrities do ballroom dancing with professional ballroom dancers. (Many of the pro dancers in this country are Russian and Eastern European. The number one heartthrob on the show is Maksim Chmerkovsky.) One clip I liked very much had Gordeyeva skating in that show. I'll look for clips of Yagudin.

How impressive that Sikharulidze is in the Duma! I'll have to look him up on Google.
 

Ellen

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
I want to reply to Olympia, but sorry for the post off-topic.

Yes, the show was called 'Stars on Ice' first season, then re-named to 'Lednikovy period' which is "Stone Age" and also wordplay with Russian "Led" = "Ice" in English.
For those who likes Yagudin - this is one of my favourite program with Alexei, staged under a well-known movie/book "Snowstorm", Waltz by G. Sviridov.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MDRCELDGwA&feature=fvsr
Notice the juri: T.Tarasova, V. Piseev (Head of Russian FS federation), Anton Sikharulidze :)

And with Katya Gordeeva:
(skip first minute with interview in Russian)
Most beautiful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq3Sy494ZD0&feature=related
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNeH5fl6XDw staged by A.Zhulin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7QzuPBdzEA&NR=1
 
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Ellen

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
It's not "Stown Age", it's "Ice Age".
Correct! Thank you. I forgot that English word :)
This show 'Ice Age' was really very interesting, as it was also a competition between two coaches Alexander Zhulin and Ilya Averboukh. The dances they staged were really masterpieces. I enjoy re-watch them from time to time. Skaters, not only from Russia, revealed their artistic skills that we could not see in full when they skated technically difficult sports dances.
OK, this is a separate topic of discussion.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I know it's a separate topic, but it's a wonderful one! I do wish that a mod could set up a thread, because I'm sure other fans would enjoy views and a discussion of this artistically designed show. It's amazing how seriously everyone takes the programs, from the choreographers to the celebrity contestants. Watching the routines makes me understand why Russian skating will always be so important and beloved around the world. It's not just the technique but the profound emotional and narrative connections skaters make with the music.

I apologize for leading us into error, by the way, Ellen. When you used the word "boulder" in your translation, I jumped to conclusions about what the phrase meant and asked the wrong question. Thanks for clearing things up, Fashionista.
 

Ellen

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
I know it's a separate topic, but it's a wonderful one! I do wish that a mod could set up a thread, because I'm sure other fans would enjoy views and a discussion of this artistically designed show. It's amazing how seriously everyone takes the programs, from the choreographers to the celebrity contestants. Watching the routines makes me understand why Russian skating will always be so important and beloved around the world. It's not just the technique but the profound emotional and narrative connections skaters make with the music.

I apologize for leading us into error, by the way, Ellen. When you used the word "boulder" in your translation, I jumped to conclusions about what the phrase meant and asked the wrong question. Thanks for clearing things up, Fashionista.

:) Thanks. I also apologize in advance for my mistakes in English.
Yes, those Saturday nights when the 'Ice Age' show was on TV were delightful for my soul. It was also intriguing how judges would accept each dance, because the permanent judges were professionals: T. Tarasova, V. Piseev and A. Sikharulidze. Sometimes other skaters were invited to judge. Also they expressed their opinions about each dance, which were very emotional , especially Tatiana Tarasova's views.
I was one of those fans who sent sms to vote for my favourite pair.
 
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Nadine

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
Ellen, since you are Russian and live in Russia, I've been meaning to ask you are preparations already underway for the Sochi 2014 Olympics? I know this will be the very first time in history that Russia will be hosting them, so I'm curious to know ALL, and I do mean ALL, as I plan on attending them with my baby niece. :)

You can PM me if you want. I honestly hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Nadine :)

p.s. sorry for going off topic, my apologies.
 

Ellen

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Ellen, since you are Russian and live in Russia, I've been meaning to ask you are preparations already underway for the Sochi 2014 Olympics? I know this will be the very first time in history that Russia will be hosting them, so I'm curious to know ALL, and I do mean ALL, as I plan on attending them with my baby niece. :)

You can PM me if you want. I honestly hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Nadine :)

p.s. sorry for going off topic, my apologies.

Nadine, I sent you an e-mail. Please check your mailbox.
 

Nadine

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
Lol, I knew when I wrote that someone would bring it up (just as janetfan brought up my not being there from the very beginning in terms of Sonja Henie's advent into skating), but I didn't care, I knew what I meant. :)

However, for your & anybody else's clarification, yes, the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympic Games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics). However, this will be the very first time that Russia will host a Winter Olympic Games ever(http://www.mahalo.com/sochi).

p.s. and boy do I remember the boycott of 1984 because in my mind Mary Lou Retton's Gold Medal was never legitimate because she did not compete against the very best (Russia), which is why I've always considered Shannon Miller the best female gymnast the United States has ever produced (and, lol, it's no coincidence that she went to Russia to emulate them early on in her career; she was better than Tatiana Gutsu; that landing was the best I've ever seen 10.0!).
 

Fashionista

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Lol, I knew when I wrote that someone would bring it up (just as janetfan brought up my not being there from the very beginning in terms of Sonja Henie's advent into skating), but I didn't care, I knew what I meant. :)

Then isn't it better to try to be clear so everybody could understand what you mean? It's easy, for example, you could write: "this will be the first time Russia hosts winter Olympic games" or something like that. Is it difficult?
 
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