Stars on Ice - any chance new Russians will be there?

Manitou · Feb 24, 2014

Stars on Ice 2014

The cast is not announced yet, but the tickets are on sale now, so maybe it's a time to buy good locations now. For those who have more experience with those shows: is there a chance the current champions will be in the cast? Especially Yulia or Adelina? Or even Yuna?
I want to buy tickets now before it's too late, but I really don't want to be limited to Hammill, Gordeeva and Browning only, even though I respect them a lot. The new youth is the main magnet for me.

dorispulaski · Feb 24, 2014

The U.S. tour hints in an early January release that Ashley, Gracie, and Meryl & Charlie will be on the tour. Tessa & Scott will almost surely be on the Canadian tour. Other than that, I think fans have to wait till SOI announces the final cast?

Manitou · Feb 24, 2014

dorispulaski said:
The U.S. tour hints in an early January release that Ashley, Gracie, and Meryl & Charlie will be on the tour. Tessa & Scott will almost surely be on the Canadian tour. Other than that, I think fans have to wait till SOI announces the final cast?

Are SLR cameras (no flash of course) allowed?

Olympia · Feb 24, 2014

dorispulaski said:
The U.S. tour hints in an early January release that Ashley, Gracie, and Meryl & Charlie will be on the tour. Tessa & Scott will almost surely be on the Canadian tour. Other than that, I think fans have to wait till SOI announces the final cast?

It's great that eligible skaters can skate in SOI, so that current skaters can not only be seen by us but can also gain valuable presentation experience--not to mention advice by the longtime stalwarts of the cast.

It would be nice if Aliona and Robin could at some point take part in SOI. As performers they would enjoy the greater potential for artistry that SOI allows for.

Amei · Feb 24, 2014

I doubt julia or adelina go, they have given no indication that they are going to retire. Why do the Stars show that will distract from training and pour more stress on them by being away from home, to a country where they don't speak the language.

pangtongfan · Feb 24, 2014

Russia has nobody the American Stars on Ice would even want now other than Voloshzar & Trankov, but not sure if V&T have any interest or not. The interest in the Russian ladies who are not popular anywhere but Russia would be nil. Stars on Ice tends to prefer North American skaters. They used to have more Russians but that was in the day of more popular Russian stars like Gordeeva & Grinkov, Bechke & Petrov, Kulik, Urmanov, Yagudin, Klimova & Ponomarenko.

Olympia · Feb 24, 2014

Amei said:
I doubt julia or adelina go, they have given no indication that they are going to retire. Why do the Stars show that will distract from training and pour more stress on them by being away from home, to a country where they don't speak the language.

You don't have to retire to skate in SOI; you can remain eligible. And many SOI people speak Russian.

In the days of the show Champions on Ice, all the international medal winners including Irina Slutskaya took part in an American tour year after year.

On the other hand, these days, Russia itself has enough ice shows (and Europe also has some) that Russian skaters don't need to travel all the way to the U.S. to find opportunities to perform in a show. In fact, there are better, more popular shows in Europe (including Russia) and parts of Asia than there currently are in North America. So yes, it's unlikely that Julia or Adelina would come to SOI. Who knows? Their popularity is so huge right now in Russia that they might get a TV special show planned around them. I don't know if Russia does stuff like that, but the U.S. used to in the days of Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, and Brian Boitano.

Manitou · Feb 24, 2014

pangtongfan said:
Russia has nobody the American Stars on Ice would even want now other than Voloshzar & Trankov, but not sure if V&T have any interest or not. The interest in the Russian ladies who are not popular anywhere but Russia would be nil. Stars on Ice tends to prefer North American skaters. They used to have more Russians but that was in the day of more popular Russian stars like Gordeeva & Grinkov, Bechke & Petrov, Kulik, Urmanov, Yagudin, Klimova & Ponomarenko.

I was once on SOI and I saw more Russians than Americans. It was directly after Slutskaya and Yagudin retired, but there were many eligible skaters there. And Yulia would be a HUGE magnet. She enjoys a tremendous popularity worldwide. Many people would want to come just to see her.

ice coverage · Feb 24, 2014

dorispulaski said:
The U.S. tour hints in an early January release that Ashley, Gracie, and Meryl & Charlie will be on the tour. Tessa & Scott will almost surely be on the Canadian tour. Other than that, I think fans have to wait till SOI announces the final cast?

Virtue/Moir and Chan already were announced as CSOI cast members before Sochi, IIRC. I think maybe Osmond already has been announced too.

Abbott also has been pre-announced for this year's U.S. SOI, along with those mentioned by Doris.

https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/438040923281190913 (Feb 24)
https://twitter.com/starsonice/status/428678268179316736 (Jan 29)

I seem to recall that in 2010, U.S. SOI's cast proved to be largely the American team from Vancouver: Lysacek for a few stops; Abbott; Nagasu; Davis/White; Belbin/Agosto; maybe Evora/Ladwig ...??

dorispulaski · Feb 24, 2014

The unretired skaters in 2010 only did a limited number of tour stops.

Manitou · Feb 24, 2014

dorispulaski said:
The unretired skaters in 2010 only did a limited number of tour stops.

OMG! No! I already bought tickets. At worst I will try to sell them on Craig's list....

dorispulaski · Feb 24, 2014

I wouldn't yet. The January announcement sounded much more positive for the active skaters than I remember from 2010. The announcement of the cast is so soon, March 4 I think? that you might as well wait and see.

seabm7 · Feb 24, 2014

Here is the schedule from the official website. The tour dates are overlapped among them.

Stars on Ice US: 4/4 - 5/18 http://www.starsonice.com/get-tickets.html

Stars on Ice Japan: 4/12 - 4/20 http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/soi2014/
Stars on Ice Canada: 4/25 - 5/15 http://www.starsonice.ca/get-tickets.html

It seems they are running two separate teams this year, one for US and the other for Canada/Japan. Most of the cast for the Canadian part is announced already, all of them Canadians. I guess the US tour will be mostly Americans, too.

Canadian tour: Chan, Virtue & Moir, Browning, Rochette, Buttle, Duhamel & Radford, Osmond, Weaver & Poje, and Sawyer.

Amei · Feb 24, 2014

Olympia said:
You don't have to retire to skate in SOI; you can remain eligible.

I understand that they can skate the SOI and still be eligible for competitions; I was speaking more of the training perspective - if they are doing a bunch of shows then that is (at least from my perspective) likely to take away from their training for the upcoming season.

Olympia said:
And many SOI people speak Russian.

But they would still be in the US (if they did SOI) where they would be staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, shopping, etc. around a large amount of people that they can't converse with and maybe can't even understand (not sure what their comprehension of English is - I know they both use a translator for their Q&A's). And both teenagers would, most likely, be away from their families for the duration of the time they are on the tour.

Tonichelle · Feb 24, 2014

CezarMart said:
Are SLR cameras (no flash of course) allowed?

they have been in the past, but you have to follow the rules of both SOI and whatever venue you see the show in.

moviechick · Feb 24, 2014

CezarMart said:
I was once on SOI and I saw more Russians than Americans. It was directly after Slutskaya and Yagudin retired, but there were many eligible skaters there. And Yulia would be a HUGE magnet. She enjoys a tremendous popularity worldwide. Many people would want to come just to see her.

Adelina, probably not but Julia became a huge sensation here. More so than the more top ranked skaters easily.

Olympia · Feb 24, 2014

Amei said:
I understand that they can skate the SOI and still be eligible for competitions; I was speaking more of the training perspective - if they are doing a bunch of shows then that is (at least from my perspective) likely to take away from their training for the upcoming season.

But they would still be in the US (if they did SOI) where they would be staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, shopping, etc. around a large amount of people that they can't converse with and maybe can't even understand (not sure what their comprehension of English is - I know they both use a translator for their Q&A's). And both teenagers would, most likely, be away from their families for the duration of the time they are on the tour.

I agree that it's impractical from several angles that they come here, especially at this stage of their careers. And in Russia these days, with the improved training situations and such receptive audiences, there's really no reason for them even to consider it. Not that I'm arguing against you, but in the days of COI, the situation was different, I think. It's amazing to see the roster of that show year after year until the early 2000s or so when it disbanded.

ice coverage · Feb 24, 2014

Amei said:
I doubt julia or adelina go, they have given no indication that they are going to retire. Why do the Stars show that will distract from training and pour more stress on them by being away from home, to a country where they don't speak the language.

Amei said:
I understand that they can skate the SOI and still be eligible for competitions; I was speaking more of the training perspective - if they are doing a bunch of shows then that is (at least from my perspective) likely to take away from their training for the upcoming season.

But they would still be in the US (if they did SOI) where they would be staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, shopping, etc. around a large amount of people that they can't converse with and maybe can't even understand (not sure what their comprehension of English is - I know they both use a translator for their Q&A's). And both teenagers would, most likely, be away from their families for the duration of the time they are on the tour.

Re touring in general and the Russians:
Last summer, Sotnikova was a cast member of Mao Asada's Japanese tour "The Ice." (Don't recall how many stops/shows The Ice had, but I think it was shorter in duration than SOI or CSOI.)
In at least one ShibSibs video, Sotnikova looked as if she were enjoying the backstage fun and camaraderie right along with her castmates from Japan, the U.S., and Canada. If I am not mistaken, Kovtun also was in the cast.
The tours offer opportunities that perhaps compensate to some extent for the time away from normal training: to earn money ... to improve performance skills, to be exposed to choreographers other than one's own, to build one's fan base, etc., etc.

seabm7 said:
...
Stars on Ice Japan: 4/12 - 4/20 http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/soi2014/
Stars on Ice Canada: 4/25 - 5/15 http://www.starsonice.ca/get-tickets.html

It seems they are running two separate teams this year, one for US and the other for Canada/Japan. Most of the cast for the Canadian part is announced already, all of them Canadians. I guess the US tour will be mostly Americans, too.

Canadian tour: Chan, Virtue & Moir, Browning, Rochette, Buttle, Duhamel & Radford, Osmond, Weaver & Poje, and Sawyer.

Thx for the links, seabm.
As an aside, I doubt that the casts for Japan and Canada will be identical. And every year, the casts for Canada vs. the U.S. are different, AFAIK.

seabm7 · Feb 24, 2014

golden411 said:
As an aside, I doubt that the casts for Japan and Canada will be identical. And every year, the casts for Canada vs. the U.S. are different, AFAIK.

Last year the tour dates for US and Canada did not overlap. So it was possible to use the same creative team: Director, designer, choreographer, etc. They had the same opening/finale numbers, but other ensemble numbers were different.

I wonder who will run the US AND/OR Canadian tours this year. Would Browning be the director for the Canadian part? How about choreography? It is quite intriguing.

iluvtodd · Feb 25, 2014

I spoke to Sinead Kerr @ US Nationals last month, expressing the hope that she & her brother John would be back in SOI this season. She said she would love to be in the tour, but had the impression that this season's US tour will focus on the US Olympians/World Team skaters. So far the confirmed cast for the US tour : Meryl & Charlie, Gracie, Ashley, Jeremy (according to the SOI website). I do wish the US & Canadian tours didn't overlap - we enjoy seeing our favorite Canadian (and other international) skaters as well. Perhaps next season (assuming there is a season), the tour will return to the mix of US & international skaters.

Stars on Ice - any chance new Russians will be there?

Manitou

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Manitou

Olympia

Amei

pangtongfan

Match Penalty

Olympia

Manitou

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Manitou

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

seabm7

Amei

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

moviechick

Olympia

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605

seabm7

iluvtodd

Similar threads

Connect with us