COI Philly Show Review/Pic Link | Golden Skate

COI Philly Show Review/Pic Link

Joined
Jan 30, 2004
My husband and I, as well as the little girl I “baby“sit attended the COI show in Philly yesterday. It was an exceptionally good show this year, COI has come leaps and bounds forward in the way they produce/present the show. The lighting effects have improved, the group numbers at the beginning and the end really lend a more “showy“ quality to the show. There were very few “mistakes“ made by the skaters in yesterday's show. The costumes were gorgeous. I really enjoyed this years show more than any of the previous 9 I've been to.

I can't remember what everyone skated to, that's one thing COI lacks--no insert to the program listing the order of skaters and what they skate to--I should e-mail them and tell them to start adding that. Everytime I check for music info on the COI site, it isn't listed yet.

The opening number was exciting and really got you in the mood to watch some good skating!

This is not the order in which the skaters skated, but I wanted to list a quick review:

Michelle Kwan, who always skates last as they save the best for last--she skated to a Josh Groban song...of all the skaters, she seemed least comfortable and was doubling her jumps, she didn't look as joyous as she usually does, maybe she was having a bad day. I am not a great fan of Michelle's in competitions, but seeing her live, she oozes something you just can't help but get caught up in, and feeling the electricity of her “die hard“ fans is something special.

Sasha Cohen came out dressed like Mary Poppins when she's feeding the birds in the movie and she was ADORABLE. Then she took the coat off and had a gorgeous costume on and skated to “I Could Have Danced All Night“--it was very elegant and lovely and she skated well.

Evgeni Plushenko skated to a Queen song, something about “I'm hear to care for you“....he started the number standing right in front of us (we were 3rd row) and looked into the audience with a lovely smile. Most of you know I am not a Plushy fan, but this program was a very good one--he really related to the audience and I enjoyed it, and HIM, very much in this skate. There was an old lady on the end of the ice, first row behind boards, she had her hand reached forward, not leaning over the boards or anything. He skated to her and instead of just touching her hand, he leaned over the boards and hugged and kissed her--I'm sure it made her day and it brought a tear to my eye. I've never quite seen Plushy being so sincere and loving towards the audience. The skate had a great footwork sequence down the center of the ice as well.

Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao--what can I say--elegent and powerful, so exciting and exhilirating. I was THRILLED to see them and enjoyed them so much---they brought out the most “OOOOHHHH's“ from the audience, and besides Michelle, they were the only skaters that got a (partial) standing ovation. They did their split-twist throw RIGHT in front of us--WOW!!!!(in the finale, Xue fell on the throw jump)

Tim G. skated to Rocketman and it was a nice number for him.

Elena Sokolova skated really well, never realised how fast she actually skates even the tho music was “slow“ music.

Totmyanina/Marinin--I've always thought them too “cold“ and lacking in presentation--this is the 2nd year i saw them--they skated a nice romantic type number and they seem to be learning to be more “showy“, their relation to each other as they skate is improving and Tatiana is smiling more. Enjoyed them.

Fumie Suguri also skated a lovely, graceful number. She skated with fans during part of the number and gave two audience members at opposite ends and sides of the ice a fan each...she gave the one to a lady in the front row in front of where we were.

Elvis Stojko did his usual rock number--he's fun to watch and still has most his jumps--he always reaches into the audience with his eyes and smiles, as well as a couple stops along the way for a hug or kiss to someone, and some hand slapping as he goes around the ice. He had a special role in Sat.'s show--a bird had been flying around the arena, after his number the spot lights shown on the bird sitting on the ice--Elvis came back out and scooped the poor bird into a paper cup and took it off.

Rudy skated to “Star Spangled Banner“ I think it is called, by Celine Dion--a very nice number showing his artistic/graceful side. I agree with someone who had mentioned that Rudy looks awful thin, but he looked very happy.

Kazakova/Dmitriev--always a crowd pleaser--Artur presents Oksana so beautifully, and she has such lovely line.

Viktor Petrenko--a flirty, totally for fun number...

Philippe Candeloro--the usually “jump over the boards and kiss audience members“ type number from him, but it's so fun to watch the people he “visits“ get thrilled--had a “kung-fu/martial arts“ theme to the number.

Surya Bonaly--she skated a gentle number that was somewhat more graceful than her usual skates, 2 thrilling back-flips within it.

Irina Slutskaya--a nice, energetic, cute number, something about “EI-Chihuahua“. She skated quite well and with good speed. It's just so good to see her on the ice again, hope she stays healthy.

Johnny Weir--a lovely, elegant, graceful, perfectly executed skate to “Imagine“ and he was spot-on with his jumps. VERY GOOD skate!

Jennifer Kirk--skated her “Chicago“ number--very nice, she's very pretty.

Belbin/Agosto--skated to the theme from “Green Acres“ and “Dueling Banjo's“, a very cute, lively number that we enjoyed very much--they had on overalls and looked ready to come down and work on our garden!

Dan Hollander--what a hoot--skated to a part of “Sister Act“ music dressed as a nun, then stripped to a blue dress with huge boob inserts and skated to “Devil With a Blue Dress“.

Nicole Bobek--missed part of her number, she was the first to skate after intermission which wasn't a full 15 minutes and you girls know how bad lines at ladies rooms are. It was a graceful, pretty number to “Dust In The Wind“.

Besedin & Polishchuk--they changed their routine quite a bit for this year--did a lot more skating and instead of a lot of balancing of Besedin on Polishchuk's head, Oleksiy was flipping Vladimir around as they skated. I have some decent pictures of them with Vladimir in mid-flip if you check the pictures out with the link provided below.

Irina Grigorian--She started her act with something different this year, a big square thing she twirled around(pics of it at my link), then did the usual hula-hoop stuff. She always uses great dance music with good beats, this years was something about “why you shakin' that thing“.

So there you have it, my review! Just wish I had more info on the music each skater used.

For viewing pics: www.shutterfly.com/osi.js...71efb2c4df
 

alhuncc

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Thank you so much for the review! I saw the Boston and Durham shows, concur with your impressions, and appreciate your writing them down!

The picture link didn't work for me, and I'd love to see them (could be my rickety computer?!).

There have been several observations about Rudy's being so thin. That's to his advantage with the new hips, so he has deliberately kept his weight down as much as possible (probably about the same as when he won Nationals in 1996). He's probably more fit than he has ever been due to the amount of work and stretching he does before performing.

Thanks again--

Amanda
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Thanks for the review and the pictures. I'll be seeing it on Saturday. (I hope Michelle perks up by then, LOL.) My favorite of the pictures is Irina Grigorian, the hula hoop girl. I always like to see her perform.

Techy point. The reason the first link didn't work is that you did not copy the entire URL. It looks like it was copied from another posting rather from the web page itself. Although both of the URLs look the same on your posts, in the first one what you pasted into the dialogue box was exactly what shows. Whereas the second one, the whole URL is there, but the GS software abbreviated it. You can see the difference by clicking on "edit" for each of your two posts.:)

Mathman:)
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2004
Thanks for the tip Mathman.
I did indeed copy and paste the review as I put it on 4 different skating boards and didn't want to type it out all 4 times!;)
Glad you liked the pictures!
 

Ximena

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Thanks for your report, it was great.
Just to let you know, Plush skated to "I was born to love you" by Queen. I'm glad you enjoyed his exhibition.
 

CartDi

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Pat, your pictures are real nice! Would it be okay if I posted the link to your pictures on another message board, Figure Skating Lovers? I would like my friends on there to see them. It's fine if you don't want the link spread around though. And thanks for writing a review!
 
Top