New England skating fans had a real treat with Harvard's EWC

An Evening with Champions, the 44 year old (wow!!) fund raising exhibition for Dana Farber's The Jimmy Fund, was held this weekend at Harvard's newly renovated Bright Arena. Two shows - with Saturday evening's being nearly a full house. It's a great way to see current National competitors, medalists, and champions. And, the Eliot House Evening with Champions committee does a fine job (it's all student run) highlighting figure skating disciplines - singles, pairs, dance, synchro, and Theatre on Ice. Have to begin with the end...Johnny Weir!! Skated brilliantly...so impressed with excellent musicality and incredibly big and tightly rotated triples - toe and salchow (can someone confirm for me - sometimes I'm confused)!! So here's the question...soles of his skates are red - know he wears Louboutin street shoes - so are his skates specially crafted?? Was a nice mix of US and Canadian skaters, with Duhamel and Bradford skating beautifully executed programs. New pairs team Castelli and Tran have a nice chemistry from the get-go and their spins are quite good - now comes the hard work of upping their technical ante. Ladies were certainly an interesting mix, with Harvard trotting out their current students Kalina, Siraj, and Gao. Tina Gao looks the healthiest she's been in quite some time... The always lovely and lyrical Alissa Czisny and athletic powerhouse Kimmie Meisner did not disappoint in their show programs. The sparkle factor was led by Ashley Cain, but Courtney Hicks really delivered the goods in a meditative and technically difficult Amazing Grace - seemingly a short program? The other Bostonian in the mix was Ross Miner, who just seemed to look uninspired. Maybe the girlfriend and the couple of college courses are taking him in a different direction? Was much fun to see the potential of Shotaro Omori and Nathan Chen contrasted with the maturity and style of Abbott, Faris, and Razzano. Haydenettes and two teams from Boston (Senior/Collegiate) exhibited very fine synchro skating. It's interesting to a casual observer how technically difficult synchro has become with very strong dance, MIF, and Freestyle skills of what seem like a high level needed. Two nationally ranked ice dance teams also participated and provided show programs on either end of the spectrum. Aldridge and Eaton were comical while Canuscio and McManus were touchingly lyrical. Act 1 Theatre on Ice - 2014 National Champions - provided a really pretty and well skated "Love Dance" program to initiate many audience members to theatre on ice. Upshot of EWC - the program is well on its way to overflowing the 3million mark in donations for childhood cancer research for the efforts at Dana Farber and the children supported by The Jimmy Fund.

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the fine report. Sounds like a great show!

If we lived anywhere near there, we'd be there in a heartbeat! Thanks for the review!

I couldn't make it to the Friday show but the Saturday one left me speechless. Still recovering from the beautiful programs from that night.

The only thing that annoyed me was the horrible squeaking noise of the cameras in the back. It was really loud when Alissa was skating to Liszt. But no more complaints from me since she was such a delight to watch on ice.

Can't wait for next year's. It will be their 45th and I'm really hoping for something big.

Rearranged some other travel plans to accommodate this year's show. Looking forward to being in the house next year, and right up to a 50th Anniversary!!

Isn't Vanessa Lam at Harvard?

I was at the Friday night show and had an excellent time!

Some brief thoughts:
Shotaro's tango program was lovely. I'm now a big fan of his, I found him quite captivating live.
Courtney was one of the stand outs for me. I've never really liked her that much, aside from the big jumps, but she really impressed me. Nice spins, much more expressive and lyrical than I have seen her, this was a delightfully emotional performance.
Christina was ok, her jumps were a little rough but she is still nice to watch.
Agnes is definitely not in top form. She seemed slow, the jumps were off, she really didn't look like herself. It's pretty obvious she is not training for competitions this season.
Nathan was super fun, can't wait to see what he does in the future.
Castelli and Tran have great chemistry, but the elements are still a work in progress. They still did just a double twist, although I read in an IceNetwork article today that was mostly because of the spotlights for the shows making it harder to see and they didn't want to risk the triple in that situation yet. He fell on the sbs jumps but they were still fun to watch. They have a much better connection than Castelli/Schnapir.
Duhamel and Radford were probably the best performance of all. They did some jaw-dropping lifts. They look to be in top form right now, really amazing.
Josh was lovely, as expected.
Jeremy didn't do his new SP on Friday, he did "Latch," which is a wonderful exhibition piece. His dance moves and interpretation were really intricate and precise and he gave a great performance. This is the Jeremy Abbott I always like to watch.
Johnny Weir was the main draw for me, I'll admit, and he didn't disappoint. He's just so emotional and expressive and still looks to be in great shape. Love him!

But probably my favorite part of the night came during the intermission. Courtney and Ashley Cain were mixing with the crowd and I got to meet them and take a picture with both. They were super nice and friendly. They were taking a lot of pictures and signing autographs and they just seem like such lovely young women who were genuinely happy to be there and meeting fans.

All in all this was a fantastic show and money well spent for a good cause!

2A3TMom said:

... And, the Eliot House Evening with Champions committee does a fine job (it's all student run) highlighting figure skating disciplines - singles, pairs, dance, synchro, and Theatre on Ice. .... Ladies were certainly an interesting mix, with Harvard trotting out their current students Kalina, Siraj, and Gao. Tina Gao looks the healthiest she's been in quite some time... Upshot of EWC - the program is well on its way to overflowing the 3million mark in donations for childhood cancer research for the efforts at Dana Farber and the children supported by The Jimmy Fund.

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I must say that "trotting out" seems unnecessarily disparaging to me regarding Siraj and Gao.
Each originally performed in An Evening with Champions in 2011 and 2012 (presumably by invitation), long before anyone knew that either would have the opportunity to join the Harvard student body. Both ladies wanted to support a good cause then, and they still want to now. (Gao also is a board member and skater liaison for An Evening with Champions, so she donates her time on and off the ice.)

nam57 said:

Isn't Vanessa Lam at Harvard?

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My understanding was that Lam had deferred her admission to Harvard last fall and planned to enroll this fall. (But I can't be sure that her plan did not change.)

Thanks for the review, charmblade.

@golden411. I'm sure that the original poster did not mean anything negative about the Harvard skaters. "The University was bursting with pride as it offered the audience the treat of seeing the cream of their acclaimed figure skating cadre." :yes:

Six-minute video blog from Shotaro Omori:

The Inside Edge: 'Game of Thrones' comforts Weir
Abbott dons new beard; Castelli to face former partner Shnapir in Boston

Mathman said:

... @golden411. I'm sure that the original poster did not mean anything negative about the Harvard skaters. "The University was bursting with pride as it offered the audience the treat of seeing the cream of their acclaimed figure skating cadre." :yes:

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Another good example of your diplomatic skills, MM. Michelle Kwan would be proud.

If asked to list my favorite folks on GS, first I would "trot out" the names of all the mods, including yours.

Nothing disparaging meant, to be sure. It's Harvard's house, after all, and EWC is very fortunate to continue to have excellent student and alumni ambassadors who represent figure skating at very highest of levels nationally and internationally. It is a very special tribute that the University has been able to sustain the level of interest in figure skating while enthusing us sponsors and ticket purchasers with support of the Jimmy Fund.