An Evening w/ Champions: 8-9 October 2004

I happened to be in the Cambridge, MA area (my dad and I were looking at BC; our hotel was in Cambridge) during this time, and my Harvard friend managed to rustle up tickets for the three of us to see the show on 9 October (had I known it was on the 8th, I would have gone----that was my 18th birthday). For those who aren't familiar with the show, it is a benefit show put on by the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber every year to raise money to help fight childhood cancer. It's held at the Bright Hockey Centre on the campus of Harvard University (It was started by John Misha Petkevich, who is a Harvard grad) and it usually brings in some really big name eligibles.

This year's lineup included:

-Paul Wylie (he was the MC, but did skate at the end)
-the Protopopovs (who are in their 70's, and can still do the most amazing backward outside death spiral I have ever seen, omg)
-Timothy Goebel
-Evan Lysacek
-Amber Corwin
-Belbin/Agosto
-Scott/Dulebohn
-Don/Hunt
-Galler-Rabinowitz/Mitchell
-Matthews/Zavozin
-Ryan Bradley
-the Haydenettes (US Synchro Team Champions, who had a lot of friends and fans in the audience)


It was nice to see Goebel back after the whole biorhythm thing. He still look a little tentative (he fell hard on a 3flip, but landed about three nice 3toes), but his artistry and spins have improved tremendously. Lysacek was absolutely amazing; he skated to a fast piece by Sinatra and appears to have really cleaned up his flailing arms. Ryan Bradley was also amazing; he skated the same "Dueling Banjos" routine that he used for the FP at Nats. The technical content on the night was surprisingly high; both Lysacek and Bradley landed 3lutzes (Ryan Bradley landed three triples: lutz, toeloop, and flip, plus a backflip), both pairs teams went for sbs 3toes (Tiffany had a turn-out on hers, but Philip's was clean; Don and Hunt both landed theirs and in combination w/ 2toes), and Don/Hunt even went for two throw-triple jumps (the 3sal was clean, but she fell hard on the 3loop). All 3 dance teams did what I took to be programmes of some kind for the upcoming season: Matthews/Zavozin skated to "Riverdance" (a FD), Belbin/Agosto to a medley that included "New York, New York" (an OD), and Galler-Rabinowitz/Mitchell skated a FD to music I didn't recognise (it sounded like a movie soundtrack of some type; their costumes were purple). All three of them were excellent. And, Paul Wylie finished off the night with a number (to "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias, which the crowd found amusing). I am a huge fan of Paul Wylie; he is an incredibly lyrical and musical skater with an amazing line and a great dance sensibility. He is one of my favourites and it was a joy to see him skate, as it was to see all of the performances by all of the skaters the entire evening.

What did you think of B/A's OD?

An Evening w/ Champions

That's so cool you saw that!

boggartlaura said:

What did you think of B/A's OD?

Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure if it was B/A's actual OD; it was different that their OD last year, but it was still a Quickstep and I thought that the theme for the OD was changing for this year. Anyways, the programme was to a medley of show tunes and other big band music (the only one of which I recognised was "New York, New York").

I will say that seeing B/A live, you really get an appreciation for just how difficult their choreography really is. There were a lot of changes of their hold position, especially in their circular footwork as they came around the rink. Their dance lifts were relatively simple, but this was probably due to all the other choreography in the programme. They do skate with a lot of speed, though, and Tanith is the classic, emotive, ice dancing partner (I don't think she stopped smiling throughout the entire programme, lol). It was a truly a great pleasure to see.