- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Original.
Plushenko prepares his secret weapon
Text by Boris Khodorkovsky (Gazeta.ru)
The best Peter skaters have started preparing for the Olympic season. Coaches and choreographers work hard with their students to create the most advantageous programs for the most important championship in four years. The smallest details count
The most experienced teacher Tamara Moskvina, holding on to a secret dream of conquering her fifth Olympic peak with the young team of Yulia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov, chose for the short program a rather over-used soundtrack from "Snowstorm" by George Sviridov. However, the two-time World champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin are working in the US with that same music. Of course, everyone can skate to the same music, the rules say nothing about it. Yet Moskvina is now at a conundrum - Peter Chicagoans will surely skate to the lyrical "Snowstorm" much better than Yulia and Sergei, who tend to do better with character compositions.
The last Olympics in Salt Lake City clearly demonstrated the results of a bad choice of program style. Having won the pre-Olympic Worlds in ice dance, the Italian team of Barbara Fussar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio decided they could get away with anything.
The set out to concur the Olympics to a song by Gloria Gaynor. Yet this fiery dance was clearly not in their style, only highlighting Maurizio's lack of technique.
Natalya Linichuk, working with Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh, worked hard to harden this perception. She used that same music for a program for her other students a brother and sister Swiss team of Hugentoblers. The effect was astounding. At the same time, she chose the music for her Russian team meticulously, going through dozens of choices.
Sometimes it happens that the coaches and choreographers hit the target on the first try. That's what happened with Alexei Yagudin 2002 Olympic short program "Winter", created by the coach Tatiana Tarasova and the then beginning choreographer Nikolai Morozov. This was what won Morozov his reputation of a genius choreographer.
Evgeny Plushenko and his coach Alexei Mishin have taken into account their experiences at the Games. Four years ago, they took a long time in choosing the music for the free program, going from the "Life of an Artist" composition to the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack to the umpteenth version of "Carmen", ultimately loosing to the main opponent. Peter skater wants to approach Turin in full armor. To this effect, Morozov flew to Saint Petersburg from America, having become in the past few years one of the most popular choreographers in the skating world.
"Winter" brought him fame, and Morozon squandered many original ideas of four years ago on the programs of Brian Joubert and Takeshi Honda, of Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan. Though in the last season the ex-partner of Tatiana Navka has visibly improved, especially in footwork choreography. According to Mishin, this is the element that his young colleague is now working on with Plushenko.
According to Morozov's students, the 2005 World bronze medalists from Ukraine Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov who are now in Saint Petersburg, their coach is creating new Olympic programs for Plushenko.
In any case, almost two weeks of cooperation with Morozov should bode well for the Olympic preparation of the three-time World champion. The guest specialist is working with his in full force. It's not by accident that he brought with his not only the Ukrainian dancers, but also Hungarian Julia Sebastyen. Normally, skaters come to Morozov's training camp for 4 to 5 days for a program. Some, like Michelle Kwan, do it in three.
A special poignancy of the current visit comes from the fact that one of the most popular ice choreographers has already created Olympic programs to the two potential opponents of the Russian skater - Brian Joubert and the reigning World champion Stephane Lambiel. We can only bow to Mishin the master. He has safeguarded himself from unfavorable repetitions not only of music, but of all details. Besides, according to un-official sources, the American guest has received a generous compensation. As a result, Plushenko will get from Morozov an original work, which could, in an even situation, tip the Olympic scales in his favor.
Plushenko prepares his secret weapon
Text by Boris Khodorkovsky (Gazeta.ru)
The best Peter skaters have started preparing for the Olympic season. Coaches and choreographers work hard with their students to create the most advantageous programs for the most important championship in four years. The smallest details count
The most experienced teacher Tamara Moskvina, holding on to a secret dream of conquering her fifth Olympic peak with the young team of Yulia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov, chose for the short program a rather over-used soundtrack from "Snowstorm" by George Sviridov. However, the two-time World champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin are working in the US with that same music. Of course, everyone can skate to the same music, the rules say nothing about it. Yet Moskvina is now at a conundrum - Peter Chicagoans will surely skate to the lyrical "Snowstorm" much better than Yulia and Sergei, who tend to do better with character compositions.
The last Olympics in Salt Lake City clearly demonstrated the results of a bad choice of program style. Having won the pre-Olympic Worlds in ice dance, the Italian team of Barbara Fussar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio decided they could get away with anything.
The set out to concur the Olympics to a song by Gloria Gaynor. Yet this fiery dance was clearly not in their style, only highlighting Maurizio's lack of technique.
Natalya Linichuk, working with Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh, worked hard to harden this perception. She used that same music for a program for her other students a brother and sister Swiss team of Hugentoblers. The effect was astounding. At the same time, she chose the music for her Russian team meticulously, going through dozens of choices.
Sometimes it happens that the coaches and choreographers hit the target on the first try. That's what happened with Alexei Yagudin 2002 Olympic short program "Winter", created by the coach Tatiana Tarasova and the then beginning choreographer Nikolai Morozov. This was what won Morozov his reputation of a genius choreographer.
Evgeny Plushenko and his coach Alexei Mishin have taken into account their experiences at the Games. Four years ago, they took a long time in choosing the music for the free program, going from the "Life of an Artist" composition to the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack to the umpteenth version of "Carmen", ultimately loosing to the main opponent. Peter skater wants to approach Turin in full armor. To this effect, Morozov flew to Saint Petersburg from America, having become in the past few years one of the most popular choreographers in the skating world.
"Winter" brought him fame, and Morozon squandered many original ideas of four years ago on the programs of Brian Joubert and Takeshi Honda, of Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan. Though in the last season the ex-partner of Tatiana Navka has visibly improved, especially in footwork choreography. According to Mishin, this is the element that his young colleague is now working on with Plushenko.
According to Morozov's students, the 2005 World bronze medalists from Ukraine Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov who are now in Saint Petersburg, their coach is creating new Olympic programs for Plushenko.
In any case, almost two weeks of cooperation with Morozov should bode well for the Olympic preparation of the three-time World champion. The guest specialist is working with his in full force. It's not by accident that he brought with his not only the Ukrainian dancers, but also Hungarian Julia Sebastyen. Normally, skaters come to Morozov's training camp for 4 to 5 days for a program. Some, like Michelle Kwan, do it in three.
A special poignancy of the current visit comes from the fact that one of the most popular ice choreographers has already created Olympic programs to the two potential opponents of the Russian skater - Brian Joubert and the reigning World champion Stephane Lambiel. We can only bow to Mishin the master. He has safeguarded himself from unfavorable repetitions not only of music, but of all details. Besides, according to un-official sources, the American guest has received a generous compensation. As a result, Plushenko will get from Morozov an original work, which could, in an even situation, tip the Olympic scales in his favor.
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