Here is my interpretation of what Daniil Gleikhengauz had to say about the Junior Test Skates:
"Preparation for the season and our staging work took place in normal working mode. Together with Eteri Georgiyevna we delivered programs to almost all the kids. There are several EX still left to do. We’ll start doing these soon." (expecting their skater to win, obviously
"For Daniil Samsonov and Kamila Valiyeva we kept the short programs form last season. This is common practice when juniors go international, ready to enter the Grand Prix series. The kids skated these programs only in domestic competitions, where no one saw them except our spectators. It is clear that we keep only the best productions of last season, and the short programs of Dani and Kamila are so suitable that it would be foolish not to show them on the international stage. We changed the free programs of Samsonov and Valiyeva. The kids presented them at the Test Skates. Kamila did well; Daniil didn’t succeed. We will continue to work."
"From this season on, we have Alyona Kanysheva. We made her two new programs that are different from what she has skated before. These are a bit new for Alyona. The free program, I would say, is deep, and the music touches the soul. If Alyona delivers the program - and she can emotionally convey what is laid down - it will be an atypical junior program, rather with an eye towards the seniors."
"Yegor Rukhin, this season we've changed (his programs). I think we got the music and his skating spot on in both programs. You'll notice that Yegor takes pleasure in what he performs. He began to skate better, elements became cleaner. If he continues in the same vein, he will be able to have a great season - the best at this moment in his career."
"We left Dasha Usachyova her short program, because it is very suitable for the athlete. We changed her free program to emphasize her strengths. Dasha likes the program, likes the music. Which means she will be able to open up even more in her skating."
"For Maya Khromikh we did not change the programs, because due to injuries last season she missed several starts. If we could find some kind of “crazy” image that would fit Maya, then we probably have made a new program. But since Maya’s programs turned out to be cool, changing them was illogical."
"Gosha Kunitsa has gotten new programs both. Last season, he came to us with his previous. We did not redo anything, left them as is. Gosha has good skating skills and body control. You can try a lot with him, stagings with him are easy. Now there are still problems with the triple Axel, because he has become an adolescent. In addition, at the summer training camp, Gosha twisted his leg, injured his ankle, because of which the preparations turned out to be a little haphazard. But the guy is trying, he wants to show his maximum."
"In general, the period of staging new programs is always difficult. A lot of time is spent searching for music, ideas, brainstorming. Many new images and melodies for “experiments” are born, although I do not like this word because we do not experiment with athletes. If the program is set, the audience will see it, it is not an experiment anymore but a conscious choice. We know what it took, how much work, visible and invisible, since the first ideas were born in your head, it all costs. How far it will be understood, accepted and appreciated by the audience and the judges? Time will tell. There is still a reserve before the Olympics, and you can try to develop skaters in different directions, offer other images, styles. This applies to both adults - Alina Zagitova, Sasha Trusova, Anya Shcherbakova, Alyona Kostornaya and others - as well as juniors. Many of our ideas regarding new programs already made pubic and shown have been called into question. But I think it should be interesting."
"When Eteri Georgiyevna and I create new programs, we don’t just put our soul into them, we want to show our students from their best side. Our task is to ensure that all athletes are given equal conditions, regardless of status and age. The only difference is with whom we start, that's dependent on circumstances. There can be no garbage, because the athletes trust us, their coaches, and this trust should never be deceived."
"It seems to me that it doesn’t matter how many athletes train in the group. The main thing is the system, and if such a system is developed by the coaches, and the athletes accept the 'rules of the game', they strictly follow them, results will come. The kids know what needs to be done, they themselves begin to understand where they are underperforming. We, as coaches, give them the maximum we can give, and the task of the skaters is to take this maximum and work with the same returns."
"And further. We were preparing for the season at the base in Novogorsk. The best working conditions, in my opinion, anywhere in the world. Rink, gyms and choreo rooms, a stadium, a swimming pool, physiotherapy ... Everything is nearby. Balanced proper nutrition. True, because of this, we sometimes have problems, because the food in Novogorsk is very tasty. But the athletes are already professionals, they themselves must understand what to take, what to leave." (from the menu I suppose
"It seems to me that training in Novogorsk gives us a great advantage, because it immediately sets the athletes up for serious work. One can only be proud that in Russia there is such an Olympic base and the opportunity to train there."
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I so wish Dudakov will give an interview and some insight in his ideas, motivations and methods, but he seems shyer than shy.
Gleikhengauz seems to know very well about the critique on his work but appears to be unphased by this, and so it should be. Results matter more than words, the Wall of Achievements in Khrustalniy testifies to this.
Her resume extends farther than you may realize, she choreographed the Olympic programs for Orser, Boitano, Yamaguchi, Kurt Browning, not to mention all of Lu Chen's beautiful programs 1995 and onward.
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