Stars on Ice 2018 - Canadian Tour

4everchan said:

Kaetlyn was gorrrrrrrgeous. So was her 3loop. She did several jumps in case you were wondering, she is still in fabulous shape. 3s, 3l, 3t, 2a. Both programs show her mature style and great skating skills.

I thought i would give o4g his night cap because it is already late in the maritimes. Will post a report later. However, i warn you all, this will be a show report. In other words, i sat down and enjoyed instead of trying to remember everything.

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Ahhh, thank you my friend...sweet dreams!

walked home from the venue... yup.. i live that close. i need to eat and gather thoughts..will post soon

Spoiler alert soi canadian tour montreal

Here we are....

WARNING WARNING.... Below these lines you will find my impressions about Stars on Ice Canadian Tour, Olympic Edition 2018....

If you are intending to attend it later this month, and do not want to know anything about it... just skip this post I purposely didn't read the threads and fan fest these days to avoid having any expectations... I wanted the surprises... the full effect.

Let me start with business : I cannot believe that Stars on Ice skipped Montreal so many years in the last decade or so... I don't have the dates.. . maybe I am exaggerating but it seems to me that it goes from Halifax to Ottawa quite often skipping NB and QC altogether. The Bell Center is a perfect venue and on top of that, it was FULL... it was truly a "not to miss" event.... many families brought their children, it was very cute to see them cheer for the Olympic champions. A truly amazing crowd it was.

I was sitting in 116 E .... I think it starts with a few double letters, perhaps AA to EE but 116 row E meant I was about 10 rows above ice. Of course, some people were sitting right on the ice but that would scare me In other words, I had a wonderful location and could see perfectly well.

Second WARNING ZONE

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Here we are... skaters were presented on the screen and getting cheers from the crowd already... I thought, let see who are fan favourites in Montreal... well D/R got a very good cheer, just a bit above that of Patrick's I would say... and then the house went crazy for Tessa and Scott... now the skaters were not even on the ice... it was just photos on a screen.

However, this reaction probably called upon skating gods to give us a great night and we got it. I instantly felt transported, as if I were at the Olympics in Korea....

I warn everyone : I don't often watch galas or shows. I like the sport of figure skating. Yes, I appreciate obviously the entertainment side of it... and if I love music and it is a huge draw for me, during galas we get a lot of pop music i don't know nor care for... so in the end, I almost fell asleep at Nationals gala in 2017.... and well... when I do stream a gala or show online, I often fall asleep... I need adrenaline...

Tonight, the most adrenaline I got was when I was going down the rows and realizing how great my seat was ... the show itself didn't produce the butterflies or nervous energy I usually love when watching competitions... but I have to commend the designers of the show because they understood how to bring us into a celebration of our Olympians. It is truly how the show is conceived and the nervous febrile moments from Korea were transformed into emotional memories from watching the games live a few months ago.

I will try to say a couple things about each skater but I never saw where they giving or selling programs so i don't know the music nor have a cheat sheet to remind me of numbers in order... i guess I could look somewhere on the net but I will just go with what really impacted me and got registered in my memory...

Gabby Daleman was the first to skate. She looked great and the more I watch her skate, the more I appreciate her... and that's a bit dangerous... because I am borderline ubering on Gabby LOL... And here is why : jumps are great, she flows on the ice so much... damn she is fast. Her double axel is starting to look small and easy....it's still big but it's like she makes no effort to do it.... and I wonder if she has the 3a in her... It would be much more useful than a quad anyways as she could use it in both programs. Gabby did well in her group numbers as well. She seemed very happy to be there: her second number, she comes in with a gorgeous golden dress. Her skating skills are definitely underrated in my opinion and I think that's why I am liking her more and more. She is polishing up so nicely as she gains experience. She was truly performing to the crowd and timing her moves to the music. She's a great entertainer. Her WH program, with the crowd using their phones as "lighters" was beautiful... check her video on here

I think Weapo were next. The music was cool.. no idea what it was... it seems like they were dressed in tango outfits and did some tango holds throughout. However, the music had nothing to do with tango and I thought it was cool. Andrew was charming like ever. I mean i have seen the guy 2 inches away from my face....so i know all about the puffy lips and pink cheeks but Prince Charming Andrew had this glow tonight. He was truly shining.

Elvis : that was a highlight for me as I had never seen him skate. He still got a few triple jumps in him ! what was great to see is his style... the short, fast and powerful steps from the late 90s years were still on point . We can see his style as much more masculine in the arm carriage as most of the skaters nowadays. He has a hold I haven't seen in many other skaters : however, it suits him so well. In his second number he did a lot of fun stuff on the ice itself... like quasi breakdancing.

Jeff' first number was one of the more emotional pieces of the night. I LOVED IT. Also the first time I was seeing Jeff... his arm floats and are moving very simply and delicately. He has this natural grace I would give 10 PCS for, all the time He did a lot of beautiful skating. I was truly mesmerized by him.

For Javier, it was the second number I preferred though the first was very nice as well. The second number is skated on a Spanish song and he really can interpret this repertoire. I can tell when a skater has paid attention to lyrics and tune and understands the music and for his Spanish song it was truly special.

D/R nice new programs. Crowd loves them. Meagan skates much better than people say .... seriously, she even held her own when skating with the groups and that included both Kaitlyn and Tessa... So, to those on GS still whining about her skating.... I am telling them to press reset on their brain, delete memories from 8-10 years ago and just enjoy. They tried a throw 3s-2t-2t (SBS) but it wasn't as good of an attempt I have seen online. I think Meagan might have been tired tonight because she was a bit sloppy on the throws but she still saved them... The crowd just adores D/R I was proud to be sitting in such a crowd : for having seen them several times, I really prefer them in competition programs where they show their speed but with the small ice and crowd being very into it and distracting at time.

Like at the show : i finish with our 3 champions

Kaetlyn : 2 nice programs. very elegant... doing a lot of edge jumps.. they will be solid even more next year : her triple LOOP was probably the best jump of the night, with Javier 3 axel earlier on (and Patrick's jumps in his last program). I don't have much to say about Keatlyn except that her style is very polished and refined.... and it was pure beauty to watch.

Patrick : first exh was his new one... he came in with a canada jersey ... it was nice... but truly... the chiddy tears came down when he did a "small" version of Hallelujah... Only 3 jumping passes if I recall (textbook jumps) with the spins and footwork... .OMG... OMG.....ONE MORE TIME OMG this was just so beautiful. I am so happy Patrick gets a chance to skate to this altered version of his Olympic program... as he will end up just owning it and loving it (already does now) in its current state without stress... Oh... I have to mention that in the first group number, the shirt Patrick was wearing was almost an esqualo shirt so I got one of my dreams realised.. YUM. With Jeff's first number, and Patrick's hallelujah, we got transported to the world of glide and intimate expression.

Scott and Tessa... they did a cool Michael Jackson program, to end the show, they did a "small" version of their Olympic FD, including their trademark sexy Carmen lift.

The crowd was going crazy.... i mean... we didn't hear the first 15 seconds of music nor the last 30...everyone was up and screaming.

I am not talking about the group numbers much...
They were just very very good and much less tacky than I expected. boys were good : i thought... wow.. only Elvis is not in the "har*m ... the other 6 are... special eye candy treat....
our 5 girls WOW!!!! at one point tessa and Kaitlyn were side by side and you could see the quality in their respective skating..

A funny moment.. not sure if it were intended as shade to P/C but they skated to I am in love with your body... both ice dance teams and D/R....

When they got all in white at the end... my jaw dropped... that's how you wear white people... they all looked stunning... wow.... it was a magical moment...

Other highlights include Patrick looking like he likes to partner go chiddy!!!!! We need more Ice dance teams he did colift Meagan at one point...

Double death Spiral by weapo and dr Eric controlling the wholesome... i let my imagination flourish in there.... Andrew again was shining like crazy. I guess with him it depends how his hair is LOL.. sometimes it just makes him look so perfect. But the real thing is that you can see how much he loves performing and with the very nervous skates they have been through the last couple years, I had never seen them having such a great time on the ice. Their height and lines make them so gorgeous to watch. A true treat.

I couldn't believe it was over when it ended.... it went so fast. And that was a surprise too.

I am a bit sad that they didn't feature a local skater in one number... let's say Joseph or Lajoie Lagha... I mean... they couldn't feature someone like Elladj without him being officially on the tour i would say...but it was truly an olympic team celebration...

For instance, there was a gorgeous group number where they ended up in 5 rings of light.... representing the Olympic team GOLD . It was very emotional... as I said, the entire evening felt like we were just giggling and drinking champagne watching our skaters win the Olympics. It was kind of being in Korea for a special Canadian OGames Gala... So it's okay they didn't bring anyone else, like another pair ....

To introduce Kaetlyn ... there was a couch (it was a prerecorded film) where Elvis said... I was world champion... and then there was Jeff, Jeff sits down.. and then there was Patrick and then Tessa and Scott... and Meagan and Eric, and Javier and let's welcome our newest world champion :Kaetlyn Osmond... Full crowd went bananas When you think about the crew we got, we also had Weapo who we can almost call world champions ..... (won't get into that) and Gabby, a world medalist as well but also an Olympic champion. So again, I can see why they didn't have a special local talent... and considering the crowds applause for Meagan and Eric and Scott and Tessa, of course they are loved through the country but perhaps since they also represent quebec and live in montreal, the kids got extra loud as perhaps, they have met them in their training centers or train on same ice or what not..there were a lot of skating kids for sure... which I have to say, made me think, "what if those kids had had a chance to buy tickets for ACI, which was sold out right after tickets were released... instead of the massive crowd of Yuzuru fans who actually didn't watch much of the event but reserved seats for their friends.... but oh well... the skating tonight was worth the wait for them and the quality was stellar.

If there were ONE SOI to attend in your entire life... this is THE ONE to go to. I am telling you, if it hasn't gone in your city yet, go for it. It's not expensive (and I am a starving artist) and it's well worth it. Everyone skates 2 numbers and the group numbers are not too long nor tacky. It is a brilliantly conceived Olympic celebration that will bring tears and smiles to your cheeks. I relived the entire games and worlds while there.... it was spectacular.

Also thank you Jeff for your broken French... if you weren't married, I would chase you down... just kidding... I am busy enough with chasing Andrew forever... but seriously, Jeff's northern Ontario French was cute..... Chiddy speaks much better French but it was Jeff who acted like the MC.

Patrick did a lot of mini appearances as some of the mini group numbers were there to allow for a costume change or to introduce another skater. So there was a lot of beautiful Patrick skating tonight. I cried knowing that I won't see him competing again but he is ready to move on.

One of the things that was obvious in his skating is exactly that...he has gone to the other side... where he can enjoy his skating again... where he is no longer judged or assigned a number of points.... He is where the artist wants to be.... exploring his own path, and enjoying every moment of it...

it sort of reminded me when I graduated... as an artist, of course, my performances were judged and given letter grades to... and that labeling was very difficult throughout our education... all of us felt weird with it... and as soon as I finished, I decided I would never do competitions anymore as I was done being evaluated or judged.... and since then, I follow my own path...

so as you can see, SOI brought a lot of personal thoughts, memories and emotions... and when a show does that, when it's based on human values (perseverance, achievement, realization, generosity, respect, gratitude) no matter who you are, you will get moved and touched...



i am not editing this... nor am I organizing my thoughts. Forgive the ... everywhere. It is how I go from one thought to another without really trying to write it out. ESL + fatigue + wanting to share as many things I can remember right now = ... ... ...

Thank you for such a lovely, honest, heartfelt recap of the show.

I'm so excited for this weekend!

Ic3Rabbit said:

Thank you for such a lovely, honest, heartfelt recap of the show.

I'm so excited for this weekend!

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that's a nice way to call my messy thoughts enjoy!!!!!!

4everchan said:

that's a nice way to call my messy thoughts enjoy!!!!!!

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4everchan - thank You from the bottom of my heart for this experience written like usually with humour and honesty!

I can only rely on clips posted on YT/elsewhere, but wholeheartedly agree on intimacy remark about Patrick's skating/performance - there is a place and time to scream and enjoy and there's one to stay silent and let the performance penetrate deeper, closer to you in more 'spiritual' sense. And that was with Patrick's 'Hallelujah' show version of program. Watching it, it really brought the emotion through movement, commanding audience in awe - there won't be another one like him. His skating just gets under my skin and sits there - just timeless quality, presence, skill, ease and sensitivity in transferring motion into emotion that people can really take with them and digest on. You and all who attended/will attend to Canadian SOI - you're lucky, lucky people!!!

NoNameFace said:

4everchan - thank You from the bottom of my heart for this experience written like usually with humour and honesty!

I can only rely on clips posted on YT/elsewhere, but wholeheartedly agree on intimacy remark about Patrick's skating/performance - there is a place and time to scream and enjoy and there's one to stay silent and let the performance penetrate deeper, closer to you in more 'spiritual' sense. And that was with Patrick's 'Hallelujah' show version of program. Watching it, it really brought the emotion through movement, commanding audience in awe - there won't be another one like him. His skating just gets under my skin and sits there - just timeless quality, presence, skill, ease and sensitivity in transferring motion into emotion that people can really take with them and digest on. You and all who attended/will attend to Canadian SOI - you're lucky, lucky people!!!

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thank you for your kind words...

for those who want to see the ultimate GOAT .. while it lasts

4everchan said:

thank you for your kind words...

for those who want to see the ultimate GOAT .. while it lasts

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A brilliant report 4ever,...it felt like I was in the Bell Centre also. Thanks for sharing!

4everchan said:

that's a nice way to call my messy thoughts enjoy!!!!!!

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Lovely review! I'm going tomorrow night and I like to be spoiled. I notice quite a few are claiming Andrew (so did I a few years ago) and I am willing to share. I've seen him up really close and he is even tastier! Please don't tell me what his personal life is like because I just want to enjoy looking at him!

Scrufflet said:

Lovely review! I'm going tomorrow night and I like to be spoiled. I notice quite a few are claiming Andrew (so did I a few years ago) and I am willing to share. I've seen him up really close and he is even tastier! Please don't tell me what his personal life is like because I just want to enjoy looking at him!

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exactly... that's my take on things too dreaming costs nothing and harms nobody

Scrufflet said:

Lovely review! I'm going tomorrow night and I like to be spoiled. I notice quite a few are claiming Andrew (so did I a few years ago) and I am willing to share. I've seen him up really close and he is even tastier! Please don't tell me what his personal life is like because I just want to enjoy looking at him!

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Hey Scrufflet, will see you there tomorrow..on ice?

Thanks 4everChan....
Lived and loved your report and enjoying all the videos.
We are so lucky to have all these wonderful skaters in our CSOI.

emdee said:

Hey Scrufflet, will see you there tomorrow..on ice?

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I'll be there with 2 friends. This time we will be in first row behind on-ice, centre. We were a bit shocked by price increase last year for on-ice tickets so we're trying this out this year. So looking forward to this tonight! I've been loving the reviews here and watching the youtube videos. What a Dream Team show! We won't see this amazing blend of talents for some time to come!

Scrufflet said:

I'll be there with 2 friends. This time we will be in first row behind on-ice, centre. We were a bit shocked by price increase last year for on-ice tickets so we're trying this out this year. So looking forward to this tonight! I've been loving the reviews here and watching the youtube videos. What a Dream Team show! We won't see this amazing blend of talents for some time to come!

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I missed last year after going to Hamilton a couple of years. Fortunately, DD was able to get on ice. Cost is really high but as you say it is a dream team. Also I do not know when I will go to Nats or Skate Canada again...

looking forward to hearing how Toronto and other shows go on!!!!

I am still floating from the Montreal show....too bad it was just one evening. I would have gone back.

Surprised very few people bothered looking at Patrick's program I posted... it's so gorgeous... come on guys... you know you want to click on it

4everchan said:

looking forward to hearing how Toronto and other shows go on!!!!

I am still floating from the Montreal show....too bad it was just one evening. I would have gone back.

Surprised very few people bothered looking at Patrick's program I posted... it's so gorgeous... come on guys... you know you want to click on it

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JEALOUS!!!!! That's really the only word that comes to mind right now......You know how much I love Patrick and all things Canadian and I would kill to see this show. Thank you for this review!!!!

mrrice said:

JEALOUS!!!!! That's really the only word that comes to mind right now......You know how much I love Patrick and all things Canadian and I would kill to see this show. Thank you for this review!!!!

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maybe you should try to go to vancouver or victoria? it's so worth it...

Was at the Montreal show as well, 4everchan's recap pretty much got it all but I'm going to re-read and add some additional remarks once I get to reviewing the footage I got. I'm probably going to do a highlight video this weekend.

All in all it was a pretty good show. First time seeing live figure skating with an good view and I gotta say you really need to see Patrick live to truly appreciate the quality of his skating. Now I'm also considering getting tickets for Skate Canada... lol. I guess my budget can afford to take another hit

At the Toronto show atm during intermission and let me say that it is 110% worth it. I am enjoying watching all the skaters so much and they are all so outstanding.

synteis said:

At the Toronto show atm during intermission and let me say that it is 110% worth it. I am enjoying watching all the skaters so much and they are all so outstanding.

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Did the storm in Toronto make some people's trip to the stadium difficult tonight?