Not to accidentally say something on the topic of the thread instead of Michelle Kwan
I went to see COI in Hartford tonight. I don't have technical notes because I wouldn't be any good at them anyways, but I can comment on some of the mistakes/changes that were made tonight.
First, let me point out that my mother is a costume designer, so that is where much of her commentary comes from.
Rudy Galindo- All together too gimmick-y for me. He is practically one of the acrobats now. Mom loves him. She always has. Actually at the end when he was skating under the pink lights in all the sparkles he reminded me of a teacher I used to have at the theatre who wore a sweater that color and informed me quite seriously that it was "raspberry". Probably just because of the color and the flamboyance.
Surya Bonaly- She was my favorite of the older skaters. She, of course, got a great audience reaction to his back flip every time she did it. Her costume was quite confusing from far away. (About 20 rows back)
Dan Hollander- I actually rather enjoyed this. The punch line was good.
Gregory and Petukhov- They train in Simsbury, I assume that's why they were here. I know nothing about Ice Dancing. They skated to Impossible Dream. It was probably my favorite of the Ice Dancers. (They looked very nice as well) Didn’t rival Shen and Zhao's at least for me.
Kimmie- I have to mention a glaring error in the program to start with. The programs were printed before worlds so I don't object to that, however they list Evan as the National Silver and Bronze Medalist and they list Johnny as the 3 time US champion but they only list Kimmie as the bronze Medalist. She was pretty good. She popped two jumps but she got her 2-2-2 and did well on the other parts. She does seem to have grown up. I do wish that she had been doing something other than "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" She's been doing it all season.
Johnny- I love "My Way" I think that it really is a great program. Maybe it's just because I'm a Johnny fan, but I did feel engaged with the program. He's very amusing in the group numbers. He wore his LP costume from COR and Nationals tonight rather than the "My Way" costume. Johnny is one of the few male skaters who can pull off a body suit really well. I'm reminded of Tim's this year when I say that. Mom wanted to take him home. (This is a quirk we picked up years ago. I think it started because I am an only child. When we like someone and feel they would be nice to have around, we say we want to take them home. This applies to friends, movie starts, pets, pretty much anyone)
Tanith and Ben- They appear to have dumped the Skating with Celebrities idea. They skated to their OD tonight. Mom wondered where the rest of her dress went. I don't know anything about ice dance, but it seemed good.
Petrenko- This was pretty good, I wasn't too engaged, maybe because I never saw him skate competitively. Why is it that all male skaters on this tour who aren't eligible skaters any more seem to have to take off their clothing?
Anissina and Peizerat- Again, I know nothing about Ice Dance. They skated with a shawl, my mom went to the bath room.
Intermission
Hula-Hoop Girl (Irina Grigorian)- I went and got a snack for this one, sorry. I was there for most of the time. She managed to catch an edge and fall near the beginning of her program; right after the zamboni had gone out. It was pretty good though. I at least find this more worthwhile than the acrobats.
Evan- Everyone was right, this is a great program. Audience loved it. He comes across as fun and I suppose he's gimmick-y enough for those who need it, but it's not over the top. One of my few complaints about this show was that there weren't many upbeat numbers like Evan's. It was either really gimmick-y (yep, I'm going to invent that word twice) or a really slow song. He did fall on his flying camel (just seemed to loose the edge when he landed) but he bounced back up really fast and gave a really energetic performance. Mom also decided we were taking Evan home. (Never seems to want to take home any of the Ladies, though)
Irina- I like her so much better in person than I do on TV. She seemed very happy. I think I get more why people like her. Mom liked the program as well but feels that the costume was made up of four bad ideas- 1) The cut, 2) the fringe, 3) The back, 4) the sleeves.
Besedin and Polishchuk (Acrobats)- We spend this period of time deciding what we would rather be doing. Started with seeing another program from the Olympic Champions or adding more skaters, moved on to going home ten minutes early, ended up with watching paint dry. I really do hate this act, and it just goes on forever. They were actually pretty good in the finally.
Grushina and Goncharov- They also train in Simsbury. I think they skated their OD. They music was definitely Latin. Mom liked the costumes. They were bright pink, although we though the pink was a little much for Goncharov.
Totmyanina and Marinin- I don't usually like these guys, I find them sort of angry. However, tonight they really did give the performance of the night. They looked great, skated really well, and clearly have a monopoly on the whole pair skater thing. This show needs more pairs. The audience loved them.
Sasha- Nice performance of this piece, I always think that it is sort of contrived to use Patriotic music on this tour. She also got a big audience reaction. She did in fact jump. It was only once and it may have been a loop, but I wasn't in a good position to see it. Mom loves this costume. She would like to remind the people who have complained about Sasha's plunging necklines being bad for her figure that necklines that low are made for girls with no chest. It's something designers often use. A girl with a chest couldn't wear a neckline like that.
Plushenko- Plushenko actually fell tonight. I haven't seen him do that in a long time. He was very dynamic and the audience was totally behind him. Even though I hate the fact that he is no where near sitting on his sit spin, you just can't take your eyes off him. I've known a million actors who would kill for that kind of presence. He had a bit of an edge since he was skating a competitive program. I still think that parts of this program are better when you mute the sound so that you can't hear that the footwork doesn't match the music. Mom really wanted to take him home. She has a Russian student who will be vary angry that we got to see Plushenko in person. (Mom's student is also mad that he's married to someone other than her.)
Michelle- Good performance, no jumps obviously. The audience was still very into it. She got the best audience reaction. My mom thought that Plushenko should have skated last, since Michelle didn't even skate competitively this year.
I don't particularly have anything to add to the statements on this thread/in this forum about the group numbers. They were good, well performed, and the costumes didn't bother me that much. It's nice to see everyone skating together. I noticed that, although she's in the opening, Kimmie's not in the closing. I can understand why. The timing of the finally was pretty tightly choreographed.
As far as the venue: More than half empty. If I were the USFSA I might be a bit nervous about holding the Grand Prix here. It is a big venue, might have been pretty full if there were no nose bleed section.
I’ve pretty much figured out exactly where you would want to sit (I’ve been there a zillion times) so if anyone wants to know when buying SA tickets, let me know. A word of advice, the nose bleed section is literally impossible to see from. I sat there a few years ago and it really consisted of small dots and wondering who was who and how they were doing.
This was quite long, wasn't it?
So, in summary, Sasha jumped, Plushenko fell, my world was rocked just a little bit.