Deniss Vasiljevs | Page 27 | Golden Skate

Deniss Vasiljevs

Thanks, albalonga! I don't know why he would have been surprised to be invited to the gala, though. It's obvious that he's already become a huge audience favorite. :)
 
This is one of the most wonderful things about GS -- we have so many talented linguists who are able to do translations! Thank you for your work on that albalonga. I'm sure that took awhile!

This interview made me feel like I really know Deniss better as a person now. And he seems genuinely grateful to Stephane for agreeing to coach him. I am really looking forward to seeing Deniss (and Stephane, of course!) at Worlds! It also seems that although they know he needs to start learning quads, they're taking things slowly and allowing him to recuperate a little more from his injury.
 
Just posted the translation of the whole thing. Enjoy! And it was my pleasure to translate this beautiful interview! :)
 
This boy seriously never ceases to amaze and impress me. It is remarkable that he fully realizes the importance of skating, even before quads. No wonder I found him special from the moment I cast my eyes upon him! I hope he never loses that focus (I am sure it won't happen, with such a coach as Stephane guiding him) and also the whole skating world and the scoring system would reconsider the importance of skating as well, and some change will be in order after 2018 Games. Quads are well and fine but they shouldn't be the all important elements of figure skating which would alone make or break the skater regardless of other qualities he may have.
"I don't want to be an echo, I want to be the sound" he said... he even reminds me of the great Alexei Mishin, the king of metaphor!
 
Yes, I really love what he said about the Stephane comparisons. It's normal that people see some similarities, but he's definitely not a clone.

Some more news: Deniss is entered in the Cup of Tyrol at the end of this month :) And there is supposed to be a livestream on their website. Hopefully the quality will be decent.

https://www.cupoftyrol.at/entries-results/
 
Arriba627 said:
It also seems that although they know he needs to start learning quads, they're taking things slowly and allowing him to recuperate a little more from his injury.
Click to expand...
Deniss has started learning quads (he started already several months ago from what I understand), but he just has not included them in his program at competitions yet because of the reasons he explained in this interview.
 
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silverfoxes said:
https://twitter.com/ChrisTrevisan/status/828950225712721921

A great pleasure for @DenissVasiljevs and I to welcome Ms Kubo and Ms Yamamoto to Champéry! Exciting conversation! #YOI #GreatHairD

Deniss is living the dream of every YOI fan, I think :)
Click to expand...

How awesome is this? (I wonder, if they were talking about a 2nd YOI season and if Ms. Kubo and Ms. Yamamoto got to speak to other skaters as well, esp. to Stéphane and Dai?)



Thank you so much for your fantastic translations, albalonga! :thank: Deniss' responses are always so thoughtful and from his interviews one can sense what an intelligent and mature young man he is. It was such a fortunate stroke of fate, that Deniss and Stéphane found each other! I can imagine, that this is not your typical coach-student relationship and they're learning a lot from each other and that both of them grow from the challenges they might face in their collaborative efforts. It's so beautiful to see! I also agree wholeheartedly with everything MGstyle said in post #525. :agree:





albalonga said:
http://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/nachr...arah-Meier-wieder-auf-dem-Eis;art46441,957435
Click to expand...

Anyone interested in a translation of Stéphanes video interview? (He didn't really talk about Deniss, but gave his view on what it takes to achieve an engaging performance.)



I'm still quite emotional now, because I'm just back from Zürich and I've been falling in love with Deniss more and more each time I've seen him live. He has such great presence, smooth edge work, speed, overall effortless flow and gorgeous lines! Imo the maturity he shows in his skating is way beyond his years. He appears in this show with my two all-time favourites again (Dai & Stéph) after I saw all of them together at Ice Legends last year as well, but this time - although his on-ice presence was rather short - Deniss was the standout for me, so that's the highest praise I can give anyone really! Unfortunately it seemed to me, that the general Art on Ice audience hasn't taken to Deniss fully yet and was giving most of their support to the veteran skaters (particularly to Stéphane obviously), but I'm sure he'll win them over very soon, if he's invited back to the show in the near future. He received a very warm reception at Ice Legends, which is attended by more skating enthusiasts, I think.

The "Four Seasons" collaboration was such a feast for the eyes and for me one of the highlights of the show with Stéph's and Deniss' alternating and interwoven parts (Elladj, Shawn, Konstantin and Luca had wonderful supporting roles as well). They were in such perfect harmony. :love: I hope it's not seen as blasphemy, but - even though I adore Stéph - I have to admit, that Deniss skates with even more abandon and suppleness than his mentor by now. Of course Stéph has had some input in polishing Deniss' talents. :) It was obvious that the seedlings were already there before, but he has transformed so much in just under a year, it's incredible! Hats of to Mr. Vasiljevs and Mr. Lambiel!

Coming back to Deniss' statement, that he wants to be perceived as "the sound rather than the echo" - I don't think he needs to worry: even though he does share several characteristics with Stéph (like the extraordinary musicality, lines, amazing fluidity in his movements, great skating skills, well centered and fast spins) I wouldn't call his overall style a copy by any means. For me it's the same way with Shoma, who faintly reminds me of Daisuke sometimes, even though his style is very much his own thing. In addition to sharing the passion for skating and peforming with their seniors, it's like little reminiscent flourishes coming through just for a second and then these youngsters completely take you with them on their own journeys. I really think, that such comparisons are a compliment and not meant to diminish either Deniss' or Shoma's individual strengths and skating personalities at all. It's more like these two subconciously inherited some of their role models' best qualities and incorporated them into their own personal styles, thus creating sth. fresh & unique. I'm convinced they will leave their own distinctive marks on the sport!



Ok, enough gushing for now. I uploaded a few of my photos from Art on Ice. (They're not of great quality, but you can see, that Deniss enjoyed himself out there during the finale. Click photos to enlarge.)

Four seasons: 1
(wouldn't want to deny all of you this, uh, "view" :laugh: ->): 2

Finale: 1 2 3 4


Unfortunately he didn't attempt a quad toe in the two shows I attended - would've loved to see that in person!



These are not mine, but they're A+. Thanks to whoever was spying on Deniss, Stéphane and Daisuke during the aftershow-party on Saturday :biggrin::

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQIJh3mg_Gz/?taken-by=sweetk_s
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQIJIV6AzAi/?taken-by=sweetk_s
 
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Thank you for your photos and your wonderful report, synesthesia! Yes, I think it's true that a large part of the Art on Ice audience are very casual skating fans at best who only know the big names. And I don't think your comments are blasphemous. ;) Stephane is a legendary skater, and still beautiful to watch, but Deniss has youth on his side, and buckets of energy and fire inside him. :) I'm insanely jealous of everyone who's gotten to see him live. Maybe he'll get a GP assignment in North America next season, but they will still be very far away from me and difficult & expensive to get to. Sigh...
 
^^^ synesthesia, what a great report! Thank you! Your comparisons of Shoma and Deniss are so interesting and spot on, IMHO. I'm so jealous that you got to see this wonderful show. I felt like I was right there with you! Deniss may not have won a medal last year at Worlds, but he definitely won the audience's hearts and was a huge crowd favorite. His youthful exuberance and enthusiasm came shining through! Thx for the photos, of course I enjoyed the VIEW. :) :slink:
 
^^ Thank you for the very nice feedback you two!

I only gave my impressions of Deniss here obviously, but I wrote an extensive report in Dai's Fan-Fest (focusing on him, but briefly addressing several other skaters' performances as well), if any of you is interested. On the whole it wasn't a perfect show this time, but I enjoyed myself a lot anyway!


I'm sure you'll get your chance to see Deniss live one day, silverfoxes! He's still so young and his future is looking very bright! He'll hopefully be blessed with a long and successful career, so that you can make it to one of his competitions or show appearances one day! :)
 
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This boy (Deniss) was the only one,  who impressed me at the European Figure Skating Championships 2017 !!! (Not saying that every other figure skaters are bad :-)) it's not). Deniss and Stéphane are the dream team ! :love:
Many thanks for all the information on the forum. :thank:
 
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OMG synesthesia thank you so much for everything!

The report, the words... I agree with you a 100% (post #529)! I always have trouble expressing what I feel about Deniss, Stephane and Deniss' skating and future and you made a great job putting it into words for me! It's the same for me!!!!!! AAAAARGH !! I get super excited every time I pause my everyday life and think of him and the bright future I know he'll have !!! It's just exciting. And I got excited when I read "my thoughts" but well written and well expressed by someone else, because it made me realise EVEN MORE that he's great. HE'S GREAT !!!! :hap57: I'm so happy. ECSTATIC.

I've seen him live twice, both in europeans (2016 & 2017), and he's great. Can't wait to see him in Helsinki!! :luv17:

Ah, I'm happy now. Today is going to be a great day xD


Edit:

Btw, the duet in Art On Ice made me realize how eager I was of editing a video with Steph and Deniss, well, MOSTLY DENISS' FOUR SEASONS (which I'm obsessed with). Also, I've been wanting to edit a video with the four seasons' music for a long time now, so I put together 4 programs skated to the four seasons that I really liked and I think I got a pretty decent result. Skaters: Stéph, Chan, WeaPo and Deniss :love: . Here you have it if you want to watch it.

https://youtu.be/q1xWd2NkdrA

I have to be honest and say that I LOVED WeaPo's program, as well as Deniss', I put Steph in there because I also liked his program... but mostly because I also wanted to "compare" his skating to Deniss' in one video, and I put also Chan's 4 seasons, which I saw live in TEB 2013 and I understand that he's objectively good, so "he deserved" to be on the video... but I don't like his skating that much, so for me, he's just there to "fill in" some spaces that I needed to fill in. Sorry if someone here is a Chan's fan, but this is how I feel :rolleye:

Anyway, I really like the video and all de variety you get from it. Hope you enjoy it as well.
 
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kptnciam said:
I have to be honest and say that I LOVED WeaPo's program, as well as Deniss', I put Steph in there because I also liked his program... but mostly because I also wanted to "compare" his skating to Deniss' in one video, and I put also Chan's 4 seasons, which I saw live in TEB 2013 and I understand that he's objectively good, so "he deserved" to be on the video... but I don't like his skating that much, so for me, he's just there to "fill in" some spaces that I needed to fill in. Sorry if someone here is a Chan's fan, but this is how I feel :rolleye:

Anyway, I really like the video and all de variety you get from it. Hope you enjoy it as well.
Click to expand...

Wonderful video! And I agree with you ;) Personally, I respond best to skaters who make me feel some positive emotions, and Deniss does that as well as anyone I've ever seen...even when he was a tiny junior :) Hopefully he'll be bringing us such happiness for many more years to come!
 
Here is a recent video interview of Deniss speaking Latvian and English (he changes languages about 5 minutes into it, so I guess his Latvian is a bit rusty :) ):

http://skaties.lv/zinas/latvija/vid...ati-par-ilgam-pec-futbola-siera-un-sokolades/

Your adblocker will need to be off to watch it.

Also, I was looking through my saved photos and I found this pic from a training camp Nikolai Morozov did in Latvia from 2010, I think. Can you find Deniss? ;)

https://pp.vk.me/c4552/u86401383/116012226/z_2fe142b3.jpg
 
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silverfoxes said:
Here is a recent video interview of Deniss speaking Latvian and English (he changes languages about 5 minutes into it, so I guess his Latvian is a bit rusty :) ):

http://skaties.lv/zinas/latvija/vid...ati-par-ilgam-pec-futbola-siera-un-sokolades/

Your adblocker will need to be off to watch it.

Also, I was looking through my saved photos and I found this pic from a training camp Nikolai Morozov did in Latvia from 2010, I think. Can you find Deniss? ;)

https://pp.vk.me/c4552/u86401383/116012226/z_2fe142b3.jpg
Click to expand...

Is he in the second row, kind of in the middle in the black jacket? What a difference 7 years can make!
 
silverfoxes said:
Here is a recent video interview of Deniss speaking Latvian and English (he changes languages about 5 minutes into it, so I guess his Latvian is a bit rusty :) ):

http://skaties.lv/zinas/latvija/vid...ati-par-ilgam-pec-futbola-siera-un-sokolades/

Your adblocker will need to be off to watch it.
Click to expand...

I tried to translate as precise as possible. In () are my comments.

Interviewer: It seams to me that now it`s easier for you to communicate in English not Latvian. You probably forget Latvian…

Deniss: Please, pardon me. I don`t have a lot of practice. I can`t speak very freely English (shakes his head) ahhh Latvian. :) And here is a little problem because first I learned speaking Russian and I speak Russian with my… (almost says it in English and then remembers Latvian word for it) family. After that I learned how to speak Latvian and then English. And when I learned English and spoke more English because now my day consists of only speaking English or [some] French and I started to think in English when I speak Latvian and often, especially when I started speaking English a lot I (flails his arms, looking for a word and says it English first before finding it in Latvian) changed Latvian for English and my Latvian (looks for word in Latvian and says it in English first) teacher when she looked over my test [she saw that at some point] I started writing in English and then she was like: “I`m not an English teacher, Deniss. You must understand that.” And I don`t know, [I think] that… that is… (word “natural” in Latvian is very similar – “naturāli”, but he struggles and says it in English :)) natural.

Interviewer: “And how you manage school? Because actually I was at your school yesterday and I talked to your teachers, and they said that they almost have made a special program for you [to study] through the internet…”

Deniss: Yeah, we actually [in Latvian school system] don`t have in place a studying system where you don`t have to be at school [to study] but I can`t be at the same time at school and skate because to do sport professionally it means you [need to] almost forget everything and you almost do just sport or do everything for sport. And many figure skaters almost didn`t know what is meant to go to school almost every day and to study. And I almost forgot too because most of the time I`m not at school and this term (half of the school year) I was at school only seven days. But still I am trying all the time every free moment I have to devote to school and I`m trying to digest the whole school program. Big thanks goes to my teachers and classmates because they are helping me and I (and here he says “I got and I got well” but I think he means) manage and I manage well because I have good grades and I am very (says in English and interviewer translates to Latvian) satisfied with it. And – yeah – somehow I can live in both – school and skating. It is a (says in English, than Latvian) very interesting life and very different from normal life that`s why I have to (moves his arms) balance [it] all the time.

Interviewer: Do you miss normal life? Going to the movies, sitting with the friends – I don`t know - just sitting and watching TV…

Deniss: (Shakes his head as if saying that he understands or agrees) Yeah… I miss this because the day only has 24 hours in it and it is not enough because seven hours a day I dedicate only to training and it is a lot. (Says first in English then Latvian) And all the other time (what he means is – all the time that is left) – I use eight hours for sleep and all that [hours] left [I use for] (starts speaking English) changing between practices… (talks English for a while).

Interviewer: Do you have a dream – because people are putting high hopes on you for the Olympic Games?

Deniss: Yes, I have a dream that I will be a very, very, very good skater, the best, but dreams – they only motivate us. I need to work a lot and work good to reach anything and I understand that and I dedicate myself whole to this [reaching his dream]. I am a person whose goal is always to be the best, to be the most interesting, for example, my whole skating life I never understood those skaters who weren`t interested in getting the medal, I never understood how they can skate and not want to achieve something and all that I am doing – I`m not doing it just to do it [to participate] I`m doing it to achieve the best results, you can say it like that. All that I`m doing I`m trying to get it done with no mistakes, I`m like a (returns to speaking English) perfectionist. (And adds some more in English about how Stephane is perfectionist too so that makes them a perfect team :D).

From the TV segment - TV lady said that Deniss got the ice to practice on in Daugavpils only after 11 pm every night when it finally was free. Now because of him many children practice there. His dad talks about how he was getting ill all the time as a kid and how they took him to swimming when he was three, but they said he was too small. So they were walking around Daugavpils and there was the ice arena. And people there said - yeah, we are taking young children right now. Deniss once put on the ice hockey equipment. Stood there for a while but didn`t like it... :D His dad says that there was a time when he was watching Deniss practicing on ice it was scary because you never knew if he will fall or not. Many bruises and sprains. Seven or eight years ago there was a moment when Deniss wanted to drop the skating and parents said - okay, drop it. He left his skates outside. Dad noticed and hid his skates. Pretty soon Deniss started looking for his missing skates and was in hysteria. Parents gave the skates back.

According to the TV lady, one skating attire costs EUR 2000. Deniss is looking for sponsors. Fans from Japan help and send to him long letters.
 
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^^^Thank you albalonga. Such problems Deniss has--imagine speaking so many languages in your daily life that you mix them up ! I should have these problems! :)...The more I learn about this kid, the more fascinated I am by him. He seems to really have the will and the drive to do great things. I hope he can be successful with learning his quads and also stay injury free.
 
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