- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Jason Brown has been added to the cast!!
Evening with Champions - Updated with Reviews
- Thread starter gsk8
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
Jeremy Abbott @jeremyabbottpcf
Boston bound! Debuting my programs at Evening With Champions. If you're in the Boston area come to Harvard Saturday night or Sunday evening!
8:03 AM - 28 Sep 12
8:03 AM - 28 Sep 12
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
Cross-posting from Men's Videos thread:
Marni @crossthefingers tweeted vids of some performances at An Evening With Champions.
Link for Jeremy Abbott video is here (post #2):
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...of-MEN-s-2012-13-programs&p=662576#post662576
Link for Jeremy Abbott video is here (post #2):
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...of-MEN-s-2012-13-programs&p=662576#post662576
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
There are quite a few videos from Saturday's performance at this Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/marnianne
The listing go on to the second page, and she is still uploading more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/marnianne
The listing go on to the second page, and she is still uploading more.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
Jeremy Abbott @jeremyabbottpcf is such a good sport. 
Not everyone would tweet about a wardrobe malfunction:
Not everyone would tweet about a wardrobe malfunction:
Paul Wylie informs me AS I'm stepping on the ice that I have a rip in my pants. I finish the program & check. It's full length back to front
1:54 PM - 30 Sep 12
1:54 PM - 30 Sep 12
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Jeremy skated his SP at the Sept. 30th matinee of Evening with Champions.
And there's already video of it and his encore axel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWzcVMkbfE
And there's already video of it and his encore axel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWzcVMkbfE
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Evening With Champions, Sunday, October 2, 2012
After I heard that Jason Brown had been added to an already very good cast, I was able to talk my husband into going. We enjoyed the show thoroughly, despite driving a couple hours up and then back again to attend. The Bright Hockey Center at Harvard was easy to find, but after that, things became less easy. When we arrived at our seats in Section 20, Row H, we found there was no Row H in section 20. However, we are old hands with this problem, and know that when you purchase seats in what is labelled "handcapped seating," you will arrive at the event and find a blank spot on the mezzanine where you could park a wheelchair. In most venues, there will be a stack of folding chairs (perhaps set up or perhaps not) for handicapped people not in wheelchairs or for those accompanying wheelchair bound people. However, at EWC, there were no folding chairs at all. Fortunately, we were able to find someone to acquire folding chairs for us somewhere, and we breathed a sign of relief, because the show was about to start.
Bright Hockey Center is quite a small rink. There are only seven or eight rows of seats, except at the corners of the rink. Consequently, we had a great vantage point for watching the show. Our hosts for the show were Emily Hughes and Paul Wylie, both Harvard graduates. Emily was both considerably taller and considerably more broad shouldered than Paul. I think her voice is lower too-it certainly projected better in the rather iffy acoustics of the hockey rink. Paul told us about the Jimmy Fund, and about Evening With Champions. EWC is 42 years old, is always organized by Harvard students, and has collected over $2.5 million dollars for the Dana Farber children's cancer unit over the years. It was orginally the brainchild of John Mischa Petkevich, when he was a Harvard student. Paul also told us that Emily graduated last year from Harvard with honors in Sociology and currently has a job in New York City as a consultant to a firm there. He also introduced Emily's parents, who said a few words about how they never miss a chance to watch their children skate.
Savvy people arrived late to miss all these introductions, the skating of the Skating Club of Harvard & of the two girls who collected $4,000 for the Jimmy Fund (and thus won, as their prize for most sales, a chance to participate in the show as a duet). They also missed the skating of a small boy named Bennett Gottlieb who will be competing at Northeast Regionals in some division or other soon, and who has very nice spins, and the opening group number where the cast comes out and does some kind of trick each. Jason Brown did a huge double axel, and Ryan Bradley did a very nice triple toe. Consequently, the arena was quite empty during the first few performances. However, if you are going to sit in "handicapped seating," you should always arrive early, because there is almost always some sort of snafu that must be ironed out before you can enjoy the event.
The first of the advertised acts to skate was Kylie Duarte and Colin Grafton, who are now competing in Senior Pairs following their bronze medal win at last year's US Nationals in juniors, and who have moved to Colorado Springs to train with Dalilah Sappenfield's group. They were followed by Jason Brown, dressed in rather odd pants, a very brightly irridescent sequinned vest, sunglasses, and a knit toque-style hat to skate to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This." Jason can shimmy and hiphop with the best of them, moving every bit of his body to the driving beat. Unfortunately, a great deal of that movement occurs while standing essentially in one place. He hit two triples and a double axel, so it wasn't just standing around either, but I was sad that the routine does not include as much as I would have liked of his amazing footwork sequences. Jason was obviously having a grand time skating this number, in which he loses his hat and sunglasses along the way and finishes up doing a hiphop spin on his back. The audience had a grand time, too.
The next to skate were Fred Palascak and Melanie Lambert, performing to "Mas que Nada." Fred and Melanie are a professional adagio team who performed on ABC's "Skating With the Stars" and on the more popular British TV reality show "Dancing on Ice" which has had to date, a seven year run. Fred and Melainie are now married and living in Massachusetts. The stock in trade of adagio skating is hair-raising moves, including one where Melanie somehow floats over the top of Fred's head, slips down his back, and ends up sliding between his legs, which they did twice in a row. They also did a Detroiter and a headbanger during part of which, Melanie was in a Biellmann position. It was all very thrilling, as any good adagio routine should be.
Douglas Razzano skated before the intermission to The Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" and "Walk Like a Man". He fell on one of his jumps and popped another to a single. I am not fond of either of these songs. They both make me want to go out and march in a demonstration somewhere to make sure we never bring back the culture of the 1950's and early 1960's in the USA ever again.
Next up were The Haydenettes, the current World bronze medallists in synchronized skating, skating their new short program. Synchro is hard for me to describe, and hard to watch. I wanted to shut my eyes when two lines of women passed through each other while not facing each other. And how they can skate that close together in a square is beyond me. I can tell you that you can spot a failure in synchronicity in a square by noting whether all the heads are popping up at the same time as they skate, though. I am very tempted to try to catch the next US synchro championship, if it is in Massachusetts again.
When the Haydenettes are done with the ice, it is quite chewed up, and I expected the intermission would be next, but it wasn't. Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus did an ice dance number to Adele's "Turning Tables" on that dreadful ice. They coped quite well.
Then Kimmie Meissner skated to a ballad, "Skinny Love", landed a double axel, and then slipped in a rut and fell, but otherwise skated beautifully. Kimmie has grown very tall since her world championship, but she has also matured. She was really feeling the music, and the way she stretched and extended her movements with and into the music was quite wonderful, and gave me a shiver down my spine. According to Paul Wylie, Kimmie will be competing in a professional competition, The Medal Winners Open, in Japan soon for, obviously, winners of World events.
And then it was Intermission.
After I heard that Jason Brown had been added to an already very good cast, I was able to talk my husband into going. We enjoyed the show thoroughly, despite driving a couple hours up and then back again to attend. The Bright Hockey Center at Harvard was easy to find, but after that, things became less easy. When we arrived at our seats in Section 20, Row H, we found there was no Row H in section 20. However, we are old hands with this problem, and know that when you purchase seats in what is labelled "handcapped seating," you will arrive at the event and find a blank spot on the mezzanine where you could park a wheelchair. In most venues, there will be a stack of folding chairs (perhaps set up or perhaps not) for handicapped people not in wheelchairs or for those accompanying wheelchair bound people. However, at EWC, there were no folding chairs at all. Fortunately, we were able to find someone to acquire folding chairs for us somewhere, and we breathed a sign of relief, because the show was about to start.
Bright Hockey Center is quite a small rink. There are only seven or eight rows of seats, except at the corners of the rink. Consequently, we had a great vantage point for watching the show. Our hosts for the show were Emily Hughes and Paul Wylie, both Harvard graduates. Emily was both considerably taller and considerably more broad shouldered than Paul. I think her voice is lower too-it certainly projected better in the rather iffy acoustics of the hockey rink. Paul told us about the Jimmy Fund, and about Evening With Champions. EWC is 42 years old, is always organized by Harvard students, and has collected over $2.5 million dollars for the Dana Farber children's cancer unit over the years. It was orginally the brainchild of John Mischa Petkevich, when he was a Harvard student. Paul also told us that Emily graduated last year from Harvard with honors in Sociology and currently has a job in New York City as a consultant to a firm there. He also introduced Emily's parents, who said a few words about how they never miss a chance to watch their children skate.
Savvy people arrived late to miss all these introductions, the skating of the Skating Club of Harvard & of the two girls who collected $4,000 for the Jimmy Fund (and thus won, as their prize for most sales, a chance to participate in the show as a duet). They also missed the skating of a small boy named Bennett Gottlieb who will be competing at Northeast Regionals in some division or other soon, and who has very nice spins, and the opening group number where the cast comes out and does some kind of trick each. Jason Brown did a huge double axel, and Ryan Bradley did a very nice triple toe. Consequently, the arena was quite empty during the first few performances. However, if you are going to sit in "handicapped seating," you should always arrive early, because there is almost always some sort of snafu that must be ironed out before you can enjoy the event.
The first of the advertised acts to skate was Kylie Duarte and Colin Grafton, who are now competing in Senior Pairs following their bronze medal win at last year's US Nationals in juniors, and who have moved to Colorado Springs to train with Dalilah Sappenfield's group. They were followed by Jason Brown, dressed in rather odd pants, a very brightly irridescent sequinned vest, sunglasses, and a knit toque-style hat to skate to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This." Jason can shimmy and hiphop with the best of them, moving every bit of his body to the driving beat. Unfortunately, a great deal of that movement occurs while standing essentially in one place. He hit two triples and a double axel, so it wasn't just standing around either, but I was sad that the routine does not include as much as I would have liked of his amazing footwork sequences. Jason was obviously having a grand time skating this number, in which he loses his hat and sunglasses along the way and finishes up doing a hiphop spin on his back. The audience had a grand time, too.
The next to skate were Fred Palascak and Melanie Lambert, performing to "Mas que Nada." Fred and Melanie are a professional adagio team who performed on ABC's "Skating With the Stars" and on the more popular British TV reality show "Dancing on Ice" which has had to date, a seven year run. Fred and Melainie are now married and living in Massachusetts. The stock in trade of adagio skating is hair-raising moves, including one where Melanie somehow floats over the top of Fred's head, slips down his back, and ends up sliding between his legs, which they did twice in a row. They also did a Detroiter and a headbanger during part of which, Melanie was in a Biellmann position. It was all very thrilling, as any good adagio routine should be.
Douglas Razzano skated before the intermission to The Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" and "Walk Like a Man". He fell on one of his jumps and popped another to a single. I am not fond of either of these songs. They both make me want to go out and march in a demonstration somewhere to make sure we never bring back the culture of the 1950's and early 1960's in the USA ever again.
Next up were The Haydenettes, the current World bronze medallists in synchronized skating, skating their new short program. Synchro is hard for me to describe, and hard to watch. I wanted to shut my eyes when two lines of women passed through each other while not facing each other. And how they can skate that close together in a square is beyond me. I can tell you that you can spot a failure in synchronicity in a square by noting whether all the heads are popping up at the same time as they skate, though. I am very tempted to try to catch the next US synchro championship, if it is in Massachusetts again.
When the Haydenettes are done with the ice, it is quite chewed up, and I expected the intermission would be next, but it wasn't. Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus did an ice dance number to Adele's "Turning Tables" on that dreadful ice. They coped quite well.
Then Kimmie Meissner skated to a ballad, "Skinny Love", landed a double axel, and then slipped in a rut and fell, but otherwise skated beautifully. Kimmie has grown very tall since her world championship, but she has also matured. She was really feeling the music, and the way she stretched and extended her movements with and into the music was quite wonderful, and gave me a shiver down my spine. According to Paul Wylie, Kimmie will be competing in a professional competition, The Medal Winners Open, in Japan soon for, obviously, winners of World events.
And then it was Intermission.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
The Zamboni came out to clean the ice. And so we went out to buy some coffee in the tiny break area at one end of the rink. Returning with my coffee, I had to laugh. There were three members of the Haydenettes in their team warmup jackets seated in the top row, texting. In complete synchronicity.
The lighting at the Bright Hockey Center is very, very dim, punctuated only by very bright spotlights. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to accompany this report as a result. In the dimness, during intermission, we could see that some kind of theater set was being erected on the ice. It looked like a house with four windows, 2 on each side of the set, with 6 "panes" each, and a curtain simulating a door between them. People in peculiar outfits were milling back and forth out on the ice in the darkness, and we quite wondered what was to come next.
Talking. Of course, what came next was more talking. Paul & Emily told us yet more about Evening with Champions and introduced the entire crew of students who had organized the event, whom we duly applauded. They also told us that, sad to say, Ludmilla & Oleg Protopovov, who have skated over 20 times at Evening With Champions, would not be able to perform. Oleg's doctor had told him he was not in condition to skate. Paul & Emily took out an IPad and filmed a video of the audience wildly applauding Oleg & Ludmilla, hoping for their speedy return to health and skating, and clapping for their immense contributions both to Evening With Champions and to skating. Paul said he would be emailing them the video right after the show.
Finally we were to find out what the theater set was for. It was the set for the Skating Club of Boston's Senior Theatre on Ice team, Act I. Theatre on Ice is a competitive event. In fact, the Act I team won the World Championships in 2005, and won the US silver medal this last season. If you haven't heard of Theatre on Ice competitions, The Skating Club of Boston's website has a page on the Act I team and its achievements.
http://www.scboston.org/teams/theatre-on-ice
And you can view three of their programs here:
2006 Star Wars Routine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQPEndmaOEw
Fourth of July routine 2011, where they had some falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjLzhWzM7A
This year's US Nationals routine (similar to what we saw at Evening With Champions, but without the mystery and added charm of theatrical lighting and partial darkness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMH30H20RV0
Act I is choreographed by Jason Wong, who has competed at the senior level at US Nationals, and Samantha Cepican, an international ice dancer and professional figure skater with Disney On Ice. The director of the group is Timothy LeBlanc, a professional skater with Disney on Ice. The scenario of their routine this year is that an old woman who is sweeping her walkway in a housedress, a mob cap, and fuzzy pink slipper skates, is suddenly confronted by the creaturs of her dreams, who enter the ice through the front door of her house. The ensemble cast executed at least one complete change of outfits (in the "house") during the routine. Three principal skaters circulated through the general patterns occasionally. Jason Wong, costumed all in red, and Marissa Castelli of the pair team of Castelli and Shnapir, wearing a silver speed skater's outfit with a blue ribbon wreathed around her, performed a split jump double axel combination, side by side triple salcows, and a number of lifts of difeerent sorts. Every time they would come out and perform a trick, the audience would loudly Ooo and Ahhh. A third skater wore a clown outfit with a tall conical cap, mostly doing moves in the field and spins, and in one scene, performing with two hula hoops while the ensemble, dressed in white speed skater's outfits, skated in a circle around her, also grasping hula hoops. It was an entrancing show.
Emily Hughes skated to a cover version of "Paint It Black." She actually is in quite good shape. Then she dared Paul to show his moves. He did a series of huge Russian splits, followed by a fast old time scratch spin, which he described (while gasping for breath) as just a level one. I've got to say, I miss Level One scratch spins!
It's very easy to lose focus during a theatre on ice routine, because, like a three ring circus, there is all too much going on at the same time. In fact, I lost focus through the whole next routine, which was a performance by the Skating Club of Boston's Excel Collegiate Synchro team. I spent the entire routine trying to remember what routine the Act I skating performance reminded me of. Finally I remembered! It greatly resembled the tone and plot of Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko's performance in the official music video for "Beyond the Invisible" by Enigma. You can compare it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAoMkhA6Xfg
Following these group numbers, Harrison Choate came out to perform. Harrison is a junior skater from Skating Club of Boston who will be competing in the men's event at JGP Croatia this coming weekend. Harrison will be part of Harvard's next year's freshman class. He skated an upbeat routine to "Mambo Italiano." He had a lovely spread eagle, a very cool solo hydroblading move, and a problem with his double axel in his exhibition. He asked the audience to clap with him twice - the second time, we actually all caught on.
The real second act, with the featured skaters was about to start.
Christina Gao, dressed in purple, skated her current short program to "Close Without Touching" by Kostia. Skating a competitive program under theatrical lighting is a courageous endeavor, and Christina, who is currently a Harvard student, attempted all her elements. She did not include the second jump of her combination, and popped her double axel to a single. The entire routine seemed a bit stiff somehow to me, but she deserves a round of applause just for attempting something so challenging in an exhibition.
Ross Miner, wearing a hat, performed to Frank Sinatra's "Luck Be a Lady." Ross has really matured as a skater. Moves that seemed like just tricks two years ago are now smoothly integrated into his program. The Four Continents bronze medallist included a triple lutz and a triple loop in his exhibition, but his best moves had to be a skid spiral into a spin, and his wonderful spread eagle, which fills the rink.
Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre danced to Amy Winehouse's "Mercy". Kim was wearing a startlingly bright blue sequinned outfit with a chain of black squares on it. It's either similar to or the identical one that she wore for their free dance at US Nationals 2009.
http://davecskatingphoto.com/photos/20094CC/dance/IMG_4239A.jpg
Paul told us that Kim and Brent have been performing in Europe in Holiday on Ice and on cruise ships recently. They do a cross between ice dance and adagio these days, and include some of the gee-whiz adagio headbanger type moves in their programs now.
Agnes Zawadzki, 2012 US bronze medallist, wearing a black rather conventional skating dress, skated to "I Will Always Love You," by Whitney Houston. It was a lovely routine, skated well. She has a great split jump, and a really nice layback. My husband particularly liked this number, commenting that it was a lovely song for skating, and he'd like to go back in time and see Torvill and Dean skating to it.
Ryan Bradley, 2011 US champion, rocked out to "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, skipping and dancing around the ice. The routine included a triple jump at the beginning and end of the program, and a slightly two-footed double axel. What appeared to thrill the audience the most was when he took off his shirt to do a back flip in his undershirt. What I liked best was his kip off the ice to stand and bow at the end of the program. When he got off the ice (puffing), Paul complimented him on his triple toe asked him what it was like to skate on a cruise ship with the ship going up and down, and you skating back and forth. Ryan replied that the ice surface is very small, only the space from the red line to the boards, and that you can spend a lot of time hitting the boards, but that as long as you don't hit the passengers, everything's okay.
The next to skate were Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, the fourth place finishers in senior pairs at last year's US Championships. They had my favorite performance of the day, skated to "Feelin' Good" by Michael Buble. They opened with Marissa doing a one armed handstand, balanced on Simon's foot (a gorgeous dance lift). followed by a stunning lift with Marissa in a vertical split while Simon balanced on one foot, and a throw triple salchow so high it looked almost like a double. They finished with the scariest headbanger ever, with Marissa stretching out and closing her arms in time to the music.
Finally, it was Jeremy Abbott's turn to perform. The woman who sat in front of us asked us breathlessly when she sat down in the middle of Jason Brown's exhibition whether Jeremy had skated yet. Like many in the audience, she was there to see Jeremy's new programs. We told her he would surely be the final skater, and of course, he was. I understand that the previous night he had skated his long program, but yesterday, he skated his short program to "Spy" by Nathan Lanier, choreographed by Benji Schwimmer. Again, you should remember that skating a competitive program in show lighting is difficult. Doing it after everyone else, including one synchro team and a theatre on ice troup, is probably foolhardy, but Jeremy went for it. He fell on his quad toe, but I was shocked he even attempted it. He completed his triple lutz out of steps, and popped his axel, which is placed late in the program to take advantage of the bonus. It was rather a shock to see the usually artsy Abbott skating a standard men's program in the persona of a Spy, but he was having quite a good time doing it, when not falling, of course.
And then was the finale, by which time we were quite exhausted, and drove home arguing about who was better than whom, and what we liked and didn't like about the show. Somebody was running a TV camera there, so perhaps the rest of you will be able to see 2012 Evening With Champions sometime, too. I hope so. It was a good show.
The lighting at the Bright Hockey Center is very, very dim, punctuated only by very bright spotlights. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to accompany this report as a result. In the dimness, during intermission, we could see that some kind of theater set was being erected on the ice. It looked like a house with four windows, 2 on each side of the set, with 6 "panes" each, and a curtain simulating a door between them. People in peculiar outfits were milling back and forth out on the ice in the darkness, and we quite wondered what was to come next.
Talking. Of course, what came next was more talking. Paul & Emily told us yet more about Evening with Champions and introduced the entire crew of students who had organized the event, whom we duly applauded. They also told us that, sad to say, Ludmilla & Oleg Protopovov, who have skated over 20 times at Evening With Champions, would not be able to perform. Oleg's doctor had told him he was not in condition to skate. Paul & Emily took out an IPad and filmed a video of the audience wildly applauding Oleg & Ludmilla, hoping for their speedy return to health and skating, and clapping for their immense contributions both to Evening With Champions and to skating. Paul said he would be emailing them the video right after the show.
Finally we were to find out what the theater set was for. It was the set for the Skating Club of Boston's Senior Theatre on Ice team, Act I. Theatre on Ice is a competitive event. In fact, the Act I team won the World Championships in 2005, and won the US silver medal this last season. If you haven't heard of Theatre on Ice competitions, The Skating Club of Boston's website has a page on the Act I team and its achievements.
http://www.scboston.org/teams/theatre-on-ice
And you can view three of their programs here:
2006 Star Wars Routine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQPEndmaOEw
Fourth of July routine 2011, where they had some falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjLzhWzM7A
This year's US Nationals routine (similar to what we saw at Evening With Champions, but without the mystery and added charm of theatrical lighting and partial darkness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMH30H20RV0
Act I is choreographed by Jason Wong, who has competed at the senior level at US Nationals, and Samantha Cepican, an international ice dancer and professional figure skater with Disney On Ice. The director of the group is Timothy LeBlanc, a professional skater with Disney on Ice. The scenario of their routine this year is that an old woman who is sweeping her walkway in a housedress, a mob cap, and fuzzy pink slipper skates, is suddenly confronted by the creaturs of her dreams, who enter the ice through the front door of her house. The ensemble cast executed at least one complete change of outfits (in the "house") during the routine. Three principal skaters circulated through the general patterns occasionally. Jason Wong, costumed all in red, and Marissa Castelli of the pair team of Castelli and Shnapir, wearing a silver speed skater's outfit with a blue ribbon wreathed around her, performed a split jump double axel combination, side by side triple salcows, and a number of lifts of difeerent sorts. Every time they would come out and perform a trick, the audience would loudly Ooo and Ahhh. A third skater wore a clown outfit with a tall conical cap, mostly doing moves in the field and spins, and in one scene, performing with two hula hoops while the ensemble, dressed in white speed skater's outfits, skated in a circle around her, also grasping hula hoops. It was an entrancing show.
Emily Hughes skated to a cover version of "Paint It Black." She actually is in quite good shape. Then she dared Paul to show his moves. He did a series of huge Russian splits, followed by a fast old time scratch spin, which he described (while gasping for breath) as just a level one. I've got to say, I miss Level One scratch spins!
It's very easy to lose focus during a theatre on ice routine, because, like a three ring circus, there is all too much going on at the same time. In fact, I lost focus through the whole next routine, which was a performance by the Skating Club of Boston's Excel Collegiate Synchro team. I spent the entire routine trying to remember what routine the Act I skating performance reminded me of. Finally I remembered! It greatly resembled the tone and plot of Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko's performance in the official music video for "Beyond the Invisible" by Enigma. You can compare it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAoMkhA6Xfg
Following these group numbers, Harrison Choate came out to perform. Harrison is a junior skater from Skating Club of Boston who will be competing in the men's event at JGP Croatia this coming weekend. Harrison will be part of Harvard's next year's freshman class. He skated an upbeat routine to "Mambo Italiano." He had a lovely spread eagle, a very cool solo hydroblading move, and a problem with his double axel in his exhibition. He asked the audience to clap with him twice - the second time, we actually all caught on.
The real second act, with the featured skaters was about to start.
Christina Gao, dressed in purple, skated her current short program to "Close Without Touching" by Kostia. Skating a competitive program under theatrical lighting is a courageous endeavor, and Christina, who is currently a Harvard student, attempted all her elements. She did not include the second jump of her combination, and popped her double axel to a single. The entire routine seemed a bit stiff somehow to me, but she deserves a round of applause just for attempting something so challenging in an exhibition.
Ross Miner, wearing a hat, performed to Frank Sinatra's "Luck Be a Lady." Ross has really matured as a skater. Moves that seemed like just tricks two years ago are now smoothly integrated into his program. The Four Continents bronze medallist included a triple lutz and a triple loop in his exhibition, but his best moves had to be a skid spiral into a spin, and his wonderful spread eagle, which fills the rink.
Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre danced to Amy Winehouse's "Mercy". Kim was wearing a startlingly bright blue sequinned outfit with a chain of black squares on it. It's either similar to or the identical one that she wore for their free dance at US Nationals 2009.
http://davecskatingphoto.com/photos/20094CC/dance/IMG_4239A.jpg
Paul told us that Kim and Brent have been performing in Europe in Holiday on Ice and on cruise ships recently. They do a cross between ice dance and adagio these days, and include some of the gee-whiz adagio headbanger type moves in their programs now.
Agnes Zawadzki, 2012 US bronze medallist, wearing a black rather conventional skating dress, skated to "I Will Always Love You," by Whitney Houston. It was a lovely routine, skated well. She has a great split jump, and a really nice layback. My husband particularly liked this number, commenting that it was a lovely song for skating, and he'd like to go back in time and see Torvill and Dean skating to it.
Ryan Bradley, 2011 US champion, rocked out to "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, skipping and dancing around the ice. The routine included a triple jump at the beginning and end of the program, and a slightly two-footed double axel. What appeared to thrill the audience the most was when he took off his shirt to do a back flip in his undershirt. What I liked best was his kip off the ice to stand and bow at the end of the program. When he got off the ice (puffing), Paul complimented him on his triple toe asked him what it was like to skate on a cruise ship with the ship going up and down, and you skating back and forth. Ryan replied that the ice surface is very small, only the space from the red line to the boards, and that you can spend a lot of time hitting the boards, but that as long as you don't hit the passengers, everything's okay.
The next to skate were Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, the fourth place finishers in senior pairs at last year's US Championships. They had my favorite performance of the day, skated to "Feelin' Good" by Michael Buble. They opened with Marissa doing a one armed handstand, balanced on Simon's foot (a gorgeous dance lift). followed by a stunning lift with Marissa in a vertical split while Simon balanced on one foot, and a throw triple salchow so high it looked almost like a double. They finished with the scariest headbanger ever, with Marissa stretching out and closing her arms in time to the music.
Finally, it was Jeremy Abbott's turn to perform. The woman who sat in front of us asked us breathlessly when she sat down in the middle of Jason Brown's exhibition whether Jeremy had skated yet. Like many in the audience, she was there to see Jeremy's new programs. We told her he would surely be the final skater, and of course, he was. I understand that the previous night he had skated his long program, but yesterday, he skated his short program to "Spy" by Nathan Lanier, choreographed by Benji Schwimmer. Again, you should remember that skating a competitive program in show lighting is difficult. Doing it after everyone else, including one synchro team and a theatre on ice troup, is probably foolhardy, but Jeremy went for it. He fell on his quad toe, but I was shocked he even attempted it. He completed his triple lutz out of steps, and popped his axel, which is placed late in the program to take advantage of the bonus. It was rather a shock to see the usually artsy Abbott skating a standard men's program in the persona of a Spy, but he was having quite a good time doing it, when not falling, of course.
And then was the finale, by which time we were quite exhausted, and drove home arguing about who was better than whom, and what we liked and didn't like about the show. Somebody was running a TV camera there, so perhaps the rest of you will be able to see 2012 Evening With Champions sometime, too. I hope so. It was a good show.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
thanks for the report Doris! 
sounds like a great show!
sounds like a great show!
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2004
Great report Doris, thank you! Glad you and hubby enjoyed yourselves.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
We didn't take any. The arena was really too dark for our equipment. But a lot of videos have surfaced:
Ryan Bradley, with interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBCgYMCV2bA
Duarte & Grafton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdDcFisdtfw&list=UUrdyss9_DninnsrLAUHzG8w&index=1&feature=plcp
Agnes Zawadzki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvxqUySC4tQ&feature=plcp
These are the videos I have found so far. It's nearly all the feature performers, but no videos of the Act I or Haydenettes yet.
Castelli/Shnapir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahFXwOpdXtI&feature=plcp
Jason Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULTLwT63urM&feature=plcp
Navarro & Bommentre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSopV9VYYx4&feature=plcp
Melanie Lambert & Fred Palascak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEZ15_6vco&feature=plcp
Cannuscio & McManus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w24Z1ZUfwes&feature=plcp
Douglas Razzano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mah9H4q3XcM&feature=plcp
Harrison Choate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di23KMhqHmw&feature=plcp
Christina Gao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wue5onQch3I&feature=plcp
Ross Miner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijUk3RUOtZM&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbott SP (9/30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWzcVMkbfE&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbot Encore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDLY-PtP3E&feature=plcp
Kimmie Meissner Skinny Love 9/29/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J99pc83s1c4&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbott's LP 9/29/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclDBc_ek2s&feature=plcp
Ryan Bradley, with interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBCgYMCV2bA
Duarte & Grafton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdDcFisdtfw&list=UUrdyss9_DninnsrLAUHzG8w&index=1&feature=plcp
Agnes Zawadzki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvxqUySC4tQ&feature=plcp
These are the videos I have found so far. It's nearly all the feature performers, but no videos of the Act I or Haydenettes yet.
Castelli/Shnapir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahFXwOpdXtI&feature=plcp
Jason Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULTLwT63urM&feature=plcp
Navarro & Bommentre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSopV9VYYx4&feature=plcp
Melanie Lambert & Fred Palascak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEZ15_6vco&feature=plcp
Cannuscio & McManus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w24Z1ZUfwes&feature=plcp
Douglas Razzano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mah9H4q3XcM&feature=plcp
Harrison Choate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di23KMhqHmw&feature=plcp
Christina Gao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wue5onQch3I&feature=plcp
Ross Miner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijUk3RUOtZM&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbott SP (9/30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWzcVMkbfE&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbot Encore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDLY-PtP3E&feature=plcp
Kimmie Meissner Skinny Love 9/29/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J99pc83s1c4&feature=plcp
Jeremy Abbott's LP 9/29/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclDBc_ek2s&feature=plcp
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2003
Evening with Champions 2012 review
Yesterday my husband and I attended Evening with Champions, having won free tickets from GoldenSkate! Thank you GoldenSkate for the tickets. It was such a pleasure to see the show; we really enjoyed it.
Here is my review. My thanks to Doris for listing all the music selections in her review; this info was not included in the program. I'll list the elements performed that I was able to recognize.
Bennett Knotleigh (not sure I spelled that right)
Bennett is a junior competitor from New England. His skating was fine, but unremarkable. He's very young still.
Elements: 3 Sal with stepout; back flip
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton
I was impressed with this young team. They have a nice, elegant look on the ice, with good lines and tasteful costumes, and their presentation was more polished than I would have expected from a team coming out of juniors. In particular, I thought their unison was very good. Speed was also not bad. Their technical elements were fairly easy, though, so hopefully they can improve that. Colin impressed me with the attention and care he paid to Kylie in his partnering.
Elements: Throw 2 twist, SBS 2 Salchows, one-handed star lift
Jason Brown
MC Hammer, “Can't Touch This”
Wow, what a fun program! Jason really showed off some great dance skills. He hit just about every beat of the music and looked really loose and comfortable out there. I agree with Doris the choreography could have been tougher, with less hopping around/stationary movement, but on the other hand, it's just a show program. Rap music is so hard to pull off on ice, and Jason really did a great job. I talked to another skating fan at the show, and Jason's performance was her favorite; my husband thought he was great too. What we saw of his footwork was excellent, and his jumps looked really solid and secure.
Elements: 2 Axel, 3 flip, 3 toe, nice combo spins
Melanie Lambert/Fred Palaschuk
Latin music
Melanie & Fred's professional experience really showed in this number. Their costumes were hot pink & orange, rather flashy, and matched the Latin theme. They delivered the program with a lot of energy, showmanship, and good lines. They weren't overly fast on the ice but otherwise, their performance level was high. My husband was impressed with their athleticism. He felt like they really attacked all the lifts and held positions nicely, with good core strength. I'm not really surprised at the level of their skating, as I know they've performed in Christopher Dean's shows, and he is quite the taskmaster.
Elements: Platter lift with her doing flipout exit over his back (performed twice), carry lift, another back flip-type lift, carry lift into Detroiter, headbanger
Emily Hughes
“Paint It Black”
This was a nice number. Good music, and Emily performed well as always. She has such great energy and really puts everything into her skating. Some of her positions aren't classically perfect, but she is nevertheless very enjoyable to watch, with her trademark attack and good speed on the ice. No difficult technical elements, as she's no longer training, but otherwise good.
Elements: 2 Axel
Kimmie Meissner
It was nice to see Kimmie again. She wore an elegant silvery beige beaded dress. Her program was pleasant, although unremarkable; she still has nice lines and great speed in her skating, and those pretty arms. Technically it was fairly simple, and she looked slightly unsteady in one or two spots, but it was great to see her skating again. Paul & Emily interviewed her after the performance. Kimmie said she'd been mostly off the ice for two years but that it was “great to be back.” As Doris mentioned, she's prepping for a pro-am-type event.
Elements: 2 Axel (fell after landing the jump)
Paul Wylie
As Doris mentioned, Paul Wylie did some of his famous Russian split jumps and a scratch spin. Oh, how I miss seeing him on the ice! Just watching him do front crossovers around the rink, with such speed and energy, was a treat! One thing I miss about Paul is his wonderful posture—perfect straight back, head always high and arms fully extended. Not many men these days have such wonderful posture.
Doug Razzano
“Walk Like a Man” and “Rag Doll”
This program was . . . okay. It seemed a little empty—not much footwork, and the choreography/interpretation didn't really work for me. I feel bad writing this because I actually ran into Doug in the hall and he said hello and seemed really nice (as he is in his tweets). I think maybe he just needs a better program or better music.
Elements: Lutz popped into single or double, 3 loop, 3 toe, 2 Axel
The Haydenettes (synchronized skating team)
I always enjoy watching synchronized skating. It was a nice program, and the team seemed well coordinated. Costumes were black & gold with a striped black tulle skirt, quite striking.
Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus
Adele, “Turning Tables”
This was the first time I'd seen this couple. Very nice performance! They seem well matched physically and have a nice connection/feeling between them. Technically they seem quite strong; his partnering is assured and confident. They skate with flair and intensity. Look forward to seeing more of them on the Grand Prix this year. Nice costumes; lovely red dress for her, and for him, a gray satin shirt and black pants.
Skating Club of Boston ice theater number
This routine was interesting to watch! It had a Cirque du Soleil feel to it—interesting, abstract, monochrome costumes, and moody & intense music. The group sections of it were well skated, and the soloists all seemed good, especially Marissa Castelli. Marissa was skating on her own in this number—without Simon—and she did really well, landing a nice double Axel and gorgeous triple Salchow. Marissa has a very striking presence on ice. There's just something charismatic about her; she really catches your eye. She skates with a lot of attack—not tentative at all—and is quite intense. She has beautiful positions too. I really enjoy watching her, it was nice to see her skate solo.
Lyudmila & Oleg Protopopov
The Protopopovs had been scheduled to appear, as they do each year at EWC. However, Paul announced that Oleg's doctor forbade him to skate in the show this year. They received a standing ovation in absentia!
Christina Gao
New SP
Christina put out a nice performance. There were one or two mistakes, but not a bad start to her season. I thought she looked better and more comfortable than at last year's EWC. Christina has a very “floaty” quality on the ice; the sensation is of a birdlike presence, skimming lightly over the ice. I think the new short program uses that quality to decent effect. The lilac satin costume also works well, emphasizing her light, graceful femininity. One thing I noticed, though, is Christina does not make very good eye contact with the audience. It's sort of like she's skating in her own world and is afraid to look up. Better eye contact would help draw the audience in more and give her skating more impact.
Elements: Can't find my notes on this—I think she did triple flip, with a small error on it, and another triple. There was also a Biellmann spin (decent).
Agnes Zawadzki
Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
I thought this was a terrific number for Agnes—my husband agreed. She really skated great. Agnes's style is very different from Christina's. Agnes skates very “big” on the ice, with sweeping, large movement and really good speed. I felt like she really caught the dramatic, epic feel of this music very well. She seems comfortable performing for a crowd. Her jumps are big and high, of course, and she has really nice spins as well. All her spin positions are just very beautiful and classic. Seeing her live, I could really understand for the first time all the hype about her. (Oh, and FWIW, she looked quite feminine out there; not mannish at all, maybe TV just doesn't flatter her.)
Elements: 2 Lutz stepout, 3 toe
Kim Navarro & Brent Bommentre
Estelle, “Mercy”
I thought this number was just okay. Terrific music, but the choreography seemed a little simple and typical. Kind of a standard “sexy” program; not much else there. My husband commented that they did one or two of the same moves as Lambert & Palaschuk, but didn't do them as well.
Ryan Bradley
“Footloose” movie theme
Typical Bradley program, entertaining and crowd-pleasing. Good crowd response.
Elements: 3 toe, 2 Axel stepout, back flip, 3 Sal
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir
Michael Buble song
Wow—this was quite the showstopping number! Marissa & Simon are really great to see live. I don't think TV does them justice at all. When you see them live, you realize how enormous their throws and jumps are, and how their lifts just cover the whole length of the ice so easily. They skated well and are just very fun to watch. Very athletic, very big tricks. And their throw triple Salchow was textbook—high and easy, it looked like Marissa never even had a doubt about the landing. Oh, I'm so hoping this will finally be their year to take the next step and medal at Nationals.
Ross Miner
Frank Sinatra, “Luck Be a Lady”
Another retro number from Ross! I really enjoyed it. The choreography was fairly simple, but he performed it very well, and I thought he successfully captured the big, lush feel of the Sinatra music. Older music suits Ross-- there is something very classic, almost old-school, about his style. I feel like there's a shortness to his strokes on the ice that reminds me of old videos I've seen of Dick Button or the Jenkins brothers. I don't mean this in a bad way at all. Ross has his style, it works for him, and I like it. My husband was less impressed than me. But Ross got a good crowd response overall.
Elements: 3 Sal, 3 flip stepout, 2 Axel
Jeremy Abbott
New “Spy” SP
Wow. We were lucky enough to see the debut of Jeremy's new SP. And: It. Is. Awesome. From the moment he started skating, I was spellbound. This was the first time I've seen Jeremy live, and he was far, far better than I had even expected. Just every single moment in this short program was so amazing to me. His speed was outstanding; the choreography interesting; the music great; but most of all, his skating was perfection. Every movement so crisp, so polished, so extended—simply the best it could be. I again had the sensation of Jeremy almost living the music rather than “skating to it.” The concept of the program may not be unusual, as Doris pointed out, but the execution is extraordinary. I know I'm gushing, but I was simply blown away! Jeremy was in a class of his own at this event.
Elements: Forgot to write them down, I was so involved in the program! But I know he did a quad toe attempt (fall) and one or two successful triples, plus double Axel.
Yesterday my husband and I attended Evening with Champions, having won free tickets from GoldenSkate! Thank you GoldenSkate for the tickets. It was such a pleasure to see the show; we really enjoyed it.
Here is my review. My thanks to Doris for listing all the music selections in her review; this info was not included in the program. I'll list the elements performed that I was able to recognize.
Bennett Knotleigh (not sure I spelled that right)
Bennett is a junior competitor from New England. His skating was fine, but unremarkable. He's very young still.
Elements: 3 Sal with stepout; back flip
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton
I was impressed with this young team. They have a nice, elegant look on the ice, with good lines and tasteful costumes, and their presentation was more polished than I would have expected from a team coming out of juniors. In particular, I thought their unison was very good. Speed was also not bad. Their technical elements were fairly easy, though, so hopefully they can improve that. Colin impressed me with the attention and care he paid to Kylie in his partnering.
Elements: Throw 2 twist, SBS 2 Salchows, one-handed star lift
Jason Brown
MC Hammer, “Can't Touch This”
Wow, what a fun program! Jason really showed off some great dance skills. He hit just about every beat of the music and looked really loose and comfortable out there. I agree with Doris the choreography could have been tougher, with less hopping around/stationary movement, but on the other hand, it's just a show program. Rap music is so hard to pull off on ice, and Jason really did a great job. I talked to another skating fan at the show, and Jason's performance was her favorite; my husband thought he was great too. What we saw of his footwork was excellent, and his jumps looked really solid and secure.
Elements: 2 Axel, 3 flip, 3 toe, nice combo spins
Melanie Lambert/Fred Palaschuk
Latin music
Melanie & Fred's professional experience really showed in this number. Their costumes were hot pink & orange, rather flashy, and matched the Latin theme. They delivered the program with a lot of energy, showmanship, and good lines. They weren't overly fast on the ice but otherwise, their performance level was high. My husband was impressed with their athleticism. He felt like they really attacked all the lifts and held positions nicely, with good core strength. I'm not really surprised at the level of their skating, as I know they've performed in Christopher Dean's shows, and he is quite the taskmaster.
Elements: Platter lift with her doing flipout exit over his back (performed twice), carry lift, another back flip-type lift, carry lift into Detroiter, headbanger
Emily Hughes
“Paint It Black”
This was a nice number. Good music, and Emily performed well as always. She has such great energy and really puts everything into her skating. Some of her positions aren't classically perfect, but she is nevertheless very enjoyable to watch, with her trademark attack and good speed on the ice. No difficult technical elements, as she's no longer training, but otherwise good.
Elements: 2 Axel
Kimmie Meissner
It was nice to see Kimmie again. She wore an elegant silvery beige beaded dress. Her program was pleasant, although unremarkable; she still has nice lines and great speed in her skating, and those pretty arms. Technically it was fairly simple, and she looked slightly unsteady in one or two spots, but it was great to see her skating again. Paul & Emily interviewed her after the performance. Kimmie said she'd been mostly off the ice for two years but that it was “great to be back.” As Doris mentioned, she's prepping for a pro-am-type event.
Elements: 2 Axel (fell after landing the jump)
Paul Wylie
As Doris mentioned, Paul Wylie did some of his famous Russian split jumps and a scratch spin. Oh, how I miss seeing him on the ice! Just watching him do front crossovers around the rink, with such speed and energy, was a treat! One thing I miss about Paul is his wonderful posture—perfect straight back, head always high and arms fully extended. Not many men these days have such wonderful posture.
Doug Razzano
“Walk Like a Man” and “Rag Doll”
This program was . . . okay. It seemed a little empty—not much footwork, and the choreography/interpretation didn't really work for me. I feel bad writing this because I actually ran into Doug in the hall and he said hello and seemed really nice (as he is in his tweets). I think maybe he just needs a better program or better music.
Elements: Lutz popped into single or double, 3 loop, 3 toe, 2 Axel
The Haydenettes (synchronized skating team)
I always enjoy watching synchronized skating. It was a nice program, and the team seemed well coordinated. Costumes were black & gold with a striped black tulle skirt, quite striking.
Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus
Adele, “Turning Tables”
This was the first time I'd seen this couple. Very nice performance! They seem well matched physically and have a nice connection/feeling between them. Technically they seem quite strong; his partnering is assured and confident. They skate with flair and intensity. Look forward to seeing more of them on the Grand Prix this year. Nice costumes; lovely red dress for her, and for him, a gray satin shirt and black pants.
Skating Club of Boston ice theater number
This routine was interesting to watch! It had a Cirque du Soleil feel to it—interesting, abstract, monochrome costumes, and moody & intense music. The group sections of it were well skated, and the soloists all seemed good, especially Marissa Castelli. Marissa was skating on her own in this number—without Simon—and she did really well, landing a nice double Axel and gorgeous triple Salchow. Marissa has a very striking presence on ice. There's just something charismatic about her; she really catches your eye. She skates with a lot of attack—not tentative at all—and is quite intense. She has beautiful positions too. I really enjoy watching her, it was nice to see her skate solo.
Lyudmila & Oleg Protopopov
The Protopopovs had been scheduled to appear, as they do each year at EWC. However, Paul announced that Oleg's doctor forbade him to skate in the show this year. They received a standing ovation in absentia!
Christina Gao
New SP
Christina put out a nice performance. There were one or two mistakes, but not a bad start to her season. I thought she looked better and more comfortable than at last year's EWC. Christina has a very “floaty” quality on the ice; the sensation is of a birdlike presence, skimming lightly over the ice. I think the new short program uses that quality to decent effect. The lilac satin costume also works well, emphasizing her light, graceful femininity. One thing I noticed, though, is Christina does not make very good eye contact with the audience. It's sort of like she's skating in her own world and is afraid to look up. Better eye contact would help draw the audience in more and give her skating more impact.
Elements: Can't find my notes on this—I think she did triple flip, with a small error on it, and another triple. There was also a Biellmann spin (decent).
Agnes Zawadzki
Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
I thought this was a terrific number for Agnes—my husband agreed. She really skated great. Agnes's style is very different from Christina's. Agnes skates very “big” on the ice, with sweeping, large movement and really good speed. I felt like she really caught the dramatic, epic feel of this music very well. She seems comfortable performing for a crowd. Her jumps are big and high, of course, and she has really nice spins as well. All her spin positions are just very beautiful and classic. Seeing her live, I could really understand for the first time all the hype about her. (Oh, and FWIW, she looked quite feminine out there; not mannish at all, maybe TV just doesn't flatter her.)
Elements: 2 Lutz stepout, 3 toe
Kim Navarro & Brent Bommentre
Estelle, “Mercy”
I thought this number was just okay. Terrific music, but the choreography seemed a little simple and typical. Kind of a standard “sexy” program; not much else there. My husband commented that they did one or two of the same moves as Lambert & Palaschuk, but didn't do them as well.
Ryan Bradley
“Footloose” movie theme
Typical Bradley program, entertaining and crowd-pleasing. Good crowd response.
Elements: 3 toe, 2 Axel stepout, back flip, 3 Sal
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir
Michael Buble song
Wow—this was quite the showstopping number! Marissa & Simon are really great to see live. I don't think TV does them justice at all. When you see them live, you realize how enormous their throws and jumps are, and how their lifts just cover the whole length of the ice so easily. They skated well and are just very fun to watch. Very athletic, very big tricks. And their throw triple Salchow was textbook—high and easy, it looked like Marissa never even had a doubt about the landing. Oh, I'm so hoping this will finally be their year to take the next step and medal at Nationals.
Ross Miner
Frank Sinatra, “Luck Be a Lady”
Another retro number from Ross! I really enjoyed it. The choreography was fairly simple, but he performed it very well, and I thought he successfully captured the big, lush feel of the Sinatra music. Older music suits Ross-- there is something very classic, almost old-school, about his style. I feel like there's a shortness to his strokes on the ice that reminds me of old videos I've seen of Dick Button or the Jenkins brothers. I don't mean this in a bad way at all. Ross has his style, it works for him, and I like it. My husband was less impressed than me. But Ross got a good crowd response overall.
Elements: 3 Sal, 3 flip stepout, 2 Axel
Jeremy Abbott
New “Spy” SP
Wow. We were lucky enough to see the debut of Jeremy's new SP. And: It. Is. Awesome. From the moment he started skating, I was spellbound. This was the first time I've seen Jeremy live, and he was far, far better than I had even expected. Just every single moment in this short program was so amazing to me. His speed was outstanding; the choreography interesting; the music great; but most of all, his skating was perfection. Every movement so crisp, so polished, so extended—simply the best it could be. I again had the sensation of Jeremy almost living the music rather than “skating to it.” The concept of the program may not be unusual, as Doris pointed out, but the execution is extraordinary. I know I'm gushing, but I was simply blown away! Jeremy was in a class of his own at this event.
Elements: Forgot to write them down, I was so involved in the program! But I know he did a quad toe attempt (fall) and one or two successful triples, plus double Axel.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
thanks so much! glad you got to enjoy such a fun show! 
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
eyria, I'm so glad you enjoyed the show, too.
The little boy skater was, I think, Bennett Gottlieb ? I couldn't make out what Paul Wylie said his name was, but I've been looking at lists of kids competing at New England Regionals, and that looked like the closest to what I thought I heard.
The little boy skater was, I think, Bennett Gottlieb ? I couldn't make out what Paul Wylie said his name was, but I've been looking at lists of kids competing at New England Regionals, and that looked like the closest to what I thought I heard.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2010
Thanks for all the report!!
I just love Jeremy's programs this year! Hope he will get many great result with them this coming season. He still has so much to offer. Classic, refined and Dynamic - that is Jeremy A One of the rare gifted skaters who is maturing nicely in integrating the music finely rather than let it be a hindrance. As a fan of Les Miserable, that was a beautiful rendition to the spirit/grace of Bring Me Home.
Mann... has it already been 1 year already since I visited Boston for An Evening with Champs? The trip would be worth it this year just for Jeremy's debut! Lucky there are still youtubes and great reports like these so we won't miss too much. I read Morozombie's report recently, and that was a bit of a lol save for Jeremy's programs.
I just love Jeremy's programs this year! Hope he will get many great result with them this coming season. He still has so much to offer. Classic, refined and Dynamic - that is Jeremy A
One of the rare gifted skaters who is maturing nicely in integrating the music finely rather than let it be a hindrance. As a fan of Les Miserable, that was a beautiful rendition to the spirit/grace of Bring Me Home. Mann... has it already been 1 year already since I visited Boston for An Evening with Champs? The trip would be worth it this year just for Jeremy's debut! Lucky there are still youtubes and great reports like these so we won't miss too much. I read Morozombie's report recently, and that was a bit of a lol save for Jeremy's programs.
Similar threads
