(none)
Staci...@aol.com
some random comments just as first impressions.
My first impression was-- there are too many skaters--. It's like an all-you
can -- eat dinner. Everything looks so appetizing to the eye--such variety.
Then when you get all the tidbits on your plate-- you just feel overwhelmed.
There were 24 acts and 35 skaters.
Just in the opening number, not every skater was introduced. Poor Nichole
Bobeck came out in the dark and someone crashed into her, she fell and hurt
her elbow and Oksana Gritschuk had to help her up to get her out of the way.
It was like roller derby. Nichole went off crying holding her elbow. Too Many
skaters.
I also noticed that the ice, especially toward the center of the rink looked
chopped up by the time the last four acts in each half took to the ice.
There was only one break between 12/12 acts. They should have two zamboni
runs and should split the acts into three parts with 8/8/8 acts. The look of
the ice reminded me of Boitano's remark about peanut butter ice after only
3 0r 4 skaters had performed. With 12 acts in addition to the opening
number, by the end of each half the ice looked to be in pretty sad condition.
All the more credit to Rudy and Alexei and K&P and Brian for pushing
through. It is a shame that the top acts in each half had to contend with
such ice conditions. TOO many skaters.
I also feel that the dichotomy of half amateur and half pro skaters with
TOm Collins straddling the fence between the two will hurt the tour. The
amateur exhibition numbers are fine in the setting of a post competition
exhibition, but,in my opinion, when they are juxtaposed to the pro
choreography and polished performances of the pro skaters, it leaves
something to be desired for the audience. Frankly, the Philadelphia audience,
I perceived as very demanding and very stingy with its applause. The younger
amateurs just seemed overwhelmed. I have never been to a skating show where
there was at least polit applause. I thought the audience was very rude to
Maria Butyrskaya. She did what I thought was a very pleasant performance to
Madonna's In Vogue, but at the end, I could not detect any real appreciation
of her performance. I was embarrassed that the audeince was so cold to her.
All of these skaters work so hard and put their heart and soul into the
performance, that it is horrible that the effort is not acknowledged. Irina
Slutskaya had a pretty skate, too, and it didnot seem that her effort was
appreciated either.
Most of the skaters did not skate clean. Urmanov and Petrenko fell on triple
axel
attempts. Even good old reliable Todd Eldredge fell on the triple axel. Rudy
skated basically clean except for a two footed landing on the loop. He had
problems pushing through the ice because he had to put his foot down to keep
up speed in the running camel into his spiral spin.
Poor Nancy Kerrigan just looked out of shape. She did Starlight Express
skating fourth from the end. She started off with a beautiful triple toe but
as the program progressed her legs seemed to give out.
One skater who really surprised me was Alexei Urmanov. He did a Beatles
medley closing the first half. He went around the rink clapping his hands
trying to get the crowd The ice was really bad. He really plowed through
rather well. I admire him.
Oksana Baiul was almost unrecognizable. She yed her hair platinum blonde, and
she has taken to wearing very sexy outfits. She did the harem number with
only two jumps, two double axels. None the less, she still mesmerizes the
audience.
Elvis does his techno thing. He pulled off an amazing triple axel/triple toe
combination in the closing number.Boy talk about taking risks. He did it
coming in and out of the spotlights. Amazing.
The only person who skated completely clean was the last, Brian Boitano. He
did the Don't Cry number. Every time I hear that song on the radio it reminds
me of Katya and Sergei.. Brian performed it brilliantly. His 'tano lutz was
especially impressive because of the long edge he held onto after doing the
juump. His flow over the ice is amazing to me. For the first time, the
audience seemed in rapt attention during a performance. I now understand why
Katya specifically requested Brian to perform this number at Sergei's
benefit.
I think I have rambled onhere. I thought it was a good show. I thought the
audience was kind of harsh. No one really got a standing O. In fact, I
thought the audience was hard put to stand even at the end when all the
skaters came out for their final bows. Just as an aside. Brian almost missed
his cue to come out in the finale because he was talking and shaking hands
with some ladies on the sidelines. He raced to catch up with the spotlight. A
highlight of the finale was four guys doing double axels(Todd Rudy,Ilya and
Alexei) It was done mostly in the shadows so that the impressivness was lost
on most of the crowd.
Basically it was a good show.. Just too many skaters to appreciate them all
individually.
You do not get the warm feeling of family and cohesiveness that is evident
in SOI. All the skaters seem connected there. On the TOC, they tried to have
a group number at the end that seemed too little/too late. There were just
too many acts for one show. As I said in the beginnig, it was like a
smorgasboard. Everything looks so appetizing, but you feel too full at the
end to really enjoy what you've tasted.
Stacie
.
ESM...@aol.com
JUVENILE BOYS
1996 KODAK JR. OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
*** FINAL STANDINGS ***
Lowest
Majority
1 EVAN LYSACEK, DuPAGE FSC 5/1
2 BRIAN LAU, UNIV.OF DELAWARE FSC 6/3
3 ROHENE WARD, ST.PAUL FSC 5/3
4 DAVID COCHRAN, RIM OF THE WORLD FSC 7/4
5 JED HOPKINS, UTAH FSC 5/5
6 MICHAEL VILLARREAL, ARCTIC BLADES FSC 5/6
7 MAURO BRUNI, WINDY HILL FSC 6/7
8 DANIEL ROMAIN, DALLAS FSC 6/8
9 BENNY WU, THE PENINSULA FSC 5/9
10 CHRISTOPHER BERTRAND, LAKEWOOD WC 6/10
11 BRADLEY GUTKIN, CANTIAGUE FSC 6/11
12 BRANDON KOLLAR, FRASER FSC 6/13
13 JOHN SALWAY, FT.WAYNE ISC 5/13
14 JOEL EHMANN, ALASKA ASSOC. OF FS 6/14
15 MATTHEW QUON, DALLAS FSC 6/14
16 ROBERT MILLETTE, INDIVIDUAL MEMBER 5/14
17 KEVIN CURTIS, SC OF NORTHERN VA 9/17
18 MATTHEW SLATUS, ESSEX SC OF NJ 9/18
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