Coming S.O.T.S. Attractions

This is the third post-season the blog has endured, and it’s always a strange time in April—like sitting in an arena when it’s pulsing with activity and excitement, and still sitting there after it clears out in record time. But it’s my first time for doing the blog in an Olympic season, so the contrast is even more profound.

The lovely noise was sustained for weeks and weeks; my ears continue to ring as a result. They perk up a little every Monday, as Dancing with the Stars puts Lysacek through his paces. They stay tuned for Johnny Weir’s next sound bite. They burn at the news of this team’s breakup, that team’s coaching switch, the Surprise Retirement, and the not as surprising Taking a Break from Competition.

But even these nuggets become few and far between during most off-seasons, so it’d be easy to say our collective ears become enveloped in a certain kind of silence between now and October. How can that be true, though, when we love a sport as musical as this one? Firebird can involuntarily flood my brain at any given time, after all.

So don’t worry—there’s plenty to talk about. Here’s a sampling of what you might see around here in the next several months (be sure to speak up if something in particular strikes your fancy):


+ More from POGGS (Post Olympic-Grad Skating School)
+ More SOI Twitter updates
+ Class of ’10 Awards, which will include Olympic AND Worlds happenings
+ The Reruns… re-visiting each major competition of the past season and studying how each result shaped the season to come
+ More about my book Skating on Air (have you become a fan of it on Facebook yet?)
+ Notes about the Universal Sports “studio coverage” of Worlds (the one hosted by Peter Carruthers)…
+ And, for those still interested, notes about the Universal studio show that ran during the Olympics (the one hosted by Terry Gannon)
+ My 2nd annual State of the Skate Address (ooh, aahh)
+ Should they stay or should they go? Debates
+ News about the skaters you know
+ News about the skaters you may not know
+ 2010 Grand Prix assignments

And of course, much much more… even vintage stuff like this. Stick around...

Tweets From the SOI Tour: East Coast Edition

While for now I cheerfully remain one of the world’s non-Tweeters (aka one who posts things via Twitter), I enjoy the little window it provides on those of the elite skating world. So just as I posted collections of Tweets from U.S. Nationals and Olympics… I now offer up this collection from three skaters currently working the Stars on Ice tour (and three that are among the more prolific)… it’s pretty interesting to get a little sense of their personalities via these limited character posts.

I throw in the occasional commentary, in italics.

EVAN LYSACEK…the hardest-working skater in show business

· Crazy couple days. Taking a redeye to DC tonight for stars on ice. Can't wait to skate again!! 9:05 PM Apr 7th
(This came shortly after confirmation that he’s moved on to the next round of DWTS…)

· My fingers are crossed that I can get some sleep on this flight. I'm in dire need. 10:20 PM Apr 7th
· Just arrived in DC. There was a cute baby on our flight. 3:48 AM Apr 8th
(I’m wondering if that was code for “I didn’t get ANY sleep on that flight”)

· Eating honey nut cheerios for dinner on the bus. So ready for a few hrs of sleep! 7:47 PM Apr 8th
(So, um, how long do y’all think Evan can keep this up? He’s an Olympic Gold Medalist but he’s not Superman…)

· Just arrived in NY. Off to training. about 14 hours ago
(… or IS he?!?!)


JEREMY ABBOTT… the relative rookie

· @Meryl_Davis and I just had a Disney sing-a-long moment through Tampa security. She's such a princess!
· For those non believes... This was pure spontaneous, unprovoked, real life between @Meryl_Davis and myself! 5:12 AM Apr 5th
(If you follow Jeremy with any regularity of late, you already know that he and Meryl Davis seem to hang out together quite a bit…)

· It's an amazing day outside! Going to have lunch with @meryl_davis in SOHO! :) 10:18 AM Apr 6th
(See?)

· Leaving NYC! I had tons of fun with @Meryl_Davis and all my local friends! Miss you guys! :) 1:15 PM Apr 7th
(He’s still in good spirits at this point…)

· Delayed in NJ :( I wanna get in bed already! I wish I could wiggle my nose and be in DC! 4:07 PM Apr 7th

· I'm tweeting sweet nothings at @Meryl_Davis :) 6:47 PM Apr 7th via Echofon
(Uh-huh…)

· I hate not being able to sleep! I gotta put on a great show for you all tomorrow! It is of course all for you! :) 10:52 PM Apr 7th
(Where art thou good spirits…)

· Todd Eldridge and @mirai_nagasu are separated by a @CharlieaWhite in age! @Meryl_Davis is credited for this discovery! 4:01 PM Apr 9th
(I just found this pretty hilarious, so I’m including it)

· I hate this freaking bus! I can't sleep at all and I'm starting to get really pissed off!!! about 16 hours ago
(Good spirits apparently missed the bus and haven't caught up yet)

· In East Rutherford, New Jersey. I am sore, tired, hungry, and cranky! Hopefully I will be full and caffeinated by show time! about 6 hours ago
(Ah, the glamorous life!)

· I dropped it like it was hot tonight... Maybe a little too hot! (I split my pants!) about 2 hours ago
(Well that sounds like a turn for the better…hee)



BEN AGOSTO… the laid-back one

· Sitting here watching @Jeremyabbotpcf tweet at @Meryl_davis while sitting next to each other...cute 4:48 AM Apr 5th
(Hee…)

· Bumming around nyc check out this view from IMG's new office! http://tweetphoto.com/17395105 9:33 AM Apr 6th via UberTwitter
(Sweet! If his photo links still work from here, that is)

· Ohhhh yes!!!! Heavan in burger format :) http://tweetphoto.com/17409778 11:59 AM Apr 6th via UberTwitter
(Sweeter!)

· My world is crumbling!! When did elmo grow to be the same size as cookie monster?!!! http://tweetphoto.com/17497147 6:24 AM Apr 7th
(Darn steroids…)

· We have the coolest driver today for our media... He's a 60 y/o Asian man who just answered his phone, "yo!" 9:25 AM Apr 7th
(How bizarre... I had a similar driver for MY media!!)

· Don't make me angry...I have a very hard head! http://tweetphoto.com/17539854 1:22 PM Apr 7th via UberTwitter
(Yeah, right… I think Jeremy did that, not Ben)

It’ll be interesting to see how the ups and downs even out… or don’t… as the tour makes its way across the country over the next 6 weeks. While the bunk-on-the-bus thing surely gets old quickly, I’d like to think everyone on tour is able to adapt in fairly short order. I’ll try to post an SOI update in a week or two.

For the Clip of the Day I’ve got the “Bleeding Love” number from the Belgosto catalog… this was from last season of SOI; not sure if it’s still part of the show but they were using it back at the Nationals Gala in January. I’ve heard some say this program is more “pure Tanith and Ben” than any of their recent competitive work… Hmmm.

Post-Olympic Grad Skating School is Back in Session... Group 2, Pairs Free Skate

Today, I’ll pick up where I left off on March 17, sharing notes I made when watching back the early groups of pairs from their Vancouver free skate. Not everyone in this batch went to Worlds this year, but if they did, I included their Worlds placement as well.

Again, let me know if you took a look at/had thoughts on any of these…

Vanessa James/Yannick Bonheur, France (ages 22/27)-- looking better than average here skating to one of the updated Romeo & Juliets… pretty powerful, nice throws! And lifts! Really good skate for them… unfortunately their last spin netted them zero points (called “non valid”) so they didn’t score as highly as they could… but it wouldn’t have pulled them past #13 (Denney/Barrett) who were quite a bit ahead of them.
FINISHED 14TH AT OLYMPICS; 12th AT WORLDS.


Anais Morand/Antoine Dorsaz, Switzerland (ages 17/21)-- kind of strange. Skated to Once Upon a Time in America, but what was the tan plaid suspender look all about? Several hiccups in jumps & throws.
FINISHED 15th AT OLYMPICS; 13th AT WORLDS.


Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov, Russia (ages 17/23 and I badly want to nickname them Bazanovva):
Skated to 7 Years in Tibet… really nice carry lift… good spins & interesting spirals… throw jumps are weak right now.
FINISHED 11th AT OLYMPICS; 8th AT WORLDS.


Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov, UKR-- (ages 23/31) I've decided Morozov looks more like a linebacker (football) than pairs skater; maybe Volosozhar did too, for they have split since Vancouver and she's now paired with Maxim Trankov. Anyway, these two seemed to have a fair amount of power and cohesion, but I’m just plain uncomfortable watching him in particular… here, he blew the back end of their first SBS jumping pass and I wondered about the rest of the performance—though it turned out OK for the most part. Their throw 3salchow was especially lovely. Considering the “yikes” factor at seeing those electric blue, superhero unitards from their SP, I’ll pray that the new pairing of Volosohzar/Trankov breeds better costume instincts.
FINISHED 8th at Olympics.


Nicole Della Monica /Yannick Kocon, ITA—(ages 20/23) Skated to The Mission in Cornflower blue… really nice 2 axel SBS sequence… seems to have good speed but some little mistakes throughout I think.
FINISHED 12th at Olympics.

I think the next time I run a session of POGSS I’ll move on to feature the lower groups of the Vancouver Men’s Final… unless I get a request for something else, that is.

For the Clip of the day we’ve got James/Bonheur’s free skate from this year’s Euros… this is still listed at Wikipedia as their season’s best score. It’s not without big flaws—he fell out of an SBS jump, and she fell off her edge on their first attempt at the death spiral, creating one of those messy moments where they had to let the music catch up while they recovered. But their SBS 3salchows, their throws, and their overall presentation is pretty impressive.

All the Skating News Fit For One Post

Stars on Ice, Toes needing ice, Russian pairs shake-up, and a New skating resource-- they're all part of the skating news of this past week...

Smucker’s Stars on Ice 2010 is underway. Less than a week after Worlds’ conclusion, the greatest (and only) show of its kind on U.S. ice kicked off its spring tour in Florida on April 1… and will wind along the east coast most of this month, hit the Midwest through mid-May, and spend the last 10 days on the west side of the country. The cast changes from town to town, but the “master list” includes champs from the ‘90s (Eldredge, Sato), the first half of the ‘00s (Weiss, Cohen), and of course several more current “stars”, including 5 medalists from Vancouver (Shen/Zhao, Pang/Tong, Rochette, Davis/White, and Lysacek on non-Dancing dates). Will you be going? Find out more about the tour here.

Lysacek’s now dancing broken-toe-to-broken-toe. Speaking of the current hardest working skater in show business, he’s already working at a disadvantage. Word got out this week (first via his own Tweets, and then through mentions like this) that the reigning OGM now suffers from not one, but two broken toes… which has got to feel freaking FANTASTIC when he spends the bulk of his time either in skates or learning the quick-step. How long will he be able to continue at this pace? Guess we should start by seeing how he does on his third round of DWTS tomorrow night.


Muk/Trank is now just Muk again. They said it couldn’t last, and, in fact, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (of Russia) might have sustained their stormy pairs relationship a lot longer than expected. But as of this week, Trankov has gone his own way… and Mukhortova (as well as coach Oleg Vasiliev) is on the lookout for a few partner. The couple finished 4th at Worlds and 7th in Vancouver…

And I was about to add that he might consider Tatiana Volosozhar, as her partner Stanislav Morozov recently retired… but it appears it’s already happened. According to Volosozhar’s Wikipedia listing (with a Russian newspaper listed as the source):

In March 2010, Morozov retired from competitive skating. Volosozhar moved to Moscow to train with Maxim Trankov with a view to representing Russia. Nina Mozer became the new pair's coach with Morozov as assistant coach.

So… how does “Volo/Trank” grab you?? Guess they’d been planning that one for a while. I’ll definitely look to see what the new team can accomplish by the fall… and as for Ms. Mukhortova, I hope she can find someone to suit her needs. No small task, given what must surely be a stormy reputation by now.


My Skating Mall is good to go. And finally, former US men’s competitor (and 2003 World Team member) Ryan Jahnke wrote me again to let me know his latest endeavor, the place for “gently used” skater’s gear known as myskatingmall.com, officially “opened for business” late last month (sorry it took me an extra week to get it posted, Ryan!) He also asked me to remind you that 5% to 90% of every purchase raises money for the skating club or team of the buyer and seller. Skating groups can benefit from every purchase and sale their members make… so go check it out.

For the Clip of the day I’ve got Muk/Trank’s gold medal-winning free skate at 2009 Trophee Eric Bompard. It was their only significant international victory as senior pair skaters, and it really had me thinking they might have an exceptional Olympic season… but as we now know, it was not to be. So long, you two. I’ll miss saying “Muk/Trank”, it had such a nice ring to it…

Worlds 2010 Gala Guide: The Couples

Here’s what I found of gala performances for pairs and ice dance… this time I didn’t include the members of the Italian team that got to skate as well.

PAIRS

Zhang/Zhang (finished 5th) skated to something that might have been called “On the Wings of Song”… I heard those words among the endless Italian commentary.

Mukhortova/Trankov (finished 4th) used an operatic duet: he skates during the man’s vocal, she skates during the woman’s… they skate together on choruses… and had trouble with the same elements as in their regular programs.


Kavaguti/Smirnov (finished 3rd) used a variation on Blue Danube from their free skate; like many of the singles skaters, they hit the prop cabinet before taking the ice (tossing around a bouquet of flowers during the routine).

Savchenko/Szolkowy (finished 2nd) used an instrumental version of Somewhere…

Pang/Tong (finished 1st) also use an operatic duet; watch for the “oops” moment they have about 1:25 into the clip.


For ICE DANCE…


Kerr/Kerr (finished 5th) skated to Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 3 by Muse (same artist as was behind their free dance from 2008-9)… compelling as always.

Pechalat/Bourzat (finished 4th) did a bouncy number to Andy by Les Rita Mitsouko.

Faiella/Scali (finished 3rd) skated to a very pretty Italian ballad whose name I could not decipher by way of the graphics.

Davis/White (finished 2nd) with David Cook’s version of Billie Jean (though I don’t think they plan to use this number much on the upcoming SOI tour)

And Virtue/Moir fans, I tried to find their Gala skate but was strangely unsuccessful… very sorry. Again, if you have a link that would make this collection of clips complete, please share!

Worlds 2010 Gala Guide: The Singles

So they didn’t make it the Universal TV coverage, and only still photos from it are on the Universal website. But in case you were wondering, here are a whole bunch of links you might like…

NOTE: some of these performances are tainted by excessive commentary, chatter, or whatever was said. For those who think Hamilton or Button talk too much during a performance… you’d be pleading to hear them after tolerating a little of this. If anyone finds “quieter” links, please share!


Carolina Kostner finished 6th but got to perform, apparently, because she’s Italian… skated to a female cover of Ain’t No Sunshine about as well as she’s skated to anything lately, which is to say… well, you know.

Cynthia Phaneuf (finishing 5th) did great with a twisted, jazzy cover of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. I wonder if she ever imagined she’d make the cut to skate the Worlds Gala this time? She was 15th last year.

Miki Ando (finishing 4th) ah, a routine to Mozart’s Requiem that sort of seems to tell her own life story of chasing a dream, not getting it, trying again, etc… complete with a 15 second break with her just laying on the ice motionless (that’s the home-from-2006 Olympics part, in my interpretation).

Laura Lepisto (finishing 3rd) is in white but has a black hood/scarves of some kind she’s using as props…apparently it’s a Zorro-inspired number… they flutter like flags as she goes around a round of jumps, then she sets them down and does the rest of her skate. Oh, then she goes & gets them again after about a minute. Welcome to rhythmic gymnastic figure skating, y’all. Music is Tina Arena.

Kim Yu-Na (finishing 2nd) is doing the same Meditation piece NBC showed us in Vancouver. Looks very similar, including the popped lutz.

Mao Asada (finishing 1st) is in black and fuschia and brandishing a fierce fan as she skates to Paganini’s Capriccio #24. It’s definitely props day at the Gala. Someone should have told Kim; she could have done Meditation with a cage of live birds. Speaking of Asada though… did you hear that according to a recent Phil Hersh article, she is "looking for a new coach after two seasons with Russia's Tatiana Tarasova"...?

And the guys were there too…


Samuel Contesti (finished 7th) is here for the same reasons Kostner is… and skates to a cowboy-themed piece that includes the ever-charming Cotton-eyed Joe. But he does an even poorer job of checking his landings than he did in competition and steps out of most everything. Still cute if you’re a fan.

Jeremy Abbott (finished 5th) skated to Michael Buble’s cover of At This Moment. Unfortunately, if you click his name you’ll see that the audio’s been disabled on the clip I’ve got here (and I couldn’t find another one). You could always check and see if his Nationals version of the same routine is still available… (UPDATE: for reasons I don't get, clicking on the Jeremy link take you to Joubert's program instead. I tried fixing it, but it's not working. Sorry about that! You can put "Jeremy Abbott 2010 Worlds Gala" into your You Tube browser if you really want to see it... he did great except for a fall on his last jump (triple toe); not bad for someone who'd mentioned on Twitter that he'd "jacked his hip in practice" and might be doing "the first ice DANCE solo in history"!)

Michal Brezina (finished 4th) – this is one of the clips that really suffers from the overchatter, but somewhere in the background you can hear that he skated to Michael Buble’s Feeling Good (This is where I’m compelled to remark that to me, Buble is a poor man’s Harry Connick Jr., and I say that well aware of the irony as most consider Connick Jr. a poor man’s Frank Sinatra. Hmm. Maybe we just need more skaters using Sinatra…)

Brian Joubert (finished 3rd) does an uptempo routine very similar to his Rise SP (it’s Sandstorm by Darude). There appear to be some classic sick footwork sequences in it; sadly, the camera shots used for these parts were too wide to tell for sure (ugh, the directing on these feeds… another post for another time).

Patrick Chan (finished 2nd) takes on Coldplay’s Vive la Vida (and had some jump trouble, though he was far from the only one). Interesting choice for him; I wouldn’t have guessed he’d go so contemporary. The choreography was interesting at times but he seemed rushed at other times.

Daisuke Takahashi (finishing 1st) skated to Luv Letter by DJ Okawari, which a nice lyrical mid-tempo piano number that suits him well. He landed 3 lovely triples and didn’t look anything close to tired like most of the pack.

Next post will cover the pairs and dance teams that skated the Gala…

Worlds Free Dance: Belgosto Take a Shot at Calling It

Covering the dances shown on Universal Sports with Belgosto (Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto) alongside Andrea Joyce…

Cappellini/Lanotte (ITA)— had the big twizzle crash of the day as you may have seen by now, but they also had a mere level 2 on both their circular steps and their diagonal steps… and 2 points’ worth of deductions (1 for the fall; 1 for an extended lift). FINISHED 11th.

Crone/Poirier (CAN)—Belgosto praised their music choice (Nocturne/Bohemian Rhapsody) for its lyrical quality—something they think was needed—levels 3 & 4 (mostly 4s) on everything; no negative GOEs. FINISHED 7th.

Zaretsky/Zaretsky (ISR)—I’m still trying to figure out why their Schindler’s List program sounds so much, in parts, like Via Dolorosa. Someone enlighten me!! All levels 3 & 4; Belgosto indicates they exits from their moves are still a little rough and that’s the difference between this team and the crème de la crème. Got a season’s best score; FINISHED 6th.

I skipped over the Loft Chatter for now, but if there was anything of note I’ll jot it down when I listen to it.

Pechalat/Bourzat: They ditched the Bourzat-as-Clock/Requiem piece in favor of the Circus Medley they used in 2008-9… oh yeah, I remember this! It’s much more fun and charming. Wish they’d used this in Vancouver too. All levels 3 & 4, and I must say in looking at it again those last 30 seconds of the program remind me a LOT of Torvill and Dean’s “Barnum” program from 1983. Maybe just me though? Belgosto mentions it’s a lot easier to do a dramatic program for the FD because it’s easier to look pained at that point. Heh. FINISHED 4th.

Davis/White: Belgosto says the part of the program they wanted to work on the most was the slow part (circular step sequence), and it must’ve worked because they got the highest GOEs of the program on that part. It’s funny to hear Belgosto both exhale with such excitement when it’s done. Ben notes that he’s never seen Charlie look tired after a performance… until now. 3 points higher than Vancouver, though still… WINS SILVER.

Virtue/Moir: Only real bobble was from Moir in their twizzle sequence; it’s also the only part of their program that got a level 3… (by the way, D/W’s only level 3 was on the diagonal step sequence) Belgosto credits Moir with not putting his foot down and being able to tough out the balance when his twizzle was faltering… but Tanith won’t pick a side as to who is her favorite. (at least, not on camera) WON GOLD.

Faiella/Scali: Apparently Belgosto trained with them for a short while at the start of the season, and can’t say enough great things about them. Ben calls them “great storytellers” that can really create wonderful characters. Two things put their medal chances in danger: a) their dance spin, and b) their twizzles, both of which only received level 2. Fortunately they did everything else quite well. WON BRONZE. (“It was a miracle,” we heard Scali say in English before leaving K & C.)

Kerr/Kerr: They of the constantly struggling twizzles… sigh… this time they went for the blade-grabbing variety, and she missed hers, which contributed in bringing them all the way down to a level 1. Booo. Doubt if they’d really have a shot at bronze even if they’d nailed that, though. FINISHED 5th.


More Worlds recap to follow!