„The Future starts here“
Moscow skating show on May 14
The Russian sports channel “Telekanal Sport” celebrated its 5 th anniversary and organized for the third year a show for young skaters from Moscow. This time, the Megasport Palace “Na Khodynke” was chosen for the event. The tickets were free, but the timing wasn’t the best (Wednesday evening) and the show wasn’t well advertized. Last year, when the show was held in Luzhniki during a festival organized by the sports channel on a Sunday, the rink was full. This time, there weren’t as many spectators, but this rink is huge.
1. Opening with the ice theatre groups “Aleko” and “Juzhnyi” to “The show must go on" by Queen.
2. Valeria Gretchukhina
Skated to a Charleston. She is from Viktor Kudriavtsev’s club “Moskvitch”. She was announced as the youngest skater of the show. 1A and 2T.
3. Tatiana Baturintseva/Ivan Volobuev
They skated part of last season’s free dance to Blues, Swing, Rock’n’Roll. They have grown up and I still like them very much. He is really expressive. They train with Khokhlova/Novitski under Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk. He said that they already finished their FD for next season and they plan to attend the first JGP in Courchevel.
4. Denis Ten
Flamenco (short program). He trains in Moscow, but is from Kazakhstan. He is a very talented and ambitious boy. He did a 3Lz and I think two 2A.
5. Alexandra Deeva
Her music sounded like some modern folklore, and she wore a sort of clown costume. I liked her immediately. She is probably not older than 11, but has a great presence on the ice. Solid double jumps.
6. Synchronized Team “Olimpiski”
“Libertango” by Bond
7. Murad Kurbanov
“Jamaica” (a song). Another very promising young skater. He is just 11 years old and is considered to be one of the biggest talents at least here in Moscow. He had show music, but the content looked like a short program. He did a 3T, 2A, spins and footwork.
8. Nina Petushkova
“The Professional” by Ennio Morricone. This could be a new short program. 3F. I think her skating looked softer and she was definitely overall improved.
9. Ice theatre “Sianie Lda” in orange costumes to some drum music (the number was called “Aboriginals”) with single skater Alexander Stepanov in the middle. There were quite a few numbers of the ice ballets connecting the skaters’ performances and some of them were really good, others, like this one, didn’t make too much sense.
10. Alexander Stepanov
Some Techno number. He looked somewhat heavy on the ice. Trains in CSKA.
11. Cowboys (group number with Aleko and two young pair teams, Irina Moiseeva/Vladimir Morozov and Maria Deriabina/Mikhail Akulov) to western music. This transition was really nice.
12. Moiseeva/Morozov and Deriabina/Akulov
Cowboy costumes, cute number with them doing 2Tw, 2throw loops, lift. They train under Nina Mozer.
13. Alexandra Ievleva
“Star” by Zhanna Guseva. She wore a white costume and looked very elegant. Spins were strong as usual, but the jumps didn’t work, she popped the first toe and then did just a 2T with her hand over her head. She told me that she has been working a lot on her jumps, has mastered 3Lz and 3F and is even pracitsing 3A. Hopefully she can come back strong after this disappointing season.
14. Amas ice theatre with a Spanish dance and single skater Adelina Sotnikova.
15. Adelina Sotnikova
Continues on her own with a Tango and a fan in her hand. 3T two-footed, 2A. She is nice to watch. She trains in CSKA.
16. Spartakiada
This number presented the skaters from Moscow that successfully competed in the “Spartakiada”, a national competition: Ekaterina Kozyreva, Polina Shelepen, Vladimir Uspenski, Ivan Bariev, Sheremetieva/Kuznetsov, Pushkash/Kiselev (dance), Gorshkova/Butikov. At the end, the flag of Moscow was presented and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski were called out on the ice
17.Khokhlova/Novitski
They did a show version of their “Night on Bald Mountain” FD that contained some tricks instead of the footwork. Jana slipped a few times, though. The ice was getting bad, but there was no resurface during the entire show.
18. Alexander Nikolaev
Another skater from CSKA. He skated to “Confessi” by Adriano Celentano. He didn’t really impress me, and he fell on a 2T.
19. Angelina Telegina/Viktor Adonev
A dance team that did a Greek dance, obviously their OD from last season.
20. Aleko ice theatre dances to music by Yanni. (They called it Waltz, but I don’t think that was the name of the piece)
21. Natalia Mitina
Flower Waltz from “Nutcracker”. She is a hopeful young skater from Elena Tchaikovskaia’s school, trained by Vladimir Kotin
22. Ekaterina Kozyreva
Skated to a French song. She is also from Tchaikovskaia’s school. She did a 3R. I hope she’ll do better in the new season than she did in the last when she was dinged for underrotating jumps.
23. Aleko Ice Theatre and Ivan Tretiakov to “Romeo and Juliet” by Nino Rota. He is Romeo, of course, one girl is Juliet, and they are separated by the “Montagues” and “Capulets”.
24. Ivan Tretiakov
Continues with “Aimer” and “Verona” from the Romeo and Juliet musical. 3F, 3T w/hand. He tends to be a bit boring, but this number was good for him.
25. Aleko ice theatre
Comes back to “Dance of the Knights” from the Romeo and Juliet ballet, and there is a nice transition to the next number of pair skaters
26. Kristina Astakhova/Nikita Botchkin
They perform to the “Alexander” soundtrack. They had great speed, and solid double elements such as 2Tw, throw double Salchow and loop as well as lifts. This could be their free program.
27. Four junior dance teams from the club of Svinin and Zhuk dance the Cha Cha:
Liuseva/Lunin, Telegina/Adonev, Baturintseva/Volobuev, Pushkash/Kiselev. Again, Baturintseva/ Volobuev stand out.
28. Artem Grigoriev
“Truman Show”. He cleverly used a walking stick and showed off his flexibility in a cantilever. From his build and even looks he reminds me of Alexei Yagudin, but he moves better over the ice than Yagudin did in this age. He is very musical, has soft knees, high jumps, I think he is really promising and hopefully he’ll put it together this season and makes a break-through on the junior circuit. He is coached by Viktor Kudriavtsev in “Moskvitch”.
29. Polina Shelepen
Some generic female ballad. 3T and 3S, she still looks a bit stiff, but she has improved. She is a good jumper in general and has shown some potential.
30. Alexander Uspenski
Adagio by Albinoni (performed by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccelli – I think, at least a man and a woman were singing). He was flying over the ice, so fast, and lovely to watch as always. 3T and another 3T with step out. He is now busy taking his final exams for his diploma.
31. Ice ballet “Juzhnyi” with two dance teams, Elizaveta Shchetinkina/Denis Smirnov and Alexandra Tchistiakova/Vladimir Kurotchkin
32. Shchetinkina/Smirnov
A Russian Folk Dance, apparently their OD
33. Tchistiakova/Kurotchkin
That was more Russian Folk stuff, but it turned modern and has some fun lyrics.
34. Ice theatre Amas with Ivan Bariev to “In the rolljack”
35. Ivan Bariev
Mambo No. 5. This guy can dance. Very outgoing, fun number and he incorporated a hat. He really is a showman. He had a successful season in spite of some injury problems and should be one of the juniors to watch out for next season.
36. Sianie Lda ice theatre with fluorescent costumes, juggling giant metal cubes and skaters on stilts.
37. Moskvitch squad
The top four boys from Moskvitch to “We will rock you” by Queen (Grigoriev, Bariev, A. and V. Uspenski), but the only one I felt that can really skate to this music was Grigoriev.
38. Vladimir Uspenski
“Can’t help falling in Love with you” by Elvis Presley. 2A, 3S two footed, 3T, a bit slow overall
39. Ekaterina Sheremetieva/Mikhail Kuznetsov
Flamenco. She wore a long dress. They are very dynamic and have presence on the ice. They did a big throw triple flip and have cool lifts. When they overcome their injury problems that prevented them from practicing the solo jumps, they should be one of the top junior pair teams again.
40. Kristina Gorshkova/Vitali Butikov
They did their exhibition number from Junior Worlds, I don’t remember the name right now.
41. Nikita Mikhailov
Skated to the song “Zabava” by Alexander Malinin, dressed in a black suit and put a candle on the ice. 3T and 3S. He is back in Moscow in CSKA after three years in St. Petersburg.
42. Ekaterina Rubleva/Ivan Shefer
They did their Ukrainian OD “Gopak”, very lively.
43. “Miracle” a colorful group number with all four ice theatres (Aleko, Juzhnyi, Amas, Sianie Lda), an acrobat, giant balloons and beautiful costumes. Music was “Miracle” by Queen. Somebody from the organizers must have liked Queen!
44. Andrei Griazev
“Aeroporty” was the name of the song. He skated with passion. 3T. He said that he had a rest at home in Perm and now is back to training and he is confident for next season.
45. Khokhlova/Novitski
Did a new show number, “Not a Pair”. She is dressed up in hot pants and fur, he wears a T-Shirt and jeans. The number was brand new, I must say, I didn’t like it too much, but it was entertaining.
46. Finale with all ice theatres and all skaters on the ice to “We are the Champions”.
It was a very enjoyable show!
Photos you can find here: http://photo.fsonline.ru/main.php?g2_itemId=14083
