The „World’s Best on
Ice“ show in Krefeld, Germany on April 29 was actually the last of a tour
through Eastern and Middle Europe. The tour started in Russia under the name
“Kings of Ice”, then went to Slovakia, Romania, the Czech Republic and the
Ukraine before coming to Stockholm, Nürnberg and Krefeld. The three shows in
Sweden and Germany were produced by Art on Ice under the name “World’s Best on
Ice”. 70 percent of the cast did the whole tour, as Art on Ice manager Oliver
Höner stated. Apparently the two shows in Germany were the ones with the
lowest attendance of about 2000 per evening. In Stockholm the rink was sold out
with 9 000 people, and according to Evgeni Plushenko who skated in the whole
tour, the shows were very well attended everywhere.
Here is a review of the show
First part
1) Opening A group number with five girls (“Art on Ice Dancers”)
and Jamal Othman. He did some elements like a triple Lutz and spins while they
danced around.
2) Fleur
Maxwell
“Khorobushko”, her competitive short program, but she stuck to double jumps.
3) Tatiana
Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov
“Waiting for You”. This was their last solo performance! They did a throw
triple Salchow and a big double twist.
4) Sarah
Meier
Samba. She looked tired.
5) Florent
Amodio
Flamenco. Very characterstic and with a lot of passion. He did a double Axel.
6) Isabelle
Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder
“The Great Gig in the Sky”, their Pink Floyd free dance from the 2008/09
season. It was nice to see it again.
7) Katharina
Gierok
She is a local skater from Krefeld, who had placed 8th at the 2010 German
Nationals. According to latest reports she switched to pairs now. She did her
short program and fell on a triple toe.
8) Albena
Denkova/Maxim Staviski
“Luna” by Alessandro Safina. They used a red cloth in their number. Albena and
Maxim are always a special treat!
9) Jevgeni
Pluschenko
“Tango Amore”, his free program. The knowledgeable crowd loved him (there even some
fans with banners) and he pleased them with his jumps: 3T-3T, 2A, 3A, 3T, 2A.
He really got them going.
10) Aljona
Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy
“Somewhere” from Westside Story. The crowd recognized them without any
announcement and cheered a lot for them. They hit a 3T and a throw triple
Salchow. Lovely program.
11) Stéphane
Lambiel “Ne me quitte pas”. He was
another favorite of the audience. He did a 3F, 2A, wonderful spins and just
interpreted this song beautifully.
Break
Second part
1) Sarah
Meier and the Art on Ice Dancers
2) Florent
Amodio
Michael Jackson medley. He really showed off his dancing abilities here and was
a great Michael Jackson double!
3) Tatiana
Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov and Anais Morand/Antoine Dorsaz
“Live and let die”. They did a few elements side by side like a lift, triple
throw and spiral and the highlight of the number was a death spiral in which
Morozov held both girls. This now was the last performance of Tatiana and
Stanislav together. When we spoke to her later, she said it is hard to believe.
She will start training with Maxim Trankov on May 10 in Moscow.
4) Surya
Bonaly
Latin Medley. She did a 2A, 2S and her famous backflip, but she touched down
with her hands on it. She later repeated a clean one in the closing number.
5) Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviski
“Ramalama Bang Bang”. They were dressed up as vampires, a hilarious number that I hadn’t seen
yet. There was a costume malfunction when Albena’s skirt started to unravel ,
but you could almost think it was planned that way. Albena told us that this
number was originally done for the “Ice Age” shows on a smaller surface, but I
think they adapted very well.
6) Jason
Graetz
He is a Canadian ice clown with legs that are apparently made out of rubber. He
had a few funny appearances before, coming out and wanting to do his number,
but it wasn’t his turn yet, and he was chased off the ice by the clown Kotini
who acted as a link between the programs. So the audience cheered when finally
he was allowed to skate.
7) Isabelle
Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder
“Immortal” with the effective use of cloth. Isabelle promised that they would
skate three more years in shows.
8) Stéphane
Lambiel
“Wilhelm Tell”. This was his short program and he even went for the quad (but
missed). He landed the 2A and 3Lz. The crowd loved the footwork, of course.
Stéphane confirmed that he is done with competing. “It was clear to me from the
very beginning that I’m coming back only for the Olympic Games”, he said. “The
shows are my life now.” He obviously was enjoying it. Funny enough Jevgenij
Pluschenko said that Stéphane would come back, no matter what he was saying
now.
9) Aljona
Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy
“Never be alone”, an upeat program that I hadn’t seen yet. They hit a throw
double Axel and throw triple Salchow, but a lift went wrong and was aborted.
10) Jevgenij Pluschenko
“Je suis malade”. He was very
expressive in this number. He also nailed 3T-3T-2R, 3A, 2A, 2A. He told us that
in the show in Nürnberg the night before he did six triple Axels including one
in the Finale, but here in Krefeld he felt a little tired after the overnight
bus ride and so he didn’t do as many triple Axels. The next day he wanted to go
to Munich to see his doctors there. He needed to undergo surgery to remove a
cyst from the Achilles tendon area that has been bothering him for a while now.
He also was thinking of maybe having knee surgery, but he wanted to consult
with the doctors again. He also said that he wants to keep his eligibility
status.
11) Finale
All skaters came out again and did a trick.
It was a nice show, too bad that there weren’t so many spectators in spite of
the illustrious cast. At least in Krefeld there were a lot of true skating
fans. I liked the clown as a linking element. He was not too present and quite
entertaining.
