Greetings from Detroit one last time! We decided to skip the practices for the exhibitions this morning and get some much needed sleep. Although neither of us was really into watching show skating after all the wonderful competition and practices the last three days (and Liz is not into show or pro skating much to begin with), it was better than nothing! And once again we claimed our same seats in the front row. So we spent every single day -- all practices and competitions -- sitting in the front row, opposite the judges, watching skating. We admit we are now totally spoiled and we expect we'll see ourselves all over the TV broadcast (gulp)! Liz says she usually has a hard time watching skating on TV for a week or two after seeing it live -- this time she thinks it could take up to a month to be able to watch it on TV again.

Some final thoughts (by Liz) before the exhibition review:

All in all this was a fantastic competition. Despite the ladies splatfest, the practices were fascinating and the competition in the other three disciplines was very exciting. This may very well turn out to be the best men's final of the year.

It's amazing how much you miss when you don't see a competition live, and how much more attending the practices adds to the enjoyment. In many ways, the practices are more fun to watch than the competition -- watching who is hitting what, who is missing what, who is having a bad day/good day. It also makes it easier to compare the skaters. How often do you get to compare the skid marks for Yagudin's 3axel to Weiss's? Seeing B&S on the same ice at the same time with any other team just accentuates how *naturally* superior they are.

Then seeing how the practices translate into the competition adds a dimension that is almost indescribable. The young Russian pairs team was having a horrible practice Saturday morning and to see them turn it on and hit things in the LP -- never would have predicted it. It's also interesting to see how many skaters can do the huge elements but only the top skaters don't leave them in the practices. Every man but one was capable of not just a 3axel, but a 3axel combo. How many hit it in the comp :-)? Every lady was capable of a 3lutz...there were only two clean ones in the short. Dance is also far more interesting live. It's also much much much easier to judge dance teams live and *up-close* when they are skating on the same ice in practices and back to back in runthroughs. For example, you can really pick up the *subtle* differences that make A&P just that itty-bitty much better than L&A; and the subtle differences that make L&A that little bit better than F-P&M. I don't know if I would have picked this up had I just attended the competition and not the practices. And believe me, it's every bit as impressive to see A&P go into the reverse lift while flying by two feet in front of you as it is to watch a single skater jump. And whether or not you attend the practice you finally understand what a difference speed makes and why everyone talks about its importance in all disciplines, particularly in dance.

Anyway, it was an amazing but exhausing three days which we'd do all over again in a second!! We hope everyone liked our reviews. We apologize for not taking the time to post marks and ordinal rankings -- we had to sleep sometime! Thanks again for the positive feedback that was sent to Heather. Finally, thanks to Heather for giving us the opportunity to do this for her page!

Liz & Amy


Exhibitions

McConn
Wearing last year's black dress (can't remember if it was her SP or LP dress) with the plunging neckline that borders on obscene. Skated to Ike & Tina Turner's "Proud Mary". Outside spread eagle-3loop (fall), layback, 3sal, stars into flying camel-illusion, 2axel, death drop-sit-eggbeater.

Lang & Tchernyshev
He was wearing all black, she was wearing a pretty aqua dress. Skated to "Falling Into You" -- possibly by Sarah McLaughlin? Wonderful program (though Liz didn't care for the song). Great lifts, quiet feet, dramatic/romantic without being overdone.

Delmore
Wearing his LP costume from last year. Skated to "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. 3lutz, death drop-sit, 2axel, outside spread eagle, camel-sit-change-sit, 3toe (fall out), 2flip w/both hands over head, 3sal, camel-illusion, Russian splits. Entertaining. Noticing even more what a good spinner he is.

Hartsells
He was wearing black pants and shirt. She was wearing a little black skirt with with gold belt and sleeveless short gold top (showed lots of bare tomach). Skated to Aretha Franklin's "Respect". Star lift, SBS 1axels, swing lift, th 2axel (their throws are so solid!), hand/foot swing, 2handed-Detroiter.

Bobek
Bobek-style black dress -- openback, even longer tail than usual, very sparkly. Did her Aretha medley. 3toe, 2axel, camel-change-camel-sit, 2axel, spiral (held!), Beillmann, 2flip, illusion, scratch. It was clean! She looked like she was having a great time. Other skaters came out to watch her including Gwendal Peizerat who was getting really into it. At one point when she was playing it up, it looked like she was doing it for him!

Stojko
All black with his gold lame "lounge lizard" leisure jacket. :-) Elvis medley. 3toe, straight step, camel-sit-change-sit-scratch, 2axel, butterfly-scratch. Elvis does Elvis....coolest thing was when he skated over to one girl sitting 2 seats to the right of Liz, reached and hugged/kissed her.

Semenovich & Fedorov
She was wearing the Oksana "Possesion" dress. He was wearing all black velvet (more velvet, even in the exhibitions!) and had a mask covering half his face, which he removed during the number, revealing scars painted on his face! Phantom of the Opera redux of their free dance. She is so over the top.

Urmanov
Skated his SP in his SP costume. (See Thursday's notes for details.) 3axel (fallout), 3toe, death drop-sit, 2axel, sit-hop change-sit, straight step, camel-sit-change-sit-catch foot.

Maksuta & Zhovnirsky
He wore jeans and a t-shirt, she wore her LP dress w/a t-shirt over it, tied in a knot at waist. (Guess they didn't expect to be skating in the exhibitions!). Skated to the slow, bluesy rock song "Sixteen Times." Combo spin, th 2axel, 2 hand overhead, really cool move where she did a handstand on his skates and he held her feet and pulled them open and closed, FIDS. They really have a lot of potential...she even showed some personality this time (I think she just is totally focussed during competition.)

Nikodinov
OMG...it's "My Heart Will Go On" in pink sparkly beaded dress. Side layback, 3lutz, spiral, popped flip, inside spread eagle (almost tripped), layback, single axel, spiral, 2toe, flying camel-scratch. Started out great and lutz was nice, but lost steam, and reverted to typical Angela snoozer. (Liz could barely stay to watch it becuase she hates this song so much.)

Fusar-Poli & Margaglio
Skated their jive OD from last year in the same costumes. A bit on the slow side w/lots of twizzles. After they were done someone came down to the boards next to us and called them over and gave them a package of Twizzlers -- is this their favorite candy? -- and I think also a teddy bear. They were very gracious and said "thank you" a couple times.

Next was the Detroit Skating Club's precision team, Team Elan. What they do is really cool, but Liz almost wishes they were smaller. 24 skaters is too many -- she's like to see what teams of 15 or 12 could do!

-- INTERMISSION --

Sokolova
Black sequined bell-bottoms, white midriff shirt tied in front, lots of stomach showing, black bra showing through white shirt. Skated a dancy number with some vamping, preening, and rolling on the ice. Also did a 2axel, 2toe, layback, outside spread eagle, butterfly-sit, and ended in a split on the ice. Disappointing.

Weiss
Skated his new Van Halen short in same costume. We both decided we hate the cut becuase the song "Jump" cuts off right when you are all set for David Lee Roth to come in and sing: "I get up....but nothin' gets me down..." :-) It's too jarring for us children of the 80's all too familiar with that song! Camel-change-camel (nice center), 2axel, backflip (had to put hands down), running camels-camel-sit-change-sit-scratch, split jump, 3lutz, death drop-sit-scratch.

Sargeant & Wirtz
Wearing their short program costumes. More Celine Dion..."Color of My Love" (Liz had heard her personal quota of Celine for the entire year today.) Spread eagle into lift where he stays in a SE and bends over dipping her between his legs, 2hand platter lift, th 2 axel (huge and 2 foot), flip up-behind back into overhead, FIDS into a swing, pair sit spin into spin where he swings her. Pretty, if unexciting.

Lobacheva & Averbukh
Like F-P & M, also skated their jive OD ("Tutti Frutti") from last year in same costumes.

Butyrskaya
Red & gray tango dress, skated her tango number. 3toe (turn out), straight step-3toe, stars-camel, spiral, 3loop (fall), layback, flying camel-illusion.

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze
Did John Tesh "Barcelona" again, in the green costumes they used last year on the Elvis tour. Shiskova/Naumov flip up lift, 2twist (she almost fell on the landing and went skidding between his legs...took some time to recover), split lift (where he holds her leg and she does the wierd hand movements) flip out, hydroblade spiral, split-on-his-back trick, hydroblade death spiral into split swing ending. We are both bored of this program.

Yagudin
Did his clown SP in a different but similar costume -- and it's more flamboyant. The person next to me commented that the top looked like it was made out of scraps left over from the competition one. 3axel, 2toe, step sequence, 3loop, death drop-sit, camel-sit-catch-change-eggbeater (actually not a bad one), step sequence, sit-change-sit. The more Liz sees this program, the more she likes it -- it's fun and inventive! Yags is really making strides with Tarasova.

Anissina & Peizerat
"Time to Say Goodbye" in the infamous gold bodysuit. (Up close that thing is tight!!) Liz hates it becuase her costume pulls your eye away from him, LOL. Her hair is noticibly less bright this year and seeing her in that dress confirms it.

Then they all skated out for a final trick and bow --- except Elvis and his absence from this was very conspicuous. Then they each got a t-shirt and threw them into the crowd as they skated a final lap!

Turned out to be a nice show and a nice ending to a great competition! We both very sad it's all over :-(

See you next year!

Liz & Amy


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