Anyone going to Ice Wars this week?

[Sing_Alto]

Warning! Shameless Begging Alert!

Could that someone perhaps post a review after the fact? I ain't too proud to beg. :mrgreen:

[FollowYourHeart]

It is this week!? How exciting!!

I will beg too, PLEASE POST REPORTS. I am especially interested in hearing how Oksana skates. From recent shows she seems to be skating well and has only had time to improve.

[Meredith]

I am going. :D Won't arrive home until Saturday. Will that do?

[Sing_Alto]

Originally posted by Meredith
I am going. :D Won't arrive home until Saturday. Will that do?

Sigh... I suppose... If that's the best you can do. ;) Yes! Thanks for offering! :D

[ceceB]

LOL Sing_Alto! Thanks Meredith, have fun!

[FollowYourHeart]

When does the competition begin?

GO OKSANA!

[Meredith]

It will be held tomorrow, night. (Thursday???) Whatever. :roll:

Go Oksana, indeed. :D I've never seen her skate live. Neither have I seen Brian Boitano.

[FollowYourHeart]

The whole competition is tomorrow night? Oh wow, im just so excited. I have this feeling Oksana is ready to kick ice this season. (knocking on wood)

[Justine_R]

Oh i would really like to know what is happening there so bring on the posts!

[erin_m]

A bunch of friends are there and are sending me text messages with updates...I'll be updating over at sale-pelletier.com whenever I get them...here's the thread:

http://www.sale-pelletier.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000286

[FollowYourHeart]

Thanks for the link but it hardly contains any information.

Anyone have anything?

[Jaana]

Here is a little bit info about Ice Wars:

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=8399

Marjaana

[erin_m]

Sorry, that's all they sent me...it's not exactly the best or easiest way to communicate.

I'm sure there will be more detail when they get back in front of their computers. It's better than nothing though right! ;)

[Jaana]

NicoleM posted on Ilia Kulik forum these links for her review (two pages):

http://pub8.ezboard.com/fskatingfanforumcompetitionresultsspoilers.showMes sage?topicID=115.topic

http://pub8.ezboard.com/fskatingfanforumcompetitionresultsspoilers.showMes sage?topicID=116.topic

[Meredith]

Pepsi Arena was nearly full. I was surprised at the number of attendees after having seen for myself how events such as these seem to draw fewer and fewer folks in the past few years.

Was it the concept? The skaters invited? The makeup of the crowd (mostly adult)? The ticket prices? Previous reports of some of these pros enjoying a rebirth of sorts? All of the above? I don't know. There were some really memorable programs -- choreography and music and skates that night.

Kurt opened the technical program to Moondance with a combo. His footwork was intricate, dancy and completed as only Kurt can do it. He fell on his second combo, popped back up without missing a beat. All in all, he was ON. Scores ranged from 9.6 to 9.8.

Viktor followed with Hotel California, looking extremely fit, confident. He started with a layback (wish men would do them more frequently) and continued with footwork perfectly timed to the beat of the music. Triple jumps were high and gorgeous. Fast, beautifully centered spins. Nearly flawless program. Viktor Petrenko skated like the Olympic Gold Medalist he is and he shocked and delighted me to no end.

Brian followed with Cliffhanger. Odd program starting with A/V elements I found a bit disconcerting. (Just me?) Tano lutz, great combo, huge death drop, but I found that my mind began to wander nonetheless. I enjoy Brian's skating, but didn't care for the choreography or music.

Ilia skated to Opus 71, Act 7 from The Nutcracker. I can't take notes when Ilia skates. I just took in the feeling/essence of the program. The program was beautifully constructed, with footwork seamlessly incorporated with other MITF leading to beautiful, effortless jumps. It was an intricate program, where Ilia uses his entire body, from blade to fingertip to express the music. I shot out of my seat at the end after having cheered into the ear of the poor lady in front of me, who, if she is reading this, knows how sorry I am. I only realized what I was doing after the event was over!

Nicole skated next to Where Do I Begin. Looks in excellent shape. She had (if I remember correctly -- notebook on the floor somewhere) a really good warmup, but don't think she landed the jumps she intended to land. I felt the choreography was a bit sparce as well. Not bad but not memorable.

Oksana, looking fit once again, skated to Russian Dance performed by Vanessa Mae and I was so pleased to see her stay on her feet. Beautiful white costume, gained confidence as she continued landing jumps. Squealed with pleasure after one landing. Yes, she is an Olympic Gold Medalist, yes she has been off the ice for awhile now, but I was pleased that she was pleased. I've looked forward to seeing her perform live since 1994!

Some of the highlights for me came from the pairs programs. I enjoyed each's musical choices, their choreography, and of course, the quality of skating they put on the ice.

Jamie and David's technical program was to Crying. If I had to choose one word to describe the feeling of this program, it would be "intimate" or "personal." It reminded me of Love Story in that respect. Their lifts were interesting and difficult but seemed effortless to them. No jumps because of David's foot, which I think hurt them in the tech mark. Beautiful skating to a song I've loved since it was first recorded. If they bring this to SOI I may buy tickets. It was that good.

Anton and Elena skated to Meadowland traditional. Again, a beautiful musical selection. Jamie and David's program was an extremely difficult act to follow in front of a most North American audience. I didn't think Anton and Elena would pull it off, but they did. Beautifully landed throw jump looked so easy for them. I believe she fluffed this in the warmup - but notebook was still on the floor so details sketchy. They took the lead over Jamie and David.

There was a break here. I found my notebook and started off with really good intentions of holding onto it.

[Jaana]

Thanks Meredith for the Act one review!!!

>Pepsi Arena was nearly full. I was surprised at the number of attendees after having seen for myself how events such as these seem to draw fewer and fewer folks in the past few years. >

That is a surprisingly good crowd for an event held on a Thursday evening... I believe though that Ice Wars did sell tickets very well in past season also? It was a same kind of USA vs. the World team competition. Oh, I think the same concept was in 2001 as well, but Ilia was not participating then, so I´m not sure.

Marjaana

[Meredith]

Second half. (Scarfed down a tiny hamburger during intermission since it was now about 9 p.m. and I hadn 't eaten since the previous day. Don't think 3 pretzels on the plane count.)

Viktor began with Flight, a vocal piece. Note to self: who is singer? At this point I have my notebook and am impressed with Viktor's speed, the coordination of hand movements. I love the series of little running steps he does. They build the excitement in the program. Again, very fast, centered spins. This was a beautifully choreographed piece that Viktor pulled off wonderfully well. After his skate he picked up a beanie baby thrown on the ice and fooled with the crowd with it -- lot of personality in this man -- then turned the stuffed toy to Kurt, who was taking the ice. A lot of fun interaction among the skaters. Perhaps that's one thing that draws the audience.

No marks yet until Kurt skated.

Kurt skated to Ding Dong Daddy, perfect vehicle for the footwork throughout the number and he is the master of footwork. Kurt has a wonderful body that expresses difficult moves without looking difficult. He is never ponderous. Gorgeous triple ? -- several of them. Best jumps I've seen from him in awhile, but then, I haven't seen him in awhile!

Head to head between Viktor and Kurt left Kurt the victor (no pun intended). Crowd did NOT agree. This is a primarily North American crowd either agreed with me that Viktor was superior in this matchup, or Viktor is perceived as a home boy. I think the former is the more likely scenario. I booed and I'm :oops:

Nicole's Dust in the Wind contained elements that she performs particularly well. Nice, low, centered sit spins, camel(!), spiral with a turn on end. Again, Nicole looks great - fit. Though she didn't land everything she set out to do, I thought this pretty impressive from her.

Oksana took the ice in a white costume and a scaled down version of the headpiece she wore at the Olympics. All in white, she skated to Swan Lake. This performance touched me on an emotional level and I watched it with tears in my eyes. There was an aura about Oksana and a manner in which she carried herself as she skated to that piece of music. It must have been shared by many in the arena, because the applause was thunderous. (I wrote: I must tell Brian.) Back to my feet. Lost my notebook.

I had been warned about the power of Ilia's A House Is Not a Home sung by James Ingram. All I can say is, I was not prepared. Ilia WAS the music and the lyrics. This was a very un-Ilia like piece of music (a song that I love, btw), and he choreographed each nuance of the power of the music and lyrics, all the time beautifully using arms, hands, fingertips, as well as legs, blades, back. Jumps were huge, as well as death drop, Russian split and a move I have no name for that he performed twice. He left me speechless.

Brian performed to a continuation of his first piece, this one named
A Persistence In Time. This time he added a chair, desk, typewriter, etc. I'd lost my book again (!) but I'll never forget that lutz. Brian gathers such speed and power across the ice it is a phenomenon to watch. Still, I was a bit disappointed with the vehicle.

Computer acting up -- better send this on.

[Meredith]

Continuation . . .

Pairs LP.

Jamie and David skated first to Who Wants to Live Forever. Another beautiful, haunting vocal with beautiful, haunting choreography to match. I didn't think they could top their first program, but believe they did. My impression was that the audience, held its breath throughout. If you have not already, wait until you see it. Stunning. Standing ovation.

Elena and Anton's music was that of Josh Groban's Let Me Fall, choreographed by Gorsha Sur. This is a fluid, lovely, intricate program, that if skated cleanly, may well have placed them ahead of Jamie and David or dead even. 8O Again, the music alone drew the audience in and the level of skating was magnificent.

World Team won by .3 of a point, but there were only winners on the ice Thursday night. The audience was extremely appreciative.

Ending note about this event. Not only did it draw an audience from throughout this country, but from all over the world. I sat with two young ladies who traveled from Tokyo for this event aloneand met two more who traveled from Germany. That says something positive about the popularity of pro skating or of this event or both, does it not?

Meredith, who wants to do it all over again

[expo86]

Thanks for your reports, Meredith. I really enjoyed reading them and am looking forward to the TV broadcast.

Now I'm really anticipating going to the World Team Challenge coming up in Vancouver (only 18 days to go!!!). :D It looks like the same skaters will be there except for Ilia Kulik :( and Nicole Bobek. We'll also see a number of additional skaters including 2 more pairs and 2 more ladies as well as Alexei Yagudin and Todd Eldredge replacing Ilia and Brian B.

[dmr65]

Beautiful review........
thank you..



Denise...

[FollowYourHeart]

Thanks so much Meredith, I cant wait to see this. :)

[bauer]

I might be going!!!

[karina1974]

Originally posted by Meredith
Pepsi Arena was nearly full. I was surprised at the number of attendees after having seen for myself how events such as these seem to draw fewer and fewer folks in the past few years.

Was it the concept? The skaters invited? The makeup of the crowd (mostly adult)? The ticket prices? Previous reports of some of these pros enjoying a rebirth of sorts? All of the above? I don't know.

I think the publicity surrounding it had a lot to do with the crowd size. The Pepsi Arena has long played host to COI and SOI, plus the 1996 US Pro Championship, Skates of Gold III (AKA G&G's last performance), and, as someone here reminded me, a previous Ice Wars comp. So, there are a LOT of skating fans in this area, besides the members of several skating clubs based in the area. Not to mention the fact that one of the sponsors is a 50,000 watt radio station that can be heard in several eastern states, a station that was constantly running ads for the competition. There wasn't anyone within earshot who DIDN'T know that this event was going on.

[Meredith]

Originally posted by karina1974
There wasn't anyone within earshot who DIDN'T know that this event was going on.

That answers a lot of questions. Thank you, karina.

[mission99]

when will this be televised

[Jaana]

It will be broadcasted on Nov 29: CBS 9-11 pm (EST)

http://heatherw.com/mk/sch.htm

Marjaana

[FollowYourHeart]

Wait, is Oksana skating to "The Swan" which was her exhibition piece for a few years or is she indeed doing "Swan Lake" as mentioned in the review, which was her short program at the 94 Olympics. A lot of time people get them confused in reviews because the names are so similar.

[Spark]

I am happy to hear that Oksana is back, landing the jumps and skating with the passion she used to!:D I haven't seen her skate in so long, and I've missed her.

Does anyone happen to know who wrote the songs S&P skated to? I've been disappointed since they turned pro because I've never been thrilled with most of their exhibition routines, but these sound good.

[Meredith]

If I had to guess who wrote Crying I would say Roy Orbison. His is the first version I heard of the song. I'm also guessing that a member of Queen wrote Who Wants to Live Forever. Freddie Mercury? Amazon isn't saying and I don't have a lot of time to look right now.

I'm thrilled with their musical choices, at least for this event, and really anticipate the televised event so I can relive the experience.

[bleu]

Crying - is K.D. LANG, choreographed by C. Dean, I think.
Who wants to live for ever is - Queen, sometimes, I read choreographed by Lori other times I read Roca&Sur.

[erin_m]

Crying is coreographed by Roca & Sur and Who Wants to Live Forever is choreographed by Lori Nichol.

[Dilng]

Thanks for the awesome review -- I'm so happy Illia and Oksana skated well. I can't wait to watch this tonight!!

[MQSeries]

Just watched it on CBS tonight.

Kurt's second number is amazing. He is the best dancer on the ice ever.

Brian was technically strong but the choreography/concept of both of his programs were painful to watch. It was gimmicky and Brian just didn't have the acting chop and danceability to carry off either numbers.

Viktor - It was nice to see him do numbers that didn't invovled standing in one place and shaking his booties but both programs didn't really have much choreographically.

Kulik's jumps were amazing - landings soft as feather. Spins were still his weak point but footwork had great flow, was innovative and perfectly expressed the music, especially the second number. It was so nice to finally see a straight line footwork that wasn't Morozied.

It was nice to see Oksana looking strong and happy on the ice. I would have like to see more choreography from both of her programs, but it was a nice effort.

Nicole - I think she turning into one of those skaters that are labeled as "pretty skater that doesn't do triples anymore". Oh well. Her second number was boring with simplistic looking choreography.

S&P - I love their first program. Their throw 3sal - throw 3sal sequence was amazing. I would have scored them higher than B&S technically. I didn't like their Qeen program as much, but I would have given them a higher score margin over B&S than what they got, because B&S had the fall of the 3loop and then sort of unraveled after that.

If there is an 11th Ice War next year, I hope they have a stronger ladies line up. At least have someone like a Yuka Sato against an Oksana Baiu.

[Alexa]

I saw the broadcast as well. It was my favorite skating event of the year so far. It was nice to see several clean and classic skating programs. I loved that the majority of the performances were good classic skating, and not too gimmicky (stealing the word from the previous poster). Though I agree Brian's was gimmicky. I hate large props in a program--it just annoyed me that he had that big desk with a typewriter on the ice, and wasted several seconds of his program sitting there. I thought his choreography was good, but the program would have been a lot better without the woman in the intro and the desk on the ice. I was glad the judges gave that win to Kulik. He had a clean skate and it was a nice program.

I was happy to see Kurt back to great programs with his creative footwork. I was getting tired of his comedic routines and missed him doing the type of programs he did tonight. Victor--thrilled he went back to simple programs with no props or booty shaking. Kulik--very glad he did well and got credit for it. I believe last year they overscored Scott and Kulik did not get the credit he deserved. Oksana--good to see her again. Good artistry and she looked very happy. Nicole--liked her second number, but she needs jumps or there is no point in competing. Agree that there should be a stronger female. Pairs...both did well, but I am glad for the high marks for the Russians. I thought their programs were a little stronger.

Glad the world team won, because last year, if I remember correctly, North America won only because they gave Scott too high of marks. I love Scott, but with only doubles and doing recycled programs, he did not deserve them. I thought the judging was better this year.

[memememe76]

Last year, it the US vs. World, so that Canadian skaters like Kurt competed with the World.

If there is an 11th Ice War next year, I hope they have a stronger ladies line up. At least have someone like a Yuka Sato against an Oksana Baiul.

Wouldn't Yuka compete for the World, though? The only NA pro lady that I could see competing would be Tara (but she's injured) or Josee.

[LTM]

Just finished watching Ice Wars.
Overall, very well skated. I agree, alexa, nice to see the lack of gimmicks, etc.
My favorite performances. Love B & S technical program, S & P (Who Wants to Live Forever is my favorite Queen number) and Kurt's artistic. I also liked Nicole Bobeck's artistic. I'm not looking for triple jumps in the artistic program. That's what the LP
in eligble competition is for.
Sadly Petrenko left me kind of cold and I couldn't get into Botanio's concept program.
And trival as this may be, I'm so glad Elena B changed her hair style and has lost that "deer in the headlights" look of her eligble
years. She looks like a grown woman now and it suits her.
Oksana looks wonderful too. Nice to see.

[mikey]

Very disappointed- I waited all night to see Leslie Visser's hair (just for old times' sake), and it was TAME! :P

[A.H.Black]

Yes, I have noticed that about Leslie for about the last year. Someone convinced her that she was still a decent looking woman and fixed her hair.

This is a little OT but just in case people don't know Leslie's story - she used to do a lot of football coverage in CBS's heyday. Then, one day, while she was running, she fell and landed on her face. As I read the story, she really destroyed her face in the accident and had to have a lot of reconstructive surgery. I noticed several years ago that she just didn't look the same. Then I read the story. I have always thought that the bad hair was a reaction to the accident. It was bad hair though.

Kulik - I have hoped someone would use that portion of the Nutcracker for years, and do it well. It was a great program.

[yogurtslinger]

Wow, I didn't know that about Leslie. Btw, what was that question she asked Kulik-- why did you choose to skate first? That was such a leading question based on all the commentary about how he wouldn't want to skate after Boitano in front of a North American audience, or what not. And there was another comment she made-- something about making history... it was just funny because B&S had no idea how to respond to that.

[MQSeries]

Originally posted by yogurtslinger
what was that question she asked Kulik-- why did you choose to skate first? That was such a leading question based on all the commentary about how he wouldn't want to skate after Boitano in front of a North American audience, or what not.

That was a funny moment. Kulik didn't fall for the bait and said matter of factly that he wanted to skate first simply because he was ready to go right after the warm-up. Boitano's artistic program just didn't work at all this year and wouldn't have pulled high scores from any of the judges.

[A.H.Black]

It's interesting the stories that the network commentators try to come up with. Then when they ask skaters leading questions, like Visser did with Kulik, you find out that the skater wasn't thinking about the same thing at all. I think Kulik does like to skate right after warming up. He was probably totally oblivious of the whole Brian, North America thing; at least at that moment and in the way CBS was trying to present it.

[Biffer1997]

Does anyone know the final results of Ice Wars? My VCR tape cut out just as B&S were starting their Artistic skate.


Who won the pairing between B&S and S&P and did World beat N.Am? Thanks!

:x

[Spark]

B&S won the tech program and S&P won the artistic.

The world team won the competition overall.

[Biffer1997]

Thanks, Spark!!:D