melanieuk
08-01-2002, 12:13 PM
The first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the place.
Huge. Immense. Vast.
I don't just mean the ice (my own ice is not far short of Olympic size), but the seating and height of the place was amazing.
It was packed with people, the ice had a greeney/blue hue, and a live symphony orchestra was playing.
Everybody stood to the [b:9a84f43bcf]Queen,[/b:9a84f43bcf] then it was on with the show, hosted by [b:9a84f43bcf]Jayne Torvill & Chris Dean[/b:9a84f43bcf] (with skates on!)
I won't comment on the actual skating elements, except to say that I enjoyed [b:9a84f43bcf]Elena's[/b:9a84f43bcf] thrown triple loop and [b:9a84f43bcf]Ilia Kulik's [/b:9a84f43bcf]outside spread eagle thing, when he bends right back with the top part of his body.
Kurt Browning provided humorous entertainment as a clown, skating with guards still on his blades some of the time. His pretend falls were pretty good!
I enjoyed[b:9a84f43bcf] Sasha Cohen's[/b:9a84f43bcf] spirals and her Ribbon Programme to Aria. She did miss a jump, but I feel she was a bit nervous.
I'd never seen [b:9a84f43bcf]Steven Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] live before, so that was interesting. He is very handsome!
I was disappointed that [b:9a84f43bcf]Robin Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] couldn't skate due to more knee surgery. He did sing us a song though, but I know what I'd have preferred!!!
[b:9a84f43bcf]Tristan Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] (Robin's nephew) was among the skaters in Nottingham's group, as was [b:9a84f43bcf]Constanze Paulinus[/b:9a84f43bcf] who had the opening solo performance. I think she was nervous aswell.
There was an entertaining "comedy" performance by the GB team short track, Hockey players AND figure skaters (yes, all on the ice at the same time) skating to the Skaters' Waltz
The top 2 UK dance couples also skated. I felt it would have been great to have had last year's number 2's skating there too, as they have great ability to please a crowd.
I'd seen [b:9a84f43bcf]Anissina & Peizerat [/b:9a84f43bcf]skate live before (at Euros 2002), so I was not as impressed with their Spanish number as I might have been.
The little girl (dressed in white) aged about 3/4 skated at the end, did a little spiral and curtsied to the Queen. Brought a tear to my eye!!
The show lasted about an hour and was over too quickly, but most enjoyable and worth every mile/penny!
My highlight was seeing [b:9a84f43bcf]Elena Berezhnaya.[/b:9a84f43bcf]
She has a class all of her own.
For other reports, see:
www.mcnige.freeserve.co.uk/fsc/
And this:
groups.yahoo.com/group/UKskaters/
Huge. Immense. Vast.
I don't just mean the ice (my own ice is not far short of Olympic size), but the seating and height of the place was amazing.
It was packed with people, the ice had a greeney/blue hue, and a live symphony orchestra was playing.
Everybody stood to the [b:9a84f43bcf]Queen,[/b:9a84f43bcf] then it was on with the show, hosted by [b:9a84f43bcf]Jayne Torvill & Chris Dean[/b:9a84f43bcf] (with skates on!)
I won't comment on the actual skating elements, except to say that I enjoyed [b:9a84f43bcf]Elena's[/b:9a84f43bcf] thrown triple loop and [b:9a84f43bcf]Ilia Kulik's [/b:9a84f43bcf]outside spread eagle thing, when he bends right back with the top part of his body.
Kurt Browning provided humorous entertainment as a clown, skating with guards still on his blades some of the time. His pretend falls were pretty good!
I enjoyed[b:9a84f43bcf] Sasha Cohen's[/b:9a84f43bcf] spirals and her Ribbon Programme to Aria. She did miss a jump, but I feel she was a bit nervous.
I'd never seen [b:9a84f43bcf]Steven Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] live before, so that was interesting. He is very handsome!
I was disappointed that [b:9a84f43bcf]Robin Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] couldn't skate due to more knee surgery. He did sing us a song though, but I know what I'd have preferred!!!
[b:9a84f43bcf]Tristan Cousins[/b:9a84f43bcf] (Robin's nephew) was among the skaters in Nottingham's group, as was [b:9a84f43bcf]Constanze Paulinus[/b:9a84f43bcf] who had the opening solo performance. I think she was nervous aswell.
There was an entertaining "comedy" performance by the GB team short track, Hockey players AND figure skaters (yes, all on the ice at the same time) skating to the Skaters' Waltz
The top 2 UK dance couples also skated. I felt it would have been great to have had last year's number 2's skating there too, as they have great ability to please a crowd.
I'd seen [b:9a84f43bcf]Anissina & Peizerat [/b:9a84f43bcf]skate live before (at Euros 2002), so I was not as impressed with their Spanish number as I might have been.
The little girl (dressed in white) aged about 3/4 skated at the end, did a little spiral and curtsied to the Queen. Brought a tear to my eye!!
The show lasted about an hour and was over too quickly, but most enjoyable and worth every mile/penny!
My highlight was seeing [b:9a84f43bcf]Elena Berezhnaya.[/b:9a84f43bcf]
She has a class all of her own.
For other reports, see:
www.mcnige.freeserve.co.uk/fsc/
And this:
groups.yahoo.com/group/UKskaters/