2002/03 Winter COI - Pittsburgh

[PAskate]

I went to the Winter COI for the first time yesterday afternoon in Pittsburgh. The show was a 2 pm matinee. Attendance was fairly poor and they hadn't even sold the upper levels. I wonder if the Sunday right before Christmas conflicts with lots of holiday travel plans and holiday parties. I didn't take notes, so this is just from memory, and the order is probably not right. NOTE: Nancy Kerrigan didn't appear in Pittsburgh.

Opening - Same lighting and music from the summer tour. The skaters all did short highlights in the spotlight for the intros to a variety of music.


Nicole Bobek "ABBA Medley" - Nicole opened the show to a medley of ABBA songs. Parts worked really well, but some of it fell flat to me. I think that this program will continue to get better. She did hit a nice 2 axel, but I don't remember any triples. Costume - bright yellow 2 piece with a headband that has to go.


Punsalan/Swallow - Sorry, I don't know the music. Very romantic and smooth program with flowing lifts and edges. Costumes - black and bronze. Very nice number.

Surya Bonaly "Shadowlands" - This was a very nice number. She looked great until she has a fall on a jump. She seemed to be hurting when she got up and later in the closing, she still seemed tentative. I hope that it's nothing. She landed several triples. She seems to have more flow and connecting moves between the "tricks", so it seems like life as a pro suits her. And of course, she did her trademark back flip. This was probably the first program in the first half that the audience really responded to across the board.

Besedin/Polischuk - I don't know the music - perhaps a Russian song. This was new program where they were miners. There was more skating and speed, but they still did their trademard acrobatics

Kazakova/Dmitriev "Unforgettable" - I haven't seen this program before, and it is gorgeous. She wore a peach dress, and he wore a basic black suit with peach colored suspenders. They seem to be taking the lead in pro pairs in innovation and used his suit jacket in lifts and various other moves. It was just seamless. I could sit and watch a program like this one over and over again.

Philippe Candeloro - This appearred to a ninja theme. I didn't really think that it worked. The crowd didn't seem to know what to think about it, but at the end he did his trademark stripping and they went wild.

Rudy Galindo "Rocky Horror Picture Show" - Rudy did a great job playing the character of Dr. Franknfuter. He initially skated in what appeared to be black top with black pants which later turned into a sequined bodice with his legs in dark stockings. He landed several triples, and had at least 2 jump combos. I don't remember seeing anyone else do any combos. I've seen the movie, so I liked the program as it perfectly fit the theme. However, the audience didn't go for it at all. For the first time ever, I heard boos at COI.

Dan Hollander "A Kiss to Build a Dream On/I Want You to Want Me" - A really entertaining program. The announcer starts things by saying that Dan is celebrating his 70th birthday today. Dan comes out in a tux with gray hair. He skates slowly and carely to Louie and then transforms into a teeshirt and silver boxers. The program then switches modes to fast and funny. Dan as always has wonderful footwork and speed. And of course, the backflip.

Dorothy Hamill "You've Got a Friend" (James Taylor) - Dorothy wore a simple blue/purple dress with ruffle across the top. The skating was beautiful - all edges, extension, and amplitude. I didn't think that there was a moment in the program that didn't look beautiful. It was simply skating.

Irina Grigorian - Irina opened the second half with her hula hoop program. Dan was her assistant - bringing out the additional hoops throughout the number.


Kazakova/Dmitriev - They skated to their "Matrix" program. It is still as enjoyable as before. The lifts with the puppet strings still are amazing.

Philippe Candeloro "Proud to Be an American" - The program started fairly basically, but about half-way through, ripped off the arm of his shirt to reveal a U.S. flag hanging from his arm. There was just something about a French citizen skating to this music that just didn't work for me.

Besedin/Polischuk "Carmen" - Another number that was new to me. I have to admit that I enjoyed this one was well. After seeing the Swan Lake number for so many times, I had gotten jaded to their amazing talents. I'm glad that they had these 2 new numbers, so I can appreciate and enjoy them again.

Dorothy Hamill "When Autumn Comes" (Linda Eder) - Dorothy closed the show with a lovely number., She wore a orangy red dress very much the color of fall leaves. All the usual beautiful edges and poise, but also some lovely jumps. Besides the jumps, she also had some great spins including a gorgeous layback.

Finale - I would describe the closing as a carnival/Marti Gras theme. Bright colorful costumes, everyone getting a spotlight highlight, and then streamers being dropped from the ceiling in Marti Gras colors of gold, green, and purple.

[Lynnet]

No Elvis?

[PAskate]

Elvis was there. He had 2 solos - one in each half. I don't remember the music - sorry, but he had great footwork and quite a bit of hydroblading moves. More hydroblading than I remember him doing in recent years. Perhaps someone else will post with more details. Also several nice jumps. I think that he seemed more relaxed to me than the last several times that I've seen him although I've never been to a stop on the Elvis tour.

[shopper]

thanks for the reports.

[Amandah]

PASkate--thanks so much for the great review. I was there, too, and you pretty much covered it.

Rudy won't be performing Rocky Horror any more on the tour. I guess Tom Collins heard the boos of which you speak. I didn't, thank heaven. At least he let Rudy try it out a couple of times. This was wonderful characterization, a well-constructed program, and some terrific skating on Rudy's part, and I'm sorry those who might appreciate it won't see it. Rudy's ability to capture style and nuance, much as he did in the Fosse program, was very evident here. It will be on the televised version of the Elvis SK8 Tour. Thanks to Elvis for sticking with it.

I've always been wary about Dan Hollander's Old Man number (saw it on the Summer Olympic Tour, too, when he was trying it out). It's just a little too close to my heart, maybe! Anyhow, the woman sitting next to me, and the two women on my other side, all 70 and older, thought he really WAS an old man. When one of them mentioned during the intermission that the old guy really skated well, I tried to gently tell her that it was a young man playing an old man. It didn't set very well with any of the three of them and I felt terrible. It's one thing to be old and skating like an old man; it's another to be young and doing it.

I thought that Punsalan and Swallow were superb in every respect and in both programs. The country song was amusing and beautifully skated and performed, and "Song Of India" was gorgeous--the costumes, the music, the skating, the inventive and flowing movement.

Loved Nicole's costume, but again, she got caught in the horrible cuts trap. "Winner Takes It All" is such a fabulous song for a woman, I wish she would have done an entire number of it. I felt rudly interrupted when it cut off prematurely for the upbeat stuff.

I agree with you completely about Philippe's patriotic number. That is one for only an American to perform to... I was bothered by it. As Joe stated in his review, I didn't know if he was being funny or serious in the first program he did, although I guess it was the former considering how much time he spent schmoozing the audience.

The finale was odd...lavish costumes and big hats that looked to have been designed by Urmanov or his costumer! Rudy got the best costume--a harlequin multi-colored jumpsuit with no hat and he kind of darted around directing the other skaters in the cumbersome costumes. He deserved that.

Amanda

[NorthernLite]

Originally posted by Amandah

Rudy won't be performing Rocky Horror any more on the tour. I guess Tom Collins heard the boos of which you speak

Eisler dresses in drag and gets laughs and cheers. Rudy gets booed. Well, we could get into a long sociological commentary on that, couldn't we?

[Amandah]

And Petrenko's second number featuring a female voice saying something to the effect of, "Wouldn't you like to go to bed with me?" at least half dozen or more times throughout the program raises no hackles.

Even Philippe's wrapping the American flag around his arm and skating around with his shirttails flying to "I'm proud to be an American," got huge cheers and applause.

I understand Tom Collins' dilemma in terms of respecting his audiences. Maybe it's the audiences in whom I'm most disappointed. I'm not sure they really recognized or appreciated how much Rudy skated in the program, either--on a hip he can hardly walk on.

Amanda