Stars on Ice Squeeage!
Mar. 22nd, 2004 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newmoonstarLast week was insane. There are many reasons for this, but the best one by far was that I went to see "Stars on Ice".
I cannot even begin to describe how cool this was. I, as a rabid, hard-core figure skating fan, nearly died from the coolness. (Either that or the monster headache I had; of course I had to get a blinding migraine on the ONE DAY in my entire life I go to see "Stars on Ice".)
But, I gladly endured the excruciating pain for the chance to see all those skaters I love in person. I happened to be sitting in a weird seat; it was the third row, which is literally three feet from the ice, but it's on the same level as the row in front of it, so the heads of the people in front of you are right in front of your face, and you can't really see the ice except for small sections in between people's heads. It was a bad seat for actually seeing the whole performance, but when someone would skate past, they were SO close, and you could see all the little details of their costumes and make-up, and things you really can't see on TV. It's really weird too, but somehow their skating seems even more effortless in person. And a lot of programs that I thought were heinously boring to watch on TV actually were quite good in person.
For instance, I wasn't terribly keen on Yuka Sato's "Misty" program this year, but after seeing it live I really love it. Yuka's skating is so joyous, and whatever vibe the skater puts out, the audience can totally pick up on. I guess that's the coolest thing about these tours.
I'm still kind of reeling from the fact that I actually got to go. It was so unbelievable that the day before I was watching tapes of them on TV, and the next day they're three feet in front of me! I've worshipped all these skaters for years, so it's kind of weird to see them as real people! And they're all REALLY beautiful. You don't realize on TV just how gorgeous everybody is, because you're so used to seeing perfect looking on TV, and usually with skating, you're concentrating on what the actual skating looks like, not the skater. But in person you really can't help but notice how beautiful everyone is. I never noticed before how all the men are really muscular, and all the women are really tiny (which I think is because most of them are pairs skaters). But it's just interesting what weird little things like that you notice!
Speaking of cool, seeing Elena & Anton's "Kalinka" program was a special treat, because they've never skated it on TV, so I'd never seen it before. They're my absolute favorite skaters, and I love to see everything they do. Well, except for that godawful Elvis/Marilyn Monroe medley they did last year, but thankfully good sense prevailed this year and they had two solos which were absolutely beautiful. Even though it really hurt my head each time the audience applauded, I always made sure to clap and scream the loudest for their performances. You have to show the support for your favorite skaters! I wouldn't scream for anybody but them! I cannot state emphatically enough how beautiful their skating is. You can really see how smooth and graceful it is in person. And it's really evident that they have fun together. It's great to see all the skaters really having fun with eachother; especially in the group numbers; those are so priceless when something doesn't go quite right, and you can see them laughing and making do as best they can.
I do, however, protest the use of coreography in which the male skaters shake their asses about to give the old ladies in the audience a thrill. It ineveitably thrills the old ladies quite well, and surprisingly, a vast majority of the audience is made up of them; everybody in the seats around me was a woman over forty. But, when faced with having them all squealing around me as John Zimmerman stood in front of us and wiggled around a bit during his and Kyoko's number, it was really embarrassing, and kind of demeaning too. Yes, we get that these guys are hot. But we want to see them skate. These are world class athletes and artists, not chippendale dancers, if you please.
It was of course, much more tame this year than it was last year, when they had that godawful cowboy number, with lots more embarrassing ass-shaking and vaguely homo-erotic coreography. Thankfully now that Sandra Bezic is gone, and Christopher Dean is in as artistic director, there should be a return to class and dignity. Christopher Dean is a god, with actual skating and coreographing talent, unlike Sandra, and he really had a good concept for this year's show with the theme of "Time". The little transitions in between each number gave the show a wonderful flow, and there was a sense of connection between all the numbers. It felt much more unified than usual, and it was really satisfying.
It was especially cool because at the end of the last number, when they're all in their final pose, Todd Eldredge ended up DIRECTLY in front of my seat, and he looked STRAIGHT at me! I was so surprised when they stopped and he stopped right in front of me, that I just kind of sat there staring back at him for a second, until I recovered enough presence of mind to yell out "I love you Todd!" which, honestly, I don't think he heard or understood, since the crowd was screaming and clapping so loudly. But he just kept smiling all the same until he skated away with the rest of the cast. But the fact that Todd Eldredge actually recoginzed my existance for thirty seconds is immeasurably cool!
Anyway, it was all so uber cool that I can't even begin to describe it, which is good, because I think my fingers will fall off soon from all this typing!
I cannot even begin to describe how cool this was. I, as a rabid, hard-core figure skating fan, nearly died from the coolness. (Either that or the monster headache I had; of course I had to get a blinding migraine on the ONE DAY in my entire life I go to see "Stars on Ice".)
But, I gladly endured the excruciating pain for the chance to see all those skaters I love in person. I happened to be sitting in a weird seat; it was the third row, which is literally three feet from the ice, but it's on the same level as the row in front of it, so the heads of the people in front of you are right in front of your face, and you can't really see the ice except for small sections in between people's heads. It was a bad seat for actually seeing the whole performance, but when someone would skate past, they were SO close, and you could see all the little details of their costumes and make-up, and things you really can't see on TV. It's really weird too, but somehow their skating seems even more effortless in person. And a lot of programs that I thought were heinously boring to watch on TV actually were quite good in person.
For instance, I wasn't terribly keen on Yuka Sato's "Misty" program this year, but after seeing it live I really love it. Yuka's skating is so joyous, and whatever vibe the skater puts out, the audience can totally pick up on. I guess that's the coolest thing about these tours.
I'm still kind of reeling from the fact that I actually got to go. It was so unbelievable that the day before I was watching tapes of them on TV, and the next day they're three feet in front of me! I've worshipped all these skaters for years, so it's kind of weird to see them as real people! And they're all REALLY beautiful. You don't realize on TV just how gorgeous everybody is, because you're so used to seeing perfect looking on TV, and usually with skating, you're concentrating on what the actual skating looks like, not the skater. But in person you really can't help but notice how beautiful everyone is. I never noticed before how all the men are really muscular, and all the women are really tiny (which I think is because most of them are pairs skaters). But it's just interesting what weird little things like that you notice!
Speaking of cool, seeing Elena & Anton's "Kalinka" program was a special treat, because they've never skated it on TV, so I'd never seen it before. They're my absolute favorite skaters, and I love to see everything they do. Well, except for that godawful Elvis/Marilyn Monroe medley they did last year, but thankfully good sense prevailed this year and they had two solos which were absolutely beautiful. Even though it really hurt my head each time the audience applauded, I always made sure to clap and scream the loudest for their performances. You have to show the support for your favorite skaters! I wouldn't scream for anybody but them! I cannot state emphatically enough how beautiful their skating is. You can really see how smooth and graceful it is in person. And it's really evident that they have fun together. It's great to see all the skaters really having fun with eachother; especially in the group numbers; those are so priceless when something doesn't go quite right, and you can see them laughing and making do as best they can.
I do, however, protest the use of coreography in which the male skaters shake their asses about to give the old ladies in the audience a thrill. It ineveitably thrills the old ladies quite well, and surprisingly, a vast majority of the audience is made up of them; everybody in the seats around me was a woman over forty. But, when faced with having them all squealing around me as John Zimmerman stood in front of us and wiggled around a bit during his and Kyoko's number, it was really embarrassing, and kind of demeaning too. Yes, we get that these guys are hot. But we want to see them skate. These are world class athletes and artists, not chippendale dancers, if you please.
It was of course, much more tame this year than it was last year, when they had that godawful cowboy number, with lots more embarrassing ass-shaking and vaguely homo-erotic coreography. Thankfully now that Sandra Bezic is gone, and Christopher Dean is in as artistic director, there should be a return to class and dignity. Christopher Dean is a god, with actual skating and coreographing talent, unlike Sandra, and he really had a good concept for this year's show with the theme of "Time". The little transitions in between each number gave the show a wonderful flow, and there was a sense of connection between all the numbers. It felt much more unified than usual, and it was really satisfying.
It was especially cool because at the end of the last number, when they're all in their final pose, Todd Eldredge ended up DIRECTLY in front of my seat, and he looked STRAIGHT at me! I was so surprised when they stopped and he stopped right in front of me, that I just kind of sat there staring back at him for a second, until I recovered enough presence of mind to yell out "I love you Todd!" which, honestly, I don't think he heard or understood, since the crowd was screaming and clapping so loudly. But he just kept smiling all the same until he skated away with the rest of the cast. But the fact that Todd Eldredge actually recoginzed my existance for thirty seconds is immeasurably cool!
Anyway, it was all so uber cool that I can't even begin to describe it, which is good, because I think my fingers will fall off soon from all this typing!
