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Stars on Ice Review - Seattle & Wenatchee, WA - Feb. 25 & 26, 2012
Written by Tina
My anticipation for the 2012 Stars on Ice tour was somewhat higher
than usual. It is the first year Kurt Browning has taken over as
choreographer and co-director of the tour, and I was eager to see what
he'd come up with for the tour. Aside from the challenges of
choreographing a full show for the first time, Kurt had some other
significant hurdles to overcome. A much reduced rehearsal time (just 3
days) and tour schedule meant that the skaters had far less time than
usual to learn the choreography of a complete Stars on Ice show, and
far fewer performances to get the show under their belts. In the past,
when the tour hit some 60 cities, sometimes it would take ten or so
cities for the cast to really hit its stride; this year, the tour is
only ten cities long.
Despite the limitations, however, it is very gratifying to see that
Kurt refused to dumb down the show or dilute what makes a Stars on Ice
show unique. The show features multiple transitions involving most of
the skaters in the cast, to help the programs flow from one to
another, and multiple group numbers, many of which feature quite
complex and intricate choreography and thought out concepts. There is
also a strong sense of the "Love 'n Life" theme running throughout the
show, without overdoing it to the point of beating the audience over
the head with it.
This year, the Seattle and Wenatchee shows were the only two
consecutive stops on tour within a reasonable driving distance of each
other (if you ignore the fact that there is a snowy mountain pass
between the two, as I unwittingly did). They also happened to be the
first two full performances of the show after the opening show at the
end of December. The cast has performed some of the programs and two
of the group numbers (Rolling in the Deep and Dog Days are
Over) in Japan, as well as in the special Salt Lake City show
commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2002 Olympics, but they
hadn't performed the entire show since Lake Placid. As a result, there
were some rough areas that obviously just need a bit more practice to
smooth out, but also a high sense of energy from the skaters.
Opening - A Suite for Stars - Cast
The opening number of the show's main function was to introduce the
theme of "Love 'n Life", while establishing a connection with the
audience by letting them see the skaters' personalities on the ice.
The show opens with Kurt's voice over the speakers musing "Love and
Life. What is it?" and continues with the skaters offering their own
takes on the answer via voiceover, as they skate on the ice. Their on
ice actions often mirrored or acted out what was being said in the
voiceovers. For instance, Kurt is bent over panting while his
voiceover says "life is exhausting", while enthusiastic puppy Ryan
pushes him playfully and says "life is great! I'm the champion!",
flexing his arm victoriously. Or Todd keeps quoting Gandhi while
trying to look zen, until the skaters confront him and ask him what
*he* thinks and he admits he doesn't know. There are the expected
uplifting platitudes about life being about forgiveness, family, etc,
but there are also threads of humor in the skaters' thoughts and
interactions. It's a bit of a skating-light opening, compared to past
openings, and it can be a bit cheesy, but it does strongly establish
the theme and set us up nicely to transition into Katia's first
number.
Love Will Keep Us Together - Ekaterina Gordeeva
Katia's voice offers the last thought on life ("life is full of
possibilities") and the rest of the skaters leave the ice as "Love
Will Keep Us Together" starts playing. Katia's first program is
light-hearted and charming, with Katia flashing playful smiles at the
audience as she skates. Katia's effortless grace and astonishing speed
couple together to present a polished, fun performance of a song that
I admittedly do not love. Her technique is gorgeous, her spins lovely
and centered, and her jumps, though many of them are doubles, are
beautiful (and she does several). All in all, it is a nice way to
start the night.
For the first two transitions of the night, Ilia played the odd man
out in the dancing quartet of Ilia, Ryan, Todd, and John Kerr. In the
first transition, each man comes out in a red jacket with a flower
pinned to the lapel, presenting themselves all cool and
happening. Ilia, however, has a ginormous daisy pinned to his lapel,
which keeps getting in his way and distracting him, throwing him off
so he keeps falling out of step with the other guys and has to get
pulled back in line as he distractedly bats the flower away from his
face. Finally, each guy dances off the ice, and Ilia finds himself
alone. In frustration, he pulls the daisy off his jacket and throws it
at the tunnel before stomping off the ice.
Johnny Got a Boom Boom - Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman
Within seconds of starting their fun, energetic, trick-filled program
to "Johnny Got a Boom Boom", Kyoko and John quickly reminded me of
just how much fun and energy they add to a Stars on Ice show. These
two are guaranteed crowd pleasers, from their gasp-inducing "fly high
and say bye" to the applause-drawing spin where John holds Kyoko out
upside down and spins around, to the headbanger where Kyoko really
seems about to bang her head on the ice and then fly super high off
the other side, to their numerous one-handed lifts with exciting
dismounts. They also seem to have invented a few new moves, one of
which I can not describe for the life of me, but which I found
immensely cool each time I saw it. It's so good to see them skating
together.
I'm Yours - Kurt Browning
No transition into Kurt's number - the lights go down and the
announcer simply says "A true legend - Kurt Browning". The first few
notes of "I'm Yours" start playing as the lights come up, and there
Kurt is, skating his immensely charming love letter to the fans. "I'm
Yours" isn't a new program - Kurt first skated it in 2009 - but he's
never done it on the US Stars on Ice tour, and it fits beautifully in
with the theme of the show. Although I've seen this program countless
times, I never tire of it, and I'm still staggered by how quick and
light his feet are, especially in some of the initial
dancey-segments. He just seems to lightly skim right over the ice,
barely touching down. In Wenatchee, there seemed to be an odd patch
of ice in one section, since a number of skaters had problems
there. In Kurt's case, he was just sidling along sideways for the
choreography to the "scootch on over closer dear, let me nibble your
ear" when he suddenly tripped and fell, to his obvious amused
consternation. Kurt being Kurt, though, he just smiled ruefully,
scrambled back up, shook his finger at the problematic spot on the
ice, and went on. To me, "I'm Yours" is the perfect match of song and
skater, and it just makes me smile every time I see it.
The same four guys from the first transition came back out on the ice
to continue to dance and charm the audience, and once again Ilia was
out of step. In this case, the choreography kept having the skaters
make punching motions, and Ilia kept finding himself at the receiving
end of Ryan's punch. As the dancing progressed, he found a solution,
by watching the other skaters cautiously as he danced, ducking out of
the way each time Ryan's fist came his way. He began to smile proudly
at his cleverness, dancing with greater confidence, until he failed to
duck the last punch, which knocked him slowly backwards into a
patented Ilia backbend until he slumped onto the ice. It was quite
amusing to watch. Hats off to Geoffrey Tyler for some fun
transitions.
Dos Gardenias - Sasha Cohen
Sasha's first program was to the Spanish-esque Dos Gardenias. I'm not
quite sure Sasha has quite the red-hot intensity required to really
pull off a sultry number, but she did quite a credible job with this
one, making unflinching eye contact with the audience as she performed
the choreography. The positions she hits are always beautifully
extended and lovely, and she has lost none of that signature
flexibility in her transition to full time student. This was a good
program for her, and enjoyable to watch.
Footloose - Ryan Bradley
In my opinion, Ryan Bradley seems to be the new Steven Cousins on
tour. Super-charming ear-to-ear grin, fun and entertaining connection
with the audience, at times similar types of choreography, and
somewhat less polished than the other guys on tour. I loved Steven,
and Ryan is fast winning me over, so this is not a bad
comparison. Footloose is the better of his two show programs, playing
to his strengths of enthusiasm, energy, and charm. He throws some
really fun steps in, dancing on his toes in a way that made me
appreciate that he wasn't going to fall into the "point into the
audience and grin while skating on two feet" style of show skating
that some skaters get into when they go pro. However, I have to admit
that after seeing it for the 3rd time (once at Love on Ice in January)
the program doesn't hold up as well as on initial viewing. It's VERY
choreographed to only one side of the ice (the opposite side than the
one I was on), and there is a lot of repetitive choreography which
starts making the program feel a tad bit long. These are all things
that can be fixed and refined as he becomes a more experienced show
skater, though, and Footloose is definitely a lot of fun to watch,
especially the first time.
Formidable - Joannie Rochette
As Ryan leaves the ice, Ilia comes out with a bouquet of flowers in
one hand and a box of chocolates in the other, clearly all pumped up
and in a confident, flirtatious mood. He presents himself all "yup,
yup, I'm all that", grinning into the audience, putting the flowers
down to smooth his hair and primp himself up. As Joannie comes out on
the ice, he spots her and confidently and happily strides down the ice
towards her, flowers and chocolate outstretched, only to have her blow
right by him without even seeming to notice he was there. He's all
"wtf??" and starts gesticulating wildly with frustration while ranting
in Russian, with a random "triple salchow" thrown into what he was
saying (drawing laughs from the audience), and then sulkily opens the
chocolate box and starts munching while glaring at Joannie. His
voiceover makes eating noises and then mumbles "Women!" as he stomps
off the ice.
In the meantime, Joannie has made her way in her big sunglasses and
scarf and stunning red dress to the side of the ice, and is calmly
standing there in a flirtatious manner, just waiting for her music to
start and the ranting Russian to leave the ice. Formidable is one of
my favorite Joannie Rochette programs I've seen from her on tour. It
suits her to a T - she's languidlly flirtatious, and sexy, and really
commits to the choreography, and yet there's a certain degree of
elegant reserve and grace underlying everything she does, which
doesn't detract from the interpretation, but makes it uniquely
Joannie. She's also usually one of the most solid and consistent
performers, in terms of going for triples and landing them
cleanly. She was having an unusually off night in Seattle, maybe
because her hair came loose and she couldn't see, or she was tired
from all the traveling she does, but was back on her game in Wenatchee
the next night.
The Waiter's Gallop - Todd Eldredge
After Joannie left the ice, the spotlight came up on Kurt, dressed in
a red shirt, black vest and bow tie, gesticulating wildly as his
(accented) voiceover declares that as Maitre de Hotel (I think) of the
restaurant, he expects everything to be of the highest standard (or
words to that effect) before storming off the ice. The audience around
me seemed kind of confused as to whether this was a Kurt program, and
it took them a second to notice Todd, pushing a table and two chairs
out onto the ice and setting things up for the dinner service.
The Waiter's Gallop is essentially a comedy piece featuring Todd as
the harried, frantic (and possibly not entirely competent) waiter
trying to serve his customers, John and Kyoko. He gets off to a good
start by seating Kyoko but letting John fall to the ground when he
goes to sit in his chair, and then forgetting to serve them water -
when this is pointed out to him, he rushes off with the pitcher to the
end of the ice, where he grabs a water bottle out of an audience
member's hand and proceeds to pour that into his pitcher, tossing the
still partially full bottle aside, and then rushing back with it,
turning and doing footwork along the way (and spilling water
everywhere). When he gets back to the table, he pours Kyoko water, and
then distractedly shrugs and splashes water all over John, who leaps
to his feet in anger. Things get knocked over, but he somehow manages
to placate them. More frantic whirling about the ice ensues as he
grabs a tray with dinner plates fixed to it and zooms around the ice
with it before finally placing it in front of them, and then goes on
to do various other little leaps and moves down the ice as his
customers try to eat. He then comes to them with the check, taking the
dinner with him as he goes. In Seattle, this worked effectively - John
reacted like "wait, wtf, I'm not done eating yet", so when he then
exclaimed in irritation over the bill and refused to pay it, it made
more sense - he was mad at all the crappy service. In Wenatchee, he
didn't seem as irritated by the mishaps, and then didn't react at all
to the dinner being taken away, so the stomping away without paying
the bill made less sense. At any rate, Todd returns to find the
customers gone and the check unpaid, so he hands it to an audience
member, miming "someone's got to pay", and then leaves the ice,
pushing the table and chairs ahead of him. The program isn't exactly
high on meaningful skating content, but it's amusing and fast-paced,
and Todd plays the character well.
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 - Sinead & John Kerr
The next program was a stark contrast to the previous comedic high
energy number. It opened with Sinead and John standing still at the
side of the ice, covering their eyes, and gradually built from
there. I LOVE this program. I love its elegance and grace, the
beautiful, yet not overplayed subtle emotion, the flow and speed of
their blades across the ice, and the way the program just builds in
intensity with the music. It probably helps a great deal that I like
the music rather a lot, but I think Sinead and John do a fantastic job
interpreting it. Just gorgeous.
Who Wants To Live Forever - Ilia Kulik
Instead of using other skaters to do the transition, after the
applause for their program, Sinead and John put their serious faces
back on and skate a slow, glidey transition to the opening strains of
"Who Wants to Live Forever", and pass things off to Ilia as he skates
out between them. This is another song that I love, even if this was a
violin interpretation rather than Queen's beautiful song. I at times
didn't find the choreography all that compelling - a lot of throwing
one arm into the air dramatically - but Ilia's power and intensity
more than made up for it in making this a compelling program. His
speed across the ice, the height and power of his jumps and leaps, the
expansive movement of his long limbs across the ice - it's just an
uniquely Ilia package that draws the audience in.
Rolling in the Deep - Cast
After Ilia's program, the lights go down, and three shadowy figures
make their way out onto the ice, accompanied by the unusually
amplified sound of their skate blades on the ice. And so begins my
absolute favorite number - ensemble or solo - of the night, and one of
my favorite group numbers in recent memory. This number showed, IMO,
more than anything how Kurt wasn't going to compromise on complex
choreography just because they were limited in rehearsal time. The
number opens with just Todd, Ryan, and Kurt on the ice. Their blades
are miked, like in the "Five Minutes for Icing" number over 15 years
ago, and the opening is an exploration of creating rhythm and sound
patterns with footwork, with a little personality thrown in, as Kurt
tries to strike out on his own to do footwork, only to be pulled back
by the other two. They make their way down the ice, as a pulsating
beat starts up, and as they reach the end, they stomp their feet and
throw the attention back down to the other end of the ice to the three
ladies who have appeared down there, as Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"
starts up in earnest. Then it's Joannie, Katia, and Sinead's turn to
pull the audience's attention in with their strong, music-driven moves
as the guys slide back and forth at the end. When the guys and girls
meet, the choreography is combative, miming stylized punches and
blocks. In the past, Stars on Ice has done numbers with the guys
pulling or lifting each other into moves, or the traditional guys
lifting girls, but Kurt seems interested in having the girls also
skate together, from Sinead and Joannie lifting Katia by the arms and
pushing her forward, to Joannie and Sasha doing side by side spirals
with their arms around each other's waists. He also mixes up the
pairs, with John Z lifting Sasha and John K lifting Kyoko when they
first come out, or in a slightly repeated motif over "we could have
had it all", having each guy flip a girl over his shoulder and then
carry her. He doesn't seem to do any of the traditional group number
stuff in the typical way - rather than skaters skating in a big
circle, they skate into a kind of moving spiral, with the skaters
spiraling closer in and then breaking out as they weave in between
each other (a potential disaster waiting to happen, but very cool
looking when it works). Rather than doing simple footwork or steps
back and forth in unison when skating in a line down the ice,
individual skaters in parts of the line (whose blades are still miked)
break into swooping slides which punctuate the music with the sounds
of their blades, which provides both an interesting visual and aural
counterpart to the music. This being Kurt Browning choreography, he
challenges the skaters with his steps, but he also challenges them
with the lack of steps - at one point, the girls glide in a V
formation super slowly down the ice on one foot, having to stay
perfectly balanced for an extended period of time without momentum
helping them, as they gracefully move their arms. Since most of them
were wearing stomach-baring costumes, you could see their abs tensing
and flexing as they fought to hold their balance. Describing each
individual part isn't really adequate - this is just a really cool
ensemble number with interesting complex choreography to a great piece
of music, and a great way to send people into intermission wanting to
come back.
Act II
A Life Loved - Todd Eldredge, Sinead & John Kerr, Katia Gordeeva, Ilia Kulik, Joannie Rochette, Kurt Browning
Act II opens very differently than act I closed, with a quiet,
melancholy, introspective tribute to the movie Up. If you've
seen Up, then you know that in the beginning of the movie,
there is a montage depicting the main character's life with his wife
through the years. "A Life Loved" in Stars on Ice puts this on ice,
with Todd Eldredge dressed as an old man sitting in his living room at
home. He puts on an old record and begins to reminisce. First, Sinead
and John come out dressed as the young, vibrant couple, with John
noticing Sinead, courting her, them happily skating together with
great speed and energy, and John lifting Sinead. Their segment ends
with John on his knee proposing to Sinead. There was a difference
between Seattle and Wenatchee here, because they're still tweaking
this number to fix what doesn't work and what does - in Wenatchee,
Todd over in his armchair is also down on his knee with the actual
ringbox in his hand, mirroring his memory. After Sinead and John,
Katia comes out dressed as a housewife, busily dusting away. Ilia
comes in as an older, more dignified (and taller) version of John, and
entices her away to take a stroll with him. Their choreography is more
subdued - slower but still vibrant and powerful, less youthful
exuberance and more controlled passion. As it progresses, it becomes
clear that Katia is pregnant - she protectively cups her stomach, and
as Ilia realizes what it means, he takes his glasses off and jumps for
joy. The last couple is Joannie in a perfect costume - saggy socks and
"flesh" on her legs - saggy everything, in fact, with granny glasses
and her hair in a grey bun, and Kurt as the old man, unable to pull
his suspender up over his shoulder without help. Mirroring the motions
Ilia used to convince Katia to take a walk, Kurt gets Joannie to go
for a slow, creaky walk together. There are some really cute bits here
- like the two of them taking a deep breath and look like they're
about to plunge into some energetic skating together, only to let out
the breath and hobble slowly down the ice. Kurt goes to try to lift
Joannie, and basically throws out his back, and the two together just
present a really cute picture of an old, physically decrepit, but
still loving couple. The joy is broken, however, when Joannie doubles
over clutching her chest and Kurt holds her with concern. If you've
seen the movie, you know she dies, but I have to say that it's not
super clear in the show what's happening, b/c she basically looks like
she's just coughing. They're still working on trying to make this part
work better - in Seattle she literally looked like she was just
coughing gently while Kurt skated away from her backwards. In
Wenatchee, she doubled over more and Kurt held her while they sank
down somewhat. Unfortunately, the light didn't cut out soon enough
they just sort of froze in a hunched over position, rather than the
light going down over them as they sank (which is what was supposed to
happen). I suspect this number will look subtly different in future
performances as they work on improving this. At any rate, after Kurt
and Joannie leave the ice, Todd nostalgically picks up the photo of
his wife (it's a picture of Katia), looks fondly at it, and then
slowly and laborious does a few turns while holding it, like he's
imagining dancing with her, before sitting down, and finally kissing
his fingers and gently placing them on the photo. It's a really cute,
sweet number, and should get even better with some tweaks.
The Best Is Yet to Come - Ryan Bradley
While the transitions in Act I were all done by the guys, the
transitions in Act II were the girls, and I have to say, didn't work
nearly as well. There wasn't much character, the theme was carried
forward more by the music (each clip had some "life/love" theme - like
one was to "that's what you get for making whoopie" or something), and
the transitions didn't really fit in with the programs they led
into. I still have to be happy that they did transitions, though. The
transition for this program was Sasha and Kyoko skating together,
which was pretty and elegant, and then Ryan comes out and does a few
turns with each before they both skate off the ice, leaving him
standing there (which was a bit odd).
I understand why Ryan picked this song, thematically (between the life
theme and wanting to express that his national championship wasn't the
end of him), but I just didn't feel he really had the maturity or
choreography to really pull this program off. There is absolutely no
faulting his personality, smile, or charm, but I liked Footloose for
him way more.
Pencil Full of Lead - Sinead & John Kerr
On the other hand, Pencil Full of Lead suited the Kerrs really well,
and presented a real fun contrast to the flowing elegance of their
first number. The fun upbeat nature of the program already made itself
apparent in their costuming - John in black and white striped pants
and a loud pink shirt, Sinead in similar patterns/colors in her
dress. It opened with them both "sleeping" on the ice, spaced far
apart. John wakes up in a really amusing fashion, and then tries to
wake Sinead up, who just waves him off and continues to sleep. He
mimes winding up a clock and putting it next to her, and then backs
away, covering his ears. A really loud alarm goes off, scaring her
into an indignant sitting position, but she quickly cheers up as he
jumps over her head, and they're off into a fun, fast-paced, goofy
number. The number features a lot of fun bits, including their
patented gender bender lifts, where Sinead carries John, and some fun
straightline side by side footwork sequences up and down the ice. It's
a great number for them (the Scottish accent of the singer works
perfectly too), and so much fun to watch.
Indestructible - Joannie Rochette
I'm not sure what's up with Joannie's single word titled,
formidable/indestructible themed programs this year - is she trying to
say something? ;) - but I enjoy them both. "Indestructible" is kind of
a techno-club dance number with an underlying driving layer of emotion
and power. The song itself is kind of electronic with a driving beat,
and Joannie dances really well to it, with great intensity and an
entirely different vibe from her first number. I love that her
programs don't really have empty space - her feet and arms are always
moving and her body is always creating different shapes. I have no
idea who she actually worked with to choreograph this program, but it
reminded me of some of Jeff Buttle's recent dance-driven show
programs, which was quite interesting.
Amazed - Todd Eldredge
The next transition had Kyoko, Sasha, and Sinead skating around all
flirtatiously, each kind of coyly skating around Todd Eldredge when he
comes out, as he stands there smiling fondly at them. It's an odd
choice, given that his number is basically about how in love he is
with one woman, but at least the transition doesn't really have him
reciprocating, just standing there as they skate around him.
This number threw me off a little, because I kept thinking "hasn't he
skated to this before?", but it turned out I was thinking of Michael
Weiss' number to the same song a few years ago. Comparisons aside,
this was a nice program from Todd, expressing his love for his fiancee
in his heartfelt and graceful choreography. He's not doing too many
jumps these days, but his spins are still fast and centered, and he
knows how to deliver a lovely performance.
Waiting for my Real Life to Begin - Ryan Bradley, Kurt Browning, John Kerr, John Zimmerman
Stars on Ice has a tradition in the last decade of an all-guys'
number, and it's usually a goofy number with a lot of personality and
guys doing fun tricks together. Kurt, knowing the tradition, decided
to take a decidedly different tack with the guys' number, creating
essentially a modern dance work of art with the help of dancer Linda
Garneau (who did his "Downstream" number last year). In my opinion,
the number in concept, design, and execution, was simply stunning and
mesmerizing to watch. The setup is almost beautifully simple - four
guys, each with a single spotlight on a stand, which provided the bulk
of the lighting for the program, wearing simple white tank tops and
black pants, skating to a simple acoustic guitar-and-vocals song. The
program derives its power from the play of light and shadow, from
stillness almost as much as from movement, from the beautiful shapes
made by a dancer's body position and arms. It alternates between utter
stillness as the skaters each stand in place, only moving their head
or a limb, and bursts of passionate movement that are both perfectly
controlled and yet contain an ocean of emotion. In particular, John
Zimmerman's and Kurt's solo segments stood out gorgeously. John's was
all passionate movement in spread eagles and stretched out lunge
position, and movements in and out of pools of shadow and light as the
other guys moved the lights to all point at him. Kurt's started off as
a beautiful demonstration of dance in body positioning and movement,
and then turned into a gorgeous demonstration of edge control as he
did essentially a square shaped spread eagle around the four lights,
going straight down between the lights, then curving around the corner
to instantly straighten again around all four sides. Unfortunately,
Ryan also stood out, but in a less positive way. I give kudos to Kurt
for choosing to include Ryan to help him develop as a skater, but at
the moment, Ryan doesn't have the body line or grace in arm movements
and tends to rush the choreography a bit. I think it will come with
time, though, and I think this number is a great opportunity for him
to really stretch artistically. If it isn't apparent by now, this
number was by far my other favorite in the show. I found it impossible
to shoot photos of it, due to how dark it was, but I could watch it
over and over.
Big Spender - Sasha Cohen
The lights from the previous number became a rather suitable
transition prop for Sasha's number, as each light alternated turning
on and off to light Sasha's path onto the ice, in a very Vegas
showgirl kind of way. I have to say, "Big Spender" is very clearly a
program that Sasha loves performing, and which works extremely well as
a result. The number's a bit of a showstopper - Sasha in a very
cleavage-baring silver sparkly dress, alternatingly coy and full-on
sexy, flirting openly with the audience, and unashamedly flaunting her
assets. Aside from an odd transition from show tune to almost a heavy
metal take on the song, the music fit Sasha perfectly, and the
audience absolutely adored this number. It's a great show number for
her, and really took the energy up in the room.
Love in this Club - Ilia Kulik
In the next transition, Sinead, Joannie, and Katia all notice Ilia
when he comes out in his glitterbombed sweatshirt (says IK on the back
in glitter), but it's Katia who beckons him after her and draws him
into the tunnel, only to unceremoniously push him back out, which was
funny, but also didn't really go with the opening to his program. I
think the guys' transitions worked better partly because they *didn't*
interact with the performers on either end of the transition. If they
were going to interact, they needed to flow into the program
better.
I have to say, if you listen to the lyrics, "Love in this Club" is a
rather eyebrow-raising choice for a song in a "family" show, but
honestly you hardly notice while watching Ilia skate. Power is still a
defining theme when Ilia skates - when he goes up into one of his
flying camel/butterfly/whatever you call them, it's jaw dropping - but
this number also played to his take on techno dancing. It also
highlighted how Ilia has become a much more extroverted show skater,
playing up the sex appeal and even taking off his outside shirt rather
flamboyantly while grinning into the audience. It's a fun number, and
a fun contrast to his first program.
Take Me There - Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman
Even when Kyoko and John do a quieter, softer program, it's still
chock full of exciting lifts. In Seattle, one of their newer lifts got
a little too exciting, when Kyoko lost her balance while leaning way
out from John, and he had to save her from crashing to the ice (I
think getting her ankle stuck up on his shoulder a little too long in
the process). They recovered as quickly as they could, but the rest of
the program looked a bit more tentative, possibly b/c Kyoko may have
hurt something during that botched lift. In Wenatchee, things were
much cleaner, and we were able to see both the moves that they had had
to skip after the lift, as well as the sentimental, romantic flow of
the number.
Feelin' Good - Ekaterina Gordeeva
The last two programs of the night were a first for Stars on Ice - the
first time two different skaters performed to different versions of
the same song in the same show. They chose to handle this by putting
the programs back to back, and I have to say, it worked really
well. If "Rolling in the Deep" and "Waiting for My Real Life To Begin"
were my two favorite ensembles in the show, these two versions of
"Feeling Good" may have been my two favorite solo numbers of the
night. The reason they ended up with the same song twice is because
each skater independently chose it, and it's clear why - they both
obviously strongly connected to the music.
Katia's program was to the Pussycat Dolls' version of the number, a
kind of slow, bluesy, sultry take on the song. It was the slinkiest
I've seen Katia skate, with intricate sinuous body movements that
really went with the flow of the song well, subtle bits of
choreography, and interesting steps. I really loved her
interpretation of the lyrics and the style of music - this also may be
one of my favorite Katia programs ever. She also landed some beautiful
jumps here, including an absolutely clean 2-lutz.
Feeling Good - Kurt Browing
To transition between the two numbers, Katia greeted Kurt as he came
onto the ice and asked him, "feeling good?". His reply? "Oh yeah..",
as he tossed his hat to her. Kurt's program was to Adam Lambert's
version of the song, which was less bluesy and more rock, had some
more interesting vocal interpretation, and built to a greater
intensity than the Pussycat Dolls' version. And Kurt's interpretation
was correspondingly more aggressive, more powerful, stronger in its
movements, with subtle bits of movement that fit really well with
Lambert's vocalization. His footwork built with the music, and his
jumps came out of nowhere and transitioned quickly into further
choreography, rather than having held landings. There were bits of
interpretation that kind of faintly recalled Katia's - how they
interpreted "fish in the sea", "dragonfly flying on by" - which helped
to both complement and contrast with her program. Kurt's performance
in Seattle was considerably stronger than his performance in Wenatchee
(he seemed pretty exhausted by the end of the show in Wenatchee, which
is completely understandable given his dual duties as performer and
director of the show), but both were still captivating to watch. At
the program's conclusion, Kurt goes back over to his hat, which Katia
left on the ice by the tunnel, and flips it up with his skate and back
onto his head. In Seattle, unfortunately, the hat refused to
cooperate, kind of ruining the cool vibe of the ending, to his
chagrin, but in Wenatchee it worked perfectly. What a great final solo
number for the evening.
Dog Days Are Over - Cast
The finale for the show was to "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + the
Machine, a song that worked remarkably well as a high energy,
interesting, end to the show. The number opened with a subtle callback
to Sasha's skateless ballerina program from a few years ago - she is
lifted by 3 of the guys, who transfer her from one to the other
without ever touching the ground, before carrying her back into the
tunnel. The song itself has a great deal of contrast to it - slow bits, super
fast bits, loud bits, soft bits - which lent itself to very
contrasting choreography. IMO, this number doesn't work quite as well
as Rolling in the Deep, and it might actually be because there are
*too* many steps - the skaters are all skating a great deal of
footwork in a group up and down the ice, and they often don't seem to
have quite enough room, and seem to be thinking really hard and
scrambling to keep up while executing the footwork. One skater who
seems to absolutely have gotten the choreography down and carries it
out with aplomb is John Kerr, though. He does a fantastic job in this
number. Many of the other skaters look a bit like they need some more
performances to really feel comfortable with this number. It is
definitely really interesting, a choreographically complex finale, and
a fun way to end the show, though. Kudos to Jeff Buttle, who I
understand helped a lot with the finale.
Overall, I really loved this year's show, and was blown away by just
how much Kurt was able to put into the show with so little time to do
it. Some decisions were made, such as making the opening number
theme-heavy and skating-light, to accommodate the reality of their
logistics, but I really admire that he didn't compromise on doing
complex choreography in most of the group numbers. The theme of "love
'n life" carried really well throughout the whole show, without being
overemphasized, and the whole thing felt like a real, cohesive Stars
on Ice show with some of the best group numbers they've had in
years. I realize that the show only visits 10 cities and is already
halfway through the tour, but if it is at all possible for you to
catch a show, I highly recommend it. For the rest of you, I wrote this
review - quite possibly the longest one I have ever written, but
hopefully one that will give you a picture of a tour you weren't able
to see. Here's hoping Stars on Ice comes back next year, with Kurt at
the helm and more resources to put on an even bigger and better
show!
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