SOI reviews from Hamilton
Review by Michelle Hacon
I am now home from Stars on Ice and have got myself composed enough to
write about it. I'm afraid my total excitement doesn't have much to do with
Shae-Lynn and Victor...but it's interesting and exciting news anyway....:)
I met Kurt Browning tonight. Cool huh? I am just so excited. :) He is my
absolute favourite skater of all time! Anyways, it was after the show and
we were in the parking lot driving out. And we had to go past the tour bus,
and the trucks and everything that were in the basement of the arena...and
as we were going up this really steep hill he comes walking down with his
suitcase rolling along behind him and he came right up to our car and
started talking to us! It was just amazing :) Ok...now on to the review of
the actual show....
ACT 1
Ok...the opening number was really cool...everyone was wearing red
shirts with black leather (vinyl most likely) pants. Shae's hair cut looks
really nice, it suits her...although it was a little hard to pick out which
one she was from my nosebleed seats. Her hair is very similar to Elena
Betchke's hair style. Although, once the lights got out of the way and they
started skating it wasn't too hard to distinguish who was who. I'd forgotten
how terrible it is to sit way up at the top of the building. I'm so glad my
seats for Skate the Nation are better! I'll be able to see things a lot
better from the third row :) Ok...so the first number was skated to Bonham
by Christopher Rouse. (Never heard of it, but the music was really good)
Then Shae-Lynn and Victor skated to The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin.
Still in the red tops with the black leather (?) pants. They were first
off. Then there were a couple more Led Zepplin numbers, one with Josee
Chouinard, Steven Cousins, and Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler...I found
that one to be a bit busy...too much to watch all at once... Then Kurt and
Brian skated to No Quarter also by Led Zeppelin...(I can't remember the
opening number anymore :( ) Ok...throughout the evening the skaters
dressed all in black and came out and wandered around in the stands and did
filling basically....so Steven Cousins started that off. It was really a
cool idea...although it was a bit hard to tell who was who...I think that
was the point though. So then Ekaterina Gordeeva skated to Smile by Nana
Mouskouri. That was a really nice program...very suited to her story. You
know..."Smile though my heart is breaking..." etc. Then we had more
muses...then Brian Orser skating to 5 Months, 2 Weeks, 2 Days by Louis
Prima. That was his usual jazzy stuff. Then Torvill and Dean, a cute
little tango number, Brasseur and Eisler who skated to Fly by Sugar
Ray...that was good. Isabelle did a LOT of flying! :)
Then it was Riverdance....I must admit that the top level where I was
sitting didn't stand for them before they'd skated. However, from what I
could see the lower level did it's part admirably. I liked the program,
although I really wish they'd kept it the way it was all season and skated
that...I like it better personally. It was great though, they had all that
nice fast footwork and they skated it very well...probably perfect in fact.
And of course they wore those green outfits from the Olympics and Worlds.
Green suits them (they wore that nice bright green in the grand finale too)
contrasts with their hair colours really nicely. :) Anyway, there was a
standing ovation for them after Riverdance too...as was to be expected :)
And even the people in the cheap seats stood up then! :) It was great...I
have NO idea how they're gonna top that...but they must have something in
mind.
So then after that it was time for "Fun and Games" It was a cute little
skit that they did about the Olypmics. Isabelle Brasseur should win an
Oscar for playing Pasha!!! *laugh* Now wouldn't that be an interesting
twist to Pasha's dreams of Oscar sucess?? :) Ok...Shae-Lynn and Victor were
judges. Sorta fitting when you think about it! Brian Orser was the
narrator..and he managed to get his two cents worth in there. It was a great
group number. Poor Josee (Annie Ne'eragin---sound like Nancy Kerrigan??)
got whacked and had to go into a cast...so Katia (Lily Pureheart---aka Tonja
Harding) won the gold medal by default..which made Jayne Torvill (Ivana
Medal---Lily's mom) very happy! Kurt played Cyril Lutz...and skated an
EXCELLENT program *laugh* and got 6.0's across the board! Like I said..it
was a really cute, and funny skit. Right before intermission so I had to
skip out a bit early...couldn't stand to wait in line at the bathroom!!!
ACT 2
More Muses. Shae-Lynn and Victor were a part of the muses. It was
really neat...they walked up the stairs, out and around the corner of the
rink, and back down the stairs on the opposite side and onto the ice...where
there was a bench with their skates...just waiting for them to put them on.
Victor was the fastest and he sat up straight and tapped his hands on his
knees in time to the music...he got the crowd clapping along with him
somehow... The muses were dressed all in black, with sunglasses and black
hats on...very cool! And they were always very composed...aloof...no
smiling...nothing. It was really an awesome idea...I have no idea where
Sandra Bezic gets her ideas from...she must have them floating around in her
head constantly!
Then we had Josee skate to her sweater program...I really like this
number. She doubled all her jumps, but the lights weren't the best for
triple lutzes....and also the ice was REALLY wet at both ends... It's cute
though. Steven Cousins skated next...it was a good program. He had on nice
tight pants *lol* And...to tell you the truth...that's about all I can
remember...he did some really nice triples in there though, it was a well
skated program to Love Rears it's Ugly Head by Living Colour. Elena
Betchke and Denis Petrov skated next to a piece of music that sounded like
traditional Russian music...from the name of it, it actually appears to be
French. I really enjoyed this program....it's full of neat lifts and really
interesting moves. It was great. There was an Elvis Prestley section where
Katia, Kurt and Josee all skated. Brian Orser skated to the Beastie
Boys...NOT traditional Brian Orser music to be sure...and it was a great
program. :)
Stop by Sam Brown. Shae-Lynn was wearing this really nice white dress.
It was shorter than what she normally wears, and it was a different style
skirt too. It has spaghetti straps that cross at the back to form an x. It
is short like i said, and it's umm...comparable to Kristy Sargeants dress
from their free skate this year. I'm not sure how to explain it any better
than that. It has slits up the sides of the skirt, the skirt isn't flared
at all. It was nice and sparkly :) Victor wore black pants and a tight
black t-shirt. I liked this program too. I think they might have had a
couple little slips in it, but it's still new..so that's to be expected. I'm
really glad they got a new program. As much as everyone loves "When we
touch" I was personally getting a bit sick of it....I've seen them skate it
so often. I think this was a great piece for them. From the angle I was at
it looked like they kissed at the end of the program...or at least it looked
like they were supposed to be kissing...whether or not they did I don't
know.
The show went on to include Brasseur and Eisler skating to Ballroom
Blitz, Torvill and Dean Skating to Still Crazy after all These Years by Paul
Simon (very cool program...Jayne and Christopher are great at
choreographing...wouldn't it be great if they worked with Shae-Lynn and
Victor for next year?? I heard someone talking about that...not sure if
it's going to happen or if it was just a vicious rumor) Then Kurt skated
his Antares program. For those of you who don't know...the Tragically Hip
wrote the song especially for him to skate to! I love it! (I say that a
lot don't I??)
Then, the finale was skated to Stairway to Heaven. It was really
nice...they came out as the muses and then Josee's black clothes were ripped
off of her by the rest of the muses and she skated to a part of it....very
sparkly red dress....the muses went off and then they all came out in their
different coloured clothes as well. As I said before Shae-Lynn and Victor
were in green, almost the exact same shade as their Riverdance costumes.
The ladies dresses were all the same, very sparkly...and very pretty. The
guys wore pants and t-shirts to match. Everyone loves Stairway to Heaven
(I've never run across anyone that doesn't like it at least) So they
skated to that...did the finale thing...bowed and bowed...shook the
hands...etc...and it was over :( But..I met Kurt Browning in the parking
lot!! :)
Email: shaeandvic@hotmail.com
