. Steven stayed in the costume from the opening number. It was
"classic Steven" with lots of audience flirting in the program. But he
backed it up with the tricks including 2lutz, 3toe, 3salchow, spins and
some really spiffy Russian splits. It was a very fun program :) Music by
Jack Mac & The Heart Attack.
Next Scott introduced Susan Anton who sang "How Sweet It Is" while
walking around the front row seats.
Yuka Sato - "Color of Roses"
Yuka skated to Susan's singing and this was a lovely performance
of a program that's become something of a signature program for her. It
was beautiful with lots of nice edgework and some double axels.
Roca & Sur - "Heatbreaker"
To live music by Jack Mac, Rene & Gorsha pulled out their SOI
number from a few years ago. It was a fun high energy number and I'm
really impressed by them considering they aren't really performing much
anymore. Lots of nice lifts and carries.
Rory Burghardt - Not much to say about this rather unimpressive
program. The only thing was she seemed a little better than she was
in L.A. last month.
Hamilton - "With One More Look At You"
With Gary Morris looking rather ridiculous in a full length fur
coat Scott performed this trademark number. It was a nice enough
performance of it. It's honestly hard for me to review it because I'm not
much of a Scotty fan so his programs tend to disappear from my mind not
too long after I've seen them. He did manage a nice 3toe and 3salchow. It
was followed by a solo number by Morris.
Meno & Sand - "You Can Leave Your Hat On"
This was a very cute playful sexy number from them and it was
performed really well. They had a slight problem on one overhead where
Todd's hand slipped on her skirt but thankfully he got her down ok. Nice
stag carry lift though. It was a program with some nice personality which
is an area they've definitely improved in since going pro.
Todd Eldredge - "Whiter Shade of Pale"
Skating to live music from Jack Mac, this was a stunning
performance by Todd. It was very different from his usual program setup
with much more footwork and interesting moves that flowed across the ice.
It was a more complicated program than I think I've ever seen from him and
the moves just flowed from one to the other. He opened with a textbook
3loop and followed with both a 2axel and 3toe plus the usual compliment of
spins. On an amusing note, while waiting for the show to start a friend
and I were commenting about how Todd does such great edgework and that
wouldn't it be great to see him start a program with a figure? And
imagine our surprise when Todd comes out and starts his program with a
nice figure (I was at the other end of the rink but it looked similar to a
back paragraph loop that I've seen before, but I could be very wrong on
that!). It's too bad figures have become something of a lost art as just
watching Todd control those really deep edges was just stunning. Costume
was his dark brown leather pants and a long sleeve shimmery copper shirt
(actually Kurt's from the SOI Strobes Nanfusi opening 3 years ago). I can
only hope that Todd picks this for one of his SOI programs - it's
definitely one of his best ever programs!
Kurt Browning ' Sex Machine"
I unfortunately missed much of the beginning of this program as I
was arguing with one of the security people about my camera, but the
second half looked good. Definitely a high energy fun number from Kurt.
Intermission.
Ensemble- ??
The second half opened with Jack Mac and Co. playing some high
energy tune and they were later joined by the rest of the cast. Men were
in black leather pants and solid colored t-shirts (red for Steven, lime
for Todd, hot pink for Gorsha, orange for Kurt) and the women in leather
pants and tank top shirts. Quite honestly I don't remember much about the
choreography but *imho* those costumes were definitely a hit in my book -
the men looked great! It looked like the skaters were having a lot of
fun. The one really impressive move I remember was with Steven, Kurt and
Roca doing a series of back spirals together - very cool!
Sato & Dungen - "Since I Fell For You"
While it was weird hearing a different arrangement of this tune
(it's a long-time standard for Micky Dolenz so I've heard it more times
than I can count), I think that this was one of the best programs yet for
this team. They really seemed to connect as a pair with their moves. And
Yuka had gorgeous extension on the overhead press lift.
Scott Hamilton - "??"
Sort of your typical 'goofy guy' skating program from Scott.
remind me of "You Can Call Me Al" from SOI a few years ago. Lots of
mugging to the audience and cute little footwork bits.
Next up was Gary Morris's son Matt who played the piano and sang.
Steven Cousins - "??"
*wow* and I do mean *WOW* This was a phenomenal program from
Steven! It started with Matt playing and singing and after one verse
Steven joined him on the ice. Think slow sultry sex appeal and you've got
this program down. I love seeing the quieter side of Steven's skating as
he does it so well (now if only SOI would let him do it on tour!). He had
a nice series of russians followed by triple toes plus a 2flip and 2axel.
Costume was stone-washed gray leather pants, black t-shirt and patterned
red shirt worn open.
I also have to give real credit to Steven for the sheer number of
programs he's got this year. he debuted one at Mariposa, two new ones at
Ray Charles, two new ones at this show, one new one at Kurt's upcoming
show and there's still the new one for SOI (I forget the title but it's a
tune by David Byrne and Escape II). That's 7 new programs just this
season! And the 4 I've seen so far have been really great and full of
details.
Ruh - "Without You"
Ruh came out in a skin tight lyrca irredescent purple body suit
which of course made her spins really effective. I have to agree with
others though that her spins definitely seemed slower. Still miles faster
than other skaters but on the slow side for Lucinda though. She did
manage a double toe plus a nice spiral in the program too.
Roca & Sur / Meno & Sand - "Proud Mary"
This was a fantastic duo number with some real high energy music.
There were several instances of each team doing the same lift which were
both pairs and dance lifts so it was nice to see dancers doing pair moves
and vice versa. There was also some partner swapping going on and I have
to say that Gorsha and Meno made an excellent combination. Very fun
number though at times it was hard to decide which pairing to watch.
Browning - "Bring Him Home"
You knew with Gary Morris being here that Kurt would end up doing
this number and since it's a beautiful one there were no complaints by me.
Kurt joined Gary partway into the song so it wasn't the full version but
it was still excellent. Kurt does slow and steady so well it was a joy to
watch. ANd the long forward spiral is just breathtaking.
Todd Eldredge - "Drums"
This program was definitely another departure from Todd's usual
style. Accompanied only by the drummer from Jack Mac, Todd treated us to
a program of footwork, footwork, footwork. The drum beat was more in the
line of some improv playing and it looked like Todd was having a blast out
there. There was an amusing moment in one of the sit spins where the
drums just kept getting slower and slower (along with Todd's spin) til
they finally stopped and todd fell over onto the ice - very funny! The
varying percussions speeds gave some nice bits of fast vs. slow footwork
but even the slow footwork was quite snappy. Todd was most definitely
gasping for air at the end of the number - there weren't any breaks in it!
Costume was black leather pants and the brown velour shirt.
Todd then stayed on the ice where he was joined by Steven Cousins
for something of a mini Scott Hamilton love fest to introduce Scott's
final performance. As you can guess I'm not one for the overdone 'we
love scott' stuff that seems to happen at his shows.
Scott Hamilton - "??"
Scott came out for a short solo number that basically previewed
the finale.. Some high energy footwork plus three backflips.
Finale - "Land of 1000 Dances""
A nice high energy finale finished off the show. Costumes were
black leather pants and gold and black sparkly shirts. It had lots of
skaters doing various tricks around the ice. Todd landed a gorgeous 3axel
and Steven had some nice Russians. The skatrers also had the fans up and
dancing along for the last bit of the finale and all the skaters seemed to
be having a lot of fun out there.
It was definitely a great show, and I can only hope that the
broadcast does it justice. :)
