Photography by Ann Jensen

10/12/01 - Last night I attended Kristi Yamaguchi's Salute to Gold at the Arrowhead Pond. There was a security guard at the door who asked me to open my purse. He then examined the contents with a flashlight. However, he did not notice that I had a large camera bag on my other shoulder. At any rate, I was allowed to take photos at this event. As a matter of fact, I would have been allowed to use a flash, had there been any point in me doing that.

I will be referring to my friends opinions in this review, so let me introduce the "cast": My Mother, Pat; an experienced (15 years of skating) adult skater, Wade; a teenage skater; Danielle; her mother, Cheryl.

The show opened 20 minutes late with all cast members, dressed in white, skating figures around a light projection of the Olympic rings. Some sort of narration about achieving goals and so forth was going on. Then there was some groups back crossovers and spirals and such. Although I have always know Brian Boitano's back crossovers were...unusual, this particular group piece really made them more noticeable. Todd left the ice early, presumably to change costume.

Todd came out and skated the heck out of one of the variations of 1492. There was no lying on the ice in this variation. He did a lovely triple axel, and triple lutz and triple sal. Lots of tension & lovely positions.Did a very cool camel- jump camel. As always, I enjoyed the program & appreciated Todd giving it his all. Danielle does not care for this program or costume (she feels it looks like something from a sci-fi movie), but likes Todd "OK". Wade felt Todd was, as always, "stoic". My Mom felt that Todd always seems unhappy or down. She wondered if he had a bad love life. Wade and I said we thought Todd always seemed affably goofy in interviews and all the off ice settings we had seen him in. We theorized that this seriousness is simply his skating style.

Jenni & Todd came out and did "I Can't Make You Love Me". She fell on the only jump - a throw 2 axel. There was one pair spin and one death spiral - otherwise this was a lovely gentle adagio piece. Wade wondered if, since Todd's knee surgery, he can't jump at all any more. I have to say it does appear to be the case.

Irina Slutskaya skated to an Sarah Brightman sounding piece in a foreign language. She did a triple toe, a LOT of posing & hand thingees, a very cool series of back 3 turns into a solid triple loop and a triple sal. She wallowed on the ice for too long (in everyone in my group's opinion) and her hands were....overactive. But she skated very aggressively and solidly and it was an enjoyable number.

Steven Cousins did his "That Walk" number from last year's SOI. He had a bad skate - did a double sal, fell on the 3 flip, doubled a toe loop and was a little weak on one of his camel spins. Did a lot of playing to one of the cameras and did a couple of somersaults on the ice. Also did a bit of time wallowing on the ice.

Midori Ito (the main reason I came to the show) skated to a Latin number that featured the phrase "I don't want to be the one". She did a 3 flip into a 3? or 2? toe combo, a double axel and a nice long spiral sequence. I am not sure Latin music is exactly a natural fit for her. Seeing her do flamenco clapping hands with her lovely Midori smile was pretty cute, but... At any rate - the height & speed of rotation in her jumps was just wonderful. And even in comparison to a bunch of other skaters, this lady is teeny. Wade felt she still had no artistry. I feel she always got too hard a rap on this; but I am amazingly biased. I have no ability to have perspective on Midori. I was just giddy to be seeing her skate live after all these years. She is a legend to me. She could just come out & bow & I'd be thrilled.

Brasseur & Eisler did their "Sh-Bang" number. Amazing response from everyone in and out of my group. Skated fast & strong & all tricks were solid and complete. Why doesn't SOI give them a job??? They are a great show pair. And yes, Midori is even teenier than Isabelle. Also I feel a law should be passed preventing women who have had a child from having this sort of figure.

Brian Boitano skated in great pants (oops - sorry) to a song that I presume is called "You're still You". It was a sort of piano bar torch song. He did what I thought was a beautiful number with a ton of long edges and spread eagles and nice long figure style moves. Just mesmerizing. He fell on his tano lutz (Wade felt he set it up too close to the edge of the ice) and doubled his loop. He did a cool "inverted" camel. Wade hated this number - was bored by the long edge work. Danielle lumped this in with the "slow numbers" that were kind of boring. Pat liked his pants and was very sad about the jumps - although she was not aware the loop was a problem until I told her (it was clearly a mistake - his arms twisted up and open in midair).

Kristi skated to some song with a lady sing-speaking really fast that turned into a very hard rocking piece. She was dressed like a dominatrix & had "bed hair". Danielle and her mom liked it. Wade just loves Kristi. My mom and I were not amused by the "music" or costume. I admired some of the content - nice couple of wallys - don't see those much. Great sustained illusion spin. A triple flip and a double axel - has she always kind of "spun" the take off of her axel? She did it on both axels this evening and I don't remember seeing it before.

So - this was about 35 or 40 minutes of skating. And now it was time for intermission. A 20 minute intermission.

Steven Cousins started off the 2nd act with "Danny Boy". I like this number and he skated it VERY well. Triple flip - double lutz? a couple of great spins. My only complaint is that in a lot of the middle "powerful" music sections he does a lot of sustained 2 foot gliding. He holds a lot of tension and expresses the music well. But 2 foot glides are 2 foot glides.

Midori Ito then did a number to the very soprano opera piece we saw on TV the last time we saw her. She did a 3 lutz-2 toe into an enormous grin and a triple toe. I really like this number. Wade felt the music was downright comical and still thought she had no artistry. I thought the program was lovely and gentle and pretty and soft. My mom liked it too. But there is no reasoning with me about Midori (as I believe I may have mentioned). And so Wade will be written out of the will immediately. Damn Katarina Witt fan. Like he is a judge of artistry. But I am not bitter or defensive. Oh No Not Me.

Brasseur & Eisler did a number to the Squirrel Nut Zipper version of "Minnie the Moocher". She skated with a very long cigarette holder throughout the program. Sometimes she or Lloyd would hold it sideways in their mouth to do a trick. I like the program but could do without the gimmick - they are so exciting to watch it just seems unnecessary. As best I could tell, Danielle and Wade agreed with me.

Todd skated a great number to the Moulin Rouge version of Your Song. I was amused by this, as my husband and I had said we expected Todd to skate to this the first time we heard the song. It has the elements Todd seems to favor in a song - powerful dramatic music and self depreciating lyrics (I'm not so good - beat me whip me - I count for nothing - I know its not much) with a final climactic crescendo for the amazing spin. He did a triple loop and sal and axel. My notes say the always informative "Oh My God". Basically this boy makes my toes curl. Fran was two seats in front of me with her Todd flag - I didn't get a chance to say "hi", but I tried to take a photo of the flag. My zoom may not have cooperated.

Irina Slutskaya did the same program she did after Worlds - in the Blue catsuit. She did a triple sal and triple toe. Again there was excessive use of hands, but powerful and aggressive skating. Wade just doesn't like her style and is afraid for Michelle. I think she is cute and powerful, but I don't understand the hands and I am afraid for Michelle. Danielle and her mom didn't express an opinion on Irina; but they are afraid for Michelle. Got to be a weird position to be in where no matter what people think of you or your skating, seeing you skate mostly makes them think about another skater...

Todd and Jenni skated in red and black to the "Shrek" version of "I'm a Believer". Did a throw sal and a bunch of adagio moves - stag lift to headbanger dismount. Very nice number for them. Some cute business on Todd's part and generally nice skating throughout.More evidence that Todd can't jump any more. Glad they have managed to keep a career going anyway.

Brian Boitano did another soulful sad song. Landed a triple loop, a triple toe and what I thought was a single axel. I liked it just fine. Good pants, but my mother and I agreed that the shirt was a little long for the full effect. Wade liked it better cuz there was no big long stretches of edge work. I did not think more of Brian's back crossovers was an advantage; but we know that Wade and I are NOT eye to eye on the merits of various skating elements. I will assume that this would be lumped into "slow songs" for Danielle. My mom was happy he stayed on his feet.

Kristi did her Linda Eder "Gold" number. It is an odd piece - where does it come from? Is there really a musical with this in it? It is pretty much just saying literally "I touched the gold - I held the gold in my hand". I found the lyrics a little...self-agrandizing. But the number was great. Kristi messed up the lutz (short of rotation and 2 footed) but did a double axel, triple loop and triple toe. Her hair was up at the beginning, but began to deteriorate during the first spin and was completely down by the end of the number. Didn't seem to effect her; though she and Steven joked about it a little later.

The closing number started with Irina skating a short solo to "Reach" then everyone came out and alternated group skate with solo tricks. Todd E. and Irina did a little spiral pair push that was cute.

Retakes:

Steve Cousins - triple toe. triple sal (took 2 tries) triple toe. All from the first number.

Brian Boitano - triple lutz. triple loop from the first program. He actually skated the whole section of the program from the spread eagle before the lutz to the one one after the loop. Then he pumped his hand in the air & "whooped". My mom hid her eyes when he jumped. She asked me if I thought he was getting too old to jump. As a 38 year old person who is learning to jump I said "absolutely not - it is just a long recover from the knee surgery". Wade (who I feel I should point out is OLDER than I am) agrees.

Jenni & Todd - uneventful redo of the throw 2 axel.

Kristi - 3 lutz. She singled the first, then talked to Christopher Dean (he was the artistic director and choreographer) and did the triple.

Overall summary: This was not the best or worst pro show I have seen. Some nice stuff and some old stuff and some loud bad music. A grab bag. But a pleasant diversion that will hopefully have some lovely photo moments.

Updated 11/13/01: After reading my notes Wade felt he needed to clarify a few issues - following is his response to my review:

Ms. Jensen:

I do feel that I have been slandered about some of my comments made to you during the recent "Salute To Gold" show. It appears that only the things that I didn't like were mentioned, and you failed to note the MANY good things that I stated.

I do feel that this deserves mention in your site - a retraction of some sort.

Yes, I do feel that Midori Ito is short on style, but most definitely LONG on ability. She is a phenomenal jumper, as the world knows! Hmmm, somehow the fact that I LIKE her never was mentioned. I do recall stating that she is, and I quote, "as cute as a bug in a rug." Of course, even I am not certain of how cute a bug in a rug is, but it's just a saying.

Let me think - oh yes. I made many positive comments about both Todd and Brian. You don't mention that I am a big fan of both. Even though I felt Brian has far too many edge moves (and, undeniably, he does), I still am amazed at his ability, and think he most probably is my idol. Todd also is wonderful.

And as for Kristi, yes, the sun does rise and set with this cute, wonderful, talented woman! I admit I LOVE her. I love seeing her skate. I feel that she is even better now than when she was an amateur.

And as for your comment about my Katarina Witt - well, just stick it! I am in love with her, and just can't help myself. So she doesn't skate as well as she used to jump-wise, but she's as icon of the sport. So stick that on your blades and skate away.

As for Todd and Jenni, well I have known Todd for a very long time (since his days skating with Frank in Van Nuys at the Van Nuys Iceland rink). I do love their skating, but am concerned about Todd's jumping ability - or is that inability?

I am surprised that you didn't mention any of the negative comments I made concerning Steven. Yes I like him, but I did have a couple of choice things to say - those somehow didn't appear in your article. Maybe you forgot to write down what I said?

Anyway,

see you later.

Wade

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