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| When Bramina & Lena went
to see Grease the Musical |
| By Bramina Braet |
| I was one of three lucky All Stars to win a pair of
tickets to see "Grease the Musical" at Singapore
Indoor Stadium. And it was so much fun! |
| I have heard the songs many times now, but it was even
better to hear and see them performed live in Singapore!
Thank you very much to the promoters Quest Entertainment
and Quest Vacation International for sponsoring tickets
to the All Stars Figure Skating Club. |
| It was a special thrill for me because I skated the
principle role of "Sandy" in a team production
of 10 members of Grease at "Holiday On Ice"
in December 2005. I went to the show with my friend Lena
Vogel, who also won a pair of tickets to the show. Lena
also took part in an on-ice workshop with the Holiday
on Ice cast and 20 All Stars skaters lat December. Suzanna
Tornroth also won a pair of tickets to see Grease the
Musical. |
| My mum told me that there would be a ‘rock n’ roll party’
on stage before the show started. Lena and I agreed that
we would go up on stage and dance. But when they called
for people to come up, we suddenly were too shy and didn’t
go! |
| I really liked the love story in Grease, but some of
the kissing and the hugging parts were too much for me!
I admired Sandy, though. She was a nice girl and a brave
girl. She and Danny really tried to change for each other.
I hope some day that I will be as brave as they were…my
mother says I don’t have to think about that for a long
time. Heh heh heh. |
| My favourite song and dance number came
right at the end when Sandy turned ‘wild’. She looked
very sexy! I didn’t look that sexy when I skated the role
at Holiday on Ice in December with Maxel Lee as Danny!
While I was watching Grease the Musical, I started thinking
I might use a ‘rock n’ roll’ number as one of my solo
programs on ice. It might be electrifying! |
| Thank you again to the All Stars Figure
Skating Club for holding the draw and to Quest Entertainment
and Quest Vacation International for their support of
Singapore’s figure skaters. |
|
Niki
& Rebecca see the stars at 2006 State Farm
US National Figure Skating Championships |
| By Niki & Rebecca Ang (with some help from mom) |
| January 28, 2006--The 2006 US State Farm National Championships
were held in St Louis, Missouri during the week of January
8th. This Nationals competition was particularly important
because the top three skaters from each event (top 2 in
pairs) would be selected to represent the United States
at the Olympics in Torino, Italy. |
| My mother, my sister Rebekah and I were fortunate to
attend Nationals, because it was a great learning experience.
The first event that we watched was the Junior Ladies
Freeskate Event. We sat right behind the Technical Specialists
and in front of the Trial Judges. This was an awesome
place to sit. Not only were we close to the ice, we were
able to overhear what the trial judges were saying about
the skaters and we could hear the Caller calling the elements
and their levels. |
| We learnt so much about the new judging system.
The Junior ladies were exciting to watch. They all
had beautiful and difficult spins as well as great
triple jumps. It was clear that no one can get away
with cheated jumps anymore because of the “lethal”
instant replay. One of our favorites was Caroline
Zhang. She is about my age but she had such incredible
presence and flexibility. She still has to work
on her jumps but once she gets them all, she will
definitely be a skater to watch. |
 |
| Then it was the Senior
Pairs Freeskate event. We were thrilled by the throw
triple axel performed by Rena Inoue and John Baldwin.
This was John Baldwin’s 20th trip to the Nationals
and their performance was so good that they won!
The favorites were Katie Orscher and Garret Lucash
but they came in 3rd. Two of the pairs teams that
we really liked were Naomi Nari Nam and Themistocles
Leftheris and Marcy Hinzman and Aaron Parchem. They
had great lifts and unison. |
|
| The Senior Free dance event was exciting because we
sat in the same area as the family of one of the skaters.
It was good to talk to them and see how nervous they were
to see their daughter/sister skate. All of the dance teams
were great, especially the top 6. They were so inspiring
that my sister Rebekah decided that she wanted to come
back and do ice dancing. (At our rink in Seattle, we have
a coach who is a former Olympic ice dancer who represented
England.) The winners of this event were Tanith Belbin
(a former Canadian who just received her American citizenship)
and Ben Agosto. Their program was wonderful—fast with
complicated steps and difficult lifts, and we hope they
medal at the Olympics. |
 |
On the last day that we were there, we watched
the Senior Men’s Freeskate and the Ladies Freeskate.
We were so excited to see Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek
and Timothy Goebel. Sitting right behind the Kiss
and Cry area meant that we could see them close
up. While waiting to get on the ice for their warm
up, we screamed for Timothy and he turned and waved
at us! Matt Savoie skated an amazing program. It
was lyrical and precise. He really deserved the
bronze medal and the right to go to the Olympics
along with Evan and Johnny. I really liked the program
that Ryan Bradley did. He skated to Saturday Night
Fever and was so entertaining. Scott Smith was good
too, with high jumps and great speed. |
|
| The Ladies were a little disappointing. No one
skated a clean program all the way through. The
audience was holding their breath when Kimmie Meissner
came out to skate because she almost made it all
the way without a mistake. Unfortunately, she fell
on a double axel at the end and the “aww” from the
audience was so loud. It was a pity that Alyssa
Czisny did so badly with her jumps because she is
an incredibly beautiful spinner. But I guess there
is always next year. |
 |
| The same goes Men’s skater
Rohene Ward. He did a great quad toe-triple toe
combination in the warm up but fell on it in the
program. I think he was freaked out by all the cameras
that were following him around. It is hard to be
an up and coming skater when you draw that much
media attention. You just can’t get rid of the cameras. |
|
 |
In the end, Sasha Cohen won and Kimmie came in
second. The bronze went to Emily Hughes, who skated
well but with mistakes (like everyone else) and
pewter (4th) went to Katy Taylor. I really liked
her because she is fast and jumps really well. |
| During the competition,
the USFSA inducted Tara Lipinski into the Hall of
Fame. At one point, all past Olympic gold medalists
from the US came out to take bows: Dick Button,
Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, Brian
Boitano, Tara, and Sarah Hughes among others. It
was an amazing moment to see them together. Some
of them won gold medals before my mother was born!
They got a really long standing ovation. It really
inspired me and fired my dream to one day be among
those skaters that make it even if it’s just to
compete at the Olympics. |
|
| As we left the stadium, I managed to get autographs
from both Evan Lysacek and Rohene Ward’s. We saw
Matt Savoie leaving the rink and congratulated him.
It was a long weekend but we had so much fun. It
is always inspiring to see how well the skaters
did, not just the top 6, but all of them. In the
US, it is a real achievement just to make it to
Nationals because there are so many people to compete
against just to get there. They all deserve to be
congratulated. Someday, maybe, that will be me out
there too. |
 |
| So,
as I headed back to Seattle, I was determined to
work really hard as I begin the season in the Intermediate
(Prenovice) level for singles and Juvenile Pairs.
|
| And the story goes on… |
|
| |
| Action photos from the 2006 State Farm
U.S. Championships by Paul Harvath used with permission
from
U.S. Figure Skating. |
| |
|
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All the Sundays Yet
to Come
by Kathryn
Bertine
Book Review by Eng
Kai Er |
All
the Sundays Yet to Come, by Kathryn Bertine, is about the
author’s journey through figure skating, her struggles and
disappointments, and the strength she ultimately develops.
It is a cautionary tale for young figure skaters, but the
book ends on a note of hope, thanks to the author’s hard-won
self-acceptance.
Bertine grew up with a love for figure skating and a dream
to skate professionally. But when she finally becomes a professional
skater, it is far from what she had dreamed of.
All her years of training gave her jumps and spins—which
she was never asked to perform; instead, the ice shows she
worked for required her to smile, wave, prance around, and
lose weight – lose the very muscles that powered her jumps,
that were testament to her dedication to figure skating.
Her goal-oriented, driven personality did not allow her to
give up, and she strived to prove her worth by letting her
body waste away. She developed an eating disorder that eventually
took three years to recover from. In the meantime she walked
away from her professional skating dream – while it was clear
that there was no point in staying on, it was also tremendously
heartbreaking to let go of a dream that had lived, died, and
festered, but stayed in her consciousness, for so long.
The process of recovery is slow and painful, but her passion
for sports, and the resounding question “Do you want to be
an athlete or not?” allows her to eventually regain control
over her health, and life in general. Today the author is
a professional triathlon athlete, but is also still involved
in skating – she is a coach and choreographer, which puts
her in a position to nurture young skaters, and instill in
them the confidence and sense of self worth that is so important
in fighting the monsters of eating disorders and broken dreams.
Her story is one of competitiveness, athleticism, disappointment,
self-hate, and recovery. She does not have an Olympic, Worlds
or national figure skating title, but her victory over anorexia
and subsequent achievements in triathlon is greatness nonetheless.
It is a different sort of greatness from winning the Olympic
gold medal, but the ones that win such medals are few and
far between.
For the rest of us, the nameless athletes that will never
appear on TV, our sporting endeavors are personal, and our
victories private, but the truth of athleticism is universal
among those that practice sport. There will always be self
doubt, and always failure, but the athletic spirit encompasses
much more, and has more than enough strength to overcome. |
| |
| Annika’s
review of Holiday on Ice: Action & Emotion |
Hi, I am Annika
and I am almost 11 years old, and I have been a figure skater
since I was 8. I enjoy skating a lot because it is a fun sport.
I get to do competitions and make new friends. Last month,
I got to see the Holiday on Ice—Hollywood production.
I was really excited when I got to the Expo Centre for the
Holiday on Ice show. I hadn’t been to an ice show since last
year’s Disney on Ice. And Hollywood was just as exciting as
I hoped it would be. My favourite skater was Laetitia Bajot.
She was a princess in one of the segments, and she had the
principal role in the Titanic program. She skated with grace
and power, and all her performances were filled with emotion.
My favourite segment featured dance programs from the 1980s.
The ice dancing was cool and bouncy. The clothes were amazing--crazy
styles and lots of colour!
As a young figure skater, I was inspired by the Holiday on
Ice skaters. They all did their best on their jumps and spins.
Even if things didn’t always work out perfectly, they kept
smiling. I also am working to have more power, strength and
grace in my skating. Some day, I hope to skate like Laetitia
Bajot and Michelle Kwan.
I hope you can go and watch Holiday on Ice-Hollywood for
more exciting skating action! |
| |
| Phoebe's
trip to Holiday on Ice - Hollywood |
Hi, my name is
Phoebe, I am 9 years old. I have been skating for three years,
and I am in SISA's Preliminary Level and ISI freestyle 5.
My hobbies are dancing and ice skating. Even when I was little,
in fact before I could barely walk, I held on to the table
and danced.
So, I was very excited when I heard that Holiday on Ice was
coming to Singapore with its Hollywood show. Not only did
it have skating and dancing - two of my favourite things -
it was going to be like a trip to Hollywood. I wanted to see
what Hollywood was like and I wanted to see all of costumes,
the special effects and the lights.
My favorite parts of the show were the funny sketches. They
had great skating and they made me laugh at the same time.
The show had some really funny acrobatic skaters who were
pretending to apply for a job. They had lots of pratfalls
that even though they looked easy, I know these stunts must
have been hard to do.
The costumes were just like the ones you would see in the
big Hollywood movies. Bright, colorful and sometimes really
wild. My favourite costumes were: the Titanic costumes and
the Fame costumes.
There were all kinds of musical themes. James Bond, Fame,
Footloose and all sorts of wonderful stuff! The skater who
played James Bond (Ryan Mackinnon) was a real daredevil on
skates. His blades were even on fire during the sketch!
All the skaters did lots of doubles (and even some triple
toes) and tons of fast spins. One day I am going to skate
like that! At the end I was so sad, because it was one of
the best shows I've ever seen! I am so looking forward to
next year to watch Holiday on Ice! |
| |
|
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Ice Cream:
Thirty of the Most Interesting Skaters in History
by Toller
Cranston; with Martha
Lowder Kimball
Book Review by Eng
Kai Er |
Ice
Cream features, as its name suggests, the cream of the crop
in figure skating history - from its first star Sonja Henie
to more recent incarnations such as Lucinda Ruh and Philippe
Candeloro.
But this is not regular Ice
Cream - it comes with a liberal dash of hot chili powder,
courtesy of author Toller Cranston, the 1976 Olympic bronze
medalist. If you're going to read this book, be ready for
alternate bouts of laughter and outrage. Far from diplomatic,
Cranston gives his opinions on everything, from others' outfits
to why he thinks he was prevented from winning gold medals
by corrupt judges.
By the time you finish reading
his book, you will have forgotten all the serious facts, like
who won which competition in which year. You'll remember the
gossip, and also the seance that Cranston pretended to conduct
in his hotel room while on a skating tour. He invited the
skaters, dimmed the lights, and "called upon Sonja Henie's
spirit for assistance. Then, in what (he) passed off as Sonja's
voice, he expressed exactly what (he) thought of each person
in the room."
I suspect some people must
have felt offended that night, considering Cranston's acid
tongue: in the chapter on Robin Cousins, even though he says
he likes Cousins, Cranston asserts unapologetically that his
own parents were "more intellectual than Robin's."
In some parts of Ice Cream,
however, Cranston segues from scathing criticism to genuine
admiration. The skaters whom he really adores, such as the
Protopopovs, have chapters that make truly pleasurable reading.
As for those he detests, Cranston valiantly retains the capacity
to acknowledge each skater's contribution to the sport, and
sometimes does so with generosity.
Still, please take your Ice
Cream, provocative or not, with a pinch of salt.
Finally, what made me forgive
Cranston for his meanness was the epilogue. I didn't agree
with everything he said, but I understood him. Painting the
final few pages with the tarnished gold of the 2002 Winter
Olympics, Cranston's voice came through subdued but clear-
"I believe in great skating and great skaters, but I
will never believe in judges."
I felt so sorry, and, by the
end of the book, so used to his idiosyncrasies, that I felt
I knew Toller Cranston as a personal friend - a friend who
had brought me on a most dizzying scratch spin through a part
of figure skating history.
Ice Cream (plus chili plus salt), anyone?
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