Had to watch the premiere of the play in the grand Zurich Hallenstadion, sitting actually on the floor: all tickets for the anniversary Art on Ice show were sold out long before it began. The premiere was preceded by five rehearsal days, and at first the work went on two ice rinks at once - renting ice only at Hallenstadion is quite an expensive pleasure.
The Russian representation in Art on Ice has always been quite large. The current tour was no exception: several skaters act as the main stars at once. This is the Olympic champion of Pyeongchang Alina Zagitova, European champions in ice dancing Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov, Sochi 2014 champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov.
It was supposed that the company of the Russian champions will be made by the owners of the gold medals of the Games in Pyeongchang Alyona Savchenko and Bruno Masso, but the owner of the tour, Oliver Höner (aka a sports agent of both pairs), considered that Alyona needed more time to completely recover after the birth of a child , therefore, the German skater and her partner did not come to Zurich, deciding to postpone the return for another season.
In her debut box office, Zagitova fell. The performance format provides for stars with two solo exits to the ice (one in each compartment), and if in the first program Alina cope with a single jump - a triple tano-lutz (with one hand raised. - RT ), then the second performance, dedicated to the memory of the great stars who passed away, it turned out to be technically oiled.
Instead of the second triple lutz, the skater sang the butterfly, and she fell from the triple flip. The mistake looked annoying and not too characteristic: during the rehearsals, Alina coped with this truncated jump set without problems, which, in fact, showed the audience at the very end of the debut show: she repeated the flip twice in a row when the skaters went to the final bow, implying a show separate "branded" elements.
Höner reacted to the unsuccessful rental of his star philosophically: “I saw that Alina was terribly nervous before the premiere, and later she herself said that she was almost more worried than in Pyeongchang before her Olympic rental. This is normal. In the sense that you still have to get used to it: to the format of the show, to the number of spectators, to the fact that the sides of the rink are half the usual, and this also becomes a knocking factor for skaters. "
“Maybe it makes sense for Zagitova to reduce the number of jumps or make them easier,” I asked the producer.
Oliver shook his head: “25 years ago, creating the show, I had no intention of making it purely sporty - the idea was to create a performance by linking music, dance and sport together. But the stars should nonetheless perform jumps and other complex elements, and not just ride beautifully. This is the law. This is what the audience wants, what I want myself, and since I spend a lot of money on Art on Ice, the show should be first-class in every way. ”
- Alina Zagitova
- © Thomas Buchwalder
Höner was not able to name the most expensive star among those who performed in the Swiss team at different times, although he recalled for a long time: “My very first real star was Denise Bilmann. True, at that time the show was very small and was held on a rather provincial small rink. Stefan Lambiel, Evgeni Plushenko, Evgeni Medvedeva had high fees. It’s just that the main expense item is not athletes, but guest stars of the world stage plus all kinds of technical equipment, special effects. That's what really costs a monstrous money, but these costs pay for themselves. "
Those who are not familiar with the name of the Swiss producer should remember it: this season, Hoener's company acts as the organizer of the first ice Oscar ceremony, which will be held on the final day of the World Cup in Montreal. According to the famous sports manager Ari Zakaryan, who has been cooperating with Oliver for 25 years that the Art on Ice show has existed, Hoener’s participation in such an event is a quality mark in itself. In Switzerland, Oliver specializes not only in sports shows, but also holds many different entertainment events.
- Alina Zagitova
- © Thomas Buchwalder
Who does the producer see as the next Russian star in singles in her show after Zagitova and Medvedeva, if I have to choose from the now shining Russian trio consisting of Alexandra Trusova, Anna Shcherbakova and Alena Kostornaya?
Hoener answered this question without hesitation: “I would certainly choose Kostornaya. She shows adult and very mature skating. By the way, I see a serious problem in that the age of the skaters is constantly decreasing, and the career is becoming more and more short. First, people should be able to remember the stars and love them. Secondly, the skater must understand what she wants to convey with her skating to the viewer, and this skill in our sport comes with age. If not, jumping will not help. Even if these jumps are quadruple. ”