http://www.absoluteskating.com/index.ph ... istryoniceArtistry on Ice: Red TemptationAug 24, 2012
By Fannie X.F. Wang
Photos © Fannie X.F. WangIt's the third consecutive year for Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo to organize and to perform in "Artistry On Ice" the grand feast for Chinese skating fans. This year, it expands its tour to four cities: Taipei, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. It's themed "Red Temptation".
Shenzhen, Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, 2012.6.15
You don't feel how stunning a line-up can actually be until you walk to the ice rink and see Shizuka Arakawa, Evgeni Plushenko, Kurt Browning, Jeffrey Buttle, Johnny Weir and Joannie Rochette warming up right there in one single piece of ice. Separately each of them is a big shot not only for glories and medals, but also for the genuine star quality in shows. Put together their presence outshone anything else. Your eyes were so busy catching them and you wondered why this rink suddenly looked so small. You check the size again - yes, it was indeed a standard one.
This artificial ice, however, gave the organizers a hard time. "It's extremely expensive to make ice in Shenzhen. At first we wanted another arena but it was so far away from downtown, so we moved to Shenzhen Bay Sports Center. The weather is humid and therefore the surface of the ice is constantly too wet to skate on. Even with help from the experts coming directly from Chinese Figure Skating Association, we still struggle," said Li Sheng, president of SECA, organizing company of Artistry on Ice. This powerful and lively man who's a fan of figure skating then joked: "We are so poor now because of this rink we don't even have money to invite an interpreter, so I'll be the interpreter today." He turned out to be an extraordinary interpreter during the press conference though, skillfully introducing the skaters and handling questions with expertise.
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Before the on-ice warm-up session, Evgeni Plushenko walked to a corner of the rink to stretch. He almost stumbled stepping on a platform which was actually a hollow one. Evgeni stood up, looked around and made a face. A funny moment for this king on ice.
It's not easy to ask Evgeni questions partly because many journalists do not speak Russian, partly because his skates speak for him so well. In Shenzhen, he looked very relaxed and not in his fighter mode at all, but he landed 3As in warm-ups and both of his programs with ease as if they were just required elements. Luckily, the Chinese fans got to see his short program "The Storm" and long program "Tango" for next season. Both numbers were in collaboration with Edvin Marton, the well-known composer and violinist. This 30-year-old Russian has a strong fan-base and the audience always shouts - which is a rare occurrence in China - when his name is announced. During "Storm", Evgeni quickly found where his banners were and stayed there for a while doing some playful movements, which drew another round of screams.
Edvin is warmly welcomed too. For some reason, he brought his Stradivarius violin to the press conference and Li Sheng smiled wryly at him saying "Edvin, the violin is here too so we can't let you go without playing a bit. Would you please?" Edvin agreed and gave a splendid short solo of "Moulin Rouge".
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