Photos: Irina Ivanova
Once in my childhood, I was just sick of figure skating, especially pair skating, and with reverence stuck to the screen of a black and white TV, from where the central television announcers broadcast about competitions and the colors of the skaters' costumes. But since there was simply not enough time on the ice in my busy schedule, I "rolled" on a large Turkmen carpet in the living room and imagined myself as Ekaterina Gordeeva, performing all these axels, sheepskin coats and lutz, the craving for which went away with my childhood.For the first time I saw live figure skating and dancing on ice almost 20 years later, and not somewhere in Russia covered by snow, but in the UAE sandbox country, on the ice arena of the Sheikh Zayed Sports Camp, where the "star" came to perform Ilya Averbukh’s team with his Ice Symphony.
I literally felt the whole authority of figure skating with skin, when Tatyana Navka rushed in a warm-up glide a few steps from me. Stately, tall, beautiful, she flew in front of my nose at the speed of a good car, dazzling me with a crumb of ice and some kind of womanly power. For some reason, I immediately thought that if by chance I came across it on ice, the chances of survival of such chickens like me were minimal.
The fact that in figure skating and ice dancing everything happens in an adult way, and this is not just an entertaining project of Channel 1, but a real sport, it became clear from the first minutes of the skaters' performance. Maybe the small size of the hall was arranged for that, maybe the fact that the vast majority of the audience never saw live skiing, but we all squealed collectively when Yagudin and Slutskaya soared up and successfully returned to the ice, while the funny Alexander Abt made almost clown juggling on ice . We collectively opened our mouths in admiration when Maxim Marinin raised Tatyana Totmyanina on an outstretched arm, and her namesake Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov simultaneously performed some incredible figures at high speed. We almost cried when Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas almost soared in a fit of lyrical dance, but when Alexey Tikhonov took the miniature Masha Petrova by the blades of her skates and began to circle and twirl her around us, we closed our eyes and almost lost our feelings, fearing that she would not hit the ice.
But everything went smoothly and, most importantly, unusually spectacular! Great, professional, unforgettable! The audience applauded the skaters, thanked the organizers and sponsors in absentia, the Dubai Real Estate Agency, the Cesary Furs fur salon, Digital World print studio and Enigma beauty salon, which helped the show take place despite the global financial crisis and a massive reduction in advertising costs.
The other side of figure skating was revealed to me when in the second act I was running with a camera near the exit to the ice. Ilya Averbukh was mysteriously silent, only kindly smiled at the wrinkles around his eyes. Lesha Yagudin, having skated a number with a smile on his face, putting covers on the blades of his skates, bent in half from the pain and went limping badly into the locker room. Irina Slutskaya was not at all a chubby girl, as I always thought, looking at her performances on TV, but taut, pumped up, powerful, with a clear relief of muscles, but very tiny: I had to go around her three times to make sure that in front of me it is she. All the skaters before and after going on the ice looked completely different than before the audience: sincerely rejoiced at the success of each of their performances, they relaxed a bit and looked unusually tired.
As it turned out later, Averbukh and Co. arrived in Dubai just a few hours before the show, stayed at the airport for control, then drove from Dubai to the capital of the UAE, and more than 150 kilometers, and then it turned out that there was no usual light and sound quality on the site. And despite this, a whole clip of famous athletes in almost Spartan conditions, skated the program in full, due to personal skill and charm, giving the audience exactly what she expected from the “Ice Symphony”: an amazingly beautiful and professional show from which breathtaking.
And, again, no matter what, after the speech, already at ten in the evening, Averbukh, Yagudin, Navka and Slutskaya came to the press conference, which was held impromptu, but still took place, although only a dozen journalists were waiting for the skaters, nothing by Moscow standards.
- You traveled to many countries, worked on different ice. Now you have arrived almost in the sandbox, in a country that is completely not intended for winter sports. How do you like the preparation, ice, like everything that was put at your disposal?
- I. Averbukh: We used to perform in the Emirates, earlier this year in Dubai. Just at the moment when Sochi was fighting for the Olympics. Now we are back to speak in Abu Dhabi, and are ready to return to the Emirates more than once. And the point here is not the quality of ice and the beauty of the hall, but the feeling that you are eagerly awaited, that your creativity is needed. This gives us the same boost of vigor as our viewers. Such a peculiar exchange of positive emotions.
- A. Yagudin: You know, it’s much more pleasant to perform in countries where you go out after the performance and it’s warm there! Thank you for this opportunity ... And I also want to say that, despite the small size of the hall (and we are used to tens of thousands of spectators), those people who were present today created such a cozy atmosphere that we rode with great pleasure.
- The program that you brought to Abu Dhabi has already been run-in in the regions of Russia or was made specifically for this tour?
- I. Averbukh: The program is not new, run-in. But the fact is that traditionally not only figure skaters, but also the heroes of the television project "Ice Age" appear in it. In the spring in Dubai, we performed together, but now they are training and preparing for the next Saturday performance, so only professionals came to Abu Dhabi. Next time, I hope we will bring with us beginners "stars". We encountered some problems here: the show that we are showing in Moscow is much more colorful. For example, the light was not the same as we planned, and we were not allowed to use pyrotechnics, which also decorates the action very well ...
- A. Yagudin: We performed with maximum efficiency, as professionals, and we will step by step add to the entertainment in order to achieve the world-class level of the performance that viewers see in Russian cities.
- By the way, how do you manage in a short period of time not only to put the “stars” on skates, but also to prepare them for such spectacular performances in the project?
- I. Averbukh: Sometimes we ourselves cannot answer this question! This is probably the result of the extremeness of their very situation: when they understand that they need to work, show the audience something new every week, when there is a struggle and millions of eyes look at them, people just get together and give crazy results.
The second component is that the best skaters, real professionals in their field, work with them. And, of course, the project itself is very creative, and this process of creation captures both us and them. When the "stars" of cinema, theater, television come to us, they understand that it is not a matter of points, seconds and elements. This is improvisation, creativity. And this creativity so captivates all of us that we begin to work together on a hunch, create, create, out of nothing, out of music, out of ideas, out of thin air. We are not doing anything according to the program, according to the pattern: each dance has its own life, its own style. This process of creation brings us into a state of collective affect, and the output is almost a miracle.
- 
It’s probably harder for a fair half of athletes to take on inexperienced men in the Ice Age project than skaters for inexperienced girls?
- T. Navka: Of course it is more difficult for us. A girl who at least somehow knows how to stand on skates can prove herself on ice, especially if she is light, there are various simple and spectacular elements. But we have to teach beginners complex elements initially, for example, supports that require not only skill, but also real physical strength. On the project that is currently underway, Irina Slutskaya is the most difficult. Due to the fact that she is single, Ira herself has no idea what to do with men on ice. Moreover, her partner came to the project just a day before its start. But we all manage, and I think not bad.
- Alexei (Yagudin - ed.), What inspires you to continue to ride after such a serious injury, to go out onto the ice again and work at full capacity?
- Not only I am injured. It is very rare when a professional athlete goes through his entire career without any serious injuries. We even have a saying that if you woke up in the morning and nothing hurts you, then you have already died. Therefore, professional athletes, including me, can cope with their injuries. And what motivates and inspires us? I think that each of us is doing our favorite thing. We are happy people: our work brings us both pleasure and income. And since we are all professionals, we can’t just ride, so to speak, tyap-blap.
- Did the global financial crisis affect your show somehow?
- I. Averbukh: Unfortunately, our project really affected the crisis. The project "Ice Age" exists due to the support of sponsors, and now part of the budgets are frozen. The incomprehensible situation with the prospects for the development of the crisis is forcing sponsors to reduce spending. However, the show will continue as planned. We have every reason for optimism.
- A. Yagudin: There are no disagreements within our team. There is no such thing that one is good and the other is bad. We have been together for many years and always support each other. Thanks to your show, interest in figure skating in Russia has grown tremendously. What are the forecasts for the future?
- I. Averbukh: Indeed, in recent years many new ice rinks and ice palaces have been built in Russia. In this sense, changes for the better, there is enough ice. But we are faced with another problem, the problem of personnel: there are platforms, but there are no good coaches. Our grandees - Tarasova, Moskvina, Mishin, remain the best of the best. But new names appear with difficulty.
- Ilya, you are the manager and creative inspirer of the project. Today you didn’t have the desire to go out on the ice yourself?
- There is always inspiration and a desire to ride. Irina (Lobacheva - ed.) Could not come: she is at competitions with her students. We even wanted to make a room here with my participation, but, unfortunately, were late at the airport. Therefore, today I acted only as a host, I hope that tomorrow I will go out on the ice not only with a microphone.
Unfortunately, the next day, neither Ilya nor his team took to the ice. The tour of the project of Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh in Abu Dhabi ended in an unexpected ending: the performance scheduled for the evening of November 29 was canceled, despite the fact that hundreds of fans of the figure skaters' art gathered at the ice arena building in anticipation of the start of the show. There was also a bus with skaters who were ready to perform, but decided not to go out on the ice.
Averbukh motivated the decision by the fact that the organizer of the tour, Alhpa Events, did not fully comply with its obligations, including financial ones. Representatives of Alhpa Events, in turn, said that they had in their hands a payroll on the transfer of money to Moscow, but for some reason the skaters did not believe this paper.
By and large, it doesn’t matter whose fault the planned performance did not take place, to which many spectators came hundreds of kilometers away. It is sad that the final chord of the “Ice Symphony” in the Emirates this time sounded in such a minor. It only remains to hope that Averbukh and Co will agree to come back to the UAE, and if you have never seen a real figure skating experience, be sure to just surely find the opportunity and experience the performance: the spectacle is unforgettable, enchanting and inspiring. However, even for the hundredth time it will continue to remain unsurpassingly exciting.
