Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina about the preparation for the Olympic Games 2022, the postponement of the Grand Prix final, the programs of Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov, Alexandra Boykova - Dmitry Kozlovsky, the assessment of the performance of figure skaters in the Grand Prix series.
- Tamara Nikolaevna, the Grand Prix final has been postponed to the end of the season. Will this affect the preparations for the Beijing Olympics?
- No, it won't, because the Grand Prix Final is a separate competition. They do not aim to rank athletes before the Olympics, because after the final there will be the most important starts - the Russian Championship, where the composition of the country's
Olympic team will be formed, as well as the European Championship for European athletes. The final and the Grand Prix series are commercial competitions in which the strongest skaters at the moment participate. And it seems to me, as a coach, that the cancellation and postponement of the final will not affect the preparation and results of the upcoming Olympic Games.- World champions Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov won two stages of the Grand Prix, but the topic of choosing music for the free program is still being discussed. Was there a desire to change the musical accompaniment?
- Nope. When I conceived this program, I attracted two specialists Valery Zavirukha and Alexander Goldstein, who wrote a "fantasy" on the theme of Georgy Sviridov's music "Blizzard" and "Time, Forward!". We got such an author's trio – the "director" Moskvina, composers and arrangers Zavirukha and Goldstein. The task was to create a complete musical work reflecting the idea of the program and the performing skills of Mishina - Gallyamov.
As far as I understand, the second part of the program "Time, Forward!" caused a heated discussion, since the music for the film "Blizzard" is often used in figure skating. But our idea was to complete the program with "a sharp rhythmic formula, a small cinema-param," as Sviridov himself called this part of his suite. "Time, Forward!" - not only in sound, but even visual terms - a powerful work that has become a musical symbol of the twentieth century as an expression of the spirit of the time with its frantically jumping rhythm, explosive energy and dedication to the future. Written in the 60s, it can be compared in a sense, to draw a parallel with Ravel's Bolero. If you believe the legend, the creation of "Bolero" the composer was inspired by a visit to the foundry, where he saw slowly flowing steel.
The skaters' program will be bright and memorable if it is cleanly performed. And I needed to collect, to combine the music so that it reflected the capabilities that Mishin and Gallyamov possessed. And at the same time, to make it different from the musical choice of other couples with whom we compete.
Two starts in the Grand Prix series showed that Mishina - Gallyamov are gaining shape, so the program with each subsequent tournament is perceived differently. So I had no doubts about the choice of music. We were sure and didn't think to change.
- Bronze medalists of the World Championship, European champions Alexandra Boykova - Dmitry Kozlovsky also qualified for the Grand Prix final, were third in America and won the stage in France. How do you assess their preparation and results?
- With this pair, the situation was more interesting. When we discussed the choice of music for the short program of Boykova - Kozlovsky in the Olympic season, we naturally considered the most win-win options that would reflect the ballet training, artistic abilities and capabilities of Sasha and Dima. Therefore, the idea of music from the ballet "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky - a powerful, recognizable theme, was immediately approved by our entire group, and especially by Sasha Boykova, who really wanted to ride to this music. We assumed that other Russian couples - Pavlyuchenko - Khodykin and Tarasova - Morozov, taking into account their style, would take something different.
Music for the free program on the Spanish theme "Malagueña" was offered to me two years ago by our "ballet" cheerleader Marina Bakanova. We planned to roll out a new free skate last season. But, given the difficulties of the season associated with Covid, it was decided to leave the same, and "Malagueni" will be represented in the Olympic season.
We immediately turned to our famous coach Nikolai Morozov, whose participation was necessary not only at the stage of staging the program, but also the subsequent refinement, development, filling the program with the features and nuances of skill that are inherent in ice dancing. Close cooperation with Nikolai Morozov was dictated by the fact that at one time he was preparing a pair of Elena Ilyinykh - Nikita Katsalapov for the 2014 Olympics, and in Sochi the duo became the bronze medalist of the Games. Ilyin and Katsalapov also had an free skate for Swan Lake. And modern requirements for pair skating are a combination of the performing skills of paired elements with the ability to use all the techniques in ice dancing, including movement with complex steps that connect the elements of the program. Not to mention the artistic design, which is typical for the programs of Russian couples, for which we work so much with choreographers, tutors of various schools of ballet and modern choreography.
- But to bring the program to mind, it was necessary to work directly on the ice with Nikolai Morozov. You are in St Petersburg, it is in Moscow, how was it implemented in practice?
- Therefore, not only in the summer, when the program was staged, but also then the guys had to go to Moscow, Novogorsk, Odintsovo to work out the program with Nikolai Morozov, specialists of his team - Ksenia Stolbova, who has experience in preparing and performing at the Olympics, helps athletes with advice and practically. So all this time, despite the difficulties with quarantine, certain risks associated with travel, Sasha and Dima continue to "live" in two cities. But we, the coaches - Artur Minchuk and I, deliberately went to such complex combination steps in all respects, taking into account, among other things, the financial costs of our Sports Club. Because we understand how important it is in the Olympic season to perfect all the components of the program - artistic, dance, artistic, technical, so that the program with its passion and performance captures the audience and judges. So that skaters have the opportunity to work out not only the tasks of Moskvina and Minchuk in training, but also take into account the artistic and dance remarks of Nikolai Morozov and his team specialists.
If we evaluate the performance of Boykova - Kozlovsky at the stages of the Grand Prix, then the unsuccessful start in America, where they became the third, was caused by the fact that the guys had to go to Kazakhstan for an American visa instead of the Finland Trophy tournament. Upon his return, Dima caught a cold and fell out of the training process for a week, did not skate. We considered it impractical to shoot from the first stage of the Grand Prix, hence the third place in Las Vegas. There were no health problems by Grenoble, the athletes were better prepared and became the first. Therefore, the fighting spirit of Boykova - Kozlovsky, their performing skills of such different in style programs, the difference between these programs and the programs of other athletes give grounds to expect that at the main starts of the season they will demonstrate their maximum.
Our task was to prepare for the Olympic Games in Beijing two strong competitive, completely diverse pairs, for any spectator and referee taste, who could compete on an equal footing with the main contenders, the "hosts of the Games" the Chinese Sui Wenjing - Cong Han and other rivals.
- I can't help but ask about another pair of Yasmin Kadyrov - Ivan Balchenko, who won bronze at the Sochi Grand Prix. In the comments after the performance, the athletes did not doubt the correctness of the decision to move to St. Petersburg before the Olympic season and noted the personalized approach to all athletes in the group. What can you say about them?
- These athletes have everything ahead of them. The couple is young, and if you comment on their words, then "the mouths of babies glagole the truth."
Olga ERMOLINA
Photo by Julia KOMAROVA, Mikhail SHAROV, Olga ERMOLINA and the ISU website.
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