At the Russian Championship held in St. Petersburg, Alexandra Stepanova - Ivan Bukin won gold medals, becoming two-time national champions in ice dancing. About serious preparation for this start with a new team; the mood for a free skate after the withdrawal of Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov from the championship due to injury to a partner; their programs, which are so captivating to the athletes themselves and the public that there is no feeling that all this, as Alexandra put it, is happening somewhere "behind glass"; post-Olympic plans and other athletes told in an interview with the website of the FFKKR.
- You won the championship title for the second year in a row. Can you compare the two Russian championships when it was more difficult and why?
Alexandra: It is difficult to compare, because a year ago the Russian championship was
our first start of the season. At that time, we did not set ourselves any grandiose tasks, because we just had to start competing after the break, to roll back our programs so that it did not look "a failure"...Ivan: The beginning of that season and the whole first half were crumpled. We were sick a lot, we missed a lot...
Alexandra: And in that situation, no one expected anything enchanting from us. We did the right thing by deciding to go back to the old free skate.
Ivan: Because it was almost impossible to roll this one (Romeo and Juliet) back then. And the old program was already tested at the competitions, tested in our head, our body ...
Alexandra: As far as I remember, taking into account all the circumstances, we skated in Chelyabinsk quite well for ourselves. And this championship of Russia turned out to be completely different. Before that, we had already performed at two stages of the Grand Prix and with each start we tried to adjust and improve the skating and programs. In addition, our coaches Irina Vladimirovna Zhuk and Alexander Vasilyevich Svinin attracted Nikolai Aleksandrovich Morozov, Alexey Gorshkov and a fairly large group of specialists, including our choreographers, Alena Samarskaya and others, to work with our pair. It turned out to be such a big team.
Ivan: It was necessary in order to speed up the preparation process, to turn it a little in the other direction, to add fresh ideas, a new look...
Alexandra: Therefore, this Russian championship was also interesting for us as an intermediate stage, the result of the work done. We ourselves wanted to understand, to see how much we managed to cope, because in a fairly short period of time we changed a lot both in terms of preparation and the nuances of the programs themselves. And the results had to be shown at the Russian Championship, and this start is always exciting and very important, especially in the Olympic season.
Ivan: It was hard to prepare for this championship, because a lot of work was really done. The work is different, interesting, complex. The first two weeks after the Grand Prix in France were especially interesting - it was necessary to digest a large amount of information and not everything immediately fit in my head.
Alexandra: Sometimes I even had fears and fears: how are we going to get there? The little pieces were cool, okay – we enjoyed it. But the thought sat in my head, what will happen when we go to the whole rental, when fatigue begins to break through? How do you roll it all out? But it turned out very well, even from the first rental in its entirety.
Ivan: In the end, we were able to put everything together. And by the way the audience supported us in the "Jubilee", it was clear - it turned out. Of course, later we revised our rentals, noted the points that need to be improved. In particular, we were a little lacking in speed in the free program, although in terms of emotions it was much stronger than at the Grand Prix.
- How did it affect your mood of the free program that the leaders Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov withdrew due to injury. There were no thoughts: victory is in your pocket, can you go to the "full-time"?
Alexandra:It is probably logical that in such a situation someone has such thoughts, but not in our country. We didn't see the guys in the warm-up room, but no one told us that they were filming. We found out about this before going out on the ice when the announcer announced. But there was no relaxation, on the contrary, nerves, maybe increased.
Ivan: In sports, there are different situations and the most important thing is to understand what you need to do yourself: how to go on the ice, skate the program, think about your condition, partner, the task that stands at this start and which must be solved ... I think this concentration did not allow us to make any progress towards nervousness or relaxation. We clearly understood that we wanted to show what we were working on, what we had managed to improve and it almost succeeded. As I said, we lacked speed a bit in the free program, but this is not such a big problem, it is much easier to fix than psychological moments.
- The ability to properly tune yourself before the start plays an important role. This season you missed the test rides, some competitions and started already at the Grand Prix stage, where the premiere of your new programs took place. That is, every start is a overcoming?
Ivan: That's right. I don't know whether it is a plus or a minus, but we went to the Grand Prix, understanding what awaits us, what the experiences, shocks and what to do in such a situation can be. This did not cancel our worries and worries, because the first start of the season and immediately the Grand Prix stage ...
Alexandra: We were saved by a great desire to finally show our new programs to the public. We staged the free dance a long time ago, but for objective reasons it was not possible to roll it out and refine it. And we really like the new short dance, and we really wanted to present these programs.
The first stage of the Grand Prix was a little easier for us than the second. Despite the fact that some moments in the box office did not work out, by the end of the free skate we were tired, but we were very emotionally charged and tried to pull both programs from and to.
And at the second Grand Prix, in addition to the desire to show their programs, there was a desire to get ahead of someone, I wanted everyone to notice how our programs improved in the time between the Grand Prix. Therefore, in terms of emotions and nerves, the second stage of the Grand Prix was heavier than the first.
- Your new free skating program on the theme "Romeo and Juliet", which is often taken by skaters. What attracted you to this story?
Ivan: We have already told you that a year ago we staged a demonstration number "Romeo and Juliet" for the show of Ilya Averbukh, and we liked this number.
Alexandra: It was simple, without anything supernatural, but the idea itself turned out to be a cool, and my coaches and I decided to do an arbitrary program.
- The program turned out to be original. What do you think, due to what?
Alexandra:I think an unusual selection of music played a role. According to the first chords, if you do not know the name, you do not immediately understand what the program is about. And it makes you peer in, guess, get involved. If the famous melodies of "Romeo and Juliet" sounded immediately, then everything would be clear: well, beautiful music, a beautiful dance, which you watch as something "behind glass". And in our program, thanks to the music, there was a certain mystery, and this makes the program interesting. And the music itself develops along the way and reaches a climax.
Ivan: When Alexander Vasilyevich showed us the first musical part, we thought that it was not at all like "Romeo and Juliet" and there were even some concerns. But when he composed the music as a whole, it really turned out to be very unusual.
Alexandra: I remember our first reaction, it was - wow! And the very idea that Irina Vladimirovna proposed to do something different from the classic versions of Romeo and Juliet was cool.
Ivan: In the first part of the program, musically, we don't touch on this story at all. There are no familiar musical phrases, references. And viewers who see the program for the first time perceive it at the level of emotions. And only when the familiar musical theme of "Romeo and Juliet" begins to sound, what is happening on the ice makes sense, it becomes clear what happened before that. And we ourselves want to live this story on the ice so that it is perceived as a story, and not as individual elements that make up the program. It is important that our inner state, emotions are transmitted to the audience, so that they understand every movement that makes sense.
Alexandra: The program always reflects the inner world of the performer. When we grow up, the life situations that we face force us to look differently, to rethink some things. Changes are taking place in ourselves, in our relationships with people, with each other, and all this allows us to reveal and convey more deeply the topics that we tell on the ice.
Ivan: It was difficult and at the same time very interesting for us to work on this program. We spent a lot of time on every little thing that should catch the viewer, because everyone wants to stand out in something, to be different, and in ice dancing now it is difficult to do.
It was important for us to try something new for ourselves, because now there is such a tendency to roll what suits you, find your style and move in this direction. And it looks cool, because you can open up and realize yourself as much as possible.
On the other hand, we understand that a sports career is not such a long period of time, and we would like to try ourselves in different styles, directions, roles ... For example, hip-hop is a fun, slaughter dance, which you give in to and just get high. Our free skate is a deep love story that everyone perceives in their own way.
- You told in great detail about the programs that you will show in a few days at the European Championships, then the Olympic Games, and what next?
Alexandra: After the Olympics, we will definitely continue to skate.
Ivan: And the nearest plans are scheduled for at least 3 months. The European Championships in Tallinn, the pre-Olympic camp in Krasnoyarsk, the Olympic Games in Beijing... We hope that no surprises will happen, and the Olympic Games will be held on time.
Olga ERMOLINA, Tatyana FLADE
Photo by Maria EVTEEVA, Julia KOMAROVA, Mikhail SHAROV, Irina ZIMFER
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