Stars on Ice 2015

[apgold]

Hope there are some videos floating around of the San Jose show. Glad to hear that Buttle has choreographed more routines - love his style. I also like that the cast is more international this year.

Good to hear that Patrick was fun at the MnG. My impression of him is that he is a nice guy but sometimes puts his foot in his mouth during interviews.

Was not able to go to SOI this year, apparently they skipped the NYC area.

 

[noskates]

Sad thing is I think they only had 10 shows this year. That's probably less than half of what they used to have. As I mentioned though, SAP Arena was pretty full - more so than last year or a few years back. Jeffrey Buttle's choreography, IMO, made a big difference. It was fresh and current and interesting.

 

[ice coverage]

Nam Nguyen tweeted that he will perform on May 8 in the Toronto CSOI show.

https://twitter.com/namnamnoodle/status/584823563120553984 (Apr 5)​

 

[MeaganSkater]

I'm going to SOI Canadian tour! So excited!!

Me too!! Which show are you going to? I can hardly wait as I am doing the meet and greet after the show as well!

 

[eyeballlickinggecko]

I finally managed to convince someone to go to the show with me. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[noskates]

eyeball - you're going to really enjoy it.

 

[eyeballlickinggecko]

I should hope I'll enjoy it. Because my wallet sure isn't. I hadn't planned on going since it'll probably be shown on tv at some later point but then Kurt Browning kept saying that it was the 25th anniversary and that it was going to be amazing. So, I was convinced.

 

[MeaganSkater]

I should hope I'll enjoy it. Because my wallet sure isn't. I hadn't planned on going since it'll probably be shown on tv at some later point but then Kurt Browning kept saying that it was the 25th anniversary and that it was going to be amazing. So, I was convinced.

And they never shown the show in its entirety on TV, they condense the two hours into 1 which I always find upsetting!

Starting to get excited to see the show this Friday in Toronto! Going to the meet & greet afterwards, does anyone happen to know if they will have a 2015 cast photo for sale?

Not sure what to bring to get autographed..

 

[nieves]

Just saw the Rhapsody in Blue opening on YouTube! Wow! They really amped up the choreography this year. It kinda felt like watching a ballet, complete with corps, soloists, and a short pas de deux with Meryl and Charlie. I LOVED IT

 

[Krunchii]

Just got back from the Toronto show, I'll do a write up each of the skaters tomorrow but I had a blast! Unfortunately we did not get tickets to the Meet n Greet but I met Tracy Wilson, Piper Gilles and Jeremy Abbott in the audience. After the show I met Nam Nguyen just as he was leaving. He attempted a 3A but unfortunately he took a bad fall, he popped right up and kept going after though, what a trooper.

There were many old people chasing after Tracy for a photo so I barely got to say anything and only took the photo, I actually talked to Jeremy for a bit and he says he hasn't decided if he'll continue to compete, only that he is doing choreography (he mentioned Alissa Czisny, Ashley Cain and Shotaro Omori). I asked about Yuka Sato too and he said she's like Benjamin Button, aging backwards. He's very charming and sweet. Nam was leaving with his family so it was really brief but he's a lot shyer in real life, very sweet and laughed when we said his performance was spicy. Piper Gilles was probably the sweetest of them all, she laughed and a smiled a lot, she told us that next season Kurt Browning is choreographing their exhibition number!

Shae-Lynn Bourne, Josee Chouinard, Elvis Stojko and Michael Slipchuck were also also in the audience but I think Shae-Lynn left early with her son and I didn't see Elvis after. Kurt gave shout outs to past SOI skaters in the audience, apparently Sandra Bezic was also there but we never saw her.

 

[dorispulaski]

Thanks for telling us about it, Krunchii

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Just got back from the Toronto show, I'll do a write up each of the skaters tomorrow but I had a blast! Unfortunately we did not get tickets to the Meet n Greet but I met Tracy Wilson, Piper Gilles and Jeremy Abbott in the audience. After the show I met Nam Nguyen just as he was leaving. He attempted a 3A but unfortunately he took a bad fall, he popped right up and kept going after though, what a trooper.

There were many old people chasing after Tracy for a photo so I barely got to say anything and only took the photo, I actually talked to Jeremy for a bit and he says he hasn't decided if he'll continue to compete, only that he is doing choreography (he mentioned Alissa Czisny, Ashley Cain and Shotaro Omori). I asked about Yuka Sato too and he said she's like Benjamin Button, aging backwards. He's very charming and sweet. Nam was leaving with his family so it was really brief but he's a lot shyer in real life, very sweet and laughed when we said his performance was spicy. Piper Gilles was probably the sweetest of them all, she laughed and a smiled a lot, she told us that next season Kurt Browning is choreographing their exhibition number!

Shae-Lynn Bourne, Josee Chouinard, Elvis Stojko and Michael Slipchuck were also also in the audience but I think Shae-Lynn left early with her son and I didn't see Elvis after. Kurt gave shout outs to past SOI skaters in the audience, apparently Sandra Bezic was also there but we never saw her.

I was at the Toronto show too! My first ever SOI show. Gotta say it was quite an amazing show to watch, and nice to see many of my favourite skaters in person. I was particularly impressed with Weaver/Poje (I never realized how much speed and ice coverage they have), Nam's fall was quite the ouch, but he still did the rest of the program pretty spicily, and hey, he went for the 3A! Some of Buttle's spins were sensational and his Uptown Funk number was really fun to watch. I wasn't a big fan of Tessa/Scott, but they were still lovely overall and Tessa was beautiful during that (kinda weird and random) aviation number. I also really liked D/R's number... quite entertaining, and they have some neat exhibition lifts/moves. Chan's skating is simply marvellous to behold... like the basic skating and edges he gets are just... wow. Even more than Chan though, I gotta say Kurt impressed me the most ... that man is skating personified -- that opening number with the flower figures was just incredible and innovative and those double axels were *textbook*. So happy to see Wagner there too (and nailing a 3Z/3F... and SBS 3L with Sawyer!). And of course, Shawn Sawyer was spectacular in so many ways - born to be a showman. Glad to finally see Joannie live too and she was elegant and still reeling off the triples like nothing.

 

[Krunchii]

I was at the Toronto show too! My first ever SOI show. Gotta say it was quite an amazing show to watch, and nice to see many of my favourite skaters in person. I was particularly impressed with Weaver/Poje (I never realized how much speed and ice coverage they have), Nam's fall was quite the ouch, but he still did the rest of the program pretty spicily, and hey, he went for the 3A! Some of Buttle's spins were sensational and his Uptown Funk number was really fun to watch. I wasn't a big fan of Tessa/Scott, but they were still lovely overall and Tessa was beautiful during that (kinda weird and random) aviation number. I also really liked D/R's number... quite entertaining, and they have some neat exhibition lifts/moves. Chan's skating is simply marvellous to behold... like the basic skating and edges he gets are just... wow. Even more than Chan though, I gotta say Kurt impressed me the most ... that man is skating personified -- that opening number with the flower figures was just incredible and innovative and those double axels were *textbook*. So happy to see Wagner there too (and nailing a 3Z/3F... and SBS 3L with Sawyer!). And of course, Shawn Sawyer was spectacular in so many ways - born to be a showman. Glad to finally see Joannie live too and she was elegant and still reeling off the triples like nothing.

It was fun to watch! I was sitting right behind all the skaters that Kurt had given shout outs to, I was so shocked they were all in front of me because I had only caught Piper during the intermission, I was kicking myself for not recognizing Jeremy because he sat the closest to me! I had seen Joannie live a few years ago, the summer after the Olympic year, she did a show at the Ex which was brief but she flew across the ice so fast and did a couple of triples like they were nothing and after seeing her last night she really has not changed a bit.

Anyway I promised a write up of each skater so I'll do the singles skaters first:

Patrick Chan
Man was I glad to see him live, his basic skating blows me away, really wonderful skating skills and he just moves across the ice seamlessly. I actually really loved his Blackbird number, people say he has wooden arms but I didn't see any of that in this number, his jumps are big, Kurt's 2As were probably the highest of the night which is amazing considering his age but Patrick's definitely covered the most distance. I can't remember clearly but I think I saw him do a 3F, 3T and a 2A, all of them looked great to me. Sometimes I guess it's really hard to tell if someone's technique is pristine or not just by looking, Patrick made the 2As look so easy, he stepped up into them quite easily. He actually had a fall on a 2A during the Automatic Aviation Automaton (did I get that right?) number but he quickly got up and spontaneously reeled off another 2A to redeem himself.

Jeffrey Buttle
Jeffrey Buttle is someone who I always had a crush on, he is an amazing performer, lots of energy but during his second number which I forgot the name of the song, I was really in a trance, he's just so beautiful to watch. Also great basic skating, wonderful edges and transitions. During the aviation number he was the conductor of the train and even when his job was just to move forward his moves matched to the music. He had a hand down in both of his solo numbers (3F and 3Lz I believe respectively) but nonetheless the performances were really great.

Kurt Browning
Where do I begin with Kurt Browning? He was the best performer of the night hands down, he could be cute, sentimental, emotional, funny, everything, you name it. I refuse to believe that he is 48, his 2As had amazing height, I was so impressed, he did some 3Ts and 3Ss like they were nothing too, his footwork and his upper body movement, he was perfect. He skated a flower in the ice in the beginning for everyone, it was really cute and he was fantastic. Many in the crowd definitely came to see him, there were people around me who always stood up after his performances to clap, the crowds love him. He is also a hilarious MC, had the entire crowd laughing at what he was saying.

Ashley Wagner
I was ecstatic when I heard that Ashley was joining the SOI Canada tour, I love her skating and I really want to see her live. She didn't lack in speed compared to the other skaters but she certainly had a lot more crossovers. She makes a lot of eye contact with the audience (so did Patrick) and it was really effective, she's fun and sassy and flirty in real life, I thought her Rather Be number was really fun, she really connects with the audience. I'll be honest though, not sure if she was doing 3Fs or 3Lzs, they all looked like 3Fs to me, she did do a sbs 3Lo with Shawn Sawyer which was great and she did a 2A with Patrick which was also cool because they jump in different directions, just that poor Patrick fell on this one.

Joannie Rochette
I have seen her in person before and she hasn't changed one bit as I mentioned before, she's a wonderful performer and I certainly miss someone like her on the scene, if I remember correctly, she did 2As, 3Ts, a 3S and 3F. Her second number was lots of fun, very upbeat, sexy and flirty, her layback is very pretty in real life, you don't need to do a haircutter or a Biellmann to please me, just a simple beautiful layback will suffice. She really hasn't deteriorated in any aspect, I loved her and so did the crowd, she is really Canada's sweetheart.

Shawn Sawyer
Like they all say, he is made for show skating, he has an extension that any lady would be envious of. Amazing flexibility and he also plays really well to audience. His I-spin had many people around me gasping, during the aviation number was on stilts skating while moving this giant podium around and during Hip Hip Chin Chin he was dressed as a girl and was trying to steal Scott from Tessa! He was really hilarious and when Kurt pulled off his wig the audience was laughing so hard.

Nam Nguyen
He was a special guest for this show so I'm glad I saw him, like I said he took a hard fall on the 3A, I actually had a video of it but then I accidentally deleted it, then again, I probably wouldn't show anyone the fall either. He slows down almost to a stop going into the jump. He is noticeably slower than everyone else there. He still young though and he's got plenty of time to improve, he looked down a lot at the ice, I said before Ashley and Patrick look up and make eye contact with the audience a lot, I think Nam made need to pick some of that up. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with him, I believe he also did a 3F that was just fine and for 17 years of age, he's a huge talent and Canada should be proud. He is very tall though, I took a picture with him after the show, last year he was my height but this year he's half a head taller. His parents are very short so I really wonder how much taller he will grow.

I'll come back later with the pairs and ice dance