Ah well, that was a well deserved 2,5 days in full sunshine. I was half planning to take summer clothes with me, but eneded up with what I would mostöy wear in the fall or spring in Finland!
I went to Madrid with my friend known as tureis on this forum and the second part of the trip to Spain was already spent together. We met up in Amsterdam and managed to get seats next to each other at the back of the plane. Right before liftoff we watched Dmitri Aliev in the Russian Nats and right after the landing, Alena Kostornaia's SP. The trip started well!
My holidays were of course just work-work-work for Javi. When I got up very early in the morning, he was already posting stuff on IG and he was on TeleMadrid slightly later, on the radio a little later (Hoy per Hoy, around 10 min and SER Deportivos around 28 min).
In the afternoon, part of the cast of ROI was at the rink at Plaza de Colon to do a event of inclusive skating. Some pics here of Javi skating with Celia and other events here and here and here and here.
Then to Palacio Vistalegre for the Friday rehearsals during which there was the usual press conference. AS published a clip on YT and TimeJust another one. EFE reported in writing. La Razon did a proper interview. Plus a video of the rehearsals via Periscope.
So, while he was busy doing all that, we settled down at our flat close to the Palacio Vistalegre (walking home after the show instead of public transportation etc. is a blessing), got some food and had some wine and went to bed early because the alarm had sounded around 3:30 am.
We had thought of going to Toledo on Saturday, but the trains were all full in the morning, so we ended up walking a lot in Madrid, just enjoying the sun. We went to check the ice rink at Plaza de Colon and as Uniqlo shop is basically next to it, did a bit of shopping (we were not the only figure skating tourists doing that!), got some food, walked more.
Then it was the first show. We had seats in the middle of the short end which gave a good view to a lot of the choreography. I think I liked last year a bit better, there were more longer sequences that tied into each other instead of single numbers like this year. The storyline of the little girl's dream of skating was ok, but not exploited to its full potential, I feel. Not to mention that last year there were more skaters that I liked! It was interesting to see Ashley Wagner live – had not done that before. The Claire du Lune by Capellini and Lanotte was absolute magic. Javi was brilliant in whatever he did. Twizzles and rotational lifts with Celia! The collaboration with Taburete was good for something that probably gets skated only those two times. But the rest a bit meh.
We also had a short chat with the lady who runs the Equipo Japon Javier which was fun!
On Sunday we did get to go to Toledo which is lovely but also a total tourist trap. And in the evening the second show and then meet and greet… We sat in one of the corners, right above Javi’s family. It was ok except that there seemed to be a door open to the North Pole below us and it is a while since I have been that cold! The 3A at the end of the second finale from Javi was just beautiful!
We had learned from meet and greet last year as had the organizers. This time the huge line to greet Javi was along the wall, the stage was so high that you could see what was going on without being next to it. They also had someone to take photographs, someone to take people’s things from one side of the stage to another and a table to sign etc. And tureis managed to get us to the queue at only 10 m from the stage! (She hopped over those rows of seats with no problem at all…)
And when we reached the stage, Javi greeted us with a smile that lit his whole face and open arms for hugs… Still cannot believe that he actually remembers who we are! The lady from Japan had returned the WeMissYouJavi banner from its long (since Minsk!) journey to Japan (I had thought that it was going to settle and get citizenship…) and we got to take photos with the banner and Javi all together. He seemed to be happy to see it and when we asked for a signature, he knew exactly where he wanted to put it – basically over his heart in the Olympic medal picture on the left. Pictures here and the signing was videoed. I thought my knees might betray me going down those few steps, but I managed to stay upright…
We went to meet some of the other skaters (Capellini & Lanotte and Ashley particularly) and then also managed to have a longish chat with David Wilson. I had for a long time wanted to ask Brian and/or David how did find Javi’s lyrical side – was it sth they did deliberately? He was so strongly doing all those funny and lighthearted routines and then suddenly comes out with Danny Boy. Apparently, it was David’s principle that trying different kinds of things is good and exploring different emotions in programs also. He mentioned that Javi had had problems with Black Betty, especially turning from a “cute skater” (David’s expression) into something rawer – but he managed it pretty well in the end. Having mulled over that for a couple of days, I think now that it might have been one of the reasons why Javi really caught my attention in fall 2014.
He can’t have partied too hard after that (we left around midnight and he was still on stage and there was still quite a lot of queue left) because the next day he went to the Japanese embassy to meet the ambassador.
There was also a radio interview on that came out on January 1 on Cope (think it might have been recorded on Monday??)
The official audience figures “more than 55 000” are slightly lower than what I expected because most of the venues were quite large (A Coruna maybe the smallest) and the ticket sales did look good. The Madrid shows were not sold out and definitely not with 16 000 people as mentioned in some sources, the 13 500 for Saturday seems more to the point. They will be going for a third year and we will have to wait and see how it will work. Nevertheless, it is quite amazing to think that one of the more successful skating shows in the world is happening in Spain!
On Tuesday morning, LaLigaSports organized an event at the rink at Plaza de Colon with people playing gigantic table football with hockey skates.
In the afternoon, off to Italy for the Bolzano Passion Gala tomorrow evening. Today they had a press conference and Javi looked ever so slightly not present. I hope we get some pics or clips from tomorrow!
On January 9 and 16, there will be broadcast at Japanese NHK TV on the project he did after the Japan Open, Wonder Lessons. Teaser trailer here and interview of the producer/director here. The idea was to invite top skaters to give lessons to Japanese kids and and Javi starts the series. Funnily enough, they seem to be somehow unaware that he has been doing this kind of stuff for a long time now and knows what needs to be done etc. The kids were a varied group in skills and level of skating, but if I got it right from the awful google translation, then they decided to concentrate on performance and expression more than anything else. I hope we get to see that show!
And then the last bit, one of the interviews published on Saturday (Dec 28) revealed that he has a new girlfriend… Tureis and I talked about the sudden disappearance of loved up IG posts about the previous girl and what that could mean, and we got the answer just a few hours later… No name, just that she is Japanese and not in the skating world. And considering how the Japanese are not always very keen on social media, I wonder will we see her any time soon. But this is by far the fastest turnover in recorded history.
So, after a long and hard two months with ROI, I hope Javi gets to have some well-deserved downtime soon before Art on Ice kicks off in Switzerland in February!
ADD 1: Ooops, the Japanese TV show was on today, not on the 9th... But some good soul had put it up in Google Drive: ttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1SPDFst_ZE_ZSAnHQD4oGM4-WpN8ChHgf/view No translations yet, but looking forward to watching it...
ADD 2: The Bolzano Gala uploaded to YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-uS0_5hrBY He did Black Betty and Abril by Vanesa Martin (from ROI).
E
I went to Madrid with my friend known as tureis on this forum and the second part of the trip to Spain was already spent together. We met up in Amsterdam and managed to get seats next to each other at the back of the plane. Right before liftoff we watched Dmitri Aliev in the Russian Nats and right after the landing, Alena Kostornaia's SP. The trip started well!
My holidays were of course just work-work-work for Javi. When I got up very early in the morning, he was already posting stuff on IG and he was on TeleMadrid slightly later, on the radio a little later (Hoy per Hoy, around 10 min and SER Deportivos around 28 min).
In the afternoon, part of the cast of ROI was at the rink at Plaza de Colon to do a event of inclusive skating. Some pics here of Javi skating with Celia and other events here and here and here and here.
Then to Palacio Vistalegre for the Friday rehearsals during which there was the usual press conference. AS published a clip on YT and TimeJust another one. EFE reported in writing. La Razon did a proper interview. Plus a video of the rehearsals via Periscope.
So, while he was busy doing all that, we settled down at our flat close to the Palacio Vistalegre (walking home after the show instead of public transportation etc. is a blessing), got some food and had some wine and went to bed early because the alarm had sounded around 3:30 am.
We had thought of going to Toledo on Saturday, but the trains were all full in the morning, so we ended up walking a lot in Madrid, just enjoying the sun. We went to check the ice rink at Plaza de Colon and as Uniqlo shop is basically next to it, did a bit of shopping (we were not the only figure skating tourists doing that!), got some food, walked more.
Then it was the first show. We had seats in the middle of the short end which gave a good view to a lot of the choreography. I think I liked last year a bit better, there were more longer sequences that tied into each other instead of single numbers like this year. The storyline of the little girl's dream of skating was ok, but not exploited to its full potential, I feel. Not to mention that last year there were more skaters that I liked! It was interesting to see Ashley Wagner live – had not done that before. The Claire du Lune by Capellini and Lanotte was absolute magic. Javi was brilliant in whatever he did. Twizzles and rotational lifts with Celia! The collaboration with Taburete was good for something that probably gets skated only those two times. But the rest a bit meh.
We also had a short chat with the lady who runs the Equipo Japon Javier which was fun!
On Sunday we did get to go to Toledo which is lovely but also a total tourist trap. And in the evening the second show and then meet and greet… We sat in one of the corners, right above Javi’s family. It was ok except that there seemed to be a door open to the North Pole below us and it is a while since I have been that cold! The 3A at the end of the second finale from Javi was just beautiful!
We had learned from meet and greet last year as had the organizers. This time the huge line to greet Javi was along the wall, the stage was so high that you could see what was going on without being next to it. They also had someone to take photographs, someone to take people’s things from one side of the stage to another and a table to sign etc. And tureis managed to get us to the queue at only 10 m from the stage! (She hopped over those rows of seats with no problem at all…)
And when we reached the stage, Javi greeted us with a smile that lit his whole face and open arms for hugs… Still cannot believe that he actually remembers who we are! The lady from Japan had returned the WeMissYouJavi banner from its long (since Minsk!) journey to Japan (I had thought that it was going to settle and get citizenship…) and we got to take photos with the banner and Javi all together. He seemed to be happy to see it and when we asked for a signature, he knew exactly where he wanted to put it – basically over his heart in the Olympic medal picture on the left. Pictures here and the signing was videoed. I thought my knees might betray me going down those few steps, but I managed to stay upright…
We went to meet some of the other skaters (Capellini & Lanotte and Ashley particularly) and then also managed to have a longish chat with David Wilson. I had for a long time wanted to ask Brian and/or David how did find Javi’s lyrical side – was it sth they did deliberately? He was so strongly doing all those funny and lighthearted routines and then suddenly comes out with Danny Boy. Apparently, it was David’s principle that trying different kinds of things is good and exploring different emotions in programs also. He mentioned that Javi had had problems with Black Betty, especially turning from a “cute skater” (David’s expression) into something rawer – but he managed it pretty well in the end. Having mulled over that for a couple of days, I think now that it might have been one of the reasons why Javi really caught my attention in fall 2014.
He can’t have partied too hard after that (we left around midnight and he was still on stage and there was still quite a lot of queue left) because the next day he went to the Japanese embassy to meet the ambassador.
There was also a radio interview on that came out on January 1 on Cope (think it might have been recorded on Monday??)
The official audience figures “more than 55 000” are slightly lower than what I expected because most of the venues were quite large (A Coruna maybe the smallest) and the ticket sales did look good. The Madrid shows were not sold out and definitely not with 16 000 people as mentioned in some sources, the 13 500 for Saturday seems more to the point. They will be going for a third year and we will have to wait and see how it will work. Nevertheless, it is quite amazing to think that one of the more successful skating shows in the world is happening in Spain!
On Tuesday morning, LaLigaSports organized an event at the rink at Plaza de Colon with people playing gigantic table football with hockey skates.
In the afternoon, off to Italy for the Bolzano Passion Gala tomorrow evening. Today they had a press conference and Javi looked ever so slightly not present. I hope we get some pics or clips from tomorrow!
On January 9 and 16, there will be broadcast at Japanese NHK TV on the project he did after the Japan Open, Wonder Lessons. Teaser trailer here and interview of the producer/director here. The idea was to invite top skaters to give lessons to Japanese kids and and Javi starts the series. Funnily enough, they seem to be somehow unaware that he has been doing this kind of stuff for a long time now and knows what needs to be done etc. The kids were a varied group in skills and level of skating, but if I got it right from the awful google translation, then they decided to concentrate on performance and expression more than anything else. I hope we get to see that show!
And then the last bit, one of the interviews published on Saturday (Dec 28) revealed that he has a new girlfriend… Tureis and I talked about the sudden disappearance of loved up IG posts about the previous girl and what that could mean, and we got the answer just a few hours later… No name, just that she is Japanese and not in the skating world. And considering how the Japanese are not always very keen on social media, I wonder will we see her any time soon. But this is by far the fastest turnover in recorded history.
So, after a long and hard two months with ROI, I hope Javi gets to have some well-deserved downtime soon before Art on Ice kicks off in Switzerland in February!
ADD 1: Ooops, the Japanese TV show was on today, not on the 9th... But some good soul had put it up in Google Drive: ttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1SPDFst_ZE_ZSAnHQD4oGM4-WpN8ChHgf/view No translations yet, but looking forward to watching it...
ADD 2: The Bolzano Gala uploaded to YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-uS0_5hrBY He did Black Betty and Abril by Vanesa Martin (from ROI).
E