Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
I can't find Victoria's P&G video. :confused:
Skyfly, Help me. :sarcasm:

Maybe that would be best reposted in the S/K fanfest thread? We don't want to encourage people to just come barging here and post about S/K's beauty, do we? ;)
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Maybe that would be best reposted in the S/K fanfest thread? We don't want to encourage people to just come barging here and post about S/K's beauty, do we? ;)

You're right. I'm guilty but I know she can't resist of checking this topic, and I can't resist not teasing her. :biggrin:
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
I wouldn't worry about the Zueva politiking thing - Averbukh has been saying plenty of positive things about I/Z in the Russian media. Sometimes it seems like after every choreography session he calls a newspaper just to say things are going well! And as others say, you don't want to raise expectations too high like Marina has with her fastest couple in the world spiel, because there is no way either team can live up to hype like that. It's better to exceed expectations than fail to meet them.

Averbukh is on their side, Tarasova is too, Alexeeva & Kustarova have a great reputation in Russia & a good relationship with the Federation & by being based in Moscow rather than in the US it's easier for the Fed to keep an eye on how they are doing & get feedback, rather than risk turning up to the August test skates with programs that people don't approve of.

And the last word on the PR & politiks - I really wonder how much longer Marina's dominance will be allowed to last. No one stays on top in ice dance forever - Dubova was the queen for a couple of cycles, then Linichuk in the 1990s, early 2000s was Zhulin, and now Marina has had the last 2 Olympic cycles, but the backlash will come, especially when she promotes a team as aggressively as she has S/K.
 

breathesgelatin

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 12, 2013
Marina has had the last 2 Olympic cycles, but the backlash will come, especially when she promotes a team as aggressively as she has S/K.

I fully believe we are already starting to see that backlash at Worlds 2014. We'll see what the next season brings.
 

ElenaNikitaFan

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
I see that Adelina Sotnikova is on Nikita and Vika's side and I don't understand why. She keeps posting supportive comments on their instagram, likes their photos, but I never saw her commenting on Lena's or Ruslan's instagram. This comment from today "что бы не говорили делайте свое дело!;) у вас новые жизни;) вы прекрасны!)" can someone
translate it better please?
I hope Julia will beat her a** in the future :p
It is like a conspiracy against Lena it seems :(
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Adelina is friends with Lena & Nikita. There were pictures of her & Elena at the Olympians ball, she likes photos like this one posted a couple of days ago http://instagram.com/p/otT0pwqBk5/# (which Lena captioned 3 sisters & 1 brother). She's not going to slag off Victoria & Nikita in public, or even lose a friend over it, you are over thinking this. & even if she did take sides, which she hasn't, what impact would it have?
 

ElenaNikitaFan

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Adelina is friends with Lena & Nikita. There were pictures of her & Elena at the Olympians ball, she likes photos like this one posted a couple of days ago http://instagram.com/p/otT0pwqBk5/# (which Lena captioned 3 sisters & 1 brother). She's not going to slag off Victoria & Nikita in public, or even lose a friend over it, you are over thinking this. & even if she did take sides, which she hasn't, what impact would it have?

If she is friends with Lena why doesn't she write supportive comments to Lena&Ruslan also? Yesterday she wrote something supportive to Vika and today to Nikita. These people heart Lena very much, how is she a friend if she says to S/K "you have a new life, super" or something like that?

Isn't this pic old? The guy behind Adelina looks like Morozov and the guy behind Lena in grey like Nikita.
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Maybe she talks to Elena in private. Not everything is conducted in public or on the internet. I don't say everything to my real friends on their instagram accounts, I talk to them properly in person or on the phone instead of some throwaway comment on the internet. Adelina trains at CSKA, the same rink as Ruslan & Lena, she probably says what needs to be said then. Back read this thread, you will see a picture of Adelina looking very happy with Ruslan & Elena from Friday night. And like I said, she was friends with Nikita as well before I/K split up. Why should you expect her to throw away a friendship over something that she had nothing to do with?

The picture is old, but Elena only posted it on the internet at the weekend, and Adelina liked it then.
 

kauh888

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
I wouldn't worry about the Zueva politiking thing - Averbukh has been saying plenty of positive things about I/Z in the Russian media. Sometimes it seems like after every choreography session he calls a newspaper just to say things are going well! And as others say, you don't want to raise expectations too high like Marina has with her fastest couple in the world spiel, because there is no way either team can live up to hype like that. It's better to exceed expectations than fail to meet them.

Averbukh is on their side, Tarasova is too, Alexeeva & Kustarova have a great reputation in Russia & a good relationship with the Federation & by being based in Moscow rather than in the US it's easier for the Fed to keep an eye on how they are doing & get feedback, rather than risk turning up to the August test skates with programs that people don't approve of.

And the last word on the PR & politiks - I really wonder how much longer Marina's dominance will be allowed to last. No one stays on top in ice dance forever - Dubova was the queen for a couple of cycles, then Linichuk in the 1990s, early 2000s was Zhulin, and now Marina has had the last 2 Olympic cycles, but the backlash will come, especially when she promotes a team as aggressively as she has S/K.
It's true. I mean, I think a lot of teams and countries/figure skating associations are probably getting a little tired of the D/W and V/M dominance over the past years (fighting for bronze) although it's been a great rivalry to witness. Now that they are probably going to retire, it leaves a lot more opportunity because there isn't any one team that is so obviously better than the other - it's pretty much anyone's win right now in my opinion.

In my opinion (and I am a fan of D/W and V/M), Marina Zoueva is a pretty good choreographer, but not necessarily a good technician. I think Igor Shpilband was the one who really helped nail down the technique for both D/W and V/M. Of course, both teams also have side coaches and specialist coaches that help out. If Nikita and Victoria were coached by the tandem of Zoueva and Shpilband, that could be a huge force to be reckoned with. Z&S make for a pretty strong coaching pair together I think. For D/W and V/M when Z&S split, it was fine for them to go with Zoueva like they did because they already had strong technique and fundamentals.
Kustarova is pretty good and better than Zoueva at making the basic technique strong in my opinion, which can be an asset. After all, technique is first over aesthetics. Good choreography and emotion can't win first place if you don't have good knee action, deep edges, and in sync twizzles!
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
As some of you know, I am like entirely fascinated by and love Marina. I can't help it! I don't always agree with things that she says/does....and she can really tick me off sometimes when it comes to certain teams. (Sorry, I'm digressing here....) Anyways, this all being said, I think that Marina has times where she has great ideas choreographically but from what I've read and heard some of her choreo can be pretty much not skateable for even great skaters... And nailing down technique doesn't seem to be her thing...Igor definitely was the task master there. My concern for a team that doesn't have the very good technical ability yet is that it may be hard to skate her programs cleanly and with emotion.

Kustarova I think will be very helpful to I/Z in working on technique. From what has come out about I/Z's training, it's clear that technique is really being worked on hard. I just hope they get good choreo and costumes to work with...

It's like a double-edged sword. You have to have technique to win ... But you also to have programs that appeal to the judges and are easy to follow on the ice. At the end of the day, I'm just hoping for the best and literally so excited to see them all competitively skate!!
 

kauh888

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
As some of you know, I am like entirely fascinated by and love Marina. I can't help it! I don't always agree with things that she says/does....and she can really tick me off sometimes when it comes to certain teams. (Sorry, I'm digressing here....) Anyways, this all being said, I think that Marina has times where she has great ideas choreographically but from what I've read and heard some of her choreo can be pretty much not skateable for even great skaters... And nailing down technique doesn't seem to be her thing...Igor definitely was the task master there. My concern for a team that doesn't have the very good technical ability yet is that it may be hard to skate her programs cleanly and with emotion.

Kustarova I think will be very helpful to I/Z in working on technique. From what has come out about I/Z's training, it's clear that technique is really being worked on hard. I just hope they get good choreo and costumes to work with...

It's like a double-edged sword. You have to have technique to win ... But you also to have programs that appeal to the judges and are easy to follow on the ice. At the end of the day, I'm just hoping for the best and literally so excited to see them all competitively skate!!
Well said! I agree with everything! :) I have to hand it to Marina in that she packages and presents her skaters well. I'm not sure how much she had a hand in costumes (I think D/W's mothers and Meryl took main charge in that but Marina obviously had a say probably for example), but Marina's skaters' costumes have been pretty good on the whole I think. Choreography has been good too. I too really, really hope I&Z get good choreography and costumes! Elena's black swan and flapper costumes were gorgeous though so hopefully it remains that way :)
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Well said! I agree with everything! :) I have to hand it to Marina in that she packages and presents her skaters well. I'm not sure how much she had a hand in costumes (I think D/W's mothers and Meryl took main charge in that but Marina obviously had a say probably for example), but Marina's skaters' costumes have been pretty good on the whole I think. Choreography has been good too. I too really, really hope I&Z get good choreography and costumes.

Thank you so much dear!!! :) And I agree, she's good at packaging and then presenting her skaters in a way that plays to their strengths overall.

I know from interviews and "Tessa and Scott" that Marina does put her two-cents in on costumes. But I should've been more specific, I'm more concerned about I/Z's costuming....in the past I've typically liked Elena's costumes, but I know that their are some coaches/choreographers who wield a lot more say in costuming than other's; and I just hope they have a nice program with nice costumes because I am a lot less familiar with the group they're working with.
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Thank you so much dear!!! :) And I agree, she's good at packaging and then presenting her skaters in a way that plays to their strengths overall.

I know from interviews and "Tessa and Scott" that Marina does put her two-cents in on costumes. But I should've been more specific, I'm more concerned about I/Z's costuming....in the past I've typically liked Elena's costumes, but I know that their are some coaches/choreographers who wield a lot more say in costuming than other's; and I just hope they have a nice program with nice costumes because I am a lot less familiar with the group they're working with.

When Bobrova moved from Kustarova to Zhulin, she said she was surprised because no one was telling her how to do her hair, what her costume should be & so on, so the implication is that Kustarova had a lot of influence over her look. But then again, all of Kustarova's former teams have been skaters she has brought up right from Juniors. She's never had someone come to her like Lena who has already created an image for herself, so I don't know if she will still try to control the look, or let Elena & Ruslan have their say. I read an interview with the costumer designer Elena worked with last season & she said Elena had a lot of ideas & helped with the design, so hopefully she can still do that in her new team.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
uhh Thanks for the information!!! :) That's what I'd thought I had heard about Kustarova as well, but wasn't sure. I too hope that Elena still has some creative input because I have to be honest, her costumes last season were fabulous.
 

sisinka

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Kustarova is a very young coach (looking at the age of top coaches…without Morozov who was pushed by Tarasova in the beginning). Kustarova was born in 1976, in 1995 she only finished her competive career. Looking at Wikipedia then she worked as a choreographer in France. She returned home and started coaching with her mom in 2001. Since that time she and her mother produced many junior World Champions, and with Borbova & Soloviev they reached Grand Prix win and medals, two Silver European Medals. But in 2012 two best couples of them went to Zhulin – B&S and M&K. She also coached Platonova & Grachev for some time, they were quite inretesting couple. For sure she has things to improve like almost every coach, but her students always had a very good or great Skating Skills, a difficult and demanding. To have such results in 13 years, that is not bad at all. This year she once again had Junior Grand Prix Winners, Junior Grand Prix Final winners, Silver Junior World Medalists in Yanovskaya & Mozgov, Winter Universiade Bronze Medalist, 4th place at European Champs, 7th place at World Champs. There is a difference between Kustarova & Alexeeva and some of other top coaches. While other top coaches take skaters who are already seniors and have some strong technical base, Kustarova & Alexeeva take children and teach them from the beginning.

To Bobrova's costumes – it must be improved, costuming is a part of performance. But I am not sure whether this goes in direction of Kustarova. Katya went to Zhulin…and this season once again her costumes especially that first and second for Birds were not good at all.
If Lena has some friends – designers, and I am sure she has, she will continue to work with them, so no need to worry. The same for make-up, hair style etc.
 

kauh888

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Kustarova is a very young coach (looking at the age of top coaches…without Morozov who was pushed by Tarasova in the beginning). Kustarova was born in 1976, in 1995 she only finished her competive career. Looking at Wikipedia then she worked as a choreographer in France. She returned home and started coaching with her mom in 2001. Since that time she and her mother produced many junior World Champions, and with Borbova & Soloviev they reached Grand Prix win and medals, two Silver European Medals. But in 2012 two best couples of them went to Zhulin – B&S and M&K. She also coached Platonova & Grachev for some time, they were quite inretesting couple. For sure she has things to improve like almost every coach, but her students always had a very good or great Skating Skills, a difficult and demanding. To have such results in 13 years, that is not bad at all. This year she once again had Junior Grand Prix Winners, Junior Grand Prix Final winners, Silver Junior World Medalists in Yanovskaya & Mozgov, Winter Universiade Bronze Medalist, 4th place at European Champs, 7th place at World Champs. There is a difference between Kustarova & Alexeeva and some of other top coaches. While other top coaches take skaters who are already seniors and have some strong technical base, Kustarova & Alexeeva take children and teach them from the beginning.

To Bobrova's costumes – it must be improved, costuming is a part of performance. But I am not sure whether this goes in direction of Kustarova. Katya went to Zhulin…and this season once again her costumes especially that first and second for Birds were not good at all.
If Lena has some friends – designers, and I am sure she has, she will continue to work with them, so no need to worry. The same for make-up, hair style etc.
Thanks for the insight! I think both Ruslan and Elena have decent technique individually from their past partnerships and coaches but especially since they haven't trained together for very long and aren't used to matching each other necessarily, I think it's probably for the better that they have a coach who is very interested in teaching almost like from the beginning and make sure the fundamentals are there to set up for not only this season, but future seasons!

Elena has pretty good fashion sense judging by her outfits from instagram photos and gala outfits, and she seems to be a girl who knows what she wants, so if she gets at least some input on costumes and makeup, then I think it'll turn out fine.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Thanks for the insight! I think both Ruslan and Elena have decent technique individually from their past partnerships and coaches but especially since they haven't trained together for very long and aren't used to matching each other necessarily, I think it's probably for the better that they have a coach who is very interested in teaching almost like from the beginning and make sure the fundamentals are there to set up for not only this season, but future seasons!

Elena has pretty good fashion sense judging by her outfits from instagram photos and gala outfits, and she seems to be a girl who knows what she wants, so if she gets at least some input on costumes and makeup, then I think it'll turn out fine.

:clap: spot on!
 

sisinka

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Kustarova is a very young coach... She returned home and started coaching with her mom in 2001. Since that time she and her mother produced many junior World Champions, and with Borbova & Soloviev they reached Grand Prix win and medals, two Silver European Medals. But in 2012 two best couples of them went to Zhulin – B&S and M&K. She also coached Platonova & Grachev for some time, they were quite inretesting couple.

I forgot to add that Zlobina & Sitnikov were also trained by this tandem.
Also Riazanova & Guerreiro win Junior World Bronze medal with her, than Gorskov took Riazanova for Tkachenko. Riazanova & Guerreiro had a very nice Jamen Bond Medley at Junior World Champs in 2009, althought this couple was not so great in technique (and this didn't change in time much), this program was nicely choreographed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqmcJvQAQpw .
 
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