Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khaliavin | Page 17 | Golden Skate

Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khaliavin

Mohacz

Medalist
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Country
Poland
Today in the sports news of the Spanish TVE there was a brief part dedicated to Antonio Najarro (director of the Spanish National Ballet) and his work with the figure skaters. They gave glimpses of Sara and Kiril's new flamenco FD which they were practicing with Antonio off the ice. I must say I really liked those few figures and movements that I saw and I can't wait for seeing Sara interpreting this music. I'm sure she'll be gorgeous.
 

happycamper2554

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
I'm convinced Kirill has dirt on the Russian Federation or something. He was released extremely quickly when he asked and they've now been invited to Rolestem two years in a row.
 

maryeli

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
Peru
I was listening to OST of "Hello Dolly" and I love it :luv17: , I also remembered that both Sara and Kirill showed their flamenco steps in worlds 2015 (SD, with the couples they had at the time)

I wonder which challenger will attend this year (I really want to see their new programs :drama: :drama: :drama:)
 

Olibritt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Country
Spain
Now that the season is definitely over, I feel free to comment about their last programs. I was free before, of course, but they are one of my favourite ice dance couples, I try not to criticize them, at least not while there still are possibilities of improvement. Here it goes:

RD: Just to be clear, I didn´t enjoy their tango, not at all. At the beginning I had doubts, maybe it will grow with time... but at some point, I realized that no matter the high levels of the elements or even if they could get a perfect set of twizzles, there was something missing in that program, for me there was no interest, no soul that I could connect with. That movement at the beginning, a jump into a lift, all I could see was Sara trying to escape and Kirill trying to catch her to put her back on the ice: “Sara come back, we really need to do this...”:drama:. On the bright side, at Worlds they were able to put it together, even the twizzles!

FD: Since the beginning, I thought that they were taking a risk with the music and, specially, with the choreographer, betting on a contemporary (maybe avant garde?) Spanish choreographer with no experience in icedance... I don´t think that the choreo was good or original enough, time didn´t help that program to grow, but a risk is a risk, there’s no guarantee for success, and they had to take it, to learn from the outcome, whatever it may be.

EX: IMO, their best program of the season, by far. That music, a Rosalia’s cover of “Aunque es de noche”, is absolutely hypnotic. For the choreo they recycled pieces of their previous programs, it’s not original but it’s not bad at all. And they looked so relaxed and connected to the music during the last performances that it’s amazing to watch them.

After three seasons together as a team, I have a few conclusions:

- Technically, it is evident that Sara has improved a lot with Zhulin and they are a real team now. But there’re still some problems that should be solved by now and they are not: Sara’s twizzles were painful to watch all season long and the closing lift in the FD, so simple, beautiful and original, gave them problems even at worlds. I’m sure that some savvy tech fans can add a few things to this list.

- Artistically, I can see the effort they put in order to look for inspiration and develop their own style but I can see too the lack of resources, and by that I mean financial resources but school resources too, it seems that they are on their own and they depend on the external choreographer they can pay: it didn´t pay off this last season. Paying little attention to the artistic side is a quite common criticism to Zhulin camp and, even though I agree with those criticisms most of the time, I don´t mean it that way at this time: I can name some Gadbois teams too that made bad artistical decisions this year or even teams that struggle trying to find their own style. Many of us are still missing old Sara and those absolutely stunning programs we all remember, but that Sara (with Adri) doesn´t exist anymore. IMO, it’s absolutely evident that there’s a lot of hidden talent in Sara&Kirill’s team, but they need help and resources to put that talent in their programs and on the ice.

- Antonio Najarro is an enormous asset for the team, most of his choreos for skaters are pure gold, they work extremely well for Sara and I think for Kirill too. Last year I thought that Sara&Kirill had to be careful with spanish music, that they needed to diversify... What for? They probably only have three more seasons of competitive career and the programs they are doing with (and without) Najarro are using very different types of spanish music and dance styles. Najarro’s programs have quality and are unique, they are really adding something special to figure skating. They should keep Najarro as their main choreographer or as a permanent advisor, at least.

- They are top 10 material as a team, even in this era of extremely deep field, but they need to run the extra mile to compete with so many stunning teams. I hope that this season they can find “top 10 material” programs too... the few bits that we have seen of the FD are promising, we’ll see if their Hello Dolly RD is good too.

As an opinión, I'm not sure that this is of any interest to anyone but I needed to get it off my chest and begin the new season clean: this seemed to be the best place to write it.


I'm cheering for them again :cheer:
 

maryeli

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
Peru
Apparently Sara and Kirill will participate in the CS 27th Nepela Memorial 2019 :drama:

I look forward to their new programs :hap85:
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
I am very excited to see Sara & Kirill live for the first time at Nepela! :)
 

Clairecz

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Country
Czech-Republic
NoNameFace, you are going to Nepela Memorial? I'm probably going too, because first I'd love to see Matteo Rizzo live and second I'd love to see Sara&Kirill live :love: . I'm really looking forward to their FD.
 

Olibritt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Country
Spain
Yes, even quite a while ago :)

RD: Hello Dolly soundtrack
FD: Flamenco; choreo by Antonio Najarro
We still don´t know what piece of Hello Dolly they will use but we do know they are using OROBROY for the FD, it's "modern" flamenco, they called it symphonic flamenco: lot's of jazz influence, there's no guitar but a piano... I'm in love with the music.:luv17:

Here you have the piece:
OROBROY in YT (it is used in a video to promote the city of Sevilla, sorry for that)
OROBROY in Spotify (edited for a better link)

At some point, Sara announced in her Instagram that they were going to do two competitions before their two GP events (Canada and Russia), but I can´t find it. If one is Nepela, does anyone know which is the other one?

EDIT: Could it be Minks? I think so, but it's too close to Skate Canada...
 
Last edited:

gordana

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 17, 2015
Country
Russia
At some point, Sara announced in her Instagram that they were going to do two competitions before their two GP events (Canada and Russia), but I can´t find it. If one is Nepela, does anyone know which is the other one?

EDIT: Could it be Minks? I think so, but it's too close to Skate Canada...

If the guys want two CS events before their two GP assignments, it could be Finlandia Trophy, a week before Minsk. If they don't mind the second competition to be just a B event, there are some more options.
 

Olibritt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Country
Spain
Hello Dolly! Hello Sara and Kirill!!!!
UAU, I didn´t expect that, I really like it! I enjoyed it a lot!
They have all the charm of a classic musical and Sara is an absolutely convincing diva!
I'm sorry for the problema with the costumes but she is stunning in that red dress she used in their first season together, it's a good thing to give that costume a second chance to be appreciated as it deserves. :luv17:

I'm so, so happy :clapper::clapper::clapper:
I can´t wait for tomorrow! I'm going to rewatch this RD in a loop all this evening :laugh:
Good luck with the FD!

EDIT: H&K RD Nepela 2019
 

gordana

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 17, 2015
Country
Russia
Thank you, Olibritt for mentioning Sara's dress. I went to the OP to see their first competition ad then Mr Youtube offered me a video of their free dance from Santa Claus cup which is referred as no found. :biggrin:

Santa Claus Cup 2016 FD
 

bramweld

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Hello Dolly! Hello Sara and Kirill!!!!
UAU, I didn´t expect that, I really like it! I enjoyed it a lot!
They have all the charm of a classic musical and Sara is an absolutely convincing diva!
I'm sorry for the problema with the costumes but she is stunning in that red dress she used in their first season together, it's a good thing to give that costume a second chance to be appreciated as it deserves. :luv17:

I'm so, so happy :clapper::clapper::clapper:
I can´t wait for tomorrow! I'm going to rewatch this RD in a loop all this evening :laugh:
Good luck with the FD!

EDIT: H&K RD Nepela 2019

Really nice. I liked them the best today, this style of dance really suits them both.
 

Tex

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Wow, they have made some big improvements since last season! Sara and Kirill seemed so polished and sophisticated for this early in the season. It looks like they are skating with more speed and fluidity too. They have good characterizations as Dolly and Horace in this musical. Plus, their chemistry in this program is sizzling. This type of program and music really suits them. I LOVED the mirrored turns/spin they do in the foot work sequence where Barbra sings "the old band is playing one of my old favorite songs." Kudos to the choreographer who constructed this. They made great use of using a slow version of the song and then using a swing-upbeat version to end the program . Using just one song in the RD works and standouts from other teams using 2-3 songs. Their arm movements and choreography are sublime. I can't wait to see what their costumes will look like. Are they using the Frank Sinatra and Count Basie version of "Hello, Dolly?"
 

Olibritt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Country
Spain
I'm not sure why but, I'm glad to know that my comment was helpful :thumbsup:... Should I add "for a change"? haha

I have to include Kirill in my comment too, he looks incredibly handsome in that simple (and probably recycled too) outfit. Black pants, white shirt, I think I've never seen him looking better on the ice.

Everybody puts a lot of work and effort in their outfits, so I supose that they want to use the costumes they did for this RD. I hope they can solve it for the next competition but, as far as I'm concerned, they can do the whole season like this. They look stunning.

They can lead a campaign: Recycling is good!!! ;) And very cool!!! :cool:

I'm not sure what is the situation with their FD, but I'm dying to watch it. Just a few hours more...
 
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