you have to believe we are magic...

How else to explain my presence at the Starcastle tonight?

That isn't where I'd planned to be, but the musical I'd thought of seeing ("Mean Girls") was sold out for its entire run.

Fortunately, Savannah Children's Theatre had this trick up their sleeve!!!

I'd thought this was coming next month. 

And how did I know "Xanadu" was where I was meant to be?

Programs were on the ticket counter!

The woman there knew my name before I said it!

A front row seat greeted me when I entered the performance room!

Right place, right time!

Wow!

 

By intermission, I was so amazed with this show that I sent out texts for Betsy, Laura, and Mary.

"This is sooo much fun!! Can't believe I remember the lyrics to the songs!!!"

As I told the two girls sitting next to me, I haven't seen the movie version in at least thirty years.

(Truth be told, it was probably more like 40. I'd used my keyring to mark my seat when I took a break, then told the middle-school girls the story about it. So, they were aware that I was old-er.)

 

After the musical was over, I sent another text to Betsy and my sis-in-laws, as well as my friend Robin Eifler.

"So cool having a rollerskating show here!! At Starcastle!!! Loving this!!!"

"Seriously, you should come see this!!"

Those are six of the many Muses, taking their bows at show's end, and they are all on roller skates!!!

When I had seen how empty the stage floor was, I'd hoped the "roller disco" musical would be complete with skating...

especially with all the Olympic ice dancing and figure skating I've been enjoying from men, with couples, and from women...

and my hopes came true!!!

Right place, right time!  

 

I wonder if the players were surprised to see me mouthing all the words on this opening night?

I'm serious.

I knew all the words to all the songs from 'Clio/Kira' (Juliette Delcroix) and 'Sonny Malone' (Charlie Karpf).

They were the central characters of the story.

 

Here the guy is again, along with Will Johnson, who played 'Danny', the man who'd built 'The Xanadu' a few decades ago, but never opened it.

They seem to be pretty good friends in this shot for their dads, don't they?

That's because they are!

Remember the woman who ran the Pop-Up Shop at last year's SMF?

That would be Noelle Leigh Westmoreland, and she's their teacher and music director for this spring class!

She met me at the front door and we talked for about ten minutes as the kids were all getting their photos taken.

Nice to be where people know my name.

Right place, right time! 

womens' shorts (no, not panties)

At this 25th Winter Olympics in Milan, there were 29 women competing in the Shorts Program, all hoping for Figure Skating medals.

I was able to see watch an even dozen perform in the segment aired here in the United States today.

As good fortune would have it, that meant I was treated to 8 of the top 10!

That was just the luck of the draw for the skating order with the Americans... but it meant I saw the top three contenders!

One of those in the lead - Alysa Liu - was even on the USA team!

She placed third with her Short program, scoring 76.59 points.

I absolutely loved all the fringe on her outfit, flowing in the breeze of her incredibly fast skating!!!

Her score was less than 0.7 lower than that of Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Her outfit was quite stunning, with the blue fade and the long gloves!

She definitely earned that 2nd place for the Short program!

But the most impressive of the three was the not-quite 18-year-old skater who skated in the 18th place in the line-up.

Does it seem that I'm attempting to draw some correlation between age and skate order?

Well, I do enjoy playing with numbers!

This young woman resembled one of the many school girls in Okinawa, riding the bus with me over in Kadena Circle - such a good memory!

Ami Nakai of Japan will be 18 tomorrow... and tonight, with 78.71, she placed first in the Short program!

Right place, right time, for her and for me!

What a way to start my two hours of Olympics!

I wouldn't see any more of the top skates for well over an hour.

Alysa Liu was 24th in the order and Kaori Sakamoto was 27th.

The woman who placed 4th in the Short program was the very last skater.

She was Mone Chiba, of Japan, and I am absolutely sure her song choice was meant as an inside joke.

Why else would she use Donna Summer's "Last Dance"??? 

Then again, maybe that was another right place, right time gibe from the Universe for me!

A little something to make up for all the falls out there, starting with the second skater I saw.

Madeline Schizas, of Canada, wore a perfect costume for her dance to "The Lion King"... but then she fell, and fell again.

She ended up with a score of 55.38, in 25th place.

She will not go on for the Free Skate in this competition.

The 19-year-old from Kazakhstan will be, as her score of 68.47 netted her the 12th place in this Short program.

That means Sofiia Samodelkina will be getting a shot at an Olympic medal.

So will Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone, who scored 68.97, skating to "Send In The Clowns" and doing admirably at it.

She's one place higher than Sofia.

However, Amber Glenn of the USA is one place lower than Sofia and only scored 67.39 on the ice.

Not even Madonna's "Like A Prayer" could save her after missed jumps and two falls.

It's truly a wonder she didn't place farther down than 13.

The other skater for the USA, and the other one part of that trio of Blade Angels, is Isabeau Levito.

She made it to 8th place after her Short program, with 70.04 points.

That's still almost two points less than Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia scored.

And it's less than the Belgium skater, Leona Hendrickx, by almost one point.

What it all comes down to is this: only those women who dare to throw some triples into their routine - and to successfully land them - are making it to the podium.

I'll be sure to tune in on Thursday!

(smile!)

japan takes the gold! georgia takes the silver!

The hour's worth of Free Skate aired this afternoon revealed a big upset in the Pairs Figure Skating and was a very truncated show.

The first teams that were on at 4 PM were China (Sui Wenjing/Han Cong) and one of the USA teams (Ellie Kam/Danny O'Shea), but it was just a couple of highlights of their turns on the ice.

China scored 135.98 on the Free Skate and that USA team had 122.71.

Basically, both were in line with their standings from the Shorts program.

However, everything got taken up a notch when Japan came up.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihana took their mistake yesterday to heart and were absolutely, positively, perfect for this free skate!!!

The music, from "Gladiator", crafted specifically for this place and this program, was obviously one they felt strongly about and they were completely rapt...

as was I, watching them...

that had to be a Gold Medal performance, right?

The judges certainly agreed that it was.
The couple came off the ice with the highest score yet: 158.13 - wow!

The closest competitor - the team from China, whose skate wasn't shown this afternoon - was still 23 points lower than them for the free skate.

They were 23 points lower for the Figure Skating total, too.

That's a lot of points for some team to try to best at this juncture. 

Totally incredible!

Four more teams to skate; could Japan hold that spot? 

For the first time ever, it was possible that Japan could get a medal if the next two teams scored lower.

Hungary's pair, Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko, were next.

They had ended yesterday in 4th place... would this Free Skate advance them?

Their score was 141.39!

That wasn't enough to knock Japan off the pedestal yet.

What about the team from Canada?

Oh, my... Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud were skating to "Gladiator", the exact same music that the Japanese team had used.

Nice costumes, that's for sure... but then they had a fall, and one of their required jumps was under-rotated... and they knew when they came off the ice that their position was in peril.

Yesterday, they had been in third place. 

Now they had a 125.06 for their Free Skate, giving them 199.66 overall.

They were totally out of the top five.

But that was good news for Japan - they were definitely getting a medal!

Now to determine if it would be Gold, Silver, or Bronze.

Georgia's team was hungry for a medal, too, as the country had never won.

Would "Keeping Me Alive" be enough for Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava to pull into a space closer to, or above, Japan?

Oh, it was good, and they skated their hearts out, too!

And they succeeded in scoring 146.29 for their Free Skate!!!

That gave them a total of 221.75, ensuring they were going home with an Olympic medal, just as Japan would be.

One team left: Germany's Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin.

Would their "Memoryhouse" program grant them an Olympic podium position, or just a memory of what might have been?

Would it be them or Hungary's team up there for a medal???

They met the challenge, scoring two points below Hungary for the Free Skate, but that was offset by the 7 points higher yesterday.

That gave them the Bronze medal!!!

That meant Japan took the Gold and Georgia won the Silver!!!

I do love fairy tale endings!!!

I also love that I get to watch this again for Prime time!

(smile!) 

pairs' shorts: no, not ice dancing

I had once thought that Ice Dancing and Figure Skating were synonymous.

They are not.

Both are done with pairs of skaters on ice, but the technical bits differ. 

In Ice Dance, at least one member of the pair must be in contact with the ice at all times, so there are no jumps of any kind.

The emphasis is on synchronicity, with twizzles and choreographed step sequences, as well as lifts, used to supply dramatic tension. 

In Figure Skating, the technical aspects of axels and toe loops and fancy jumps returns, as well as throws of one partner by the other.

There's also a requirement for hand-holding at certain times.

I really like that one.

(smile!) 

Here's the German team of Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin, executing a perfect lift and spin.

I really love that overhead shot on this one!

They were dancing to "El Abrazo", a song written just for them... wow!!!

They amply deserved their first place standing at the end of this program!

This time, I have the couple from Georgia - the country, not this state.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava were skating at high speed to "Bolero" as they performed this fabulous lift.

Just look how blurry the sidelines are as they whiz on by!!!

This clearly shows his strength, too, as well as hers as she holds that stance.

Second place they secured, though almost five points below the Germans.

Third place belonged to this pair from Canada, Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud.

Such a lovely display of hand-holding by this couple, as well as highly synchronized movements of their arms and legs, as shown here.

That merits the high points for sure!

This is the team from Hungary, making fourth place with their short program.

Here, I captured the moment when Alexei Sviatchenko was in process of lifting Maria Pavlova to his shoulders.

Their performance used Michael Jackson's "Earth Song", which I don't know that I've ever hear before.

Nice to associate it with this skate in Italy!

Time for the pair from Japan, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who gained fifth place!

I don't know why "Paint It Black" was their choice, but that seems to be a popular one this year.

I guess it's those Euro-Asian-Indian accents that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards imbued into it that makes it so appealing across the globe.

I like that their outfits remind me of "Star Trek" uniforms!

As for Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, their Short program wasn't included in the blocks aired for the USA tonight.

All I have for that 6th place team are their names and standings.

Maybe I'll get to see their Free Skate!

I did, of course, get to watch the 7th place performers - they represent the US!

They are the 35-year-old Danny O'Shea and 22-year-old Ellie Kam, as disparate in age as they are in height and appearance - but both big smilers!

Their song choice?

"Hallelujah", a song of praise and gladness!

Good choice... and perhaps an inside joke?

(smile!) 

Behind them by less than two-tenths of a point was this Italian team of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii.

What fun they were having with "The Wild Bull"!!!

That was some definitely fancy footwork they had going on!

The home crowd truly loved them... and so did I!

Before I leave, special mention must be made for the Canadian team who skated to an operatic bit, "Carmen Burara", placing tenth.

Maxime Deschamps and his partner truly classed up the joint. 

Deanna Stellato-Dudek wore an Oscar de la Renta skatesuit of gold that caught every bit of light in that arena.

Here's the highlight for me: she's the same age as my first niece.

Good for her for still chasing that Olympic dream!

They may not have made the top 9 on this leader board, but they'll have another chance in just a day or so.

I'll be watching... and hoping... that their dreams come true!

(smile!)

Non contare i polli prima che siano nati.

"What's that my dearie? It looks like it might be in Italian. Something about first chickens?"

 

Well, you did get the language correct. The title says 'Don't count your chickens before they're hatched'. I made the mistake of doing that after the Short program the other day.

 

"Hmmm... I get it. You made some predictions that didn't pan out, is that what you're saying?"

 

Yes, exactly. As the folks in the booth have said repeatedly during these 25th Winter Olympics, figure skating can break your heart. In these competitions, a skater has less than five minutes to show their routine to the world. All it takes is one quarter-turn to be off on a landing, one triple that turned into only a double, one slip that results in a fall... and suddenly all those thousands of hours of training and practice result in 15th place instead of 1st. That is actually what happened tonight to the US skater known as the 'quad god'.

 

'What?!?!" 

On Tuesday, Ilia Malinin had the lead firmly in hand, with a score that was five points above his nearest competitor and fifteen points above the man in 4th place. That's just a phenomenal lead!!! Everyone expected him to roll all over everyone tonight. But he fell, hard, twice, and I think he failed to complete at least one quad jump. His score for the Free Skate was 156.33, and he was the final skater. That put him in 15th place for this part of the competition. It's only due to his incredible Short program that his total, of 264.49, granted him a place in the top 10.

 

"Oh, my! That had to be heart-breaking for that 21-year-old. At least he made the upper ten in the Men's Single Figure Skating."

 

8th place, that's what he got. He wasn't the only one that slipped and fell into lower standings, though. My boy, Yuma Kagiyama, he even fell during his Free Skate.

 

"That's terrible!"

 

He came out of it much better than Ilia, though. He still posted 176.99 for this part, getting 6th place for the Free Skate. His combined total, of 280.06, won him a Silver medal to take home to Japan. What a relief to me that he still won 2nd place!!!

 

"Had they used the same music as before?"

 

No. Ilia used some ethereal stuff with him speaking pep talk messages. Yuma skated to music from "Turandot", one of Puccini's operas. The Free Skate was at least 4 minutes long, so more music was needed than for the Short program.

"I see. What about that French skater who placed 3rd in the Short, the guy with the Da Vinci muscle shirt that you liked. How did he do?"

 

You mean Adam Siao Him Fa? He chose Philip Glass music, and wore a shirt that featured part of Michelangelo's painting, "The Creation of Adam". I do admire those touches of classical artistry! So did the crowd in Italy, clapping enthusiastically for him, even after he fell during his Free Skate. Seriously, it was just so sad that his dance was marred by slick ice! He ended up in 12th place for the Free Skate, but was able to still be ahead of Malinin overall. His total, of  269.27, netted him 7th for the Men's Single Figure Skating.

 

"Damn. That had to be heart-breaking for him. Still, he's young enough to be back for the next Winter Olympics. And you have to appreciate that inside joke he had, right? His name is Adam and he wore a shirt with an Adam..."

 

Oh, snap! Good catch, g'friend! I completely overlooked that!

 

"You're welcome! Had to bring back a bit a levity to these proceedings."

 

You're right, I've been taking these mishaps to heart, as they affected two of my favorites. All three of those young men are only in their early 20's. I'll have a future opportunity to see them skate. 

 

"That's right! So, what young man is up next. I know you watched at least 8 of the 20 skaters."

 

An even dozen is what I got to see. Okay, how about a Cinderella story to brighten things up?  Remember that young man that grew up skating at a mall? He won Gold!!!

 

"You mean Mikhail Shaidorov? The kid from Kazahkstan???"

 

He's actually 6 months older than Malinin. And, yes, I mean him!!! After an absolutely flawless Free Skate, his score for that portion took first place... and stayed!!! And I loved his music!!! I felt that he had chosen "The Diva Dance", from "The Fifth Element", especially for me!!!

 

"Maybe the Universe wanted you to pay attention to him?"

 

Maybe so. He was 16th in the skating order, meaning there were only four more skaters after him, including the three I've talked about, who were expected to take home medals. That meant that after Yuma skated, Mikhail was still above him on the leader board! And just what was that Free Skate score? 198.64... that's 21 points better than Yuma!!!

 

"Holy cow!!! That's absofrickinlutely incredible!!!"

 

Mikhail's overall score kept that 21-point lead, posting at 291.58, which may be a record. I know it's a Personal Best record for him!

 

"Actually, highest ever was by Nathan Chen at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, four years ago."

That's okay. Mikhail Shaidorov has the highest overall score for this Winter Olympics! And my Yuma has the second highest! And Shun Sato, also of Japan, has the third highest at 274.90, just 6 points lower than his countryman's. 

 

"I love his firebird skate-suit! Oh, fun fact: he had his 22nd birthday just 6 days ago. So many of these skaters were born in 2004!"

 

Funny that you mentioned the design of his outfit. He skated to Stravinsky's "The Firebird", and did so not only beautifully, but flawlessly.  That gave him 186.20 for his Free Skate, putting him in third place for that. It was his overall score, though, that won him the Bronze medal for Men's Single Figure Skating. Very nice for a 22nd birthday gift!!!

 

"Very nice, indeed! But something you said makes me wonder. Who placed 2nd in the Free Skate? I know Yuma didn't."

That would be Stephen Gogolev of Canada. Get this: his score was 186.37, just barely more than that of Shun Sato. However, his overall total was 273.79! Honestly, there was less than three points difference between 2nd and 4th place in the Free Skate! But those standings in the Short program make a lot of difference. Gogolev only had 87.42 there, which put him in 10th place for that part.

 

"Well, Sato only had 9th place for the Short program!"

 

Yes, but he skated fiercely and flawlessly in the Free Skate and that's what pulled him into winning the Bronze at this Olympic game. Emphasis on the "flawlessly", meaning he made all the jumps he'd planned, he executed them perfectly, he was very artistic, and he didn't fall. All of that makes the difference between getting an Olympic medal and not doing so.

 

"Understood. How about Daniel Grassl? I know he was in 4th place in the Shorts, just after Mikhail Shaidorov. How did the italian homeboy end up?"

 

He took 8th place for the Free Skate and 9th overall. I don't recall him doing anything wrong, like falling, during his program. He used music from the movie, "Conclave", which all there seemed to approve and clap along. Perhaps he simply wasn't as daring in the jumps he chose? Still, he landed in the top 10, so that's great! He also has part of the Bronze medal for Team event of Figure Skating, so that's pretty sweet.

Speaking of medals for the 2026 Team event, Shun Sato and Yuma Kagiyama share the Silver medal the Japan team won.

Ilia Melanin shares the Gold medal won by the USA team, too.

I realize that's not the same as having a medal of your very own, like the ones for the Men's Single Figure Skating... but it's still a marvelous thing.

Truly, not few people can say that they are Olympians... 

but these skaters can.

What a treat to have been able to watch them dance across the ice!

mens' shorts

There I was, all settled in and enjoying some figure skating...

then BAMMM!!!

I popped on to fb to lodge a complaint!

"I can't believe the local news just interrupted the Milan Olympics!!! Don't they realize this is just a once every four years event??? And the Men's Short Program of ice skating is on???
But wait...
I recorded it LIVE from earlier!
I can even skip the commercials and enjoy all those lovely young men without interruption!!!
Well... alrighty then!
I'm off to get my Yuma Kagiyama fix!!!
He has SUCH great taste in music!
The photos are from his GOLD medal performance on Saturday, skating to Stevie Wonder's "I Wish"!!!"

Here he is again, reprising his performance into a condensed version.

The Short Program has to be less than 3 minutes in length, but still include several technical aspects, like triple axels and quadruple toe loops.

(smile!) 

Trust me, I can only talk the talk.

I cannot distinguish one type of jump from another, but I do enjoy them.

He had one little flaw this time and that cost him first place, but his score was still more than 100; it was 103.07 points!

The one who claimed first, with a score of 108.16, was the 'quad god'.

That would be his compatriot in age, Ilia Malinin.

Both are around 22 years old, in the prime of physical strength and beauty.

Both are an absolute delight to watch as they whiz around the ice!

 

But I have a new man to enjoy: Adam Siao Him Fa.

Skating for France, to a routine inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, I was absolutely captivated!

Were those his muscles beneath a sheer top, or was that an illusion?

 

Either way, it was mesmerizing to watch... so I rewound the tape and enjoyed his glide around the rink a couple of times, just because I could.

The photo shows his endpoint of his choreography - just phenomenal!!! 

His was the only other score in the 100's (it was 102.55).

All in all, for this portion of the Milan Cortina Olympics, I had a lucky thirteen skaters to watch, of the total twenty in the competition.

Very nice way to spend the last three hours!

Here's another skater for France, the young man described by the commentators as "an artist who skates."
He's Kevin Aymoz, extraordinarily graceful as he danced to Lady Gaga's music.

His artistic score was so good that he placed 7th in this Short Program!

Then there's Lucas Britschigi of Switzerland!

 

He chose "No Good", by an artist I didn't know, and had so much fun emoting to the lyrics that I had to watch him twice!

I'm so glad I had that option, too! 

Tall and lithe, with a mussed mop of dark hair, he was a thrill for a single woman like myself, especially with that song in the background.

RAWRRR!!!

He may have only placed 19th there, but he was in my top five!

 

Denis Vasiljevs, of Latvia, was another favorite of mine, whose placement of 17th didn't reflect his skills.

Another tall brunette, his moves were so smooth and romantic, with lots of extra physical and facial expressions as he acted out the lyrics.

I don't recall the name of the song... but I recall his interpretation of it.

 

Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia entertained me as much as the Swiss man would.

In retrospect, he's probably responsible for revving me up for Britschigi!

That's because his choice of song was "Kiss" by Prince - oh, yeah!!!

He, like the Swiss and Latvian, ended up in the lower five, but perhaps they were simply too sexy for the judges.

Yeah, I bet that was it!

(smile!)

So, what about some skaters from the top five?

Well, I liked the backstory for Mikhail Shaidorov.

He first started skating in a shopping mall back home - very nice. 

He's from Kazahkstan, a country I only know via a microloan I made on KIVA last year, so that link probably also drew my attention to him.

I also like that his first name reminds me of Mikhail Baryshnikov, a famous dancer from my youth.

This Mikhail ended up 5th in the standings.

 

The only other one who also placed in the top 5 was Daniel Grassl, who was very much a crowd favorite.

That's because he's a native son of Italy!

He's also one of the few blond men in this competition.

He performed to a tango medley and was very lively and smooth in his glides!

 

The other Italian, Matteo Rizzo, was a crowd pleaser, but not nearly as artistic and accomplished on the rink.

His score, of 84.30, landed him squarely in the lower five.

 

Grassl, on the other hand, scored 93.46, almost ten points higher.

It'll be interesting to see how things shake out on Thursday! 

Right now, though, it looks like Malinin for Gold, Kagiyama for Silver, and Saio Him Fa for the Bronze at this year's Olympics.

I wonder what music they'll be using for the Free Skate portion? 

In other words, I wonder what songs I'll be hearing next?

(smile!)