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ARD Gala 2005 in Mannheim

When Stefka and I arrived at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, we were definitely very impressed with the arena, it is brand-new, huge (I think there is place for about 10000 people) and overall very nice. There's a practice rink building directly attached to the main arena, with one Olympic size practice rink and one that I think is a bit smaller. I think this would be a really great arena for a big figure skating competition. It was definitely a vast improvement over the Palavela in Torino, not only did the seats have backs :-P , there also was a lot of space around each seat (because they weren't put very close together), plus there were a lot of toilets :-P and it's generally one of the nicest skating arenas that I remember being at...(of course it's mainly used for hockey...)

The only bad thing is that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere (lots of fields around it and nothing else) and the rink restaurant was closed when we wanted something to eat, so we spent a lot of time standing around and watching tons of little hockey kids, who were having a game in the smaller rink. The restaurant opened later though, so we at least had a nice coffee before we went to the show.

The show was moderated by some young guy who failed to introduced himself, so we're still wondering who he was. I took a photo, but it wasn't very enlightening. He talked incredibly fast and it was really hard to follow what he was saying without concentrating hard. That aside, he wasn't that bad, if a bit too perky maybe (and I don't know why hosts at German shows always need to "animate" the audience to clap, I think the atmosphere would have been good enough without his help...). Of course the rink wasn't sold out (10000 visitors at a show is something unachievable in Germany I think), but I still think there were a lot more people than there ever were in Frankfurt, because the rink is much bigger than the one in Frankfurt. The host said 4500 tickets were sold, which fit with the rink being a bit less than half filled.

The opening of the show was to "We will rock you" and some other rather hard rock music and featured local skaters from the Mannheimer skating club (from the smallest skaters, to their senior level skaters), plus Team Berlin 1.

Afterwards the moderator interviewed the 10-year old daughter of Claudia Leistner, who had also taken part in the opening (the daugther, not Claudia Leistner ;) ).

Sarah Hecken from Mannheim was the first skater in the show. She did what is probably her competitive SP and it included a very nice 3toeloop, definitely impressive, especially in this lighting. I think (together with Larissa Vetter), she is probably the biggest young talent in Germany.

Handke & Wende did their "Amelie" SP next.

Thieleke & Rabe wore rather "oriental" looking costume for their Pop-FD (or whatever style of music Beyonce is supposed to be, RnB?) I thought. They skated to "Crazy", a slow GFB and another fast song. I don't like this type of music, but it was an ok choice for a team of their age. They have a promising style, they are charming and I think she's rather balletic. It was also very nice to have one dance team in the show, that actually had steps and substance in their programs :-P

Team Berlin I did some bluesy program, I think it probably was their SP. It included a nice synchro spiral.

Next all 4 German pairs (Handke & Wende, Sawchenko & Szolkowy, Fitze & Rex and Vartmann & Just) skated a group number together, to the band "Momentaufnahme" from Mannheim singing a song live. I don't think such a group number works to well, because you never know who to look at. So I spent a lot of time looking at Sawchenko & Szolkowy and hardly saw anything of the others. I liked the music of the band though, it was a slow RnB type ballad and I think the singer of "Momentaufnahme" has a really nice voice (the music is somewhat like "Glashaus", just with a better singer :-P ).

Stefan Lindemann wore his LP costume, but did his SP. He had problems with one of his jumps and I think stumbled on the footwork once. Otherwise I like his SP.

Totmianina & Marinin were the highlight of the first half of the gala by about a mile (not to mean that the rest wasn't very nice, but they were just amazing). They did their new SP to "Snowstorm" wearing beautiful turquoise costumes, Tatiana wore a beautiful unitard. They started with the death spiral, then did perfect sbs-3toeloops and t3l. They ended the program with going directly from sbs spins into the pairs spin. I really liked their 2twist, Tatiana puts her arms over her head during it, but it's not static, but she moves her arms up and down again in time with the throw, it's really beautiful. I adored them and they got a thunderous applause from the audience :)

Plushenko wore an unusual costume for him, black pants and a white shirt that looked as if it was crocheted. I much prefer his flamboyant costumes. I wasn't sure if the music was Tosca or Turandot during the skate, but I'm pretty sure now that it was Turandot. It was not by any means OUATIM for sure :-P , but I'm sure it was a competitive SP, based on the elements. I think he did a 3axel at the beginning (he definitely did one in the 2nd program of the night, but I think he did in both programs), but he doubled some other jump and stumbled on the footwork. He did not really seem in top form or very secure (but considering the 3axel worked well in this gala, I don't think he's not in shape either). His footwork sequences to this music need some getting used to *shuffle*

We were a bit *huh* about Gwendal, who came out wearing a priests' suit, but when Marina emerged out of some firework wearing devils horns, I realized it's their Devil program, that I had pretty much forgotten about. I think that program might be taking the art of doing an ice dance exhibition without really doing anything in particular at all to new heights, but at least the music is nice and the costumes are funny, so I much preferred seeing it over seeing Star Wars (or better I would have much preferred it, if they had actually done it INSTEAD of Star Wars :-P ).

Shortly before the second half started my ice dance spirits sank considerable, cause Gwendal walked by in front of us and put light sabers on the rink border *blah*

Anyway, Peter Liebers skated an entertaining number to "Dirty Boogie". He tried a 3axel at the beginning of his program and it was not at all a bad attempt, just far down in the knee and with a touchdown. I really enjoyed his program.

Thieleke & Rabe did their Latin OD. I thought this was a much nicer program their FD and I think they also skated it a bit better. It was very enjoyable. When i saw they had 2 numbers, I already wondered if that would mean that the Beiers aren't there at all, since I'm sure they would have gotten 2 numbers if they had been there. However I think it was nice to see 2 nwe competitive programs from T&R instead (and the Beiers might have done Dreams on Ice if they had been there *scream* )

Next all the German Champions (minus the Beiers, who now were officially annouced as being absent due to injury) did a group number together. It was set to some dramatic music, that sounded Carmina Burana-ish in style (it wasn't CB, but just something in a similarily dramatic fashion) and at the end involved a bit of chanting of "Om Shanti" (but while still being very dramatic). I liked this much better than the pairs group number, since it is easier to follow 4 people than 8 people and I think it was quite nicely done.

Team Berlin 1 did some Pavarotti program next (probably their LP). It was a messy performance, the first one had been better.

Anette Dytrt wore a red dress and skated to a slow song with female vocals. I liked it however, since I think it was something by Tori Amos :) (or by someone who sounds a terrible lot like Tori Amos). She did 2a and 3salchow and it was a nice program. Last week while zapping around TV, I coincidentally caught a fluff piece about Anette on local Munich tv. It showed a bit of her training, something about her job at the Bundeswehr (she has to do office work about 2 days/month there, in order to be part of their sports funding) and some interviewing. She said she wants to continue until 2010 and that she works with a sports psychologist since after Euros 05.

Sawchenko & Szolkowy did their SP, which is as great a program as ever :)

Stefan Lindemann skated his "Everybody Hurts" exhibition, that we had already seen at Nebelhorn Trophy. I really don't like Joe Cockers' version of the song, the version from REM is much better, I wish he was using that one instead (but he seems to have a faible for Joe Cocker, I'm pretty sure he had an exhibition to something from him before).

I was annoyed T&M did skate 3rd to last in both halfs of the show (I don't think an Olympic title from 4 years ago should be used to determine someones' spot in a show, when 4 years ago is also the last time the someones in question were in shape :-P) Anyway, T&M skated their Caruso exhibition, wearing their LP costumes from 2004 (one of my most favorite pairs costumes ever). It was a beautiful program and I realized somewhere in the middle that I could just watch T&M do anything on the ice for hours :) They were the only skaters in the show who kept getting big applause for every one of their elements during the program.

A&P did their Star Wars program. The problem with that program is that it consists mainly of lifts, but they are simply not good at doing those anymore. All the lifts they used to do so well, now look laboured in comparison and last only a few moments. Apart from the lifts the program mainly consists of A&P standing on a spot and climbing around on top of each other in varied ways (which at least makes for good photographing opportunities).

Plushenko did one of his programs played by Edvin Marton (just without Edvin ;) ) and he did a 3axel, a 3flip (I think), some double and a lot of 2axels. He had a stumble on some footwork again, but apart from that did some cool fastpaced footwork. He finished with a cool fast scratch spin, which he also did in the encore.