performanceART

   Shame on me! I have been too busy to update my web site for a while, but here is what is going on. I haven’t performed since the Spring when I skated in the 20-city STRADIVARIUS ON ICE Russian tour with Evgeny Plushenko and Hungarian violin virtuoso Edvin Marton.
   I have been practising fiendishly, however, about seven hours a week and continue to refine my technique and invent new moves of all descriptions. I am looking forward to showing off new and unique spin developments. I also have a slew of new footwork manoeuvres. I spend a fair amount of time jumping. My double axel has improved by leaps and bounds (get it?) since my competitive days, but I am still not satisfied. It seems that the more improvements I make, the more improvements I can strive for. The pursuit is relentless. Right now, for example, I am trying to eliminate the pause on all entries, just as I did in the “I’m Your Man” or “Mr. Cellophane” double axel entry. I do the odd triple salchow or toe loop when I am in the mood, and even managed a squeaky clean triple flip this past summer!
    I continue to work also on general upper body posture, choreography, and expression coupled with full and continuous breathing through all jumps, spins, stroking, field moves, and footwork. I am reminded that the human potential is boundless within the confines of physics and mortality. There seems to be no end of possible innovations and technical improvements.
    I have a few incentives to keep sharp, including a music video demo that I have been working on with my high school friend Rob Campbell and a chorus of the most talented and beautiful women skaters in Victoria. There is another very large performance project afoot that I have been consulted about. This will be a one-of-a-kind international production of unprecedented magnitude and originality.
    I just got a call the other day from Edvin Marton about a few performances in Torino, Italy on February 12 and 14. I enjoyed skating in this sold-out show last year in the Olympic Arena. I choreographed the opening and closing. I don’t know many details yet about the show this year, but last year the cast included Yevgeni Plushenko, as well as Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin.