Volosozhar/Trankov blog translates

[cailuj365]

After so many serious, romantic photos, the photo where he looks like he's about to eat her shoulder had me burst out laughing. The piano ones were pretty hysterical too. They're a good-looking team. I'm glad they're so comfortable and have a good relationship.

Q: You only used the lyrics in the short programme music in the test skates?
Tanya: Yes, of course. We skated to the music with no lyrics in Germany. But we don't really like it and we'll have it redone.

[aemeraldrainc]

Yeah, I noticed that.
I wonder what exactly are they planning to do to change it?
Do they mean completely different music and programme?
Or just different cuts of music?

[casken]

Sounds like they'll have it re-orchestrated.

[aemeraldrainc]

Sounds like they'll have it re-orchestrated.

Thanks. That's what I thought at first, too. So I'm sure it's right.

[Ajax]

Thanks for the translation and the photos!
They are absolutely gorgeous but I think she would look so much better with a darker hair color... Her current one looks fake and makes her look older.

[TAHbKA]

Wind of change

The skaters Volosozhar and Trankov in the `style' part of Sports.ru recall their walk in the magic Vienna, the fun and drunk Oberstdorf, ponder on the short programme changes and the new long programme costumes. It's 11 days till the Grand Prix series kick off.

Hello everyone, it've been a week since we returned home and getting ready to the first Grand Prix. This time as we promised we'll tell about the competitions in Germany and Slovakia.

Maksim: the weather in Germany was gorgeous. We had a lovely summer which improved our mood. We came there at the last moment so we didn't have time to regroup. We were the first to skate the short programme, usgin a new music. For some reason we were not too ready on that day to skate. That was probably the reason not everything worked out. But the failure in the SP motivated us for the LP and we had a decent skate. It was a a nice competition: many high level pair.s We liked the new american pair, Vera and Yura are quite strong..
Tanya: After the competition we stayed in Oberstdorf for 4 days to get ready for the next competition. We skated on the same rink. We had one day off which we used to go to Munich. It was during the Octoberfest and we wanted to see the celebrations.

Maksim: all went well during the day: we went for a walk, the sun was shining, people were more or less sober dressed in the national costumes. By the evening we were shocked by what we saw. Something that doesn't even happen in Russia in the biggest holidays. We saw women and children who could hardly walk, helping each other to get home. Nevermnid the men. Quite a sight. Anyway, there were lots of impressions from the trip.

Tanya: we then moved to Bratislava. They have a very good new rink which was built for the hockey world chapmpionship.
Maksim: it was hard to skate there -Tanya and I never participated two competitions in a row before. It's something we have to get used to, especially as it's the beginning of the season and we are not in our top shape yet. It was a positive experience, we think
Tanya: we were decent in our SP, while the LP didn't quite work out this time with the fall in the throw. While training just before the competition Maxim had a bad fall and his old injuries started to bother him again. he had to skate through the pain. But now everything is allright.

Maksim: we flew back home from Vienna and took a day to see the city. It was my first time there. We liked the old city - we walked through all of it. As usually, I thought of a route beforehand and we saw a lot: we went to the view point on St. Stephan church which gives a magnificent view on Vienna, walked on the Danuba river side. Tanya liked the rosary : a huge bushes of roses grow under the skies - it's very beautiful. A shame we didn't have a chance to see the night city (we heard it is beautiful) but we were so tired after the day that we just fell asleep once we reached the hotel

Tanya: After coming back we've been training and recovering - those 2 competitions were quite hard. The second training was not even on the ice -we went to a fitness club, worked out, did some special excersizes, went to a sauna and a swimming pool. Starting this week we'll be getting ready for Skate Canada. We have two and half weeks which should be enough.
We'll change one lift in the LP so it'll look better. And most importantly, we have to be ready skatingi n a smaller rink. As you know the NA rinks are smaller and it's hard for the European skaters to get used to them. We'll have to draw lines on the ice and try not to get out of them.

Maksim: during those two competitions we realized we'll probably give up the tutu in Tanya's costume. I'm uncomfortable with the position changes in the lifts, especially since they became harder. Because of the tutu we failed one element in Oberstdorf. It feels that instead of holding the partner by her body I hold her with the fabrics because there is too much there. Besides, I don't like the way Tanya looks in the tutu - it makes her look square as if cutting the body in the middle.
Tanya: we'll probably make a new dress. Redoing is harder than making a new one. We'll leave this costume for the exhibitions.

Maksim: Our short programme is unclear right now. Nikolai Morozov has some ideas. Perhaps we'll do a completely new programme. Not for the next competition, of course, but perhaps for the future. We just can't change the music in the way we feel comfortable with. Perhaps the choreography and the style will remain, but there will be changes. We want a strong winning SP programme. We are not satisfied with what we have right now.

Thats it for now, good luck till later!

[Kasey]

Thank you Tanka. I am glad they aren't satisfied with the SP; I like that they are trying a different style, but the music really isn't working right. I hope they find something that works for them without having to go through a whole new SP.

[Cherub721]

I am glad they aren't satisfied with the SP; I like that they are trying a different style, but the music really isn't working right. I hope they find something that works for them without having to go through a whole new SP.

My thoughts exactly. I love that he sees that.

[rfisher]

Thanks for the translation. I love reading their blogs. They know what's working and what isn't and will change it.

[julieann]

I wonder why it took until October to find out something didn't work (especially the music)... I hope they don't do anything drastic and change everything. I think it's a great program for them they just need to find the right musical arrangement.

[koatcue]

They say they like new american couple)

[Cherub721]

I wonder why it took until October to find out something didn't work (especially the music)... I hope they don't do anything drastic and change everything. I think it's a great program for them they just need to find the right musical arrangement.

As recently as the test skates in September, they were still using the version with vocals. The instrumental arrangement wasn't ready until they did their first competition at Nebelhorn, then they did Ondrej Nepela, and this is the first time they're getting a chance to regroup since competing.

[julieann]

As recently as the test skates in September, they were still using the version with vocals. The instrumental arrangement wasn't ready until they did their first competition at Nebelhorn, then they did Ondrej Nepela, and this is the first time they're getting a chance to regroup since competing.

It must be though having your choreography first and waiting on your music I wonder who's idea that was?) I can't imaging them keeping the program and just replacing the music with another song after the GP. They can feasibly do a new program before Russian Nationals. I hope they keep it though, I like it.

[dinakt]

I like reading Maksim's entries.
With the SP, I imagine, he thought that the musical arrangement of the SP would retain the feel of the song; it does not, and Maksim's inner rocker is rising in protest. Curious as to what they do. Glad Maksim is not complacent.

[Pavla2304]

Not a blong entry but an interview
http://www.championat.com/other/_ska...cle-98980.html

http://winter.sport-express.ru/figur...reviews/17044/

Is there any kind Russian speaking person who could translate summary of this?

[TAHbKA]

Our goal - Olympics Reut Golinski and Tatiana Geikhman for championat.ru

Q: Why have you decided to start the season with B internationals and participate just 2 GP events? Many of your rivals will participate 3 GPs as it is allowed by the rules.

TV: Right now we are lacking the points to skate in the last group, hence we need to gain those points.
MT: When participating 3 PGs one of them does not count for the points. It's just money. It is more important for us to be in a good shape and in a high placement right now. Our final goal is the Olympics and we plan our seasons accordingly.

Q: In one of the interviews after the worlds you said it is just as well you won the silver rather than the gold - that leaves you something to inspire to. Do you have a plan for the medals? Say, silver, gold, gold, gold?
MT: I wouldn't go that far. Sure we are setting the goal to win. Of course we want the gold. What I meant is that to remain on the top for several years it's hard. I don't think it was done in the pairs. Even Aljona and Robin who won 3 world championships did it in 5 years.

Q: You participated the test skates in Russia before the competition in Oberstdorf. What do you think about those test skates?
MT: Am not impressed. Frist of all the skaters are not ready yet and the crowd doesn't like the half done programmes that lack choreography and costumes. Second the skates took place in hard to approach places, for example it took us 3.5 hours to get from Novogorst to Balashikha. That added to the fact the programmes were not yet completely ready... it was hardly a positive experience.

Q: Besides, many skaters don't want to show their programmes and reveal the music ahead of time...
MT: That too. We missed one skate this year and skated our exhibition programme in the other. Not because we were not ready or were hiding things, but because Nina Mikhailovna had a preparation plan for us and it was more convenient for us to show the real programmes in the last two skates.

Q: You added a throw 3F in your short programme. That's an element you only recently started to learn. Usually the new elements are added in the long programme where the price of the mistake is not that high.
TV: We have two competitions to try that out now.
MT: We can change it at any moment. But as of right now we are hte only pair to perform 3 different throws in two programmes and we want to show the judges we can do different elements, we are not repeating. Tanya is the only partner in the world who can perform 3 different throw jumps. Even if we decide to give up the element later its' worth the try.

Q: What are your conclusions from the skate in Germany? Are you satisfied? The throw did work out.
MT: The throw didn't really work. But we are still learning it. Our main goal is to be able to replace the throw 3S with it - it's more expensive and hardly anyone does both the 3loop and 3F. For example our main rivals dont.

Q: Last year you had to learn the throw technique from the scratch. Since you can perform 3 different throws this year we reckon you solved the problem?
MT: Not completely, but we are working on it. After all Tanya performed the throws differently for many years.
TV: But we are more confident.

Q: Maksim, you mentioned the movie `Black Swan' reminds you of Tanya's story. But the movie didn't end too good for the main character.
MT: Why?

Q: The dancer... you remember how it ends?
MT: She goes crazy and dies. But it was her driem. She dreamt to dance the part and she did! For me it's a happy end. If we should win the Olympics we can drop of the podium and die. So when the dancer in the movie reached her goal her life was over. Aronoffski wanted to show not that you shouldn't put all oyu have into your dream, but that when you reach your life goal your life is over.
TV: Besides, we are not trying to revive the `Black Swan' story literally
MT: The programme is closer to the real ballet where we try include some ideas from the movie. Actually we don't have the ending yet, we are still thinking what should it be, how to make it interesting. Perhaps she'll die, perhaps she'll live. the second part of the programme will probably change. We have a different version but we are not confident with it yet, hence here and in Bratislava we are showing the old one. But it will be different in the GP. As for Tanya - I saw some common things in her and the dancer in the movie: Tanya is very soft and very goal oriented as well as the dancer. Hence I said that the movie is about her. It does not mean she has to follow Portman's story in `Black Swan'.

Q: Oh well, if that's the happy end, we wish you the same happy end, but please don't die!
TV: If only of happiness

Q: Maksim, you mentioned the exhibition `Mario' was your idea. Do you have some other ideas you'd like to impliment?
MT: We have plenty of ideas, but we put so much effort in the competitive programmes this year that there was not much left. Our goals are so high that it's hard to find time for the exhibition numbers. Probably our next exhibition will be in the show `Art on Ice' for a music that will be given

Q: You both overcame a lot of hardships, including the living conditions to get where you are now. There is an opinion that the youth of today are useless in sports because their lives are not hard.
TV: There are two systems: the ex USSR and the NA
MT: The preparation system should be updated. Many Russian coacehs are still working in the ex USSR system which says the hunting dog should be kept hungry, i.e. they shoudl look for the talented kids in the hungry villages. If you take the NA skaters it's the oposite - they can only afford figure skating if their parents are rich enough.
TV: For them it's a hobby, for us - a job.
MT: Parents of most of the guys my age made them skate because it was the only way to earn money and get out. It's different now and if promoting the figure skating and other sports correctly the kids will want to skate, never mind whether they come from a rich family or a poor. It's a good thing figure skating is easily accessible in Russia. Unlike in the USA or Canada where working with a good figure skating coach is unaffordable for kids from the poor families

Q: The question was actually less about the money and more about overcoming the hardships which as if make you stronger. The conditions in Russia are better now....
MT: I think it's not important for the sport. The will is the important part. Overcoming the hardships can be an interruption. Because of all that I or Alexandr Smirnov went through we lost our health. And health is an important factor in the sport.

[rfisher]

I don't want them to die when they get an OGM.

[IceIceBaby]

Because of all that I or Alexandr Smirnov went through we lost our health. And health is an important factor in the sport.

Can someone explain what does this mean? Did they got permanently sick when they were sleeping in the ice rink when they were young?

[Pavla2304]

Thank you so much, TaHbka

[TAHbKA]

Can someone explain what does this mean? Did they got permanently sick when they were sleeping in the ice rink when they were young?

Reckon it is less about being permanently sick but more about periodically hungry