Harvard's "An Evening with Champions" annual benefit show ~ September 29-30, 2012

[Tammi]

Intermission at Friday nights show. Pretty good sized crowd here. First half exhibitors did a wonderful job entertaining the audience. Jason's program just has to be seen . Looking forward to the second half and already have tickets to see the show again tomorrow!

[Debbie S]

Glad you're having fun! Looking forward to the reports from our FSU attendees.

[misskarne]

Intermission at Friday nights show. Pretty good sized crowd here. First half exhibitors did a wonderful job entertaining the audience. Jason's program just has to be seen . Looking forward to the second half and already have tickets to see the show again tomorrow!

I'm so jealous! (Especially since I'm sitting at dull old work right now!)

Did Jason do "Drop in the Ocean" or another number?

Glad you're enjoying it though

[Tammi]

Jason did MC Hammers "You can't touch this ". Got the honor of seeing Jeremy's Les Mis program...... Beautiful!!!!

[smurfy]

Just got home - great show. I didn't take notes.
So true - Jason was so fun. I saw him win the JGP last Dec, but did not stay for exhibition. It was cool to see another side of him, very fun, you could tell he was enjoying himself. Hammer Time!
Jeremy's program to Les Miz was beautiful, unfortunately he messed up some jumps that pulled me out of the moment. When skated cleanly it will be mesmerizing.
Other skaters:
Kimmie M - so nice to see her. Not a difficult program, but she has grown as a skater.
Christina Gao- lovely purple dress - lovely program
NavBoms - so excited to see them again. It just seems like they love being out on the ice and it shows.
Melanie and Fred - great to see them, fun program, a little slow from the last time I saw them, but pure entertainers, great pairs moves.
Paul had an iPad and announced that the Protopovs would not be there and he recorded the cheers for them. Not sure if he said why they were not there, could not always understand what he or Emily were saying.
Ryan Bradley - skated to Footloose - fun program, definitely one of the crowds favorites. Back flip of course.
Castelli and Schanpir (sp?) really lovely program, they have skated in this event for a few years now and they are really maturing and improving. Nice to see.
Lots of other skaters, but can't remember all their names right now. off to bed.
But if anyone can go on Sun - go - such a great show and a great cause.

[Theatregirl1122]

I'll post my pictures in a bit (hopefully later tonight but since I have yet to post my Skate Canada pictures, I make no promises) but here is my (in no teknic, not very informative) review. Where I use the word "nice" too much.

Yasmin Siraj: GFB. Really, very nice. I enjoyed it a lot.
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton: I remember really liking it but thinking their double twist was really low. My mom really liked them as well.
Jason Brown: He did "Can't Touch This" in a sequined vest. Definitely not what I was expecting. But it was great. He's my mom's new favorite.
Emily Hughes: A cover of Paint it Black sung by a woman but I don't know who. It wasn't really a great song choice for her and I have a feeling she hadn't been planning on skating here for very long because there wasn't much choreography. But it was nice to see her anyways.
Douglas Razzano: He did the Jersey Boys versions of Rag Doll and Walk Like A Man. Another one where I kind of felt like he was milling around and didn't have much choreography. But I do like Jersey Boys.
Anastasia Cannuscio & Coin McManus: Turning Tables. Not that we needed another Adele program, but it was actually a great exhibition. Lots of very nice choreographic details and I thought they sold it well. He did have a big stumble, though.
Kimmie Meissner: GFB. She was beautiful. She has become so much more expressive over the last few years. I really enjoyed watching her. She did doubles up to 2A. Emily and Paul talked to Kimmie and she said she started skating again last summer and that she was skating in Tokyo soon.

Intermission

Blake Rosenthall: Blake is apparently a junior at Harvard now. She did a cute number to Let's Get Loud which was in clear violation of the "no one may skate to anything that could have been used for the SD last season" rule, but she did a nice job.
Christina Gao: I think she was doing her SP. She fell on a triple loop but I thought the program suited her. (Although I thought the dress was too weighed down with fabric, actually)
Ross Miner: Frank Sinatra's version of Luck Be a Lady. He was really fun to watch. A lot of personality in this number. Also he is far more attractive when not wearing things like last year's SP costume. I volunteer to personally burn that.
Kim and Brent: Amy Winehouse's Mercy. A lot of fun, of course. It ended with Kim getting dragged around on the ice while attached to Brent's foot. I've always loved them. But Brent has to shave.
Agnes Zawadzki: I Will Always Love You. This was a surprising choice of music for her. I actually really enjoyed it although I'm not sure a giant 80s ponytail was required (my mother says "no wonder I was thinking I liked her hair"). She's improved so much since she left Tom Z.
Ryan Bradley: Cut Loose. Classic Ryan Bradly. Lot's of fun, totally hammed it up, did a back flip, wore really tight pants, and took his shirt off. The ladies definitely enjoyed it. I was also very amused by his conversation with Paul and Emily. Right after he finished skating Paul asked him what he'd been up to and Ryan said "As of recently, trying to breathe."
Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir: Michael Buble's Feeling Good. There are plenty of "Feeling Good" Exhibitions in the world but theirs was really great. Lots of great choreographic moments. Also I loved Marissa's dress.
Jeremy Abbott: Bring Him Home free skate. Okay, I enjoy Jeremy's skating and programs but I'm not an uber because I can't take the emotional turmoil. I don't know about transitions and difficulty because I wasn't watching for that. But he sells this program beautifully. I loved it. If he ever skates it clean, I'll probably cry. For all Les Mis is overused, Bring Him Home is a perfect fit for Jeremy.


Overall it was an absolutely great show. If anyone in the area isn't planning to go, get tickets and go tomorrow. There were very few performances that I didn't really enjoy. The Harvard Students did a great job!

[Garden Kitty]

Thanks for the detailed review! Sounds like a great show.

[YukiNieve]

Is this Jason...!!!???

Very entertaining program by Jason Brown's "You Can't Touch This."
(Thanks you, Marni!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE4FNDys1Tk&feature=plcp

[YukiNieve]

Jeremy Abbott (Free Skate)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclDBc_ek2s

Douglas Razzano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7hbDk5odk&feature=plcp

Ross Miner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIhj_5m9sjk&feature=plcp

...and you can find other vids (again, thanks, Marni!):
http://www.youtube.com/user/marnianne/videos?view=0

[Theatregirl1122]

Here are the pictures (it's a miracle!). Not my best with the Hockey glass and the fact that I was sitting pretty close but whatever. For the record, there are no pictures of falls. Anyone on the ice decided to be there.

Some of my favorites:
Yasmin layback
Kylie & Colin
Anastasia & Colin lift
Kimmie
Kim and Brent begging for Mercy
Agnes
Ryan backflip
Marissa and Simon
Jeremy (for the lolz)

[TanithandBenFan]

Yay for all the videos and photos!!!!

I had goosebumps in the first five seconds of Jeremy's program. Yeah, I'm going to be a blubbering mess if it he nails this program at Skate America or Nationals.

I loved Duarte/Grafton!!!! I knew their song sounded familiar, so I looked it up and it was used on So You Think You Can Dance this year. "Turning Page" by Sleeping At Last.

Marissa and Simon looked great! And Jason Brown was hilarious!

[alilou]

Is this Jason...!!!???

Very entertaining program by Jason Brown's "You Can't Touch This."
(Thanks you, Marni!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE4FNDys1Tk&feature=plcp

I just fell in love with Jason all over again. That was great!

[RD]

Here are the pictures (it's a miracle!). Not my best with the Hockey glass and the fact that I was sitting pretty close but whatever. For the record, there are no pictures of falls. Anyone on the ice decided to be there.

Some of my favorites:
Yasmin layback
Kylie & Colin
Anastasia & Colin lift
Kimmie
Kim and Brent begging for Mercy
Agnes
Ryan backflip
Marissa and Simon
Jeremy (for the lolz)

some good shots there - thanks for sharing!

[lulu]

Thanks so much for the review, sounds like you had a great time. I'm looking forward to seeing Kimmie skate at the Medal Winners Open. I wonder she is going to skate to the same program at the upcoming competition? As a rule, I usually prefer any type of music to the GFB, but it sounds like she did a nice job with the program.

[nashvilledancer]

Back to back triple axels in show lights? I guess Jeremy's allowed one fall here. Loved the turning lunge. Jeremy's webmaster posts that this did not include the first 40 seconds where the quad will appear. Soo glad we get to see it at Skate America very very soon!

[RD]

GFB? what's that?

[Poggi]

GFB? what's that?

Generic Female Ballad

[lulu]

GFB? what's that?

"Generic Female Ballad"

[kirkbiggestfan]

Taking an 8yo there today. How long was the show? Thanks for the reviews

[ioana]

Blake Rosenthall: Blake is apparently a junior at Harvard now. She did a cute number to Let's Get Loud which was in clear violation of the "no one may skate to anything that could have been used for the SD last season" rule, but she did a nice job.

Ah, I actually saw her practicing this on a FS session and thought the program suited her. Kept thinking she looked familiar, but couldn't figure out why or where from. And, to think I really liked Blake's Adele program from last year's show . Thanks for the review; looking forward to today's show!

ETA: Now sure about this EWC, but most years they are somewhere around 2-2:30 hours, with a 15 min intermission.