"Gold on Ice" April 19, 2024 in Leesburg, VA featuring 3 World champions & a silver medalist!

I'm here! The "early access" for VIPs apparently means standing around in the lobby/bar area. Actual arena doesn't open until 7. But at least I got a decent parking space. Travel time door to door: 1 hour 50 min. Good thing I had a full tank of gas, lol.

Saw Tatiana Malinina walk through a few min ago.

ETA: Gracie just walked in.
 
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^^^ Not surprising since Ilia's agent Ari Zakarian, who organized this show, was part of an acrobat ice act as "Ari & Akop" [Manoukian] for many years in pro shows.

ETA that I was told Lindsay Thorngren made an appearance and skated her SP from this season. :)

ETA #2 - also, Bratti/Somerville did not skate as advertised so perhaps Lindsay was their replacement?
 
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Take into account I am not a show person, I only go to competitions usually (with DH who had never been to a show before and agrees with me.) So I’m not much interested in fire-wielding and acrobat guys who can barely skate.

But it was fine, especially Ilia’s angsty last program and Chock/Bates white sheet dance. Too tired to write more. No Bra/Som.
 
I'm back at the hotel (Comfort Suites) & so glad my friends & I went to the show! Every program and skater was a thrill. The fire guy and acrobat were also fun to watch (although the fire started smelling noxious and the smoke irritated my eyes & contacts). It was a disappointment that the plexiglass was up on our side of the rink & I was right behind the lettering with the warnings or something, too close and too far down in row A, so sometimes I couldn't see what the skater was doing. Ilia was exciting-- I think he did a quad lutz in the finale, and definitely did a couple of quad toes in his 2 performances. Here's my fan cam of his program at the beginning:
youtu.be

Ilia Malinin Skating at Ion Arena Show

#figureskating #iliamalinin #ionarena4-19-2024
youtu.be youtu.be

It's hard to choose which performance I liked the best. It was wonderful to see Keegan Messing still skating and jumping so well. Last year at 4 Continents, I thought it was the last time I'd ever see him skate in person. He did a triple lutz, lots of deep spread eagles, trademark fast spins & back flips, even one that was a full layout! Well, I'm exhausted after the long drive & show. Sure hope this becomes an annual event!
 
Got home about a half hour ago, I'm exhausted. Real quickly....amazing show! Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.

Yes, 1 guy with the fire sticks and sparklers and then an acrobat who did flips and somersaults. Other than that, all figure skating. I love C/B's new ex, Once I Was Loved. Deanna/Max did When a Man.Loves a Woman....great lifts and a throw, plus a headbanger at the end. Isabeau skated the ex from Nats and Worlds in the white dress by the Columbus designer.

Meet and greet was a bit chaotic with the line snaking around the side of the lobby and the skaters at a table in the corner. The line moved slowly, then as Gayo and I got up to the front, Ari Z started telling the skaters to be faster.

Great to meet Gayo, wish I could have chatted with more FSUers but being down on the ice made it hard to maneuver around and I spent half the intermission in the ladies room line.

I hope the show becomes an annual event, too, but I hope they can do it on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Aside from the horrid rush hour traffic, Rt 267 and the streets around the rink are pitch black and I ended up missing the highway entrance and had to double back.

Jordan/OIP filmed the show, so I'm sure we'll see all the numbers on his YT channel soon.
 
Truly had the time of my life at Gold on Ice! Hard to point out one skater or group, they were all so good. Besides Ilia in his flamenco SP and final rap (soulful) program…loved Tkachenko/Kiliakov’s MJ robotic gala number, Keegan Messing’s various appearances - total charisma!, Donovan’s almost matched charisma!, and all of the young (and some veteran) female soloists…Sarah Everhardt at the very top, with floating triples, like an Angel! What a joy to watch her up close…whizzing by.

Granny especially loved the Fire Guy, particularly when he dialed his fire-blasting footwork towards us. Too hot to trot!

Looking forward to a Gold II tour after the 2025 Boston Worlds! This is my new Champions on Ice! May it continue for a long, LONG time.

P.s. My tangential highlight was meeting and talking with author Christine Brennan…shades of old skating. She was there to record a return to old-style glory of figure skating in a US audience. Looking forward to a USA Today review or feature piece?
 
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Debbie S said:
Got home about a half hour ago, I'm exhausted. Real quickly....amazing show! Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.

Yes, 1 guy with the fire sticks and sparklers and then an acrobat who did flips and somersaults. Other than that, all figure skating. I love C/B's new ex, Once I Was Loved. Deanna/Max did When a Man.Loves a Woman....great lifts and a throw, plus a headbanger at the end. Isabeau skated the ex from Nats and Worlds in the white dress by the Columbus designer.

Meet and greet was a bit chaotic with the line snaking around the side of the lobby and the skaters at a table in the corner. The line moved slowly, then as Gayo and I got up to the front, Ari Z started telling the skaters to be faster.

Great to meet Gayo, wish I could have chatted with more FSUers but being down on the ice made it hard to maneuver around and I spent half the intermission in the ladies room line.

I hope the show becomes an annual event, too, but I hope they can do it on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Aside from the horrid rush hour traffic, Rt 267 and the streets around the rink are pitch black and I ended up missing the highway entrance and had to double back.

Jordan/OIP filmed the show, so I'm sure we'll see all the numbers on his YT channel soon.
Click to expand...
Debbie S said:
Got home about a half hour ago, I'm exhausted. Real quickly....amazing show! Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.

Yes, 1 guy with the fire sticks and sparklers and then an acrobat who did flips and somersaults. Other than that, all figure skating. I love C/B's new ex, Once I Was Loved. Deanna/Max did When a Man.Loves a Woman....great lifts and a throw, plus a headbanger at the end. Isabeau skated the ex from Nats and Worlds in the white dress by the Columbus designer.

Meet and greet was a bit chaotic with the line snaking around the side of the lobby and the skaters at a table in the corner. The line moved slowly, then as Gayo and I got up to the front, Ari Z started telling the skaters to be faster.

Great to meet Gayo, wish I could have chatted with more FSUers but being down on the ice made it hard to maneuver around and I spent half the intermission in the ladies room line.

I hope the show becomes an annual event, too, but I hope they can do it on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Aside from the horrid rush hour traffic, Rt 267 and the streets around the rink are pitch black and I ended up missing the highway entrance and had to double back.

Jordan/OIP filmed the show, so I'm sure we'll see all the numbers on his YT channel soon.
Click to expand...
It was great meeting you too and the show was outstanding. I hope it becomes an annual event as I think
Debbie S said:
Got home about a half hour ago, I'm exhausted. Real quickly....amazing show! Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.

Yes, 1 guy with the fire sticks and sparklers and then an acrobat who did flips and somersaults. Other than that, all figure skating. I love C/B's new ex, Once I Was Loved. Deanna/Max did When a Man.Loves a Woman....great lifts and a throw, plus a headbanger at the end. Isabeau skated the ex from Nats and Worlds in the white dress by the Columbus designer.

Meet and greet was a bit chaotic with the line snaking around the side of the lobby and the skaters at a table in the corner. The line moved slowly, then as Gayo and I got up to the front, Ari Z started telling the skaters to be faster.

Great to meet Gayo, wish I could have chatted with more FSUers but being down on the ice made it hard to maneuver around and I spent half the intermission in the ladies room line.

I hope the show becomes an annual event, too, but I hope they can do it on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Aside from the horrid rush hour traffic, Rt 267 and the streets around the rink are pitch black and I ended up missing the highway entrance and had to double back.

Jordan/OIP filmed the show, so I'm sure we'll see all the numbers on his YT channel soon.
Click to expand...
It was great meeting you too and hope it does become an annual event. The skaters were all friendly and
Debbie S said:
Got home about a half hour ago, I'm exhausted. Real quickly....amazing show! Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.

Yes, 1 guy with the fire sticks and sparklers and then an acrobat who did flips and somersaults. Other than that, all figure skating. I love C/B's new ex, Once I Was Loved. Deanna/Max did When a Man.Loves a Woman....great lifts and a throw, plus a headbanger at the end. Isabeau skated the ex from Nats and Worlds in the white dress by the Columbus designer.

Meet and greet was a bit chaotic with the line snaking around the side of the lobby and the skaters at a table in the corner. The line moved slowly, then as Gayo and I got up to the front, Ari Z started telling the skaters to be faster.

Great to meet Gayo, wish I could have chatted with more FSUers but being down on the ice made it hard to maneuver around and I spent half the intermission in the ladies room line.

I hope the show becomes an annual event, too, but I hope they can do it on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Aside from the horrid rush hour traffic, Rt 267 and the streets around the rink are pitch black and I ended up missing the highway entrance and had to double back.

Jordan/OIP filmed the show, so I'm sure we'll see all the numbers on his YT channel soon.
Click to expand...
It was great meeting you too and the meet and greet such fun!
 
Sylvia said:
Playlist of fan cams: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhaN3cjR6EOMJ9A1JmjHX4Le_1U8-F2kr
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#5 is the Fire Guy’s almost-full routine, “Thunderstruck.” Periodically he’d go into the little black tent, bringing out something more exciting, with the sparklers at the end. ROTFL! So happy that someone filmed this. (Sharing with Granny, age 104.)

Did anyone get the Fire Guy’s name? The two acrobat types listed in the large playbill program (passed out during M&G) are 1. Guatemala’s Sebastian Mendez, who did Spiderman and 2. Philippines’ Philip Warren…but I’m not sure that he was the Fire Guy, as I recall Gracie Gold mentioning someone from France, no? If someone knows the name of the Fire Guy, please report. He drove the crowd wild, as you can hear!
 
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A friend who knows the Art on Ice skaters suggested that the French “Fire Guy” may be Clement Pinel - some of these photos and films show the fire routine (clement_backflipman):

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Let’s give credit where it’s due!
 
Frau Muller said:
A friend who knows the Art on Ice skaters suggested that the French “Fire Guy” may be Clement Pinel - some of these photos and films show the fire routine (clement_backflipman):

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Let’s give credit where it’s due!
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Yes, the fire guy was Clement Pinel.
 
Just came across an Insta story clip - the end of Sarah Everhardt's program - and it sounded like her bluesy SP from this season ("I’ll Take Care of You" by Beth Hart, Joe Bonamassa).
 
Debbie S said:
Ilia skated 2 numbers, his SP at the beginning and his Worlds gala number at the end. After his first number, he took the mic and talked to the crowd, thanking them and then he introduced his sister, who skated to Everybody Wants to be a Cat. She's adorable.
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Link to the fan cam in the playlist linked above of Ilia's little sister, Liza (born 2014 eta: Jan. 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UegtHmAbMzE
She competed at the Pre-Juvenile (non-qualifying) level last season (had 1A and 4 different doubles, including Lutz, in her competition repertoire).

TSL's video starts with Ilia introducing Liza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhVsI9WisjY
 
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Sylvia said:
Link to the fan cam in the playlist linked above of Ilia's little sister, Liza (born 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UegtHmAbMzE
She competed at the Pre-Juvenile (non-qualifying) level last season (had 1A and 4 different doubles, including Lutz, in her competition repertoire).

TSL's video starts with Ilia introducing Liza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhVsI9WisjY
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Is she known as Liza or Elli Beatrice? The latter is how she's labeled on the YT Playlist shared upthread and that's also how she is listed for the Picken Solo Ice Dance Classic.
 
Karen-W said:
Is she known as Liza or Elli Beatrice? The latter is how she's labeled on the YT Playlist shared upthread and that's also how she is listed for the Picken Solo Ice Dance Classic.
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She used the latter name(s) when entering comps last year too. Ilia introduced her as Liza. Her full name is Elizaveta, my guess is they use "Elli" for comps b/c they know announcers would likely pronounce "Liza" the American way (with the long "i") so they want to use something with less ambiguity.
 
Well…As a long time lurker and extremely rare poster, I came here to say that the videos in the playlist are mine and that I appreciate the people who figured out that the fire guy is Clement Pinel. I updated the video title to reflect that. I also edited the title of the video with Ilia’s sister. I know that her name is Elli Beatrice. Which is what I had written initially. But she was introduced as Liza, so after an internal debate, I changed it to reflect how she was introduced. I’m unsure of the correct name to use for her. Edit: Just saw the replies above me, so perhaps I should change it back to Elli Beatrice.

Then I wrote a whole review of the show. And then the page refreshed itself and everything I wrote disappeared. I’m currently beyond frustrated and I just don’t have it in me to retype all of that right now so I’ll come back to that later.

Thanks for linking my videos here though, and thanks for figuring out who Clement Pinel is. I hate not properly crediting people but I had absolutely no idea who he was.

I’ll try to re-write my review either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
 
Brooklet said:
Well…As a long time lurker and extremely rare poster, I came here to say that the videos in the playlist are mine and that I appreciate the people who figured out that the fire guy is Clement Pinel. I updated the video title to reflect that. I also edited the title of the video with Ilia’s sister.
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A BIG Thank You for sharing your videos! :) Your new title for Liza’s video is fine (though “Elli” is how her first name is spelled in the results page I linked - eta - thanks for correcting it).

Pinel must have replaced Philip Warren who was advertised initially. Warren used to compete in the U.S. before switching to France (believe “Philippines” is an error?) and Ari Zakarian has gotten him gigs in many shows like Fantasy on Ice, Art on Ice, etc.

Then I wrote a whole review of the show. And then the page refreshed itself and everything I wrote disappeared. I’m currently beyond frustrated and I just don’t have it in me to retype all of that right now so I’ll come back to that later.

I’ll try to re-write my review either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
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I’ve lost long posts before here, too - very frustrating! I look forward to anything you can (re)write about the show! :)
 
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Sylvia said:
Gold on Ice’s group photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5_-D6CS7pu/

4 in front row: Chock, Sofia Bezkorovainaya, Skylar Lautowa-Peguero, Stellato-Dudek.

Back L to R: Sebastian Mendez (ice acrobat), Clement Pinel, Messing, Bates, Tkachenko/Kiliakov, Edmunds, Carrillo, Levito, Sarah Everhardt, Malinin, Deschamps, Ting Cui, Thorngren.
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Thank you so much for all vids & info, @Brooklet and the group pic, @Sylvia . Just to close the gap, the larger booklet that was passed out to “VIPs” at the start of Meet & Greet included photos and bios of these skaters who appeared in the show:

Ilia Malinin
Levito
Chock/Bates
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps
Messing
Carrillo
Edmunds
Mendez
Everhardt
Tkachenko/Kiliakov
(Gold mentioned on the cover as host)

The booklet did not mention or have photos of the following, who appeared:

Bezkorovainaia
Cui
Lautowa-Peguero
L. Malinina
Pinel
Thorngren

DH and I go back to Puerto Rico this morning! What an amazing, worthwhile trip this has been. Great to have shared it with Granny, who we plan to see again in 2025, at age 105! She’s ready to roll…just keep going, one day at a time.
 
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Poptarts said:
I’ve been surprised to read comments on other sites discuss how this event was empty. I felt like it was a very well attended event!
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Who's saying that, Dave Lease? Most sections were nearly full, which was encouraging, esp since the show/tix sales were only announced 2 weeks ahead of time. The VIP tix were sold out and the sections in the center were filled except for maybe the top couple of rows. The empty areas were the sections on the far end, near the stage. The sections at the end behind the VIP seats were maybe half full.

I hope they'll do something like this again, although I imagine this was essentially a replacement for the lack of SOI this year. Supposedly SOI is resuming in the U.S. next year, and if there is a show in the Baltimore/DC area, that's probably it for the area. If there isn't a show around here, I hope Ari will organize this again. He definitely had the right instincts and formula: bring the top NA stars from Worlds and the up and comers/nat'l competitors from the area, with a few crowd pleaser and novelty acts thrown in.
 
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