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Elena Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Oleg Epstein for ria.ru
please scroll down and click 10 times on a pic with clapping hands (no, no idea wtf...)
For the first time in many years the ex-Russian specialist came without the pupils. As a viewer. And shocked with the first sentence:
OE: Marina Zueva is working her last days in Detroit. She plans moving to Florida Estero. She decided life in Florida is more comfortable than in Detroit.
EV: Is there an ice dance school in Florida?
OE: She plans to bring it there. Zueva was invited by the famous Germain Arena - the place where usually Stars On Ice take off from. Marina's plans, as far as I know, include starting an ice dance preparations centre, which would have all the off ice training in the open air. Germain Arena is a gorgeous place, the ice rink administration is interested in having an ice dance group, watching which the new skaters will come to the rink.
EV: Haven't Marina offered you to join her?
OE: She does every day, but, unfortunately, I have to decline. My family is in Chicago and that's the main reason.
EV: Yet in the last 7 years you have been working in Detroit. What's the difference where would you fly from home every weekend?
OE: I was driving from Detroit, not flying every weekend. I still do. My son is based in Chicago, has his own business there and he is not willing to relocate. My wife is also in Chicago. Hence I decided to leave Detroit's rink to the one I used to work before - Center Ice of Dupage, located just 40 minutes drive from the centre of Chicago. It's the rink where Gold grew up in Alexandr Uryashev's group, Lysachek. Uno still comes here quite often. Hence I used to work there during the weekends spending 5 days a week with Zueva in Detroit.
EV: Does moving to a new city mean for a coach starting the work from the scratch?
OE: Yes. In our case it's right for both Marina and I. No matter who you'll bring along you still have to start a new school, develop it, attract the new pupils. There are 2 separate systems in the USA: One is for those who want to skate just for fun. The hardest thing for the coach is creating the system where that group would provide the competitive athletes on a higher level. If there is no such a system there are no sport results to talk about.
EV: None of the coaches is working alone anymore.
OE: Right, hence Marina is counting on the people she plans to bring along.
EV: And you?
OE: Uryashev and I have been working together for a very long time, though there is a problem: unlike him am not a singles coach. After all my specialty is the ice dance. I can help around, but I doubt I'll ever become a serious singles coach. And in order to work seriously with the ice dancers I'd need to create at least 3-4 teams. But there are no guys to work with. They are hard to find. On the other hand Uryashev and I have a good reputation, hence skaters come to us.
EV: Does the school closing in Detroit mean a hard time for the USA ice dance?
OE: Why? There are some good junior teams in Shpilband's group, Kisliakov's group. But I don't really see competitors for the French Papadakis/Cizeron or the Russians for now.
EV: What was the purpose coming to Vancouver?
OE: Just to watch the skating. I don't like following it on the TV - it's not the same. When I sit on the boards I feel like, I guess like a swimmer when he shaves the body before anticipating how he'll feel the water. The energy of the skating projected differently live.
EV: Spilband told me in Vancouver the new ice dance rules made the dance easier than before. They demand the lightness and not complexity. Do you agree?
OE: I would put it differently: the contemporary ice dance demands lightness, but in a technically complicated programmes. Take the French: they are skating so easily the viewer doesn't even imagine how hard are the things they do on the ice. The goal of every programme is projecting an idea. If there is no idea inside it will never be appreciated.
EV: As a professional do you have an explanation how Papadakis/Cizeron remain unreachable skating for the 4th year more or less the same programme?
OE: They are brilliant in showing what they can do, and boy, they can do a lot. They have amazingly developed knees, great technique, they can make real any choreographer's dream. They are in a constant search of the new choreography and pick the ones they can do on the ice better than anyone else. In a number of occasions I heard the judges that during Papadakis/Cizeron skate they forget they are supposed to mark it enjoying it so much. I call that style a `handwash' - when you wash your hands under the water and your hand is in a constant move. It fascinates when one move is a continuation of the previous and that becomes the goal of the dance, rather than lifts and spins.
EV: What do you thin are the strong and the weak side of the first Russian team - Stepanova/Bukin?
OE: They skate powerfully, move really well, but... You know, in all the years I spent working with Tessa and Scott for me the way they were looking at each other was the way it should be. It's what I miss the most when watching Stepanova/Buking skating.
EV: Can you coach the relationship like the one Virtue/Moir had? Or is it something you are born with?
OE: The talent is a serious part, but we worked on it a lot, developing it. All the coaches are working on it. It's another matter that not everyone can achieve. Speaking of Papadakis/Cizeron - they always had that `pair' thing. I recall watching them for the first time in the junior Worlds in 2011 where they became 12th. It was obvious even then how different they are. They were mesmerizing in the practice: the way they bend their knees, with their inner energy.
EV: I know you are biased but... was the French's 2nd place at the Olympics true?
OE: I think so. In Tessa/Scott's skating there was an incredible inner energy. They were going on the ice as if to their last battle. It was obvious to everyone who watched the skate. The judges included. The French lacked that.
EV: Back to the Russian pairs: you used to work with Sinitsina/Katsalapov while in Detroit with Zueva.
OE: Hence it's hard for me to comment on them. I would be biased.
EV: But do you like what they do now?
OE: Yes. But I thought and still think that duo had not reached their potential. When Nikita just came to Marina and I I recall watching him and being amazed how much energy he is filled with. I didn't understand where all that was coming from. Even Charlie White once when we were watching Katsalapov's competition said he doesn't want to stick around for long because he doesn't understand how to beat Katsalapov once he is in his best. Now, I think, Nikita's skating has some inner wisdom.
EV: I would call it cautiousness.
OE: Yes, may be. He became more stiff. It's no longer the open soul that the viewers fell in love with. I lack that very much.
EV: What can you say about the GPF favourites Hubell/Donohue?
OE: I find them a bit heavy. Yet they are so consistent, so well taught, and so confident - they are past the time when they could make a stupid mistake.
EV: Among the juniors who will be skating in the GPF can you see anyone who stands our like Paparakis/Cizeron did?
OE: I don't know. Am yet to see that. That's really what I came to Vancouver for
please scroll down and click 10 times on a pic with clapping hands (no, no idea wtf...)
For the first time in many years the ex-Russian specialist came without the pupils. As a viewer. And shocked with the first sentence:
OE: Marina Zueva is working her last days in Detroit. She plans moving to Florida Estero. She decided life in Florida is more comfortable than in Detroit.
EV: Is there an ice dance school in Florida?
OE: She plans to bring it there. Zueva was invited by the famous Germain Arena - the place where usually Stars On Ice take off from. Marina's plans, as far as I know, include starting an ice dance preparations centre, which would have all the off ice training in the open air. Germain Arena is a gorgeous place, the ice rink administration is interested in having an ice dance group, watching which the new skaters will come to the rink.
EV: Haven't Marina offered you to join her?
OE: She does every day, but, unfortunately, I have to decline. My family is in Chicago and that's the main reason.
EV: Yet in the last 7 years you have been working in Detroit. What's the difference where would you fly from home every weekend?
OE: I was driving from Detroit, not flying every weekend. I still do. My son is based in Chicago, has his own business there and he is not willing to relocate. My wife is also in Chicago. Hence I decided to leave Detroit's rink to the one I used to work before - Center Ice of Dupage, located just 40 minutes drive from the centre of Chicago. It's the rink where Gold grew up in Alexandr Uryashev's group, Lysachek. Uno still comes here quite often. Hence I used to work there during the weekends spending 5 days a week with Zueva in Detroit.
EV: Does moving to a new city mean for a coach starting the work from the scratch?
OE: Yes. In our case it's right for both Marina and I. No matter who you'll bring along you still have to start a new school, develop it, attract the new pupils. There are 2 separate systems in the USA: One is for those who want to skate just for fun. The hardest thing for the coach is creating the system where that group would provide the competitive athletes on a higher level. If there is no such a system there are no sport results to talk about.
EV: None of the coaches is working alone anymore.
OE: Right, hence Marina is counting on the people she plans to bring along.
EV: And you?
OE: Uryashev and I have been working together for a very long time, though there is a problem: unlike him am not a singles coach. After all my specialty is the ice dance. I can help around, but I doubt I'll ever become a serious singles coach. And in order to work seriously with the ice dancers I'd need to create at least 3-4 teams. But there are no guys to work with. They are hard to find. On the other hand Uryashev and I have a good reputation, hence skaters come to us.
EV: Does the school closing in Detroit mean a hard time for the USA ice dance?
OE: Why? There are some good junior teams in Shpilband's group, Kisliakov's group. But I don't really see competitors for the French Papadakis/Cizeron or the Russians for now.
EV: What was the purpose coming to Vancouver?
OE: Just to watch the skating. I don't like following it on the TV - it's not the same. When I sit on the boards I feel like, I guess like a swimmer when he shaves the body before anticipating how he'll feel the water. The energy of the skating projected differently live.
EV: Spilband told me in Vancouver the new ice dance rules made the dance easier than before. They demand the lightness and not complexity. Do you agree?
OE: I would put it differently: the contemporary ice dance demands lightness, but in a technically complicated programmes. Take the French: they are skating so easily the viewer doesn't even imagine how hard are the things they do on the ice. The goal of every programme is projecting an idea. If there is no idea inside it will never be appreciated.
EV: As a professional do you have an explanation how Papadakis/Cizeron remain unreachable skating for the 4th year more or less the same programme?
OE: They are brilliant in showing what they can do, and boy, they can do a lot. They have amazingly developed knees, great technique, they can make real any choreographer's dream. They are in a constant search of the new choreography and pick the ones they can do on the ice better than anyone else. In a number of occasions I heard the judges that during Papadakis/Cizeron skate they forget they are supposed to mark it enjoying it so much. I call that style a `handwash' - when you wash your hands under the water and your hand is in a constant move. It fascinates when one move is a continuation of the previous and that becomes the goal of the dance, rather than lifts and spins.
EV: What do you thin are the strong and the weak side of the first Russian team - Stepanova/Bukin?
OE: They skate powerfully, move really well, but... You know, in all the years I spent working with Tessa and Scott for me the way they were looking at each other was the way it should be. It's what I miss the most when watching Stepanova/Buking skating.
EV: Can you coach the relationship like the one Virtue/Moir had? Or is it something you are born with?
OE: The talent is a serious part, but we worked on it a lot, developing it. All the coaches are working on it. It's another matter that not everyone can achieve. Speaking of Papadakis/Cizeron - they always had that `pair' thing. I recall watching them for the first time in the junior Worlds in 2011 where they became 12th. It was obvious even then how different they are. They were mesmerizing in the practice: the way they bend their knees, with their inner energy.
EV: I know you are biased but... was the French's 2nd place at the Olympics true?
OE: I think so. In Tessa/Scott's skating there was an incredible inner energy. They were going on the ice as if to their last battle. It was obvious to everyone who watched the skate. The judges included. The French lacked that.
EV: Back to the Russian pairs: you used to work with Sinitsina/Katsalapov while in Detroit with Zueva.
OE: Hence it's hard for me to comment on them. I would be biased.
EV: But do you like what they do now?
OE: Yes. But I thought and still think that duo had not reached their potential. When Nikita just came to Marina and I I recall watching him and being amazed how much energy he is filled with. I didn't understand where all that was coming from. Even Charlie White once when we were watching Katsalapov's competition said he doesn't want to stick around for long because he doesn't understand how to beat Katsalapov once he is in his best. Now, I think, Nikita's skating has some inner wisdom.
EV: I would call it cautiousness.
OE: Yes, may be. He became more stiff. It's no longer the open soul that the viewers fell in love with. I lack that very much.
EV: What can you say about the GPF favourites Hubell/Donohue?
OE: I find them a bit heavy. Yet they are so consistent, so well taught, and so confident - they are past the time when they could make a stupid mistake.
EV: Among the juniors who will be skating in the GPF can you see anyone who stands our like Paparakis/Cizeron did?
OE: I don't know. Am yet to see that. That's really what I came to Vancouver for
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