When we arrived at Harbour Station to attend the Ladies Free Skate, we were handed a program sheet which listed the start order for not only the Ladies Free Skate but also for the Exhibition Gala to follow. How very interesting that there was a break from tradition with the gold medallist in the Ladies division scheduled to skate at the start of the exhibition rather than at the end with all the other gold medallists. It seems that the event organizers assumed that Michelle was going to win and she wanted to leave town asap to return to UCLA. I wonder what would have happened had Julia Soldatova won. <G>

Silvia Fontana
Program: La Boheme
Costume: Gold lace
Comments: She has a lot of presence on the ice and she was so happy with her performance at the end which was nice to see. She was the first skater in this segment of the competition and thus the only skater not to fall.

Michelle Currie
Program: Concerto in F - Gershwin
Costume: Purple
Comments: She seemed very tentative throughout the competition. There must be a lot of pressure to perform well in your home country.

Anna Rechnio
Program: Spanish type music
Costume: Red and gold
Comments: Not a good night for her.

Amber Corwin
Program: Chicago
Costume: Black with heart shaped cutout
Comments: The style of the program suited her.

Jennifer Robinson
Program: Papa Can You Hear Me
Costume: Basic black, long skirt
Comments: Very nice skater aside from the falls, etc.

Julia Sebestyen
Program: Csardas
Costume: Red and white folk costume
Comments: She has huge jumps but she, too, was having problems with the ice.

Michelle Kwan
Program: Red Violin
Costume: Burgundy velvet with gold lace
Comments: Not a very good skate for Michelle, she fell on the 3 Flip and made a few other mistakes. She left the door open for Julia.

Julia Soldatova
Program: El dia que me qoieras (Gardel/Lepera)
Costume: Very bright mint green skirt, lots of illusion fabric with strategically placed applique flowers
Comments: Michelle left the door open for Julia, but she unable to walk through the door. She could have won but the jumps weren't there for her.

Michelle Kwan
Program: Kissing You
Costume: Lavender
Comments: She has really worked on improving her layback (must have been listening to Dick). Very pretty number, though not very memorable in that it would never be considered a signature piece).

Dubreuil & Lauzon:
Program: Probably one of their competitive programs, but I didn't attend Dance events.

Amber Corwin
Program: That Don't Impress Me Much by Shania Twain
Costume: Pink
Comments: She was probably surprised that she would be performing in the exhibition since she started out in the morning in 7th place after the short program.

Pang & Tong
Program: repeat short program
Costume: Black costumes

Todd Eldredge
Program: The Glory
Costume: Gray shirt, blue pants
Yet another awesome performance of The Glory including a 3 Loop, 3 Axel, 3 Lutz, 3 Toe. Todd made a great choice selecting this music. The crowd even began a standing ovation during what they thought was his final spin, but settled down to watch the remainder of the program. Part way through the real concluding combination spin, the crowd was on its feet stomping on the metal stands (what noise). The announcer called Todd back for an encore (unusual for a 4th place finish) and this time without music he reskated a portion of his program starting just before the 3 Axel but in the encore he did a double, along with split jumps and another combination spin to the boisterous approval of the audience. Definitely the crowd favorite this afternoon.

Todd was far and away the highlight of the exhibition. It felt as though the remainder of the exhibition was rather anti-climatic although still enjoyable.

Delobel & Schoenfelder
Program: ??
Costume: Purple

Jennifer Robinson
Program: ??
Costume: Gold
Comments: Pretty layback.

Sargeant & Wirtz
Program: I Can't Get Enough of You Baby
Costume: Short Program costumes
Comments: When asked to do a lift in the encore, Kris made some comment to the announcer along the lines "I almost killed her" I guess he was still unhappy with the ice conditions, all the skaters had problems with the ice this week. He and Kristy did a throw jump instead.

Takeshi Honda
Program: Ballad
Costume: Black
Comments: Someone threw a black lacy bra on the ice at the end, and he skated around with it laughing and playing with the audience.

Laurent Tobel
Program: Austin Powers
Costume: Blue velvet suit
Comment: Following the resurfacing break, the exhibition guest skater was Laurent Tobel. He did a reduced version of his Austin Powers free skate. But it was strange not to have the fire alarm sounding and flashing. He once again used his new move he calls a Tobel, a single lutz done with one leg kicked over his head.

Grushina & Goncharov
Program: part of their free dance
Costume: Free Dance costumes

Julia Soldatova
Program: ??
Costume: Really, really, really bright orange-red costume but it always seems so muted when seen on TV
Comment: Nice layback

Ina & Zimmerman:
Program: ??
Costumes: Gold costumes
Comments: Very innovative lifts and positions.

Elvis Stojko
Program: What I Like About You
Costume: T-shirt and black pants
Comments: Typical Elvis exhibition. The crowd loved him of course. Very fast footwork. Did over a dozen arabians for his encore.

Povilas & Vanagas
Program: Original Dance?
Costume: OD costumes
Comments:

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze
Program: It was the program from the StarSkates Ice Jam show about who was the boss
Costumes: Red tops, black pants for Anton and black skirt for Elena
Comments: They seemed relieved and relaxed. The announcer called them back to try a quad salchow throw jump. I guess they are working on that move. They tried, but she fell.

Alexei Yagudin
Program: Short Program
Costume: Green musical costume
Comments: He's a two time world champion, is there a reason he can't find an exhibition program? All the other medallists (with the exception of the Dance teams) manage to work up an exhibition program. Just wondering.

Grand Finale:
Skaters will re-introduced grouped by discipline.

All four dance teams came out and did a dance spin.

The three ladies (Michelle had left town by then) did laybacks.

The four pairs came out with Pang & Tong doing a double twist, Sargeant & Wirtz and Ina & Zimmerman did a double death spiral (always a crowd pleaser). Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze came out and the announcer called them back to try a quad salchow throw jump. I guess they are working on that move. They tried, but she fell.

All five men (including Laurent) were announced but they all stood near the boards until they were all announced. Then as a group they proceeded to do a group spiral toward center ice. The stopped and stood in synch line to take their bows and at the conclusion remaining in synch formation did back crossovers (rather awkwardly probably because they were laughing along with the audience) to join the rest of the skaters along the boards. The crowd loved the comedy. A great way to conclude the event.

NOTE: The announcer had to encourage the crowd to applaud for most of the skaters (with the obvious exception of Laurent and Elvis but most especially Todd who was clearly the crowd favorite that afternoon and stole the show).