Evgenia Medvedeva: “In Russia, the skates, costumes, and salary are all yours. In the US the prices there are insane. The ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ program costs 10 thousand USD.”
Ilia Averbukh and Evgenia Medvdeva about prices to choreograph a program in the USA.
original source: “Ice Rink” youtube show
Ilia Averbukh and Evgenia Medvedeva compared the cost of a choreographer’s work in Russia and the US.
“Ilia Averbukh: I work strictly on the rates established by the Russian Figure Skating Federation. The preparation of a program costs roughly from 120 to 180 thousand rubles (from 1300 to 2000 USD approximately). For a short program and rhythm dance – 120-150, for a free performance – 150-200,” said Ilia Averbukh.
“Evgenia Medvedeva: It’s more expensive in Canada. I worked with one of the most expensive choreographers. I also flew from Canada to the USA to create programs with Shae-Lynn Bourne.
The ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ program costs ten thousand dollars. Plus airfare, accommodation, and ice rental. If you want to skate, you have to accept these additional costs.
When I read: “Yeah she’s so and so, the federation pays for everything for her, we know that you’re getting 6 million a month (66k USD approximately).” And I sit there with these 10 thousand dollars and just have to give it [with trembling hands], because I understand that it’s 10 thousand dollars for the program – I’ve never had to do that in my life.
Prices are slightly more reasonable in Canada, but when we were in the USA, the prices were significantly higher compared to Canada. We arrived and forgot that Shae-Lynn Bourne had once been married to Nikolai Morozov.
We look at the prices – you have to pay for the ice, and we’ve used it for about 6 hours, and then we get a bill one and a half thousand dollars. We stand there, take out our wallet, they tell us: one and a half thousand dollars. Shae-Lynn is standing next to us, and we’re like: “#####”.
We hand over the money, and Shae-Lynn says: “No, no, no, I’ll pay for it, it’s all on me”. We realized that she understood in Russian what we were discussing. Because it was straight forward: “Why is it so expensive, we’re not used to living like this.”
In Russia, the skates, costumes, and salary are all yours. The coach only gets 30% of all your earnings. We have completely different conditions. There, you don’t pay the coach a percentage, but in total – the prices there are insane.”
Related topics: Evgenia Medvedeva
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