Daniil Gleikhengauz: “Everyone will be in equal conditions”

Daniil Gleikhengauz about free programs of Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova, Alena Kostornaia and Kamila Valieva.

source: Channel One, text version sports.ru

Anna Shcherbakova’s free program is to the theme of Master and Margarita.

Daniil Gleikhengauz: Free program “Master and Margarita”, but the way I see it. The first part is a composition by Apocalyptica. At the beginning, Anya feels the dark forces coming, as if they are already close, and she pulls back at the beginning, as if someone grabbed her by the shoulder. She is fighting, she is confused – she feels that she is being dragged away somewhere.

This is how the first part goes, after which we hear whispering, she is like hypnotized and she falls into this image of Margarita’s ball, and she changes absolutely in style and choreography, her face expression also changes.

The way Anya is able to change and to convey the artistic image even with her eyes is an acting skill, it is difficult to learn, the athlete should initially has it. Then we move on to Lacrimosa, and I show that she overcame it all and purifies herself and shows that good always triumphs over evil.

About the decision to keep Kamila Valieva’s FP to Bolero for the Olympic season.

Daniil Gleikhengauz: We decided to keep the program last year, when it was choreographed. From the beginning we did it for the Olympic season, because last year Kamilla skated in juniors, and because of the coronavirus, they did not have international competitions. We understood that on the international arena she would show this program for the first time only this year.

In terms of preparation this is a handicap at a certain point of the season – it’s easier for you to skate than a completely new program. Only during preparation. They must be ready for the competitions, so no handicap there. Everyone will be in equal conditions.

About Alexandra Trusova’s FP to “Cruella” OST

Daniil Gleikhengauz: First I just showed Sasha the trailer with the words “You had the same hairstyle when you skated the exhibition program”. And even before I went to the cinema, she found a pirated version on the Internet and watched the movie. She came to Eteri and said: my free program is Cruella. Eteri did not understand at all what was happening, because she had not heard about it from me yet.

I listened to all the soundtracks, we chose. We understood that it would be such a challenge a little bit, because this is not a typical music for figure skating, especially for the Olympic season.

In terms of choreography, this can be presented as a fashion show. All the movements are so scenic. We tried to fill in every possible space between a huge number of quadruple jumps with poses like in photo shoots.

I’m not sure that any of the girls skated in this style of several pieces of pure rock … And in general, who could skate that, except for Sasha, because she has it. Now the main thing for her is to get everything together.

About Alena Kostornaia’s FP to “Seasons. Winter” by Antonio Vivaldi.

Daniil Gleikhengauz: Two years ago we discussed that Alena will skate to Vivaldi in the Olympic season. Last year, when we did a Billie Eilish program, we understood that this is the pre-Olympic season and we can use the diversity. Well, in the Olympic season … Who but Alena? In addition, she herself asked to skate it.

Here the question will be precisely in her preparation. Last year she skated programs from Shae-Lynn Bourne. This is a brilliant choreographer, she made so many gorgeous programs, so if someone didn’t like something – this was a question for Alena.

Any program may not look as it should, if the athlete cannot work it out, if he is not in shape, if he is late for the music, does not get into accents, skipps the choreography. Her shape and condition played a role here.

Alena is very talented. Perhaps one of the most talented skaters out there, but her personality makes it difficult to achieve what she could have achieved. It’s not the situation that she is not able to jumps quads. Body – she can. Head – no. It’s the same with the triple axel. She let it go not in her body, but in her head head. Now she has restored it, but it is not as stable as it should be.

Related topics: Alena Kostornaia, Alexandra Trusova, Anna Shcherbakova, Daniil Gleichengauz, Kamila Valieva