“From the moment I met Niina, she has had the quality to be beautiful and powerful at the same time, and this is a special combination that we need in figure skating.” Choreographer Mark Pillay on working with Niina Petrokina
Choreographer Mark Pillay about his work with Niina Petrokina.
original source: sport.err.ee dd 21st July 2024 by Henrik Laever
Canadian choreographer Mark Pillay told about his work with Estonian single skater Niina Niina Petrokina. They have been cooperating for the third season. Here’s a translation of his comments posted on ERR.
“Niina is a very special athlete to me. From the moment I met Niina, she has had the quality to be beautiful and powerful at the same time, and this is a special combination that we need in figure skating. That’s been in her since the moment I saw her.
Also, she is an unbelievable athlete. Whenever I have worked with Niina, she works hard, she works hard every day and the results are visible.”
Mark Pillay created both the short and free programs for Niina. “We made the first short program right after the World Championships in Toronto. I am very satisfied with it and enjoyed it a lot. It’s so much fun to cooperate with Niina. Just recently we made a free skate in Berlin, somewhere about three weeks ago. I’m really happy with it. During my visit here (to a training seminar in Tallinn – ed.), we got to work on it, clean it up, and set everything up. She’s ready for the season.”
“Of course at the beginning it is very hard to skate a program, you are thinking about what movement comes next. Now the order is clear and I will start working more on the details, where I am looking, if I am looking at the judge or not, where I am breathing, where I can take air, in order to skate the second half of the program,” explained Niina.
Pillay chose the music for the new programs in a way to enable Petrokina to show her strengths. “Niina needs power to respond to it in a wonderful way. So that you can see her face and interpretation on the ice as well as feminine quality. She is capable of showing both of these aspects.”
Related topics: Mark Pillay, Nina Petrokina
Niina is wonderfull!