THE ICE 2015

THE ICE 2015 Tour

July 22, 23 Sapporo
July 25, 26 Osaka
July 29, 30 Aichi
Aug. 1, 2 Sendai

Cast:
Mao Asada
Akiko Suzuki
Kanako Murakami
Satoko Miyahara
Carolina Kostner
Joannie Rochette
Ashley Wagner
Takahiko Kozuka
Takahito Mura
Jeffrey Buttle
Patrick Chan
Jeremy Abbott
Adam Rippon
Misha Ge
Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje
Qing Pang/Jian Tong

Adelina Sotonikva and Maxim Kovtun will appear in the Aichi shows
instead of TakaK, TakaM, Kanako, Satoko who will attend
the team Japan summer camp on those days.

http://www.ctv.co.jp/event/the_ice/cast/index.html

People say the collaboration program with Joannie and Carolina is Benedictus.
And maybe this is a costume for it?


https://twitter.com/ctveventkawa/status/622703406424047616/photo/1

Thanks for starting a new discussion for 'The ICE'

Here's an interview of Mai from the news yesterday:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2yk6pm_0719-%E5%A7%89%E3%81%A0%E3%81%91%E3%81%8C%E7%9F%A5%E3%82%8B-%E6%B5%85%E7%94%B0%E7%9C%9F%E5%A4%AE_sport

From the clip, it is confirmed that the collaboration of Mao, Carolina and Joannie is to 'Benedictus'. I really like what Caro says about the choreography of the collaboration number and the process. I didn't realize that they are actually from different continents, until hearing from Caro about that. I'm now super excited and looking forward to this piece from 'The Ice'.

Also, I saw there are talking about the 8-triple program for Mao's new FS on GS. I think it is referring to the same clip posted above. However, from the content I don't think Mai is confirming that Mao is aiming for 8 triples. It seems to me that in the clip they are only talking about in Mao's press conference previously, she said she will aim for returning to the level beyond her last world in 2014. It will be great if any native speaker can confirm the content by Mai.

Video clip of the 1st day rehearsal+Mao interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1wnLETGP1w

Also, from twitter by Chukyo (チュッキョ ‏@ctveventkawa), Mao had rehearsal of her new EX, in the tweet it says the costume is super cute, and she's skating with prop.

Thanks for the pictures silenceisgolden!

I just noticed the boot covers/detailing. So cute!! Love the pink buttons
Can't wait for videos!

Mao's new EX looks adorable.

Someone quoted the below originally posted by Italian Yuzu fan.

“In a recent interview on Italian TV, Carolina said she's honoured to skate this EX
with Mao and Joannie, but most of all she said she's proud to skate it because
it's the first time that 3 ladies Olympic medalists skate an EX together.
She said that despite competing against each other for almost 10 years,
she and the other girls were able to maintain a good friendship and she hopes
that this will be the start for more collaborations of this kind, in order for fans
to understand that skaters can be fierce rivals on ice, but also good friends off-ice too.”

Thanks for sharing the beautiful photos of Mao, and from the collaboration.

If everyone remember, Mao was asking for audiences' voting of their favourite past programs earlier. And from reports of participants on twitter, the result of voting is:

No. 5~3 Ballade, Impromptu, Bell
No. 2 Masquerade
No. 1 Por una Cabeza

Mao didn't perform the No.1 choice as a solo number last night. But they skilfully put Masquerade into the opening (And Mao did the original Stsq), while the Por una Cabeza was put into finale, with Jeff (she was dressed in the same costume as before). These should also be very very interesting to watch.

I can't wait to see the whole Benedictus collaboration!

Sorry if I haven't been here for a year! But today I went to the 2nd show of The Ice in Sapporo.
Here's my quick notes: (Do take note I was seated a bit far away -- not arena seats)

The opening number was pretty good. They skated like in a ball with pretty dresses for the ladies and nice costumes for the men. There were three clowns (Misha, Adam and, uh, I forgot). Then there was PChan and then Mao in a very pretty (or so I think) Masquerade dress which was quite long. She did the step sequence! Pchan is definitely very popular. Got the second loudest cheer of all.

Those who skated either their Short or Free today... they were all interesting! I'm really liking their programs so looking forward to the competitions! And even as early as now their programs are looking quite good. Adam skated his FS. Ashley with her SP I think but looked to be a watered down version. Should be the SP as the opening looked the same as that short clip on her instagram. Mai interviewed Adam and Ashley and the two of them skated to Ashley's Moulin Rouge music. I am liking Satoko's FS. I think it is beautiful. Kanako's was also pretty nice (including the dress) but not sure if it was EX or SP.

Misha was very entertaining. When it started I was like... is he skating to Dai's music? And then he started skating like Dai! It was a medley of Dai's pros ending in CyberSwan... his tribute to Dai. He was quite exhausted after he finished but it was awesome.

I enjoyed PChan's program... not sure if it was an EX or SP (I'm not up to date with this season's programs yet) but the layout looked like it was for SP. 3A, 3T, 3Lz I think.

Joannie's jumps are still really good. For me she is still Canada's top lady. Shame she's already retired...

Pang&Tong... such a beautiful pair!!!

Mao's EX is quite entertaining and the costume doesn't look as bad as what I thought from the pics... the 2A was really good then she singled the toe and stumbled and fell on the landing of the loop. I blame it on that coat, though. Looks like it's quite difficult to jump with that. I hope they change it.

However... seeing Mao's masquerade in the opening and then her Por Una with Jeff in the finale made me miss Tat's EX pros for Mao. It was so good seeing Por Una! Jeff looked like he had a lil trouble catching up with the steps... but then it was still pretty good of him to learn it fast.

That Benedictus number is simply breathtaking! I got teary eyed watching it and wished I was sitting in arena seats. Lori sent an audio message about peace which they translated in Japanese and displayed in the screens. It was also apt to have those three (Mao, Caro and Joannie) skate to it. (Asia, N.America and Europe) For me, those three were on a different level... skating wise and performance wise. It was absolutely beautiful. Beautiful ladies skating beautifully to a beautiful music with a beautiful message. I can watch it again and again and again...

How about Mao's skating? I was quite surprised. After a year off and just recently really started practicing her skating was very smooth, fast and strong. Other than those mistakes in the EX, I though her jumps looked really good and big. I love the axels!

Well, that's it for now... might post a lil bit more tomorrow night. It's already quite late and I still have work early tomorrow.

If you have questions on the other skaters I'll try to answer depending on what I can remember. Sorry again... have been feeling pretty sick the past two days so my focus has not been that good today even during the show.

Thanks for the updates roma, so good to see you back too, I think many of us have been away!

Your review made me more excited for videos!! It's amazing you got to go!!
I thought Mao's costume seemed like it was difficult to skate in as well haha, maybe they'll make it thinner/stretchier/less constrictive

sapphiresky wrote:

Thanks for the updates roma, so good to see you back too, I think many of us have been away!

Your review made me more excited for videos!! It's amazing you got to go!!
I thought Mao's costume seemed like it was difficult to skate in as well haha, maybe they'll make it thinner/stretchier/less constrictive

Good to be back here! I think most of us took a year off also to give our hearts a lil rest after the roller coaster ride of the Olympic season.

I wish I can go to Nationals even if only the ladies' SP. It's going to be held in the same venue... the Ice Arena.

Additional Notes:

It's quite hard to take note of the jumps inside the arena coz use of mobile phones is discouraged and the Japanese audience seem to be quite obedient with that. :p Benedictus had a number of spirals, I think, plus a jump or two. Mao and Joannie had SBS 2A. Masquerade had the step sequence. Por Una had the step sequence plus a jump or two of both Mao and Jeff. Sorry, can't remember the actual jumps right now. The tap dancing in the Ritz looked pretty detailed but I think I can only appreciate fully if I sat on arena seats where it is clearer or I can finally see it up close (hopefully there will be) on a TV coverage. Hopefully they air it 30min from now and get uploaded to TheICE channel.

Akiko skated to XO in her black dress. Nice program and jumps! Joannie... again she had pretty stable jumps in her pros. It's hard to remember she's retired the way she is skating right now. When I see Joannie skate and about to jump I don't feel nervous. It's like... I know she can land it with confidence. Caro's jumps looked pretty good, too. She skated to something about Led Zeppelin...

Jeremy Abbott... pretty good skating full of emotion in black/gray. Maybe it was "Dear Lord" but not sure? The ending looked different. Looked like he botched a jump but landed a 2A. Taka was quite expressive in his new EX... must still be feeling really happy from his recent engagement :biggrin: Awesome spread eagles!!! A cute little girl skated (Rin Nagaoka)... fell on only one jump but the rest looked ok. It's good to see little skaters in shows also. Mura skated to his FS (based on what little Japanese I can understand). However, it looked liked a part of his FS only as it only had 4 jumping passes starting with an awesome 4T. From what I saw that program is very promising: music, choreo, costume and performance. I hope he skates it clean everytime in competition coz I really like it.

Pang/Tong skated beautifully to Angel and I love it! Weaver/Poje skated their new EX and it was fun. We were clapping throughout. Jeff skated to Uptown Funk and it was really good.

---
Overall, though, everyone looked prepared. I expected quite a number of falls as it was the first stop of the show but was surprised everything went well. They looked to have fun there despite the not so good weather and we really enjoyed watching the show. I wished I could have gone to both shows as it seems most skaters skated to a different number in the first show (eg: Satoko skated her SP in the first show bud did the FS in the 2nd show). Now I am really looking forward to a full broadcast but that will take a while...

Thanks to roma for sharing the details about Sapporo shows. I went to the Osaka show. In the following I'll try to Trying to add up some points from the Osaka show:
[Osaka-Part I]

- Opening: it is designed with a story line -- it started with most skaters entering in pairs, dressing up pretty as if ready to go to the ball. Then the three clowns also joined the crowd. Later on the wizard (Patrick) showed up, with a big jar in hand. The wizard seems to be mean, and the crowd were curious about what's in the jar. Then there were cute moments when Satoko took a sip of the portion from the jar, and was bewitched and skating away in whirl, or Mura drank from the jar and went off to start jumping.

As I've read from twitter before the show, I've already known that one of the clowns is Mao. So I tried to pay attention and to figure out which one of the three clowns was her. Mao first showed up with her puffy dress (of Masquerade) under the clown's costume. She would skate around the other skaters, joking and having fun with the crowd. Occassionally she'd do some very cute gestures such as shaking her butt. To continue with the story, the 'naughty' clown Mao stole the portion from the wizard's big jar and drank away all the portion. Then suddenly the bell chimed (midnight, I guess), and the light was out. (I think at this moment other skaters helped Mao to take off the clown costume.) After the light turns on again, Mao turned into a beautiful princess, holding the mask, and skated away with the part of Masquerade.  

- The young generation Jpn skater: for the 2nd Osaka show I got to see Miyu Nakashio. Miyu's jumps are very solid including a 3T-3T. Her summer training at CO spring seems to be work out well. Good luck to her with her senior debut at SA.

- I'll skip Koz, Misha, Ashley from the 1st half, as they did the same number as the Sapporo one reported by roma. One heart-warming episode is that, after Koz skated and was about to take off the ice, the DJ asked everyone to congratulate him together (in Japanese). Also, the collaboration of Ashley and Adam on Ash's Moulin Rouge number from last season is quite nice.

-Kanako skated to a new program, not sure if it's going to be her new SP or FS. But it is to El Tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge. After watching her 'Time to say goodbye' video clip, I think I like this one with Tango better. Kanako did have a small mistake and almost messed up a spin.

- Of the first half, I also enjoyed the skating from Akiko and Jeff. Akiko skated to the musical number in German, and Jeff 'Uptown Funk.' I appreciate both as pro-skaters.

- For Jeremy and Weaver-Poje, they have different numbers from the Sapporo show (It is reported that W/P's number is their new EX)

I'll stop here and come back later with Benedictus and the 2nd half of the show.

Thank you very much for your reports on the Osaka and Sapporo shows, COHK and roma!
I envy both of you.
I got a ticket for the final show of the event a few months ago, but I am not sure whether
I can go to Sendai or not on the day for certain reasons at this moment.  
I really want to see Benedictus live!

Here is kansaipj’s report on the Osaka show.
He is a huge figure skating and Yuzu fan.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHHwte68M0g

Mao and Kanako.

https://instagram.com/p/51qy4SPY9R/

Here's my thought on the collaborative program 'Benedictus':

[Osaka -Benedictus]

Although there's already video clip, the program is just heavenly and divine when watching live. I feel so honored I can get to watch the performance for once at The Ice, and for me it is going to remain as the epic collaboration program from all the show programs I've watched so far. The minor (really really minor) point I don't really go with the whole performance is the projection of the peace sign on the ice, as I think it is too literal and the program already express the main theme well without that. In terms of skating ability, the three just balanced one another out, and the whole choreography is quite balanced throughout as well. After watching the video clip, I realize how difficult it is to shoot the whole program: once the angle is zooming on one of the three skaters, you don't get to see the whole choreography movements that they skate around one another. But the camera-san who took this video has done a great job capturing perhaps 90% of the whole performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pJJG0JBfsM

I think there's going to be another broadcast of one of the shows today. I hope more videos will come up soon.

NB: I read from twitter, that during the 1st Aichi show, Mao, Caro and Joannie were interviewed by Mai during the intermission. Mao said it took them 3 days with Lori to choreograph the piece. Afterward they went home to practice on their own (via videos). And they got together 2 days prior to the start of The Ice, doing run though of the whole number which is about 5-min long.

The Opening (complete version) -- from Aichi show:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3027dv_2015theice-opening_sport

Patrick
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30284k_2015theice-patrick-chan_sport

Adelina
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30285a_2015theice-adelina-sotnikova_sport

Kozuka
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302b5w_2015theice-takahiko-kozuka_sport

Mao+Jeff- Por Una Cabeza
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302b5w_2015theice-takahiko-kozuka_sport

Midori visiting 'The Ice' sapporo rehearsal
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302hlh_2015theice-憧れの人と再会_sport

Talks from Yamada coach, Midori and Mao
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302ia6_2015theice-対談-みどり-真央-満知子_sport
(Midori praises Mao and says 'What a nice kid!' And Coach Yamada replies: yes, 100 points, but a little stubborn! )

Benedictus
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302ocu_2015theice-mao-carolina-joannie-benedictus_sport

Akiko
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302p4q_2015theice-akiko-suzuki_sport

Mao- Puttin on the Ritz
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x302p6e_2015theice-mao-asada_sport

Thank you for the links, COHK!
I like the Opening very much!  Especially, Mao's Stsq.
Regarding 'Benedictus', I too think the peace sign on the ice is unnecessarily.

Amazing experience... Thank you Japan!!!

https://twitter.com/msKOSTNER

When can we get together again?

https://twitter.com/Canyanpy1107

no problem! silenceisgolden

I also enjoy the opening a lot! And from a website of a fan, I found the following video. I think it show case how Mao has grown in terms of her SS, when putting her old Masquerade Stsq with the most recent one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWj-Z9GjnCY

Also, I want to share another video in which I just noticed something interesting:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30bfn4_2015theice-打ち合わせ-選手たちのコメントなど_sport

This should be part of the Chukyo TV broadcasting of The Ice from last weekend. When I watched the video, I noticed that up to the part when Adelina is in interview, there's clear music playing in the background...but isn't it part of Madame Butterfly? Perhaps that's part of Mao's new FS music....

Indeed, that's "Un bel dì vedremo" from Madama Butterfly. I doubt Mao skated to her long program, otherwise we would have heard news about it from people attending the show. It's a mystery, though...

Iceriver wrote:

Indeed, that's "Un bel dì vedremo" from Madama Butterfly. I doubt Mao skated to her long program, otherwise we would have heard news about it from people attending the show. It's a mystery, though...

I think she could be practicing the new FS in between shows.

BTW, thanks to Adam for making this backstage footage, everyone seems to enjoy the tour!
https://youtu.be/j-3XN5tpq2Y

I can't say I liked Masquerade Waltz that much as Mao’s LP or SP,
but now the music is playing in my head again and again  

“Practicing the new FS in between shows” ? … sounds very Mao  

Benedictus

https://www.facebook.com/carolinakostner/videos/10155845297195024/

Right now the Jpn channel is broadcasting the shows from Sendai. It is reported from twitter that they also broadcast clips of in-between shows practices. And someone tweeted that the practice clips include Mao practicing 3-3, probably also some practices for the new FS. Here's the clip of 3-3 attempt from IG:

http://instagram.com/p/6HSb80jYBgyTWhXxZLPmMZJhYuL1YDQelBHaI0/

Adding: clip of Mao's practicing of the FS, from the same broadcasting
https://igcdn-videos-c-10-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t50.2886-16/11726053_111478869200210_1631873464_n.mp4

Thank you for the videos! I really love the movements of Butterfly's FS, so soft and elegant. Unfortunately, judging from the video, it seems that it's not Maria Callas singing. I hope they've chosen a good version of Un bel dì vedremo...it's not rare to hear horrible versions of operas and popular music in figure skating programs. As for the triple-triple, the toeloop is heavily underotated, but it's nice to see her trying all this difficult elements at this stage of her training. She needs more speed and flow in the landing of the flip. Nevertheless, it seems her training is going really well