Alright, so we are left off with Victor Nikiforov's ambition on teaching Yuri Katsuki. No matter who your coach is, there are coaching fees. Victor said to Katsuki, “defer my coaching fee for now, I'll bill you once you win something.” Well, that's nice of him to put it on a bar tab, but coaching fees add up even if you pay after each lesson. There are coaches that are paid by 30 minutes or an hour, while others are paid based on a contract. However, the amount of time (could be a six-month contract or a 15 minute lesson) and costs are agreed between the coach and skater. So, all us skaters, including Katsuki, need to save for those lesson fees!
Slowly Katsuki sinks into realization who his coach is going to be. However, as you hear his thoughts, he said, “I still can't stand being close to him.” Well, I sort of had that feeling. I wasn't a fan of my coach, like I am with Michelle Kwan. My coach was an ice dancer, which was something I didn't watch. During my first private lesson, I remember being nervous. It's probably because I didn't know what to expect. My feeling was more like “My coach is an Olympian? How can I meet his standards?” Well, I guess I must be doing something right, because he's still coaching me!
As an Adult Skater who competes, I can understand Katsuki's thoughts: “I've imitated him for years trying to equal his genius.” You idolize somebody who is the best in their game and strive to skate as well as them. Realistically speaking, I can't do the jumps or be as graceful as my idol. I would have to had started when I was 5 years old and stayed with it for decades to develop into a graceful skater. However, I've always wanted to do her spiral. That was my initial goal when I started skating. Now that I compete, I am trying to live up to the standards of my coach. There are times where I try to figure out what exactly he wants in my performance. I end up watching videos of him on YouTube to try to understand his style. From all that, I learned that I must project the music through my body: face, shoulder, arms, legs, everything. My whole body must be able to tell the story of the music.
When you want to be graceful, ballet is the way to go. Katsuki has a very supportive friend named Minako Okukawa, who's a ballet instructor and was a career dancer. Back then, my coach asked me about a good 4 to 5 times “do you take ballet?” I did have a ballerina friend though, so I did receive random pointers. Because I compete, he asked me “can you skate like a ballerina,” three times. At that point, I caved and started taking ballet classes.
Along with ballet training from Minako, Katsushi starts doing off ice training, which helps him get his weight back to the way it was for his last major competition. Well, I'm already pretty petite, so I don't know how much weight I should really be losing. :P I sort of do off ice training, but it does not look like what Katushi is doing. I mostly do yoga at home to strengthen my legs and balance, and I do stretching for flexibility. Need to get my spirals!
Later in the episode, Yuri Plisetsky says something that hit me, “without inspiration you're as good as dead.” When you skate to a program (your routine to music), it should feel right. Sure, I can fake the emotions through acting, but you want it to be genuine. The music should connect with you. This leads into Victor's first act as a potential coach for ONE of the Yuris: “we will start by listening to the music.” Now, Victor basically challenged the two skaters’ ability to perform by selecting music out of their comfort zone. My coach didn't do that to me, but he did test out my ability between Mambo and Swing music. Personally, I didn't think feel like I was moving right to Mambo, while Swing I liked the kicking and tapping. Coach noticed the difference and said, “you're a swing girl.” However, I still need to understand the music. No, it doesn't have to be about Katsuki's pork cutlet or Plisetsky's grandfather, but if the music doesn't speak to you in some way, you're not going to perform your best. Unless you don't mind being corrected six times by your coach for the same thing in the first 30 seconds of a program. ;-)
Come back the next day for episode 3!
© 2017 Linda Thai
Photography by Linda Thai
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