The COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to try new and different things. Skaters trained online and at home, choreographers were building programs using video conference techniques. 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) and her choreographer Juri Smekalov, a dancer and choreographer from the world famous Mariinski Theater in St. Petersburg, took it a step further and built a new program live on Instagram in several sessions for everyone to watch, follow and participate.
Smekalov suggested the idea to the skater. “He is a very creative person,” Tuktamysheva said. “First of all, it was very nice for me that I was the first he suggested to create something online together with him. Then, my second feeling was that in Figure Skating I am not used to making the process of building a program, the music public so early. It was end of March, beginning of April, which is very early. So there were some doubts, maybe not doing it,” she continued.
But curiosity and the desire to do something new and different won over the doubts and Tuktamysheva agreed to the project. “I thought, there is nothing to fear, it is very interesting, very creative, it hasn’t been done before and so I should go for it and not be afraid,” Lisa shared. Her long-time coach Alexei Mishin, who is always open for new things, agreed as well.
“I think Alexei Nikolaevitch is a groundbreaker, re-inventor, it is important to him to go with time, that’s why he is a great coach and doesn’t fall behind. That’s why he understood that this is a step towards the future,” the athlete said. “Figure Skating is developing very fast now and I don’t think there is anything bad about showing some of your cards before the season starts.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Tuktamysheva and Smekalov were not able to meet in person and set up a video conference. She was at home, he was in his private dance studio. The choreographer had suggested a Japanese theme for the Free Skating and his friend, composer Bkhima Iunusov, wrote a piece he titled “Chronicles of a Mischievous Bird”. Juri and Lisa discussed the choreography and the program, he demonstrated his ideas and moves live in front of the camera, she repeated them, added her own ideas and fans were able to comment, to give their opinion and make suggestions.
“We saw each other very well and created the movement online and together. While we were working on the program, the spectators could write to us which moves we should include and how they feel about it. We took some moves from what the spectators suggested, they had really good ideas. Everybody took part in our free program,” Lisa said. Among the ideas coming from the viewers they included were a typical Japanese bow and a gesture with a dagger.
Obviously, it was not so easy to work under these unusual circumstances – at home, using a video. “It’s not possible to put all the emotions, your whole soul into the movements. If you do, you’ll hit your television set, because the movement becomes bigger and you can break something,” Lisa said, laughing. However, she received the key of the private dance studio and in the end was able to do the whole program on the floor and film it. “There, I was able to let go of my emotions and dance the whole program.”
The process worked well for her. “Juri is a professional and I have worked a lot with choreographers. It is engraved in my body and in my head how to perceive movement in general. It is probably important for children that the choreographer stands next to them and corrects them. We had no problems to understand each other,” Tuktamysheva explained. Coaches Alexei Mishin and Tatiana Prokofieva were pleased with the result.
However, Lisa is looking forward to continue to work on the program on the ice with Smekalov. “We’ll polish the program on the ice. In any case I really want to put it all out and see how it looks on the ice,” she said.