Hello to all the guests of my blog!

Please don’t think that I have completely turned into an American and forgotten about my dear Russia! I am missing my motherlad very much, and as for American habits, I’ve adopted only the American smile.

Now I’d like to tell you about things we are doing in our summer camp. First of all I must say that the first three weeks we were living a life of vagabonds, that is, we changed three hotels in 20 days. For two weeks we were staying in New Jersey and a few days ago moved to Danbury, Connecticut. The point was that our coach Nikolai Morozov had been searching for a rink where it would be possible to work at nights. In his opinion, nighttime is the very right time for choreographing programs. Now we have finally settled here until the end of August.

Some new people have joined our group lately, and that’s very good news! They are the ice dance duo Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Guerreiro, the magnificent Japanese single skater Daisuke Takahashi (though he will actually join us in the end of July), and Artur Dmitriev jr. By the way, thanks to Artur’s appearance we now have a wonderful ballet classes specialist in our group. It’s Artur’s mother Tatiana Druchinina.  

Our mornings start from working with her, as she conducts our limbering up before the first ice practice. In fact we don’t do the things people usually do at ballet classes, and that’s exactly why we like working with Tatiana. We warm up every part of our bodies from top to toe doing a variety of interesting exercises. Of course, we do exercises to improve our stretch, too, because Tatiana is an ex-rythmic gymnast. Then we come to the ice, first ice dancers, then single skaters. After the ice practice we proceed to off-ice training, which is the realm of Leonid Raitzin, a distinguished weightlifter. One day we meet with him in a gym, and the next day at an athletic field. After such hard work everybody take a rest until the end of the day. As for the nighttime practices, they are mainly for those who are in the process of having their programs choreographed. And for those suffering from insomnia :)   

That’s the way we are spending our time here, basically. Oh well, having some rest also figures in our plans. Once we even went to the ocean’s beach. I’d love to go there every day, but unfortunately the road takes too much time, about one hour and a half. Sometimes we do shopping or go to the movies.  

  

I bet you’d like to learn more about my ice practices, namely about the process of creating my new programs. But I cannot say anything about that, because I don’t have any new programs, they will be choreographed later. We do work on new numbers, but they are exhibition ones. The thing is, in the end of July I will go to Japan to perform at one of the best Japanese shows. That’s why Nikolai Morozov decided that my exhibition programs must be extremely arresting. We’ve already made three numbers, one of them with a hint at my possible short program. For the time being it is still a mystery even to me which two programs I will skate in Japan. But I promise to tell you everything in detail after the show. 

     

In the end I’d like to tell you once again that all of us are awfully homesick and at times wish we were in Novogorsk. That’s why I ask you to give my regards to Russia and wait to hear from me again!