I have followed Davis and White and Virtue and Moir for
years now, and I love both pairs so much, but I wondered what was going to
happen, who was going to bring it, and what form would it take, once they
retired.
Well, I think we all see what that’s going to be after
watching the Russian ice dancers (Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov): the
Ballet. And what a perfect way to move ahead: to go back to their roots.
For those who don’t know, ballet is hugely popular in Russia,
where they have developed so much of its illustrious history, and you just
can’t get more insane and amazing than that with dance. There are lots of other
great dance forms, but when someone gets ballet right, everyone will have to
give in and bow down. It’s just that simple.
So this new Russian dance team who won bronze at home: Wow,
they’re the most exciting skaters I have seen in years! I am speechless.
An announcer asked another announcer after their program:
“Did they take you to the Bolshoi?” And, yes, they did. They took us all to the
Bolshoi.
And that’s another thing: Tara Lipinski said, after the
Russians’ pairs program during the team event: “They took us to the ball with
them.” And they did. And that was, for me, the gold medal of the commentary: “They
took us to the ball with them.”
Another gold medal for Tara Lipinski!
And maybe we have a new Anna Pavlova on the ice…? (I think
we do.)
Man, I have seen lots of articles online about “Olympic
Crushes”, but I haven’t seen Elena Ilinykh on any of those lists. She’s the
only one on mine! Oh, what, she’s unavailable? Yeah, like any Olympians would
date writers anyway. You wish!
