OUR MEETING WITH EVGENI PLUSHENKO

Milan, 20th of October 2007

To meet Evgeni Plushenko, the great champion who is able to emotion people from all over the world with his art, is the dream of all his admirers.
Everyone wonders how this young man, who won everything he could win in his sport, is in person, in his normal life.
What is hidden behind his eyes, behind the serious face we are used to see before the competitions? How is given birth to one of his famous programs? How is chosen the music he uses  to skate? These, and many others, are the questions that arise in everybody’s mind when thinking about Plushenko. We tried to have some answers.
The staff of the site had the privilege of seeing and talking with Evgeni before the Golden Skate Awards show which took place in Milan on the 20th of October.
The meeting was scheduled at 3 p.m. in the hall of the Royal Garden Hotel, in which the athletes were staying. Few minutes after 3 Evgeni is arrived, he was really relaxed and said hello to us with great cordiality. In a blue and white track suit, his hair still wet, he immediately told us some funny jokes that made us at ease and “broke the ice”, as naturally we were quite excited for this important moment.
After the ritual introductions and asking him how he felt (he said he was quite jet lagged as he was in the States few days ago, flew to Moscow for couple of days and then came to Milan) he agreed to answer to a brief, exclusive interview we have prepared and that we are honoured to publish here for all his fans.

Q: You spent one and half year out of amateur sport, committing yourself in shows, even organized by you, all over the world. Could you tell to our visitors the differences between these two activities?
Evgeni: There is a huge difference, during the competitions you have a big responsibility and you need the highest concentration possible, and you also need to keep in the perfect athletic shape.  During the shows you are more relaxed, there is an higher contac with the public and therefore you skate with more tranquillity.

Q: People are interested in issues apparently simple, such as the difference between the preparation you need before a competition and before a show.
Evgeni: These are two kind of preparation completely different: before the competitions you have to do quadruple jumps, while for a show you don’t need to. For example, now I’m a little bit injured, I can’t do quadruples, but I can skate in a show with no problem. I got injured at the beginning of the season and I still can’t skate, but I can do shows.

Q. A curiosity: you are an artist really expressive, do you feel in any way the restrictions that are present during the competitions, such as the compulsory elements, the strict order of execution of them…? Do you feel more free during the shows? Do you think you can better express your art?
Evgeni: Of course. During the shows you can decide whether to do or not a certain jump, while in the program for a competition you have to do what you must do.

Q: So in a certain way you are limited in your expression…
Evgeni: For sure, during the shows I can do a lot more and with much more freedom.

Q: Do you think all skaters feel the same or maybe some skaters who are not as expressive as you may prefer the competitions?
Evgeni: No, I think that all the skaters need both competitions and shows, because the shows are of great help for the athletic preparation. Before each season, when I was in amateur sport, I used to skate in a lot of shows, for example in Swiss, in Italy, in Romany, because I always thought it is really important. You can test the new programs, the new elements…

Q: And also understand the reactions from the public…
Evgeni: Definitely, you can understand what the public feels and then you can be better prepared for the competitions.

Q: Can you tell u show do you choose the music for a new program? Do you directly work in the construction of the choreography?
Evgeni: I choose the music with my coach and with the choreographers; sometimes there is a music that I like and I suggest it to them.  The choreographer also has suggest some materials, I listen to some pieces and then we decide all together.  It is a real team work: the coach, the choreographer and I. Of course I do intervene in the choreography. I also take important decisions. I decide which steps to do, which movements. I think that a good skater must participate and not only listen and execute. A good skater has to suggest the solutions too.

Q: Everyone loves the intensity of your interpretations, and you interpretative ability is one of the characteristic that makes you the best. We are particularly thinking about the Tosca…
Evgeni: the choice for the Tosca has been completely random. At first, ath the beginning of the Olympic season, we have chosen another program “Once upon a time in Mexico”, and it was a great music, fast, dynamic. I presented this new program during a dompetition in Moscow. The athlete after me skated on the music from Tosca and as soon as I heard it I loved it and said to Mishin “I want this music”. So we went back to St. Petersburg, talked with the musicians of our staff, people who have a musical archive, and they brought us Puccini’s music. Then we contacted Edvin Marton, and he realized his own version.

Q: And after you chose the music how do you prepare yourself? Do you study the music outside the ice? Because the public always has the impression that you “live” the music…
 Evgeni: After I chose the music for my programs I always bring it with me and I listen to it continuously, for example while I’m driving, in the car. While you drive you are relaxed, free. I have a car with a good music centre and I love to drive and listen to the music. I keep listening to the music also at home and then of course at the gym, where I prepare the program before bringing it on ice.

Q: When people not really expert at figure skating see your step sequences they often believe that you are improvising. Of course we know that this is not the case, can you explain to us how you create you famous sequences?
Evgeni: First of all when I start choosing the steps I work separately on the two sequences, the circular and the linear ones. Then I start doing some movements, I skate freely on the rink until I feel the ideas are coming in my mind….

Q: and then you realize this inspiration?
Evgeni: yes, and with my coach I start working and we decide together, step by step: this is good, this is not good, and so on. In this way, step after step, we create the circular sequenze. And the same happens for the straight line, we choose the best steps together. Then I start training it every day, hundreds of time. As you can see there is no improvisation. Sometime, during a show, I did improvise. It happened that I had an idea and I just realized it.

Q: As we said before, this could happen for the freedom you have in a show…
Evgeni: Yes, in the shows this is possible.

Q: During  the competitions you seem really strong, sure about yourself, self confident, as you do not fear anything. But how are you in reality?
Evgeni: Inside myself I am always excited and a little bit agitated. It is that kind of sport agitation, it is a part of the competition and without it there is no competition. The most important thing is to deal with it without let it appear, go on and fight for what you want.

Q: the character that you show on ice matches with the one you have in everyday life?
Evgeni: Not really, I’m quite different in my private life. Different in the sense that, as everybody else, I can feel various moments, it may depend on the mood, on the weather…Today I’m happy because it’s a sunny day!!

We had many more questions in our minds, but of course Evgeni did not have much time as he had to go to the training session in preparation for the show. He was really nice and friendly indeed, despite he was really tired from the long travelling (he was in the States two days before, then he flew to Moscow for a couple of days and then arrived in Italy!).

He told us how much he appreciated our work for the new italian site and that he would like to meet us more often: we will then have other occasion for all the questions we prepared for him!
But the day had other surprises for us: with our immense joy he wanted to make for us a video of presentation for the site, that we shot, after his indication, at the end of his training session on the Datch forum rink. He also wanted to write for us the “welcome message” that you can read on the home page of the site, with his sign.
After taking some pictures, we said goodbye, with the hope to see him again soon in Italy, a place he particularly love and in which he is always loved and welcome.
At the end of the adventure we can say that this has been a meeting that gave us a different imagine of Plushenko, different from the one of the “big star”. He is a simple, nice and friendly guy, who loves his sport with a real passion.

Auguri Evgeni, we look forward to see you again on ice, maybe for a big competition!

Lorella Miotello
(translated by Laura De Marco)