Interview from Finlandia Trophy -
sport.glavred.info/article/2009/10/15/153319-0It's in russian and it's very long. I suppose it was made initially in english and then translated. Unfortunately there is only russian version oline but I thought the interview is interesting enough and translated it back to english
English is not my first language so sorry for the possible mistakes. Hope you'll enjoy it.
It's your second gold at the Finlandia Trophy. Was it easy? Sinead: It's never easy. When you compete you always want to perform at your best. And if it doesn't happen you're getting both mad at yourself and nervous because you it's not going your way. For us it doesn't matter with whom to compete, matters what we do by ourselves. So we're nervous every time.
John: For example, the original dance at this tournament. We didn't skate our best. It doesn't matter if you're the first or the second, matters how you performed. If it was good, you're happy, if it was bad - you're not. Results are not that important for us.
But now you're happy?S and J: Yes!
S: I wasn't happy yesterday but now I am!
Seems that you like Finlandia Trophy, you come here for the second time already. J: Absolutely. Last season it (the tournament) inspired us, gave us confidence for the following Grand Prix series and eventually for the Europeans that took place also here, in Finland. I believe this country have always been a lucky place for us.
S: The audience here is wonderful, and everything is so close, intimate and nice. It's a very lovely tournament.
Looking back at the last Europeans, have something changed after it? J: I think the expectations from us, from what we show are higher now. We have a little more pressure, feel that we should give more, perform on a higher level. But it's good, after all you should always try to become better. So having pressure is very useful.
What's your next competition? J: Grand Prix in France - Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire.
What expectations do you have? J: Looking on the entries we should definitely make the first three. In my opinion Tessa and Scott (Virtue and Moir) are absolute favorites of the event, Fabian and Nathalie (Bourzat and Pechalat) have been favorites in competitions before, and again, all this happens in France.
S: Yes, competing in France with French won't be easy.
J: And as I've already said, I think we can always to become better, to improve but we can't control the results, it's judges' business.
Do you plan to make it to the final? J and S: Yes, yes. We do.
S: Despite all the great skaters that want to get to the final, that's what we are aiming for, that's the goal you keep somewhere in the far corner of your mind.
J: And that's always great to get a chance to come to Japan again, so...
You spoke about this season as about your last. Is this a final decision or is there something that can make you change your mind? J: I don't think that the decision may ever be final. This year is an Olympic year, and it's like the end of a 4-year cycle. So sometimes you think it'll be a good time to finish. But our passion for skating is not going anywhere, so when the season will be over we'll just talk to each other...
S, interrupts: Depends how much people want to see us. We don't want to go out to the rink and hear "oh no, when you'll finally stop to compete?! You should've done it already a few years ago!" Definitely that's not what we want.
J: Also there're a lot of junior couples to whom it's a little bit easier to compete in the new system cause they're young.
S: It's not easy to win and get medals just because the other couples quit skating. And there're a lot of good junior couples from Russia, USA, France so we'll have constantly to improve, to become better and it's a very hard job. But we'll try.
Once you mentioned the Lithuanian couple Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas who participated in 5 Olympics. Don't you want to repeat their achievement? J: Yeah, maybe! To the fifth I'll come with a walking stick (laughs).
Do you have any injuries? J: I'd say we're very lucky in this case. We haven't had anything serious before.
S: We have a very good team of physiotherapists that take care of it.
J: We've always been surrounded by people who worked with us. It's always better to avoid an injury before it happens than to spend a lot of time on the recovery. So we do a lot of work to prevent injuries.
It's the Olympic season now. Have you changed something in your practices or does everything stay as it is? J: Not so long ago we moved to the other rink, closer to Philadelphia, in the southern part of New Jersey. Evgeny (Platov) said the ice there is better, and this rink is… Do you remember Isabelle Brasseur? She used to skate with Lloyd Eisler for Canada. So this is her husband's, Rocky Marval, rink. They have good relations with Evgeny since they skated together in Stars on Ice. They invited him to work with us there, provided a convenient ice time, excellent training conditions. All we ask for is done.
S: Our conditions now are better than in previous years, so that's the main difference. Training process itself is almost the same as the last year. Maybe the amount of work is higher but it's rather because Evgeny saw how we worked last season and wanted to improve something. For example the practices start earlier. That's all the changes, nothing new.
Angel in the truck and her hitchhiker brother. Tell me how your dances were created this season? J: For the original dance we wanted to use Indian theme but after we realized that the movie "Slumdog millionaire" is going to become popular we thought many people would use this idea. Then we decided to go for the American music and create something cowboy-ish. We both like Johnny Cash, he's one of the most famous American-country singers. We thought why not select something from his repertoire. Then we decided that Sinead will be a truck driver and I'll be a hitchhiker. But at the end of the story I'm taking the wheel and everything ends in the ditch.
And public laughs. S: Yes, it's great when people laugh.
J: It's a good accompanying detail. Our FD is very serious and the OD is light and funny. I think it's good to mix things up because you have something entertaining, amusing from one side and more powerful and deep from the other.
S: Then it'll never get boring (laughs).
What about your free dance? S: For the FD we definitely looked for a modern piece of music. Last year we had Muse and we wanted something similar in this season too. If we can choose a skating music we always take something we like – new, fresh, not used before. This way people who had never followed this sport would be able to notice it and enjoy it. So we looked for something modern and ended up with Krwlng by Linkin Park. In this song you can find both classical and modern pieces, and we thought it'll look good on the ice. Then we started to work on the characters that'll be connected in a spiritual but not in a romantic way. We're a brother and a sister and we wanted to create characters that will be linked by different love. Last year it was family, this time it is...
J: it's more a spiritual connection.
S: I'm like an angel, a savior.
J: And I'm... I'm just a homeless!
S: He's in trouble and I save him.
Every year you find new ideas. How do you do it? J: Sometimes we have very strange conversations (laughs). We can ask each other while driving "why wouldn't you do like this or like that?". Also we have an excellent choreographer, Robert Royston, he inspires us.
S: His knowledge in dance is huge.
J: And also we have Evgeny, he's always involved in what we are doing. Sometimes when we offer something he says: "no, I don't think so". He helped us to expand this idea. So we had a very professional dance team to work with.
S: And also I believe we have a good imagination. But at the end everything depends on the coaches, they tell us whether one or another idea will work.
Seems that choice of music is important for you? S: Yes, very important.
Do you usually agree with each other or are your tastes not the same? J: Frankly speaking if one of us doesn't agree we just look for something else.
S: We don't try to persuade each other.
J: If one doesn't feel the music you can't force him to do it. We both should feel the music. And also Evgeny cause he's going to listen to it on a daily basis. If you have to listen to some music almost every day from dawn to dusk better it'd be something you like.
S: He (Evgeny Platov) is doing a great job. Actually we usually choose such music he'd never skated to by himself. But he always listens to our suggestions. And if he brings some music that in his opinion will suite us but we say: "no, I don't feel it", he says: "no problem, it's ok". He doesn't insist on his ideas.
J: It was funny with last year's Muse. We're huge fans of this band and he completely turned into one himself. He listened to Ruled by secrecy all the time! In the warm ups, everywhere. And skated to it by himself.
S: He fell in love with it even before us!
J: Then we thought about making an exhibition number but ended up with a free dance. The way ideas are coming up is sometimes unbelievable!
Who do you think is the leader between you two? S: I don't think we have one.
J: Many people say there is always a leader in a partnership but we build our relationships on trust. Take the music choice - if only one of us is happy with it it's not going to turn out well. We always work together, always ask each other: "what do you think? And you?" I believe leadership can be changed every day. Perhaps today she's a leader and tomorrow - I'm.
Sometimes when you look at the couple you notice only one of the partners and the other is like in a shadow. But both of you stand out in the same way. How do you do it? J: You know, often there's a belief that the male partner is a frame and the female is a picture. Brian Watson, world champion in Latino American dance said: "I want to be a part of the picture. I don't want to be just a frame". I thought about it and decided I also want to be in the picture. In this case I'll just bring more color.
S: We have such a different personalities, we wouldn't like to hide them! I wouldn't want John to change cause he knows how to do certain things that I don't know.
J: That's very interesting. In the beginning of our free dance for example Sinead is more a frame and I'm a picture but we change places towards the end. Also in the beginning she's controlling me. In most cases male partner leads the female but she changes it and this way the dance and the characters look different.
Is there a story behind your FD?S: Yes, sure. John's character is in big trouble, he's depressed, angry, lost belief in himself. And my role is to show him light, to give him this light, to explain that there's something good in this world too. I believe my character should smile, I should be calm and confident, and show him that there's another way.
J: We've been thinking about Sinead being a spirit but eventually she's probably just a part of my consciousness. You know, even if you're in trouble there's always something bright on your mind. She's like a kind angel on your shoulder.
S: And in the end there's a fight. John doesn't want to see the light but I'm trying to make him see it. But in the end nothing is clear. I helped him as much as I could...
J: The ending doesn't have to be certain. It can go one way or another.
S: So that's not the end.
Have you sometimes got depressed in a real life? You both look like a very positive people. J: Yes, it happens. It can happen to anyone, doesn't matter how positive he is. Everyone can have a bad or a good moments. Therefore we try to develop all our sides. Maybe you're right, it would be easier for us to perform carefree and fun dances, but sometimes it's good to become more serious.
"We're Kerr and Kerr!" Certainly you've been asked this question many times but what do you think, is it easier or harder to skate with your brother or sister? S: I believe we have far less problems than other familiar couples cause we started to skate together very late. I was 21, John - 19. It's not that our mum forced us to skate together. We made our decision by ourselves. We were older and had to work harder to get to the top.
J: That's the point. Both of us wanted to achieve something. If you are having rows all the time you're wasting your time. You should be aware of what's going on, of what you take to the future. We've never thought if it's easier to skate with someone else who's not your sister or brother. We're thinking only about what we want to achieve and what we do for it.
S: Probably it's not hard for us cause we have a very small difference in age. It's not as if one of us was much older and felt he has to tell the other what to do. We're the same age, we have the same friends and same views about music, fashion and so on.
There is a German couple, brother and sister Bayer, who missed some time in the sport because of disagreements with each other. J: Yes, that's funny they skated some time with different partners. I just can't imagine us in such a situation. We are so Kerr and Kerr that "Kerr and... someone else"?... I'm sure the public won't understand it too.
Usually siblings know some small dark secrets about each other such as singing in the shower...S: Actually John sings in the shower all the time!
Can you share the most innocent? A long pause
J: Mmm... (another pause) I'm trying to remember...
S: Seems everyone knows everything about us!
J: Sinead has a weird feature. Sometimes she walks - doing shopping, for example. And suddenly - hop! - stops, freezes and looks at the floor.
S: (laughs) I think maybe I forgot something!!!
J: And then - hop!- wakes up and keeps going.
Do you skate in your dreams? S: It happens, especially during the competitions.
J: And sometimes there're a nightmares! Sometimes you dream about weird elements that you think you can do. And then you come to the rink and realize... nooo, it's impossible! It's your imagination and it doesn't work in real life. So you can have ideas in a dream but usually they are bad ideas (laughs).
Scots from New Jersey. Do people in your home town recognize you more after you medaled at last season's Europeans? J: We got much more recognition after 2006 Olympics. In Scotland and Great Britain people stopped us on the streets and asked: "Hey, aren't you those skaters?" At the Olympics you get more TV time. In a manner we are more recognized in Japan and Korea.
S: After medaling at Euros we've got more attention and respect in the skating world but not so much in our home town in Scotland. Except perhaps our dad (he's a doctor) often hears from his patients: "Oh, I saw your children on TV". Also we live in New Jersey and come home pretty rare.
Do you miss home? S: I miss everything except the weather! (laughs). The weather in Scotland is awful!
J: Almost as in Moscow (laughs).
What does it mean to be European in USA? J: It's quite complicated because Britain has always been fifty-fifty. In some aspects it's similar to the States, in others - to Europe, because of the language and such. Thanks to the same language the move to USA wasn't that difficult. And people there love when we speak with Scottish accent.
S: Americans love our accent so we always get what we want. And we're cute! (laughs) So we don't have problems. In addition we practice with a bunch of Europeans. We have League of Nations there.
Do you often get out of the town you live in? J: Before we went to New York much more often. Now we're closer to Philadelphia so we spend more time in Washington County. We spent the weekend at the Michael Weiss' show there. We always try to go somewhere on weekends but in the middle of the week we have no time for traveling.
S: Yes, mostly we are practicing. And also we have competitions and shows. When we have a day off we just want to rest.
J: After Grand Prix in France we'll take part in a show in Phoenix, then Japan, then the Nationals. When the season starts it's impossible to stop.
S: Sometimes you just want a quiet life with practices at home. But we like what we have now!