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Post by annelfie on Apr 15, 2012 2:31:00 GMT 1
I have not posted for quite a while and have been reading less than I used to, but still followed Stéphane through twitter and facebook and watched videos on YouTube. He is doing even better and better all the time !!! I personally love that he quit competition and focusses on gala programs, because he is SO innovating !!! And thank you all for your post I am catching up with now. Espacially Reut with her birthday interview and pianomaya with her overwhelmingly wonderful recording of My Body Is A Cage. I saw the team of Stéphane posted a link to it on Facebook and I find it by far my favorite video of that wonderful and interesting program. Salut, Annelfie (who spends more time on Facebook now, because I started to follow the french singer Amaury Vassili and made a lot of friends through Facebook whom I sometimes see in real life too, because we meet at concerts. Love the way internet brings people together, like I always felt here too on this forum. And thanks for everybody that keeps posting here, so easy when I want to catch up with what's going on. Here for fun a montage somebody made from Stéphane and Shizuka on a duet that Amaury Vassili sang with Katherine Jenkins: Endless love : www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzlI0zcG8jE )
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Post by reut on Apr 16, 2012 10:14:24 GMT 1
News from official Facebook: 'My Body Is A Cage' will be performed again in shows around the world in the coming months And photos from "Matryoshka" project, the third year of this project started by Russian fans was finished and the third album was presented to Stephane for his birthday: lambiel-ru.livejournal.com/806559.html
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Post by reut on Apr 16, 2012 10:26:02 GMT 1
Thank you everyone for your feedback to my interview. It was different than all the previous ones and I'm still not sure if it was a good idea. For me personally it was really interesting, both to prepare to this talk, while reading old interviews and watching old videos, and the talk itself. But I felt and knew, and Stephane admitted himself, that for him personally "looking back" is less interesting. At least at this specific moment of his life. And I can understand him, his life is so full with new things, experiences and emotions. He doesn't need to "feed" his soul with past emotions and memories, he has enough in present. And I'm really happy for him actually, this is so great. So I wondered if this "journey down memory lane" was interesting enough for his fans. Or maybe we too should concentrate on what he is doing now. I'm still not sure I know the right answer.
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Post by mejokuste on Apr 16, 2012 22:59:53 GMT 1
Reut I would like to react to your thoughts about your interview "down the memory lane" as you call it. But I am afraid I don't really find the right words, too many things are going through my head. Maybe I can put them into words later. For now i only want to say that I think it is normal for us, the fans, that we - also - remind the past, me personally even with some nostalgia. Stephane as competitive skater was present also in the medias. At least in Switzerland there were very interesting articles in some newspapers, they spoke about his competitions in TV etc etc. Now we, the fans, have to be active to have news about his shows, galas etc, it is not coming "just like that" anymore. I do miss that, I admit.
But I am glad that Stephane himself has no nostalgia. It is a proof that he is happy with his present and lives up to the future. It is exciting to follow his professional career as a skater, I am fascinated to see how he gets more and more mature in his search for developement, the variety of music choice, his interpretations, movements, expressions. What does "developement" in skating meen for him? For his personal skating and for skating in general? He keeps growing, I am sure. Is developement of a skater still seen in the skating world, even if it is not in competition but in shows? (Or, maybe, Stephane does not even care about if this is seen or not?). There are many questions I would love to ask Stephane.
I am sure, you will find interesting questions about present and future for Stephane, reut, in a next interview, I am already looking forward to it. But by now your interview about the past helped me to close that chapter a bit, with less nostalgia. Thank you for that.
And: I am really glad, Stephane keeps his AOI program "My body is a cage". The more I see it, the more I love it. It again contains new emotions and movements, almost like a dance-theater on ice.
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Post by elanor on Apr 17, 2012 1:01:47 GMT 1
Thank you, pia, it was great. I love such interviews and wish there was more like that when Stephane is talking about arts, his inspirations, music, programs, the audience and what it means to him. It's good to know that he feels this connection and what he brings to us with his performance even if it is not live experience for many people who watch these programs. You can sense that it is also interesting to him, he takes his time to answer and makes thoughtful conversation all way through. It's great that he is into classical music so much and follows concerts, knows about various artists. It's a lot fantastic material to take from. I was a bit worried when he retired he won't use classical staff anymore since it is not the most popular thing in shows these days. But it doesn't look like he is going to compromise with that and Art on Ice producers are giving him some freedom to experiment with different things like Peter Gabriel turned into orchestral soul rock (whatever call it) I'm very glad he will continue to skate My body is a cage, it is modern, powerful and could resonate well with the audience. As for talk about the past, personally, I don't miss it and don't miss Stephane in the media. He is in the place where he belongs and I'm very happy to see how much he is growing, his skating is better than ever and gives me a lot joy. My impression is that he is happier now, I don't know, more relaxed and at peace. He found a good balance to do what he loves, to develop himself, to handle the fans, the media etc. I'm looking forward to seing more of Stephane's magic. And thank you for everything posted.
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Post by lauravvv on Apr 17, 2012 1:45:13 GMT 1
reut, thank you for everything, and especially for your interview. You didn't have to worry - the interview is very interesting. And, as you can see, I am not the only one who thinks so. After all, those are not just the questions that matter, but also - how the interviewee answers them. Most of Stephane's answers are interesting. Also, to tell the truth, I didn't know some of those things - like about the fan club. So, you asked the right questions too (at least, for me . mejokuste, elanor - thank you for your interesting thoughts. He keeps growing, I am sure. Is developement of a skater still seen in the skating world, even if it is not in competition but in shows? (Or, maybe, Stephane does not even care about if this is seen or not?). Yes, I too would want to know about that. Unfortunately, it seems that for many people the growth and development of skaters after they've left the competitive world doesn't matter all that much. Most of the time they don't even know about that, as they only value the competitive side of figure skating and, therefore, watch only competitions.
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Post by mejokuste on Apr 17, 2012 13:06:46 GMT 1
Pia, I just now saw the link to your interesting interview ! There it is! ... the interview about present and future! (because this was discussed just before). I really love to finally read with what ideas Stephane created for example "my body is a cage", his Tchaikovsy-project, the interaction between him and the audience/his fans ... and, and... . It gives answers to quite some questions I had. Thank you
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Post by pia on Apr 17, 2012 22:27:39 GMT 1
Thank you, pia, it was great. I love such interviews and wish there was more like that when Stephane is talking about arts, his inspirations, music, programs, the audience and what it means to him. It's good to know that he feels this connection and what he brings to us with his performance even if it is not live experience for many people who watch these programs. You can sense that it is also interesting to him, he takes his time to answer and makes thoughtful conversation all way through. It's great that he is into classical music so much and follows concerts, knows about various artists. It's a lot fantastic material to take from. I was a bit worried when he retired he won't use classical staff anymore since it is not the most popular thing in shows these days. But it doesn't look like he is going to compromise with that and Art on Ice producers are giving him some freedom to experiment with different things like Peter Gabriel turned into orchestral soul rock (whatever call it) I'm very glad he will continue to skate My body is a cage, it is modern, powerful and could resonate well with the audience. As for talk about the past, personally, I don't miss it and don't miss Stephane in the media. He is in the place where he belongs and I'm very happy to see how much he is growing, his skating is better than ever and gives me a lot joy. My impression is that he is happier now, I don't know, more relaxed and at peace. He found a good balance to do what he loves, to develop himself, to handle the fans, the media etc. I'm looking forward to seing more of Stephane's magic. Thank you for your comment elanor, it really means a lot for me! I always liked your opinions and was waiting for them, you have such interesting thoughts, I love to follow them! Your impression is right, he is more relaxed and at peace. And he is so smart and he knows what he is doing. He is such an exciting person, deep and multi-layered. I think he surprises us again and again with something wonderful and unexpected. Mejokuste - i'm really glad with your comment! Thank you!
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Post by lauravvv on Apr 18, 2012 1:26:11 GMT 1
pia, sorry, and thank you so much ! I thanked you for your interview at 'lambiel_ru' and forgot that I hadn't done it here .
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Post by reut on Apr 18, 2012 9:09:04 GMT 1
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Post by reut on Apr 18, 2012 9:39:57 GMT 1
mejokuste and lauravvv, thank you for your answers. Few people already said to me that they didn't know about Official fan club. Actually I didn't learn anything new about it when we talked. But this only shows that you can't be sure that your readers have the same background as you and sometimes it's good to repeat "known" things. On the old version of official site there was a page dedicated to the Official fan club and its story, that's why I knew it. Now this page doesn't exist. So I'm glad that this interview helped to few more people to learn about this fact and appreciate people from Saxon for what they did for Stephane (and for us as his fans . And I agree that when you talk to Stephane questions matter less, because his answers are always interesting. And here again I come to my doubts about "journey to the past". It was clear that it was less interesting for him, and I could feel that and readers of this interview could feel that too according to the feedback I got from some. And, mejokuste, of course I have A LOT of questions to Stephane about his present and future. The reason I decided to talk about the past wasn't because I lack questions to him. It's just especially in my interviews with him I always try to find new challenges and new directions. We've made quite a lot of interviews already. And while the first ones were refreshing and new just from the fact that he almost didn't have interviews in English at that time, the situation has changed. Both in English and in Russian, when few years ago translation of my interview with him from AOI 2009 was among the very few published in Russian about him at that period. More and more journalists and fans make interviews with him nowadays, both in English and in Russian, his fans have now opportunity to have Q&A meetings with him (which I find very-very interesting to listen and watch and I'm a big supporter of this idea!). But that's the reason why for myself I try to find something different, to do "something else". It's easy with him as he is very open to suggestions and likes "different" too. That's why we "played cards" in one interview, or we had an interview with him and Salome together only about choreography. The idea to come back to the past came from my feeling that I was "late" in being his fan and following his career. I started to follow him after Worlds 2007. There was not very successful season 2007/8, then his retirement which was really-really painful for me, then his crazy come back and crazy-crazy Olympic season, filled with lots of intense feelings of both joy and sorrow for him. And I always was sorry that I missed lots of those feelings his fans had during his rise, that I didn't see how he grew from "promising little boy" to the one of leading skaters in the world. That's why if I didn't have a chance to live through those times I wanted to try to talk through those times, to relive those moments with him through the interview. The idea was bigger than the final result because of many reasons, I prepared more material to talk about than in the end we did. And I have strong doubts if I want to continue in this direction next time I have a chance to talk to him. Of course it also depends a lot on him and if he himself wants to continue. mejokuste, I was really glad to read that this interview helped you "to close that chapter a bit, with less nostalgia". Some of Stephane's fans still miss him in competitions and want him to come back. I am not among them, I'm really happy to see him where he is now and I feel that he is happy too. But I know this feeling, because I felt the same after his retirement in 2008. So if this interview helps to ease the pain a bit, I'm glad.
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Post by reut on Apr 18, 2012 9:50:00 GMT 1
Unfortunately, it seems that for many people the growth and development of skaters after they've left the competitive world doesn't matter all that much. Most of the time they don't even know about that, as they only value the competitive side of figure skating and, therefore, watch only competitions. It is indeed so. And there is less interest in what Stephane is doing now which upsets me a lot because they miss lots of beauty in their lives. On the other hand me personally, I don't follow that much what other retired skaters are doing now. The only shows I follow and am interested are those with Stephane. And my focus of interest is still on competitive skating. So I can relate and understand those who are not interested now if they were not Stephane's big fans...
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Post by whateverhime on Apr 18, 2012 12:55:07 GMT 1
Reut, I know I'm a bit late to the party, but congrats for the fantastic interview! I loved it and it actually made me really glad as I(once again) realised Steph is in a good place right now I'm actually happy he doesn't look back and doesn't miss the times when he'd still compete. Also, I'm sure he can still grow as an artist and this really is an exciting journey, given the fact that he already IS a breathtakingly fantastic skater. Also have to say, Reut, that I've always loved your interviews and the way you always try different approaches. You always do a fantastic job, thank you for that
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Post by reut on Apr 18, 2012 18:05:43 GMT 1
Thank you for what you wrote, whateverhime. It is really important for me.
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Post by mejokuste on Apr 18, 2012 18:49:14 GMT 1
Again, :-*thank you , reut, for photo-links from Nice. ( :)Smiles : When I saw Stephs changing outfit, I thought he must have come to Nice with 3 suitcases ... I am really happy to see, that a nice person was hanging up a banner for Stephane at the rink, wonderful!!! So he is not forgotten at worlds. A BIG thank you also to whoever did it . Thank you also for your further explanations, reut. There is one more reason why I am a bit uneasy about Stephane not competing anymore, in fact it's a worry I have: Even though I believe that the organizers of shows see the special qualities of Stephane, I think that they also look for new faces, and there are appearing quite some interesting ones among the "youth". I fear that in their point of view and search for "the new", a competing skater may still seem "fresh" to them, so interesting also for the audience, while a "retired one" is less in the focus and might loose interest. Again: it is just a worry I have. Stephane is an extremely gifted skater (as we all know and as whateverhime put so nicely in words ). And I promise: I won't mention competition anymore in regards to Steph but will be happy to see him in shows for as long as he wishes to.
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