No. Would we love to get there? Of course, but we are really focused on each other and we know that the improvements we make will get us there and that’s what we focus on.”
A passion for pop Shibs vow to bring new
fans to the sport by AMY ROSEWATER AND LYNN RUTHERFORD Alex Shibutani and Maia Shibutani are on a
mission: get more people to tune in to figure skat- ing.
“We want to win over the guy whose wife stole
the remote and put figure skating on, and all he wants is to watch football,” Alex, 22, said. “We’re trying to connect to that person.” When better to do that than the Olympic season, and what music better to use than Michael Jackson’s? Te 13-time Grammy winner sold more than a billion records worldwide and transformed the entertainment industry with his music videos, tours and dance moves. Maia and Alex seek to capture some of MJ’s
Denney and Coughlin lead U.S. pairs effort Caydee Denney and John Coughlin,
competing for only the second time in nearly a year, led the three U.S. pairs teams with a fourth-place finish. The team was forced to end last season prematurely after Coughlin suffered a hip injury and required surgery. The 2012 U.S. champions pulled up
from sixth to fourth place with a strong free skate to selections from The Phantom of the Opera. Their overall score was 180.27. “One of the last things that Caydee
and I said to each other before getting on the ice is no matter what, we are just so grateful to be out there again together, doing what we love to do, in front of an American crowd,” Coughlin said. “No one guaranteed us that would ever happen again, so it’s a blessing for both of us, we are humbled by it.” U.S. champions Marissa Castelli and
Simon Shnapir performed well in their short program to Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman,” before experiencing a few bumps in their free skate. They finished sixth overall with 177.11 points. U.S. bronze medalists Felicia Zhang
and Nathan Bartholomay, competing in their first Grand Prix event, finished seventh with 168.42 points. World champions Tatiana Volosozhar
and Maxim Trankov displayed midsea- son form and as expected dominated the event, finishing with 237.71 points. Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch won the silver medal with 208.45 points, with Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov securing the bronze with 187.35 points.
magic (plus a dose of their own) in their free dance, which they debuted in a bronze-medal-winning performance at Skate America. “We want to be as authentic as possible,” Alex
said. “We not only want to show the diversity of the music, but also highlight some of the greatest strengths of our skating.” While Marina Zoueva coaches the U.S. ice
dance bronze medalists and oversees the creation of their programs, she freely admits she’s no Michael Jackson expert. Trough Kristi Yamaguchi and their agent Yuki Saegusa, the Shibutanis connect- ed with Travis Payne and Stacy Walker, choreogra- phers for Jackson’s planned Tis Is It tour. (Jackson died before the start of the sold-out Tis Is It.) Before traveling to L.A. back in April for a
“boot camp” with Payne and Walker, the skaters studied up. “We watched videos and tried to do our
homework,” Maia, 19, said. “Alex and I were really proud of ourselves.” When they started work with Payne and
Walker, though, their preconceptions flew out the window.
“Tey were like, ‘Nice effort, guys,’” Alex said. “It was really eye-opening to see how specific
it is,” Maia said. As Payne and Walker explained, moves MJ
might have done to his hit “Beat It” do not work for “Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’,” one of the selec- tions in the free dance. “Travis and Stacy told us, ‘You’re not MJ im- personators — it’s the spirit of the moves you’re after,’” Maia said. Walker and Payne have continued to work
with Maia and Alex throughout the season, visiting their training rink in Canton over the summer as well as in October. In addition to “Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’” and the iconic “Triller,” the siblings chose the 1972 Jackson hit “Ben” for the program’s middle section.
Tey reached out to 1966 Quartet, a group
of young female Japanese string musicians that had released an instrumental version of “Ben.” Te group offered to re-record the piece just for Maia and Alex’s free dance. Tis “Road to Sochi” version has since been released on iTunes. Maia and Alex met the musicians in person
while in Japan in July performing in Mao Asada’s “Te Ice” show. “We got to speak with them about the feel and
emphasis of the piece,” Maia said. “It was a new experience for us and so rewarding. It feels different when you skate to music that was performed espe- cially for you. It’s incredible.” Off the ice, the skaters are reaching fans and potential fans who, like them, weren’t born when Jackson ruled the charts in the 1980’s. Teir “Shib- Sibs” video channel on YouTube draws thousands of viewers and their Tumblr account is trending. During Skate America, they recorded behind-the- scenes footage in a vlog that also featured Adam Rippon, Jason Brown and Felicia Zhang. Te University of Michigan students are ded- icated to exploring the new power of social media. With Prof. Clifford Lampe, they’ve constructed an independent study course to structure their efforts. “We recognize the world is changing and we
SKATING 19
Davis and White do it again Five-time U.S. champions Meryl
Davis and Charlie White are now four- time Skate America champions, thanks to two dazzling programs that outpaced the field by nearly 20 points. Performing for a hometown crowd,
the skaters personified elegance and carefree joy in a near-flawless quickstep and foxtrot routine to My Fair Lady. The following night, their stunning free dance to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade combined high-risk lifts and intricate steps with the life-or-death story of 1001 nights, and they notched an impressive early-season tally of 188.23 points. “I feel like I’m getting boring,” White,
26, said. “I feel like I give the same answer every time. We were pleased with our skate today. It’s still early in the season but it was definitely one of our best per- formances.” The eye-catching opening curve lift
took several years to perfect. “It’s challenging but we really love it,”
Davis, 26, said. “It sets the tone for the el- ement of surprise, drama and excitement of our free dance.” Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca La-
notte put their sparkling personalities on display with two light-hearted programs, winning silver with 168.49 points. U.S. bronze medalists Maia Shibutani
and Alex Shibutani recovered from Alex’s stumble at the start of their Michael Jackson free dance to win the crowd and the bronze medal with their entertaining routine to music from the King of Pop. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, fourth in the U.S. last season, were close behind, finishing fourth after a subtle and romantic free dance.
try to be current,” Alex said. “People can see that in a video, a picture, a vlog. It’s hard work but it’s also a lot of fun for us.” “Tis is our 10th year skating together,” Maia
said. “We’re on this journey and we feel lucky we can share what we do with other people.”
Alex Shibutani and Maia Shibutani put out their free dance.
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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