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Directly from St Petersburg comes the comment of Dasha, who attended the show that was held on October 6th, 2002. English translation by P.Occhipinti.
"When I say that they were warmly welcomed by the public, I'm not saying enough: when they stepped into the rink there was an enthusiastic burst of applauses that then followed during their whole their exhibition (I Will Survive) sometimes even covering the music; they didn't let them go away,asking for an encore (ndt: theirs was the only one of the whole night). Right from the beginning they managed to totally enthusiasm the spectatoer, who were calpping their hands, whistling, shouting endlessly asking for "the party to go on". Unfortunately for a good 50% of the audience the presence of Barbara & Maurizio was a surprise, because their name was not mentioned in the tv ads, and here in St Petersburg one od the biggest problems of these shows (and of skating in general) is the almost complete absence of advertising; this time there was already more of it than usual, but it was still not enough. Not mentioning (or almost so) the names of the Italian skaters was stupid because they are really loved in Russia and in St.Petersburg in particular (but maybe this had been done because it was uncertain till the last minute if they would get their visa in time to come here). According to everyone who attended the show, Berezhnaya &Sikharulidze and Barbara & Maurizio were the most requested, loved and applauded by the audience. Looking at the reactions and the preferences of the public, Barbara and Maurizio could rival Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, and you have to consider that after the Olympics Elena & Anthon are practically some national heroes. A whole part of the show was dedicated just to them and their Salt Lake City victory, with the president of the Russian federation awarding them medals, saying some of the usual silyness of official speeches, and basically he was not booed and sent away by the public only thanks to the good manners of the people from St.Petersburg. There was Moskvina on her skates, Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze skated several times and the public was shouting and crying, overwhelmed by emotions, and there were also people shouting "Lena & Anthon are the real champions", " thank you for the medal" etc... Reading and hearing always the same things is a bit tiring, but I admit liking Lena & Anthon a lot. As soon as the Italians appeared the reactions were more or less of the same enthousiasm. In the arena there were only two Italian flags (at Ledovij you could buy only Russian flags) and these were the only foreign flags. Actually, among the same public, the reaction were various: for example those who were sitting behind us said: " the Italians won't skate any more, we can go home", while those who were sitting on our sides were looking at us like we were crazy when we were applauding (maybe like crazy?) for the Italians, they looked really annoyed, I don't know why but they were applauding only the Russians. I got the impression that the same Italians were surprised by such a warm welcome, and you could see how happy they were about it, they were happy for the thunderous applauses and seeing them like this the public was applauding even more, maybe to make them happy... In Ledovij they were great, but for me the most important thing about them is the extraordinary emotional contact they can esatblish with the audience, they can pass their emotions to the public; and also their emotions, their attitude are so different from ours, and maybe this is a reason the Russian public likes them so much. Barbara was explosive as always, beautiful, fantastic; half of the female audience had fallen in love with Mauri. It's a pity they skated only one program, and it could have been better if in the finale they had done some elements like the others, because the public loves them and was expecting it.
The next I went to their hotel to say hello and thank them for the tickets ( Mauri through my friend Silvia had found the tickets for me for the show). First I met Mauri, who kindly offered me a coffee and while we were at the bar we chatted a little about the exhibition. Later I met Barbara too, and I really loved her ! I also remember that when I came to the hotel to collect my tickets (Mauri had left them at the reception), the lady working there asked us (I was with a friends) if we had fallen in love for him, because as I already said he's very popular among the female population of St.Petersburg".
When the show was aired on tv, Dasha saw also the interview with Artur Dmitriev.
"This is what Dmitriev said: " Watching Barbara and Maurizio's exhibition you can see they are true Italians, because when they skate, inside of them there's always a flame, something hot and burning. It is so difficult, it is impossible to stay indifferent, calm when they skate. The reactions of the audience are a crucial element to get invited to skate at a show. You ask me what is the difference between competition and exhibition. The goal for the athlete at a competition is to win, at an exhibition is to give emotions to the public, to have it applauding, jumping on his feet for the enthusiasm. If the public is moved, if it stands up, applauds and shouts it means that you have done your job well - no matter how you skated - that you are a professional. Barbara and Maurizio are great at making the audience jump on its feet, they can do it very well, they are true professionals. "
Original photo by Silvia Palotta. Graphic evolution by P.Occhipinti.
