Just a few thoughts from where I was, namely in on ice seats right in the center. I've never had on ice seats before, but I think I could get used to it.

Since it's so early in the year this statement lacks the desired strength, but Kurt made my whole year when he skated his clown program. I *love* that program, and it was a privilege to see it live. It's such a masterpiece.

Renee and Gorsha were mesmerizing and beautiful. I forgive them for stealing A&P's ending move from "Time to Say Goodbye". What a gorgeous program. They are class acts.

I *loved* Katia's ribbon number. What a great idea. Rythmic gymnastics on ice. She is so captivating.

I wasn't offended by Tara's "Genie in a Bottle", but then I wasn't offended by Oksana's "Arabian" program, either. The only part of this program that bothered me was the last line. Maybe if I had
understood more of the words, it would have bothered me. But it's ok, there was plenty of stuff later on for me to be offended by...lol

The Simon & Garfunkel ensemble was wonderful. I loved seeing Scott skate to "You Can Call Me Al"- let me tell you, that's one piece of music I never thought I'd see anyone skate to, but what a great choice for him.

Kristi skating to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was the Kristi I love to watch - beautiful beyond words. Simply exquisite. This was extremely moving, too, since I knew it was a tribute of sorts to Scott. I was in tears by the end. And if that wasn't enough, the "Old Friends" number was also extremely moving, and with that I felt that the show had the heart that had been missing from it last year. The tour went through its share of growing pains last year, but with this number I felt like they were right back in step.

Club AC: This is where we get into the annual Bezic sexpot acts that I so look forward to every year. You know, I was just really uncomfortable with the idea of Ilia, Steven, Denis Petrov, and Gorsha drooling over Tara. The little dances that she did with each of them have left these wonderful disturbing images in my mindwhich,luckily, were mostly erased by the rest of the show. But come on...This part of the show made me want to squirm. The people sitting next to me seemed to have the same reaction.

Steven Cousins' number was great, though. That man can dance! Cool program.

What ever happened to sweet, lyrical, enchanting little Lu Chen? Why has she become the designated sexpot of SOI? This is so frustrating.

As for the act with Tara and Kurt...
The first part, with "He's Got a Way", was funny. Kurt was hilarious and Tara's beautiful skating was a great contrast. That part of the number was IMO successful. But once they went into their pairs routine, that's where the line started to blur a little bit for me.  I think I missed the joke, if there was one. The thought of Kurt and Tara as a romantic pair had a squirm factor of 5000 for me(on a 10 point scale, of course). And the parts where they were almost kissing - OMG, have these people lost their minds?? If this was supposed to be a joke, I think they need to hold off on this kind of thing until Tara can pull off that kind of humor. Or couldn't they just have used Kristi or Lu Chen or someone older?? As much as I love Kurt, I can hardly describe my level of discomfort with this number. Even worse than last year's travesty-the "Are You Sleeping With Him?" bit. If someone out there has read this far and had a different take on this number or got the joke(if there was one), please do clue me in, because maybe I just missed it.

B&P were great as usual and under-used, IMO. It would have been great to see two numbers from them especially since this was probably their last year. But as always, their innovative moves and tricks were thrilling to watch and done with breathtaking ease.

As far as Katia and Ilia, I loved their routine. I loved their avant garde approach to pair skating, and I would love to see them keep it that way, although it would be quite difficult to compete with that style, wouldn't it? I thought the combination of individual moves by each of them with pair moves was wonderfully innovative. As art, I thought this was first-rate, to use a Buttonism.

I loved Kulik's Baseball Cap number. Very creative with great choreography. Scott was hilarious. I loved his "Don Quixote" parody. If this is the last time I see him skate live, I will have great memories of it at least. He got a well-deserved standing ovation, which I was more than happy to help lead (read: me yelling,"Hey people, get up off your lazybutts! Don't you realize who you're so half-heartedly applauding right now??") LOL Ok, so I just stood quietly, but that's what I was thinking. ;) Eventually they joined me.

All in all, this was a great show!  I thought it might never get back to this level again with the new cast, but this is one of the best SOIs I've *ever* seen. Part of it was that there was so much great music that people skated to; I've never been to a skating show where I wanted to get up and dance.

Now, I haven't been reading any of the reviews or anything, so this may be old news, but I couldn't help but notice that Tara didn't skate her "American Woman" program. Does anybody know why? I'm not sure if it was just a fluke or if this is going on in other shows, too. Not
that I was terribly disappointed, but I was rather interested in the fact that Tara was not in the spotlight as much as I expected; I expected to see at least two if not three solo numbers from her, a la last year's show. Again, not that I was disappointed, as she's not my favorite.