March 2014 An interview with Silvia Fontana, 5-time Italian Champion, 2-time Winter Olympian (for the 2002 Salt Lake City games and the 2006 Torino Games), show skater, coach, reality TV star, and founder of Karisma Sportswear with her husband American pair skater John Zimmerman. She talked about working with Carlo Fassi, why her cats didn’t…
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February 2014 An interview with the legendary Dick Button. What hasn’t he done? He’s practically the father of our sport (if Jackson Haines were Grandfather). The two-time Olympic Gold medalist invented many of the jumps and spins we see today, and he invented figure skating commentary. He’s a skater, producer, commentator, actor, truth-seeker, hall-of-famer, stirrer-upper,…
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January 2014 A compilation of short, live, off-the-cuff interviews with whomever I encountered at the 2014 United States Figure Skating Championships in Boston, MA. Interviews include choreographer and coach Doug Mattis, Peter Biver, Dick Button, Hayes Jenkins, David Jenkins and Carol Heiss, Jirina Ribbins, the mother/son team of Stan and Fran, some local fans and…
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September 2013 An interview with Tania Bass, dress and costume designer to world class skaters including Miki Ando, Sarah Hughes, Emily Hughes, Pang and Tong, Ina and Zimmerman, Michael Weiss, Jeremy Abbott and more. Her website is www.taniabass.com. Her dress for Sarah Hughes was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 2002. She talks…
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September 2013 An interview with Rohene Ward. What couldn’t he do well? Jumping in both directions! Amazing and unusual spins! Flexibility beyond belief! Choreographing his own programs! Signature moves! And all that talent from a kid with a disadvantaged background who had to take several bus transfers by himself to make it happen. And while…
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June 2013 An interview with Ricky Harris, the first dedicated figure skating choreographer, and author of three books on figure skating and choreography. Ricky Harris skated with the Sonia Henie show, and created a series of successful workshops that are being continued by American Ice Theater with Jodi Porter. She did choreography for Evan Lysacek,…
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APRIL 2013 An interview with Phil Hersh, an award-winning journalist who since 1987 has been the Olympic sports writer for the Chicago Tribune and the Tribune Company. He’s covered the sport of figure skating through 10 Olympics (Sochi 2014 is #10), 28 US Championships, and 16 World Championships. We spoke about his opinions on some…
Read MoreMARCH 2013 Part Two of an interview with Audrey Weisiger, Olympic-level coach (most notably of Michael Weiss and Tim Goebel), and creator of both Grassroots to Champions (G2C) and the Young Artists Showcase (YAS). In Part Two we discuss her collaboration with the late choreographer Brian Wright, the creation of G2C and YAS, her thoughts…
Read MoreMARCH 2013 Part One of an interview with Audrey Weisiger, Olympic-level coach (most notably of Michael Weiss and Tim Goebel), and creator of both Grassroots to Champions and the Young Artists Showcase. In Part One we discuss her background in skating, how she became a top level coach, what it was like working with Michael…
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FEBRUARY 2013 Part Two of an interview with Carol Heiss Jenkins, the 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist for ladies figure skating, as well as the Silver medalist in the 1956 Olympics, a 5 time World Champion, and of course US National Champion. In Part 2, she takes us through her movie and television career, notably when…
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