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Fanmeeting with Deniss Vasiljevs April 2022

English transcript of the Fanmeeting with Deniss Vasiljevs in Bellinzona on April 15th 2022 

Text Judith Dombrowski, photos by Judith Dombrowski and Wilma Alberti (c)

(Please note: this should be a transcript that is as close as possible to the conversation we had with Deniss. This is why I tried to keep it as original as possible, even though there are repetitions here and there. The only changes I made was transferring some spoken sentences into better readable sentences where it was really necessary. I hope you all enjoy it.)

We met in a very nice and cosy atmosphere in the castle garden of Castelgrande, the symbol of the city of Bellinzona. The sun was shining, we had around 20 degrees, the first show of Music on Ice had been a full success, so Deniss, his manager Chris, who accompanied him and the fans who had gathered this bright Friday morning where in a very good and relaxed mood.

After he had chosen to sit in the sun we had a very nice chat with Deniss.

Judith: Thanks so much, Deniss, for coming. We want to congratulate you on the amazing season you had, all your hard work definitely paid off. Looking back on it yourself - what was your own personal highlight?

Deniss: That’s already a really difficult question. I would say I felt really free during the Olympics, specifically during my Free Skate. That moment when you are really tense, have that big desire to do something, but there is still something that blocks you and at some point that blockade sets free: you are able to skate for yourself, your own satisfaction. I had this free spirited feeling. You have this flow but at the same time you’re fully conscious and your experiencing something rather than constantly judging yourself from the silent feedback like: oh, this was good, this was bad, there was no judging of the action. You just purely have fun and that’s what happened during my Free Skate at the Olympics. 

Judith: Yes, I can relate to that free and happy feeling. I guess many of us would have thought you will mention winning the bronze medal at Euros but I can really understand what you’re saying.

Deniss: I have to say I really enjoyed the thought of winning the medal. But, I was just about to hopp into the bus, to go peacefully back to the hotel when Chris told me: “Buddy, you have to put a costume on!“ To me the fact that my parents were there and in general the fact that it was really a warm atmosphere all around in the arena was a great experience. I had skated with pleasure, with passion. The performance was bright and strong and emotionally touching and to me that’s overall more important than the realization afterwards that you achieved something. I wouldn’t say I really worked for the medal I rather worked for this confidence when you go for it and when you can let go of these desirable thoughts because I had quite a streak of performances that were kind of clean. When you know you can do it effortlessly then it gets even harder because you know you haven’t failed before. Before you could say: okay, well I didn’t do it before so if I will not do it, it just suits the statistics. And the further you go and maintain the streak, the harder it becomes as you expect that you will do the same or better. You work and you improve and it becomes easier and easier and sometimes when it’s too easy you still have to put some effort because you are still in competition and you are willing to be the best. And then you start to intervene into your own preparation, to your own work and you put more than necessary. And that can go sidewards, so really managing yourself is the hardest part about competition. If you are too tired in the competition, you are somehow too stressed, then you can’t manage it. Usually training kicks in, but when you are fully ready, even with the training and you go in there with this conscious mind that is full of wish, it usually goes against the productivity.

Judith: So, this is your fourth time in Bellinzona for Music on Ice already…

Deniss: Yes, and every time I was coming here, there is great weather and now for the first time it’s actually much warmer. (The previous seasons the show had been held in January.)

Judith: What else do you connect with this place, maybe you can share some nice memories..?

Deniss: Usually this event is right before Europeans so you’re already a bit on the needles and you try to fit your Short Program into this really restricted space on the ice and if something doesn’t work you will find excuses like: awww, it’s too small ice or something else is wrong. And you have to manage yourself and go through and there is also not really space to warm up, so you run outside and it’s too cold. So you constantly keep self-talking and trying to find a solution to justify that something doesn’t work and this time, after the season, I feel much more relaxed about everything. I know my season is done and I am in a great shape, so I feel much, much better. A little bit more bold in the approach and I really have fun. This season I started to feel more what I do or relate more towards the image. For example yesterday I felt like it became less of an execution or following a certain choreography and more like: whatever happens. You work less on what you have to do, you work more on how you feel when you do it. That’s an interesting concept that I think I still need to study a lot. It’s something that is really different from previous years, when I was coming more with a certain desire to practice before Europeans.

So to sum it up, I really enjoy that it’s more free this year and that it’s warmer. I used to walk here a lot, particularly here in this castle, every single time I came. And when you stand around here (Deniss gestures to the castle walls all around him from where you can enjoy nice views over the city of Bellinzona) you would always feel the wind and then think: well, maybe it’s after all time to move!

Judith: Like: maybe it’s winter after all! (Everyone laughed)

Deniss: Yes. This year it’s calmer.

Judith: Maybe you can tell a little bit how you plan to re-charge during the off season.

Deniss: Well, first of all I need to finish my season, because we have a training camp right now in Champéry. It’s a really important thing and we came here pretty much straight from it. 

This will be the last push, it’s going to be five more days once I return from here. And then I have a little break which I am really looking forward to especially on the planed trip to Portugal. We plan to go the Northern part this time, around Porto.

Judith: Oh, Porto, is so beautiful! 

Szilvia: But also more rainy than the South of the country. Pack a rain jacket!

Deniss: Well, I won’t mind that. I would actually like to go somewhere like Scotland. I really love sunny and warm weather when I need to work. If I feel like resting I like rain and a grey sky so that I can relax, sit, think and reflect. I feel a little lack of design in my life and I would love to have actually a little less desire to go out and experience. So I would like to have a little bit more grey-time to hibernate and think.

Judith: I get the impression, that you are doing that a lot: think!

Deniss: Well, I think the biggest change lately has been that I started to first think and then act rather than act because I believe into something and then reflecting on it. I started to work less and I got better. It’s because you invest. It’s logical that you have to push yourself. But my sport is about skill. You can have a great physique and body but it’s all about precision and maintaining the same parameters. And every time you push yourself you first of all get really tired and second of all in explosive workout you need to be fresh. This season I felt like working less on the athletics and more on precision, skill and craft. 

Judith: We wish you all a very great time in Portugal, and we hope you can really enjoy your well deserved holidays. 

Deniss: And then I need to pass my exams for University. I will also go home to Latvia at some point and then there are the summer preparations for next season.

Judith: Good luck with all of that. You will surely do great. We have a few people here who wanted to ask a question. Anna, do you want to start?

Anna: I really loved both of the programs that you are doing here. I think they are both really special and interesting. I wanted to ask you about the choreography for it’s a sin. There are a lot of  closed-in movements when you’re starting and then it gets more open and expressive. Could you talk a little bit about why there are certain elements and also the spin that has like six different positions, that’s really interesting. 

Deniss: It was an idea, a research -  there needs to be control, but there also needs to be this feeling of rawness and perfection and honesty. Particularly about the spin: It’s fast, it’s difficult to hold each position because the change needs to be on the music. For me it’s the first time trying something like this, and it’s something I’d like to develop, to work on it and find a way how to optimize it. So it will maybe be a feature in a future competition program. You have to try to do new things, right? Generally speaking, just the way the music goes, you kind of build up towards the final climatic moment. You put the elements in order to balance out the overall flow of what’s happening. It was a new thing, it was a try. It was mostly the work on something new, untested and more emotionally involved rather than precisely shaped. 

Anna: Will you keep skating this program in the shows in Japan or other occasions in the future?

Deniss: Yes, I am going to keep skating it because I think those programs need time. I do practice a lot on my competitive things but in this kind of programs I feel more alive because I need to focus less on staying within the conscious control. I can let go and don’t care about what’s going to happen. If it will happen great - fantastic, it will feel really sincere. If you mess something up then you at least know and understand your limit. That’s something I deeply felt with this new philosophy part of working on the mood. 

In the end competitions are a lot about technical aspects and they restrict you so much in the way you put emotional content into it. This kind of programs allow you to experience something new as a skater. I still need to figure out how far I can open up in order to still stay on my feet. 

Anna: I am looking forward to see it growing and changing. 

Deniss: It’s funny because no matter how many times I am skating a program during training it really grows on you once you experience the full stressful situation. You can’t recreate this in training. That’s why I think every program needs some exposure to be something. 

Susanne: What was interesting, behind me there were a couple of teenagers, they were chatting all the time during the show. And once you skated to „It’´s a sin“ they became more and more quiet and very attentive to your program.

Deniss: That’s great. 

Susanne: I actually also have a question. But first of all I want to thank you for all the great memories you created for us, not only this season but for a long time already. I still remember seeing you for the first time during Europeans in Bratislava.

Deniss: (laughs) Oh, that was when I did a dolphin.

Judith: (laughs) What? A dolphin?

Deniss: Yes, I did a dolphin during the step sequence. 

everyone laughing

Susanne: My question came up when I lately watched some of your older performances. I asked myself how would Deniss skate to this piece of music now, in his adult manner. Is there any piece of music you would like to skate to again? Or similarly? Like Italian Opera or Michael Bublé? I saw you dancing a little bit when Yuma was practicing his “Smile“ program?

Deniss laughs

Susanne: Or are you looking for new challenges?

Deniss: Yes, I am certainly moving forward and every time I do something it contributes towards me, who I am as a skater. And that’s why my focus is usually on moving forward. But I do understand what you’re saying and I truly believe, if I get back to what I used to skate it would be very different. Because as I said earlier the focus is more on not to do something because it’s said to do it a certain way. For example: smile at this point, breath at this point. I rather have this raw image to feel what I’m doing. And going backwards for example to the time with Urmanov I would love to redo some of the programs, precisely to bring more of what it represented to me because at that time it was still a lot of: you have to do this, you have to do that and you have to do it like that. 

Susanne: I am thinking about “Putting on the Ritz“ - it’s a great piece of music but not necessarily something for a 16 year old boy.

Deniss: Yes, but I would also choreograph it differently, in a different manner. In my current experience, when you start to do something, you start by research. You don’t start by: Oh, I like it, let’s do it. It really needs a theme, you choose the angle you see it and you are shaping it not by one single minded straight line, but you start by basically finding the way how to approach it. And once you understand what’s happening, or how you view it, you choose: okay, it will be this way or maybe I would just decide to flip it over. For example with Romeo and Juliet: I didn’t live this program, I retold the story. And that’s what brings the difference from the common approach. That’s what gives life to the program itself. At least in my mind this is the essence of doing something that many did before in your own way. Today I would wish to re-skate the Last Samurai program and change it. And well -  Opera is coming - the elevator music of the „Sway“ program. I would take the first part, as I was not super happy with it and I would perhaps try to find something to incorporate it with something else that would somehow highlight that part a bit more. It was too focused. If I re-skate a program I want to feel it more. You have your elements where you have to focus and you have the breathing space. And I want to extend the breathing space, especially when the jumps become more confident. I want to stretch out the emotional aspect of it. This maybe comes with certain sacrifices but I want to feel what I do. Usually you come to competition and you feel like: what am I doing here? The point is, there is so much desire sometimes to just turn back and I am trying to find this approach because I am searching on how I will love this moment. At least that’s my start procession from before. Because competition is usually viewed like - when I was skating in Russia - it was five minutes of humiliation. The coach would say: it’s just five minutes of humiliation, then you will be fine. So I want to break this mindset and want to see it as five minutes of joy. I feel this emotional side more that energizes me, that brings me satisfaction of what I am doing and that’s what I am aiming for. And if I would be doing any program from back then it’s to put more juice or life into it rather than purely executing technical aspects. I want this feeling that I had at Worlds this year. You are fully aware, fully conscious and yet - blink - you realize you are at the end of the program by the end of the program. 

When you start the season it’s like hell. When you convert all of the information into the program  is really something. Even without jumps and spins, just to run the choreography it’s really taxing and slowly you build it up to the point when you skate and you just blink back and you are ready to go for another one. This process is truly amazing and something I wish to study more towards my future research plans. After I am done with university, after I am done with maybe skating itself. The biomechanics and how a body can adapt and how a mind gets stronger in order you don’t need to focus in order to do good. This is something that fascinates me and I wish to know more. 

Judith: Great plans once again, it will come for sure. Simo, your question?

Simo: You have a lot going on in your life, skating, university and so many hobbies. How do you manage your life? Do you have a routine?

Deniss: Well, I do. I have to say I am very fortunate with the university because they give me a lot of space to maneuver. Honestly, I would say it’s more about commitment. If I have decided I will do something, I will find a way. Or at least I will invest myself and the way will eventually appear. You really just need to glue your butt to the chair sometimes. But honestly, I am really grateful that university gives me so much flexibility and the timing when I can approach it because, yes, I am studying something daily but I have these really compressed moments when I actually write things or do projects that really require me where I have windows when I open the documents when I write a test or something. Then by the time it’s done - it’s done. Due to that great opportunity I can choose when I feel it. Because there are days when you really outwork yourself and sometimes you just need some more sleep time. 

Another thing is I really like to pre-cook my meals. For example a simple habit of planing what you will buy before you’re going to the shop. Then you go to the shop, you come back and you directly cut the things like in the restaurant. And then you have everything separated, if you want to make an omelette for example, you have your eggs, pre-cut onions, pre-cut peppers, you can directly take how much you want and it’s done. Then you need the same thing maybe for something else: it’s already there, it’s cut, you have your potatoes ready to put them into the oven. You reduce a lot of friction to start something, when it’s already half done. 

I for example also like my morning porridge already done when I get up. So the last thing I usually do in the evening is to assemble everything in the already measured cup, add some water and leave it there over night and then I just need to heat it up in the morning and it’s ready. 

In the end you prepare only once or twice a week and it’s there. You have certain patterns that you follow. 

I love to read in the morning. That’s my time to enjoy that. When you wake up in the morning you are usually all sore and don’t want to move. That’s just the truth you want to keep like this. (Deniss imitates lying cosily in the bed - everyone laughs.) Then what you usually do, is make yourself a coffee. You would put some kind of music, radio, start doing it and you are completely autopilot. But by actually limiting the information that my brain gets by noises I can really start to focus and awaken my senses. You smell the freshly brewing coffee, the real flavor. You start to wake up your sensor to receive information and that you really, when you do your coffee, you’re already half awake. Mobilisation in the morning helps. The body and the mind are just the muscles, right? If you work out everything, your heart-rate goes up and this mindfulness practice really helps. Now I also started to do framing breathing. This is what sets you up. If you achieve victory after victory it creates this momentum I believe in. Until the state of mindfulness goes away. Because at some point I will get overwhelmed and I will switch on a TV show, lately it’s been NCIS - maybe someone here knows - and I am playing it endlessly and this is my way - if I don’t want to clean something for example, I just switch on that thing, put my headphones in and just start cleaning. And then Chris is like: Dude, you’re watching like 8 TV shows a day! 

In the evening I start with my routine to finish the day. The last thing is to prepare my porridge, you brush your teeth and like this you construct more and more of a routine. 

When it comes to training: It’s kind of easy to create a warm-up routine before you go on the ice but then I try to do something after the ice. But it’s not always so easy to push yourself to do anything. So I try to put the stretching, mobilization, releasing pressure into my evening routine. Those things that make you feel recovering, I feel they had helped me more to be willing to start something. That’s maybe the hardest. To sit down and actually do something. Because you really want to just do this sometimes. (He imitates laying down again).

Over the last year I really decluttered a lot and removed things I didn’t need. If you have less things in general, it feels like a vacation. I honestly for some reason started to feel like my favorite lifestyle is being in the hotel room. I have only one suitcase which is very dedicated to what I need to do, I don’t take my tablet, which saves me so much attention span and you always come into a clean, very restricted simple space. There is time to work, there is time to get out, see something new and enjoy the weather. This doesn’t allow you to sink into those sometimes not so good habits, for example TV or YouTube binge watching, it really helps you.

I really love coffee and tea and I stimulate myself a lot with those things for the purpose when you’re stimulated you’re more productive and secondly you don’t want to eat. And you need to manage, as when you work a lot, you want to eat a lot and when you get overwhelmed you start to eat the wrong things. 

During and before the Olympics I went on a coffee and tea detox. I was a mess! (Everybody laughing) But I honestly have to say I never slept as good. And just the fact of sleeping properly even in this stressful situation made me feel alive. Just by stabilizing yourself and experiencing something like this I felt great.

Judith: Did you keep resilient or did you go back to the coffee and tea afterwards?

Deniss: Yea, I am back on my coffee but I used to drink the mocha for two. And I am talking of a big mocha. And I usually just put in a little splash of milk just for coloring purposes. (Everyone laughing again.) So that was my norm. So now I made it much smaller so it’s basically just a small cup of mocha with the same little splash of milk and that is my new dosage!

Judith: Keep it!

Deniss: You know, when you have an opportunity to do something and you kind of believe it’s harmless, you tend to go too far the wrong way. And then you experience crushes that really, really hurt long term. You start to kind of bring it back and like this I am trying to find a balance.

This season I tried to find those limitations, trying to figure out what is useful, what is harmful, because I actually function better in the morning without a coffee. I figured out the coffee is best for me mid-day when I need to decide if I go and take a nap or go out for a walk. Daily walks became such a big help for me. Just get out and walk the same pattern. I have my beautiful route around the village, it becomes slowly bigger. It serves so many good purposes. The latest thing is not to get distracted. Before I used to listen to audiobooks or music or something and you don’t actually want to walk. And now I find it so pleasant. Naturally when we walk we are looking down. I started to work on my eye-sight with some kind of exercises in order to be more receptive to colors. And I feel like my eye-sight became better since I started to pay more attention to different objects.

Judith: So you’re walking like 7/8 km a day without any phone, without anything?

Deniss: Yes. When I got this watch (points at his smartwatch) I was really interested in what it will tell me. And it tells me I am consuming around 4000 kilo-calories pretty much each day. And that I have 15 -16 kilometers of walking each day: my warm up, my movement and I remove it during the ice times. Walking really helps me to stay fit, to get my brain together.

When I started this walking routine my route was really small. I was just getting out of the house and coming back. I started it because I was so inspired by the book I read.* Now it grew up to the point that I get up to a really nice place where I can do my Tai-Chi exercises. Now my Tai-Chi section became really difficult and I can’t do at the beginning of the day anymore, as my legs are not ready. So I do it in the evening when I am done with the day and before my stretching routine so I have time to basically let go. 

You just need to stay active sometimes. If you feel tired, usually my understanding and my response now is move and not to sink in deeper. I just feel the need to find the right balance between activity and inactivity. I can work for 100 % for about two hours a day, which are basically my two on ice practices, when I show a really high performance and then there is still the whole rest of the day. You would maybe dedicate three hours, which are two windows for me, for university. You will be seated, you will be very focused. Of course your high performance time is also very focused but then you need something else to do. Okay, you have to cook. Let’s say with meals and everything, that’s another three hours. During eating I wouldn’t practice too much mindfulness, so you are then in your zombie mode. 

I try to avoid losing power over the week. You know that feeling when you start the week like a champion, you feel like you’re the best for two days and then the power drops down (Deniss demonstrates it with his hands) and then it starts again, up, down, up, down. My focus became to have less of this but more of a steady rise of power during the week. And actually it makes you feel much, much better by the end of the week. 

I am constantly trying new things. For example I started to journal two years ago. And just by simply writing down my observations, writing down my thoughts, my ideas, - I don’t necessarily always go back on what I wrote, what I do - but it’s just like, you start to communicate with the paper and in one way or another this builds up to something that motivates you. If you write something bad for ten times in a row you realize there is something bad going on. This is something you really don’t want to write but you continue writing it. You constantly stop at the same issue, you will get aware that you maybe should change something. You try to figure it out in a tiny way and you will start writing it less and at some point you will be like: hmm, this week I wrote something bad only twice. 

In my opinion it’s super important how you start and how you finish your day. And what’s in between there - even if it’s your day off and pajama day the most important part of the day is to get out of the pajama!

At this point our meeting lasted already 50 minutes, so it was time to continue with our little game: Deniss and Chris against the fans about Deniss. You can watch the video of this here:

This was great fun and a very nice ending to a very nice and relaxed fan meeting, that we all enjoyed a lot. Thanks for your great inspirational thoughts, advices and we wish you very much luck with all your next goals, mindfulness practice and we can’t wait to see your new very well thought through and artistically brilliant programs next season. 

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Interview with Deniss Vasiljevs September 2019

Summer’s over - No reason to be sad for a real skating fan as it’s time for the new season to kick in!

For me personally it had been a quite exciting and eventful summer where I didn’t even miss skating that  much to be honest. I was rather a bit afraid that it had maybe lost a bit of it’s spark for me… but after that last weekend in Bratislava I can tell for sure, the fire is definitely back and burning as strong as ever. It was an amazing weekend full of emotions - mostly super positive -, lack of sleep, fun times with amazing friends and of course amazing skating and new programs.

Right after the Short Program, when the rest of the competition was still running, my friends and I had the spontaneous chance to have a little chat with Deniss and Stéphane about the Two Men in Love program, the unusual decision to have two Short Programs and about their off season.

Please note before reading that this was a very spontaneous, quite unprepared interview / chat. All of us are no native English speakers. Once again I tried to write everything down word by word as it was said. Towards the end it turned more into a normal conversation, so you see quite short phrases and some interruptions. I hope it’s still possible to understand everything.

You can also watch the interview on youtube right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZbHV2FH2M

D: Deniss, S: Stéphane, M: Marina, R: Reut, J: Judith

The first question is paraphrased as it was cut from the video.

J: First of all thank you so much for your great performance and your great program today. We were all hoping for it and now you really chose Two Men in Love as your Short Program. What led you to this decision and when did you decide that?

D: It’s more like I am planing to change… depending on where I will perform, I am planing to change between Two Men in Love and Bloodstream. And I decided to… since here I will be first time showing my free program, I think that Two Men in Love is a little bit.. like gives a bigger contrast between the two programs, so I was really willing to make it a bit special.

J: Yea, definitely, it is!

M: So what is like your story behind this program?

D: This program… to me… I really really enjoy the melody, this music is really powerful… it’s… if I would describe a wine… it’s really „full body“… so I enjoy a lot skating to this dynamics that go throughout the whole piece. And it’s a very powerful, powerful piece and I enjoy to interpret it and to skate it the best I can.

M: Whose idea was it in the first place? This music?

D: I had a choice of certain musics and I - out of all that where available - I actually liked this one stand out for me and I really felt that this dynamics could be very well interpreted for my movement and for my skating. It’s really like a challenge in a sense because… well… I think it has a (…) under rhythm which is very hard to exploit and I am looking forward to really manage it and master it to open up a full (…) a full palette of this music piece.

M: But you have actually two short programs, right?

D: Yes, I do have…

M: Why such an unusual decision? You couldn’t decide?

D: One of the ideas initially was because I love to perform in shows and being a competitor and skating in the shows is kind of difficult to have another program that would be like very different. So in order to practice was made a decision to have actually a program that would in a sense mirror the elements of the initial Short Program and that way I would always work towards benefiting Short Program even more than just learning how to express myself for the crowd during a show performances. So it was in a sense a little challenge for me that I am really looking forward to overcome.

S: So if I can add, the initial idea actually was to - everything was correct - and I think there was also this idea of… like a company or a theatre has a seasonal program and in that seasonal program they have different ballets… like in one season you have Giselle and then during Christmas you have the Nutcracker and then at the end you have something contemporary.. so it was more like to be able to show a seasonal program with different pieces. Why to stick with one Short and one Free when you can actually… and he….

M: Wait, wait, do you have two Free Programs too?

S: We are thinking about that… because.. why you have to stick to one Short and one Free…

J: Yea, if you have the possibility…

M: Yea, but isn’t it more difficult to remember all the programs?

S: He has a good memory, an elephant memory.

D: I hope… I think I can manage. And to me skating, performing, working on the steps and overall… I love more the artistic part of figure skating and I really wish and I have a strong desire to actually.. maybe improve figure skating in general towards that direction through my work and my performance… together with Stéph… create a little bit more than usual. And having more programs I don’t think it’s such a big difference .

S: It’s a bigger palette.

D: Yea, the more you can do, the better you are and the technical elements I mean they stay kind of the same for everything, so finding a right pattern means patterns that’s kind of what a right master should be able to do, making jumps through all kind of patterns. And program is in a sense changing only in that way, so it’s also a very good practice for me.

R: So during the practice every day you run through three programs now?

D: I am now running actually far more than I used to and I feel I can get actually much stronger physically during such…

S: He runs all three programs yea…

M: Every time?

S: Not every time… but he runs through every program

D: Two programs…

M: Two?

D: It overall benefits me I think.

M: Do you already also have an exhibition program?

D: Well my other Short is exhibition. It’s kind of… what ever I feel, I skate…

M: That’s nice.

R: You wanted to have another costume? With big stones?

D: I honestly…

S: The first costume fitting was two days ago.

D: I honestly had no idea like how to interpret the Two Men in Love program and I just trusted the designer and he made I think a wonderful job with this costume. It’s super practical, I love it. It’s probably the lightest matrix I ever skated in and about the design of how it looks I find it very beautiful actually.

J towards Stéph: I guess you like this one too…

S: Yes, I really love it.. when I saw it, I was like wow . I am jealous!

R: So it’s not Japanese…

D: That was in Japan actually…

R: So it’s the same costume maker.. from Japan?

D: It’s the one that was making my previous costumes since I am skating with Stéphane… not the first year free program…

S: They made… they did…

D: The last four programs…

S: They did Sway, they did Recondita, they did Samurai, they did the Short Program Papa was a rolling stone…

R: Also exhibition?

S: And they did also exhibition, yes, they did Iron and they did also Nocturne…

J: So… like basically everything.

D: Almost…

S: No, they didn’t do Vivaldi, and they didn’t do Voodoo Child…

J: And Lion King… but that was your costume… (towards Stéph)

D: Lion King, yea…

J: As you talked a lot about the programs… we have a long off-season behind us, long waiting for us fans, so what was the highlight of your off-season for you, either skating wise or personally..?

D: It’s actually a very hard question for me because I had a really memorable… like a lot of amazing moments during this summer. I had been really enjoying it. I had a trip kind of first one on my own in Japan when I went for practicing there when Stéph was also there…

J: Yea, with the Japanese team.

S: Yea but he was on his own.

D: I have skated… I was on my own.

S: First time!

D: I had really good Camps in Champéry with coaches coming from Toronto…

J: Oh yea, the one in the summer Camp…

D: And it was like.. I really found it… I clarified very well my off - ice work which is like a very bright moment. I had enjoyed a lot… first time I actually went mountain climbing.

J: Oh yea, with Chris and Koshiro…

M: Oh, it was the first time..

D: In Champéry yea. Before I would just hike and enjoy the beautiful landscapes but this time I managed actually hanging out from cliffs.. it was really…

M: It wasn’t scary?

J: The view was probably amazing….

D: No, it wasn’t scary, it was… filling up with emotions.

I had a wonderful time at home during my birthday and I enjoyed a lot the company of my parents. And at the same time I had before that as well a very good moment in Champéry when we were doing the camp and it was a really really hard time but it was such a good work that now I am.. although through all these difficulties and hard work actually now I really want to smile because it was a really wonderful moment for me.

J: Yea to finally come through…

D: I learned a lot of the company of my friend Satoko Miyahara, she’s now also competing actually…

J: Oh, in the US, right?

D: Yea, so we had a great camp.. and now we’re…

S: It was really rich actually. We had a very rich off-season.

D: Everyone who is at Japan Open has been in Champéry.

M: But Javi wasn’t…

S: No but the Japanese Team… Yea, Javi was not, but he is Team Europe…

D: During the summer I also for the first time tried to make chocolate. And I really really enjoyed this confiserie…

S: Yea, confiserie…

D: I really enjoyed it

M: Like from the beans?

R: The whole process?

D: Yea from the cacao beans…

S: He makes pralines… but… wow! I mean, get ready, one day he will open his confiserie for sure. He is a master.

D: I definitely really enjoy working precise and with the right tools it works… And I enjoyed a lot this new experience. I also had fun using the Pasta machine this summer quite a bit and…

S: Please land your tripple Axel, you know how to do it…

J: It worked perfectly fine in the warm up…

S: I knooooow… just… just like he says he is a very precise person and to have to be precise… it takes something to let go and once he lets go it’s fine and once he starts thinking then the timing goes a bit… hmmmmm…

D: It’s just a simple problem, if you go, do it perfect, in everything… in cakes it works amazing…

M: In skating not so much…

D: In skating it doesn’t work.

J: Yea, stupid body…

D: When I have a problem in skating my cooking works better so I should make a problem in cooking and skating should work…

S: You get stuck at some point…

J: You have some positive energy…

D: Yes!

J: …and I hope it helps you to achieve your goals in skating…

D: I also in summer had made quite a bit of drawings, like I tried different techniques to draw and enjoyed organizing my flat much more.

J: Oh, wow!

D: And overall this summer… I traveled a lot, I had a lot of good work, and I think what is good, I matured a lot so overall I find that this summer was very constructive and I laid down a good foundation for the upcoming season.

J: So the success will come at some point, I am sure!

S: The success is always there, always there!

After that Stéph got up and gave us very surprisingly two Swiss Chocolate bars as a gift and I also gave Deniss the present from the Fans: Every Day motivational messages. He said that it was a very special present for him and that recently he learned to appreciate these kinds of presents much more.

It was a super nice talk, of course it could have gone on forever, there were much more things to discuss… I would have loved to know and hear more about his new drawings and his travels in Japan… but the next time will come… Of course in both performances, Short - and Free program there was room to improve but this first competitions gives at least me a really positive feeling towards the rest of the season. Deniss was so full of positive energy and proud of the things he has achieved in the off season that I am sure it will show of this season. Can’t wait to follow you on this journey, Deniss!!!

[judithsupportsteamchampery]

Why you’ve made my winter!

- by Judith Dombrowski

My personal Team Champéry season review

This is dedicated to figure skater Deniss Vasiljevs, coach and figure skater Stéphane Lambiel and their manager Christopher Trevisan!

My very special thanks to my mother Beate. Without you nothing of this would have been possible. I can say with my whole heart that you are the best mother I ever could have imagined.

Also special thanks to:

Anastasia, Charlie, Estephanía, Jelena, Laia, Maria R., Maria T., Marina, P., Susanne, Szilvia

You all have become amazing and true friends. I love you with my whole heart!

And to everyone else whom I met because of Team Champéry this winter, either personally or via the internet. We are the best fan community I can imagine.

On March 2nd 2019, after I had been able to take THAT picture, that picture thousands of skating fans dream of, that picture I would never ever had imagined to happen, I turned around and thanked both of you: “Thank you so much for everything!“, I said. Then I looked at you, Deniss, and said: “You’ve really made my winter! Thanks!“ You looked flattered and surprised but didn’t respond anything. But you, Stéph, said something like: “Wow, you are really so positive!“ It was the second time you said that that afternoon and I do understand why you said it in this situation: For the two of you it definitely hadn’t been the winter you’ve dreamed of. It must have been a hard winter full of worries, concerns and disappointments. It seemed to surprise you, Stéph, why you’ve made somebody’s winter even though so much seemed to have gone wrong for you.

So I am writing this blog post / article / review to explain to the two of you and to everyone interested, why this sentence was incredibly true. Why I actually couldn’t have thanked you in a more accurate way. Beware, this might gonna be long. I usually fail saying things short and there has been really a lot going on this winter relating to the two of you. I will also miss out some moments because it has just been too much.

When to start? Should it be the moment when we decided to go to Grenoble? The moment I started to be your fan, Deniss? Should I go back to Worlds 2005 when I had my first big crush on that handsome Swiss figure skater? This would turn into a novel so lets start right at the beginning… of… this winter:

October

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I am free earlier than expected today. So if you’d like we can meet earlier?“

“I am sorry I fear I won’t be able to come over before 18.30? Hope that’s still alright?“, I replied to a good friend of mine on WhatsApp.

“Haha, yea, sure, thought you have holidays…“

“Well, yea“, … she was a really good friend so I could be honest, “but my Mom doesn’t. She’s only free from 3pm and we’ll have to watch a movie together this afternoon. This is like the only possibility before next weekend. Will explain you later!“

“Okayyyy…!“

It was a Wednesday afternoon in early October during my autumn holidays and I spent the week in South Germany with my mother and tried to meet up with as many old friends as possible. It was also the week before Japan Open, the first time you, Deniss, were supposed to skate your new free program. And it finally had leaked that you would be skating to the soundtrack of the movie “Last Samurai“. So to totally understand the program my mother and I watched the movie together, listened to the music very precisely, discussed about the plot, read and learned about the history of the samurai on Wikipedia.

We liked and appreciated the theme and that music choice right away. As we did with the whole program when it had finally been uploaded. Despite technical difficulties we saw the efforts and the great thoughts behind the choreography of this program right away and were really looking forward to see this program grow and bloom over the season.

It was different with the Short Program. When “Papa was a rolling stone“ was posted first, I listened to the song in the car and it left me quite puzzled… How was that supposed to be the song of a skating program? And those lyrics? Well… I liked the beat and the rhythm of the song from the beginning and I put all my trust in your good taste and I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

The figure skating season was speeding up: The first Grand Prix was coming along together with a small competition called “Minsk Ice Star“ - the warm up contest for you, Deniss. I spent that weekend in the Netherlands where a friend celebrated her birthday. The moment I remember best of these days is myself walking up and down at the beach streaming the free program in bad quality on my phone screaming and jumping up and down at every landed jump. This weekend brought the first fully rotated and landed Quad in competition for you, Deniss, and the first gold medal of the season. For me this weekend made me like and appreciate the short program and I “met“ my “soulmate“ because of this competition:

Until then I hadn’t been too active about figure skating on social media, because most of my followers on Instagram were my real life friends who didn’t care about this sport at all. There was no official livestream of Minsk Ice Star. But I found some Russian girls via Instagram who were in the arena and were so kind to stream the practices and the competition. That’s how I met my today very very good and close friend Maria. We started texting since then, we went through this winter together, kept each other updated all the time and finally went to Innsbruck together. But that happened many moments and stories later.

November

NHK Trophy was after all the only competition this entire season I didn’t manage to follow live. Despite all efforts I didn’t make it home from work in time for the SP, and I also missed the LP the next day because of my tennis practice. I did come home when Shoma Uno was about to start his Free Skate performance but of course he skated deep in the second group. I clicked on “pause“ and scrolled back to start watching the competition from the beginning. There had been a number though in the left upper corner of my screen I couldn’t have avoided seeing: The leading skater at the moment Shoma started to skate had the technical score of 70 points. 70 Points! DAMN! That was…. low. Very low for that moment in the competition. And 70… that was a number you, Deniss, were likely to score. My heart started racing. Could it be possible? If you were the leader at that moment you were… about to win a medal.

“It was hard to see how excited you still were!“, my Mom told me on the phone an hour later when I was full of disappointment. She had been able to watch everything live and knew that it unfortunately hadn’t been you, Deniss, who had scored those 70 points, it had been Matteo Rizzo. I felt really sorry for you, missing that opportunity. “Keep your head up, keep your heart strong…“, I kept listening on repeat during that weekend and I wished you could also hear that motivating song by Ben Howard. The next competition was going to be better. I was sure! And the next competition was: IdF in Grenoble. THE competition. Our competition. Where my mother and I would go to see and support you live. The weekend I had been waiting for since the end of June when the assignments came out. And now it was not even two weeks away…The Sunday after NHK I spent in the kitchen baking my gifts for the two of you: The lion and the ladybug as German gingerbread. I am not the most artistically talented person, and I didn’t honestly expect this project to be successful, especially drawing a lion with chocolate and sugar icing on a piece of cookie seemed like a far too motivated project for me. But I did it, every millimeter drawn with concentration and passion. And succeeded: I had baked a lion and a ladybug gingerbread. The presents were ready, the flags had arrived and got inked, all tickets were printed, we were ready to go.

You probably all remember a weekend or an event you once desperately had been waiting for. And then the moment when it is really happening. So you can probably imagine how I felt: I see myself as if it was yesterday walking from the parking lot in Mainz to the station where I had to take the train to Frankfurt airport, feeling like I was flying: It was real, yes, it was. I was on my way to Grenoble, I had everything prepared, I had gotten the extra day off at school, I had the gifts and the banners in my bag, I had your program music in my ears, I was so so ready for it!

I had high expectations for this weekend just as you probably had as well, Deniss. Unfortunately yours weren’t totally fulfilled again especially in the long program. Mine instead were outreached by far:

That moment, when I saw the two of you live right ahead of me in practice. The moment you really nailed your SP, how I was screaming and celebrating of relief. The moment I was able to give you the gifts after the second practice. The moment when you walked around proudly showing my baked lion to other fans. All those moments of wonderful and magical performances by your fellow skaters, all those people I had been admiring in front of the TV screen for years: Evgenia Medvedeva, Rika Kihira, Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, Nathan Chen, Jason Brown and Dimitri Aliev just to name a few…

And that moment, Saturday 24th of November, 6 pm during the Ice Dance medal ceremony when I checked on my emails and my heart skipped for sure more than one beat: Email by Christopher Trevisan: “Sorry for the short notice, if you are still interested you can have a fan meeting with Deniss tomorrow morning either at 10 or 11 o’clock. Let me know if you are still interested.“ If I was interested? Hell, YES. But: Our bus to the airport was booked tomorrow at 10 o’clock from the main station in Grenoble. Our flight home was leaving Lyon at 2 pm. I was in shock, excited and concerned at the same time. It was hard to think straight.

I will never forget the night from November 24th to November 25th in my entire life. So many insecurities: When exactly? Where? Who will come? How will we get home? Take the train instead of flying? Take a taxi to the airport? Skip the whole fan meeting myself?

Charlie, my mother and I were sitting together until far after midnight without having any solutions. The three of us mainly discussed the question: Where? There was no nice café that had opened Sunday morning just around the corner…

We noticed that the only space we had available on this short notice were our own hotel rooms. Probably our entire hotel woke up by us laughing loudly about the joke: “Imagine, when I come home, I will be able to say: There was Stéphane Lambiel… in my hotel room!“ We weren’t sure back then if you’d accompany Deniss, Stéph.

Sometime during the night after sleeping for a few hours I was able to calm down and think more straight again. I checked the Lufthansa App and found out that it was actually possible to change our booking to a flight that flew to Frankfurt four hours later than our original one. I got the idea to ask in our hotel if there was a possibility to hold the meeting in a free conference room or another silent place. It was all coming together. We got a space in our hotel, we had people who messaged they would come to the meeting, we had the time to sit down and think about some questions that I wanted to ask you, Deniss. You came, you had quite some time, you were incredibly nice and the two of us got more and more relaxed while the interview / meeting went on and I had the feeling that I could continue talking with you forever. You are such an interesting, intelligent, nice, humble and funny person. Before Grenoble I had liked you mostly because of your beautiful and amazing skating, after Grenoble I knew where this was coming from. Before Grenoble I had been amazed by you, after Grenoble I was totally enchanted.

December

I was on endorphins for the next weeks straight. That weekend had been far better and beyond all my expectations.

But at the same time I was afraid: Was it ever going to be that perfect again? Should I maybe keep this one perfect weekend as one magic memory and not let it get destroyed maybe by disappointments coming in the near future? Would I maybe expect too much from future events? I told around: “That weekend was perfect. I will not go again this season. Next season again!“

What a luck I hadn’t been able to resist. Because my heart, longing to see the two of you again, won over my anxious head.

Christmas time came, I followed the Grand Prix Final together with my Mom, we got up in the middle of the night to cheer for Koshiro, we were worried when you, Deniss, withdrew from a competition in Zagreb, were relieved when it was announced that it wasn’t an injury. And we decided that it was finally about time to see you skate live as well, Stéph! So we ordered our tickets for Art on Ice in Davos in February. And with booking those tickets my plan not to go anymore this season had already faded away. I spent hours on the internet searching for possibilities to make it to Minsk for the European Championships. Meanwhile I knew many fans via social media and almost all of them were about to be in Minsk to support you, Deniss. I wanted to be part of it really  badly. As a teacher though it is hard to get days off apart from the public holidays. Flights for the weekend only costed a fortune. It seemed impossible. My frustration grew. I am a person who fights really hard if she really wants something and usually tries everything to make it happen.

January

New years eve came along, together with a very nice and enthusiastic video of the two of you: “We hope to see you in Bellinzona for Music on Ice!“, you said, Stéph. And after countless times watching this lovely video and a sleepless and crazy night from the 1st to the 2nd of January my decision was made: Instead of the impossible mission going to Minsk, I would to go to Music on Ice in Bellinzona. I was going to take a train from my hometown Osnabrück in the Northwest of Germany on Friday afternoon to Stuttgart in the South of Germany. The next morning I was going to take the earliest train to continue traveling all the way to Switzerland where I would arrive in Bellinzona on January 12th at 11 am. I would go to the show on Saturday night and early Sunday morning I was going to take the train back, 10 hours all the way up to Osnabrück where I would arrive at 6 pm, ready to go back to school on Monday morning. But going to the show wasn’t the only plan I had. With help of the amazing Jelena from Daugavpils who runs the official Fan Club on Facebook we activated fans from all over the world to send me pictures with good luck wishes for you for Europeans. I was overwhelmed by the positive responses on the project. I received exactly 50 pictures, most of them amazingly creative.

When I entered the train on Friday afternoon, January 11th 2019, I felt the company of all those 50 people. I was nervous because I hadn’t heard of Chris yet, whom I had messaged with the idea of the project and had asked for an opportunity to give you the album personally.

But the sun was shining, I had motivating music in my ears, the train was riding further and further South and I felt the support of all of my friends and of my mom, who unfortunately couldn’t accompany me this weekend, so the nervousness turned into major excitement.

In Bellinzona I also wasn’t alone at all: I teamed up with two friends that I had both met in Grenoble. After our arrival we checked out the ice rink and sat down on a bench nearby the arena. The girls went through your album, Deniss, when suddenly my phone vibrated and I saw the message: Christopher Trevisan had written: “Hey Judith, can you be at the rink at 15.00?”

Have you ever been waiting for a message to come in for five consecutive days? Do you know that feeling that whenever you get a message you have that slight hope inside you that it could be the one you are waiting for and you get disappointed over and over again? And then the releasing moment comes? And you know my temper, right? Then you can maybe imagine how I screamed and jumped up and down when seeing that message. Did you maybe even hear that scream from somewhere far away that afternoon? Quite possible since Bellinzona isn’t that big and my joy was… LOUD! My two friends shared my joy and enthusiasm but not as loud. We had an “appointment”! I messaged all of my good friends right away: “Appointment at 3 pm!” I was so happy and excited. I carried the hopes and wishes of 50 people in my bag and now I knew I wouldn’t disappoint them.

That moment on the bench had only been the beginning of a day that again turned out so much better than all my expectations:

Hearing you say: “So nice to see you again!”, and being really thankful for the book. Being able to watch all three hours of show rehearsal, including the two of you practicing throw jumps.  Recording an successfully landed throw jump for all my friends and many other fans. Seeing you, Stéph, skate live for the first time in my life. You, that man that had carried me through my teenage years with all your wonderful programs. Finally seeing you perform in person was magical. Seeing that wonderful and touching duet of the two of you. I had tears of joy in my eyes. And that moment after the show when you, Deniss, were walking beneath us and you turned around and came back thanking me for the album: “Thanks for the book. It’s fantastic!” These six words meant so much to me and to all those who had participated. My heart was full of joy and my body full of dancing endorphins again. It didn’t matter at all that the train ride the next day didn’t last ten but twelve hours. I was the happiest and luckiest girl on the planet.

Thanks to my amazing two girls who were my company during these crazy 21 hours I have spent in Bellinzona. Wouldn’t have been the same without those two and we do have an appointment at our “Appointment Bench” next year.

Still… after the Bellinzona - Fun it was getting serious! Europeans were on their way and it felt like the most important competition for you this season, Deniss. The season hadn’t gone as planed yet for sure… plus: Skating really well there would give you the chance to medal. Even though I had been in Bellinzona it was really hard for me to follow the action in Minsk from home. But that week showed me what great friends I had got to know because of you, Deniss. Those girls, who kept me updated the entire week, and never forgot about me were my personal heros. Some special mentions: Jelena, who waved at me through the TV stream during the Ladies Short program. That was so hilarious and made my day. Szilvia, whom I would have loved to share that horrible hostel with. Maybe with the two of us that place would have been less spooky? And thanks to her for sending birthday wishes to my mom during the live stream of your fan meeting, Stéph. Marina, for telling me the “they-only-want-me”- story right after it had happened and for asking Brian Joubert about his inspiration for the tiger jacket. And my amazing girl Maria. Thanks for just everything. I felt with her and like her at every moment during the entire week. I shared her excitement, her fears, worries, tears and joy. And I am proud and thankful to all of the girls who organized both fan meetings and streamed it for us at home. You’ve got the most amazing fans, I really hope you know that both.

Deniss? We all know you gave your best! You wanted it so much and we know you actually are able to do everything you had planed. That makes the outcome of this competition so sad. Thanks for keeping your smile for us fans, thanks for still performing amazingly. Thanks for that intense gala-program. “Iron“ is now one of my personal top 5 programs of all times.

And Stéph? Your week must have been nerve-wracking and cruel. Thanks for being there for your students, giving them strength and confidence. Thanks for trying everything you could to support Deniss and Emmi and still staying that nice and friendly to us fans. The pressure must have been immense. Maria summed it up so perfectly as an Instagram caption, so I will quote her here: “Thanks for being in the world!”

February

During Euros you were so nice to confirm that Team Champéry would keep its tradition and would come to the Cup of Tyrol in Innsbruck, Stéph. The planing for us attending and supporting you at that event started the moment Europeans were over. That Sunday still after watching the Gala my mother and I booked the last available cheap apartment in the city centre of Innsbruck. All February long we were busy planing that trip but hadn’t there been another appointment in February? My second 10 hour long train ride was scheduled from February 15th to February 17th. Osnabrück - Davos and back. Art on Ice was about to happen. I imagined that trip to maybe be a little less exciting. I expected to watch the show, see you perform two wonderful programs and was also looking forward to see James Blunt live again after more than 10 years. Back in 2006 James Blunts concert had been the first concert I had ever visited, so it was going to be a bit nostalgic… But… probably no surprise anymore: Also this trip turned out to be so much better than expected.

The afternoon in Davos was beautiful already, the sun was shining brightly and we had an amazing walk through the snowy landscape. We managed to sneak in to watch the practice again and: I  got the opportunity to talk to you, Stéph. It was short and since totally unexpected I also didn’t really know what to say but it was extremely special for me. And I could take a selfie with you. A picture I had wanted to have ever since my teenage years. I am not the type of person who collects pictures with celebrities. I think asking for a picture is such an unreal and awkward situation. But I really longed for that picture with you, Stéph. With the guy I used to tell all of my friends about, who all didn’t know you, because figure skating is not too popular in Germany. With the guy I had admired ever since my teenage years. With the guy that is in my opinion the most passionate and elegant skater ever. With the guy that touched me to tears and overwhelmed my emotions when skating to the song Goodbye my Lover some hours later. With the guy who gave his second last performance at Art on Ice ever that night.

I read your post about quitting Art on Ice when my train had almost reached Osnabrück again. I felt incredibly sad and incredibly blessed at the same time: I had still been able to see your magic. Art on Ice will miss you incredibly, Stéph. But you surely made the right decision for yourself and we as fans will support you and keep loving you no matter what projects will come for you in the future.

I had two more weeks until the crazy road trip to Innsbruck was about to happen but well… there was one weekend in between. And I found the perfect place to go for that weekend: Barcelona, Spain.

You have already heard some names of great people I got to know because of you two, but I haven’t told you about Laia yet what is a shame because, Deniss, you would certainly like Laia as much as I like her: She’s an artist, she draws amazingly. She’s a baker and an excellent cook. She’s a bit of a philosopher. She is a big Star Wars fan. She’s incredibly funny and sarcastic but at the same time a bit shy and introverted. And she is a big fan of the two of you. Even though you know the story how Laia and I met already, Deniss, I think it’s worth telling it here again: Laia was also at the Grand Prix in Grenoble. I didn’t know her back then. And we also didn’t meet at the event itself. But she was the girl who took the picture of you holding my baked gingerbread lion. I discovered that picture on Instagram some weeks later. We started to chat, and we chatted even more. I talked with her for hours because, Deniss, in many ways she seems like a female version of you.

So at that last weekend in February I took a plane to Barcelona to finally meet her in person. She showed me some skating tricks on the ice and I showed her that the mediterranean sea is not too cold to swim in in February. She introduced me to traditional Catalan food and I brought her some Swiss Chocolate I had bought in Davos.

And she gave me the most precious gift I ever received from anyone: An amazing drawing of you, Deniss, skating to “Iron“. You have seen it in Innsbruck yourself and I am quite sure you will remember it.

So that weekend was another amazing experience thanks to the two of you.

March

“Good morning everyone”, I told my Instagram followers totally excited at the morning of February 28th, “my last big journey of the figure skating season is about to start. I will drive to work first and then I will drive from my school via Frankfurt airport and Munich airport all the way to Innsbruck. It will be a really long journey but I will pick up some amazing girls on the way. And I actually can’t wait to see Deniss and Stéph tomorrow.”

The Cup of Tyrol in Innsbruck was the smallest event I visited this season but it highlighted up everything that had happened before. At the beginning of the season my mom and I had been alone. The trip to Innsbruck ended with seven good friends from five different countries sitting together in a small apartment, laughing and celebrating you, ourselves and life.

Marina had flown to Frankfurt from Kyiv and Szilvia from Budapest. Maria had come from Chelyabinsk, Russia, to Munich. I met both, Marina and Maria for the first time in real life and that alone was really special. Suddenly sitting with those three girls together in my small car, singing along to Britney Spears songs was unreal and amazing enough. But of course we were here to support you, Deniss.

All three of you, Chris included, seemed quite surprised to see us around. Cup of Tyrol was such a small competition. Why should anyone go there? Well, we were and we weren’t the only ones, even though probably the loudest ones. Here are again some very special moments picked from many special moments:

Imitating your car karaoke to Britney’s Toxic on our way to Innsbruck with Marina and Szilvia.

Stepping out of our apartment early Friday morning in Innsbruck and seeing this city in all of its beauty: The river, the colorful houses and the mountains in the beautiful morning sun.

Watching you skate a nice and clean short program after some struggles during practice.

Chris laughing loudly about our designed shirt for you, Deniss: “I am not coaching Stéph!” Do you wear it from time to time? If you don’t I am sure Chris would…

Giving you my self knitted hat in Latvia colors.

Showing you Laias drawing and you complimenting her amazing “shade work”.

You, Stéph, telling us that we were just about to hang up our “Team Champéry banner” mirror converted. Oh dear…

Suffering with every quad attempt. Cheering for every jump that seemed “okay” somehow- especially for underrotated quads…sorry Stéph, but that’s what fans are there for.

Crying with Matilda after her Free Program. It was hard to see this but those moments belong to the sport just as tears of joy at another time. Please, Stéph, tell Matilda, that she is a very beautiful skater. She is very graceful and a joy to watch on the ice and we all hope to see her shining on the ice sometime again.

Calling ourselves to be the “Crazy Rabbit Crew” after constantly eating carrots and joking about what to throw on the ice. Carrots, maybe?

Watching your little extra show on the ice after you won the title, Deniss.

Joking with you, Stéph about our petition to bring Britney Spears to Art on Ice.

And for me, personally, receiving the compliment from you, Stéph, of being such a positive person. I am aware that you, the first time you said it, thought that my positivity was even a bit too much when we discussed the success of your Quad attempts, Deniss, but when we all said goodbye I had the honest feeling that you liked me, Stéph. And that means more than a lot to me!

And of course THAT picture. Yes, again a celebrity picture. But what a special one. Standing in the middle of both of you. In the middle of the two people who made my winter. You didn’t understand it back then, right?

I am sure you understand it now!

Of course Innsbruck hadn’t been the end of the season yet: Worlds were yet to come. Far away in Japan. The competition where you wanted to show everyone what you actually could do. In the country that you love so much and where your season had started. The country on which history your free program was built. The Last Samurai. The last dance of the season. It was a hard week for us as fans because it was obviously a hard week for your whole team. I watched the Short Program locked into the music room of my school during our break. Afterwards I had to teach a Music lesson, singing cheerful and happy songs with eight year olds. It was tough. But I can hardly imagine how tough it was for you.

The free program was a huge fight. After everything you had gone through that week, it was even an incredible fight. The score still wasn’t probably what you had dreamed of neither the placement in the end.

But you can be incredibly proud of that fight, Deniss. This whole season was surely a hard learning process. It was a season without a single competition you were completely happy with. After all the hard work you put in every single day it must be horribly frustrating. I got to know you though as a person who is thinking thoroughly about everything. And I got to know you as a person who is able to see this season as a learning process for the future. You never stopped performing no matter what happened to the jumps. All three programs this year were incredibly well choreographed and performed even better. And during that hard and rocky road you made so many people incredibly happy.

Stéph, this winter was surely also a hard one for you. One of the reasons why I like you that much is that you, just as I do myself, put your whole heart and passion into everything you do. I could feel your pain when things didn’t turn out as you wanted them to go for your skaters. It must be so hard to just watch and not being able to actually do something in those moments. I do imagine those intense emotions you had during your last Art on Ice shows. Thanks so much for sharing some of these moments with us.

And equally I want to thank you, Chris: Thank you so much for being there for the whole team whenever you are needed. Thanks for staying calm, positive and objective throughout the season. Thanks for sometimes probably being the connection between the two artists. I am sure it hasn’t always been easy. Thanks for the great cooperation with us fans. You are doing an amazing job in every way.

You as a team managed to go through this season together and I hope with my whole heart that it brought you even closer together. Success, failure, joy and sorrow are so close together in this sport. The future seasons will bring all of that again. And I am looking forward to laugh, cry and celebrate with you again next winter and hopefully many more winters. Until then I will spend time with some of the amazing people I met on the road. Next weekend Szilvia and I will visit Marina in Kyiv. It will be another amazing trip. You are about to make my spring, too!

[judithsupportsteamchampery]

Fan Interview with Deniss Vasiljevs after the Figure Skating Grand Prix in Grenoble, France, Sunday, November 25th 2018

- by Judith Dombrowski - 

Sitting back home in Germany in front of my computer the last weekend seems still unreal for me. It was my first Figure Skating live event since 2007 and if I regret an only thing about this weekend it would be that it took me so long to go again. The main reason for my journey to Grenoble was the attendance of my favorite Skater - Deniss Vasiljevs from Latvia. I follow his career for two years now, since he started working with my former favorite skater Stéphane Lambiel. It was absolutely emotional and amazing to see him perform live, even though the competition itself didn’t turn out for Deniss as he probably would have hoped for. Still he was able to create absolute magic on the ice.

On very short note I had the luck to organize a very spontaneous fan-meeting on sunday morning. Thanks so much to Deniss’ manager Christopher Trevisan to make it possible and for the great cooperation.

Here is now the transcript of the interview we had with Deniss. I hope as many fans as possible will enjoy reading it. You can probably tell only from reading that Deniss and I were both still a bit nervous and shy at the beginning (well I definitely was, and he seemed as well) but it got into a very nice and relaxed conversation really soon.

Also please notice, that this was the first time in my life that I did such an interview, and it’s also my first time ever I am doing such a transcript. I decided to write everything down word by word just as they were spoken. Of course you will notice some grammar mistakes from my and from Deniss’ side since we are both no native speakers, and spoken sentences are always different from written sentences. I still decided to change absolutely nothing and just type it down as everything was said, that nothing Deniss said would be changed in any way. In case you are interested to translate this into another language, please try to do the same. I would also kindly ask you to ask for permission if you wish to translate it or publish it anywhere else. Thanks so much and I hope you will enjoy this. :)

Approximatly 25 - 30 people joined the meeting. I waited for Deniss outside of the hotel were we held the meeting at. Once Deniss and Christopher arrived and we came up the stairs everyone stood up and clapped. After some small greetings the interview started.

Me: Alright… I am a little bit nervous, so I wrote something down (referring to my notes). We all really appreciated your great programs. For me it was the first time seeing you perform live. It was really something special, much better than on TV. Your two programs this year are absolutely wonderful and appealing, so thank you. (Everyone was clapping.) I want to tell you some greetings from the Fan community. There are fans in Latvia, from Russia, someone wrote from Peru, (he really looked amazed when he heart Peru) from Mexico, from Hungary and they all send you their dearest greetings.

I will just start with the questions and of course everyone who has some questions can just join in and ask. I - and I think many of you here as well - read the transcript of the fan - meeting at NHK and there you talked a lot about the samurai program and I thought it’s really impressive that you shared some really deep thoughts about the programs and you can really see it when you perform. So there was a question from the internet who asked if you were personally involved in creating the costume or who created the costume for the samurai program.

Deniss: Well, it was the designer together with my whole circle who worked with the program.  We put a lot of energy in it and we all came up with this very interesting  - I guess - idea and all together that’s formed this…

Me: yea. you also drew the samurai very well…

Deniss: I love to draw. So my idea is very often to remind it on the paper and I am happy to share it for example for the work. For the things that I need to… It’s a place that can help..

Me: So you talked about the samurai program quite a lot in Japan already so you don’t need to repeat yourself again now. But we would love to know also a little bit more about the short program because it’s a really unusual choice of music for skating so how did you come up with the idea for the short program and this specific piece of music.

Deniss: How I came up with it? I don’t know it was a suggestion. But why we accepted it rather was because it is quite a challenge. It’s unique in it’s own style and so far I haven’t seen someone trying to really make it in this specific way so for me it’s really a big  ( )  (I really can’t understand the word he is using here, maybe it’s „curiosity") how I can improve it to the level I want. How I can show all this emotion be clean and sharp because the music is very groovy and more like whatever… feeling this kind of just enjoy the moment and that’s I guess the biggest contrast in this part that I find very attractive but I try to work to do my best.

Me: So you said you want to improve something? So what do you think needs to be improved?

Deniss: There is no limit to perfection. And I try to improve everywhere I can. But I guess what I would love to define is to make the skating a little bit more.. probably not simpler but easier for me to execute from the right… like the music always has this dynamics and just a little bit better on my breathing and movement to this flow. That would hopefully help me having more power when I need it later on. And having the step sequence.. it has already been changed quite a bit after the last competition to suit the technical panel better and also takes a big part of the program and it’s a moment when you still head towards the second part of the program which also is very energy consuming so this kind of balancing out is required anyways.

Me: Well good luck for that. For us it seems already very perfect and you are really groovy in the program. I especially like the ending pose… it’s.. so unique. (laughter)

Deniss: Yea I very close to kiss the board. (laughter from everyone)

Me: Yea, especially at NHK, I thought there it was really close.. I thought two days ago it was a bit shorter (I re-watched the SP yesterday and saw that I had been wrong. He really had been very close to the board in Grenoble) but we also thought.. it maybe could cause some time problems… when you are sliding too long… not to go over time…

Deniss: No, the movement just has to stop… so technically when you are sliding… (laughter)

Me:… you are not moving…

Deniss: It depends how you look on it.. but I understand by the word movement.. that your body is not moving. You can slide on the ice because… ice is slippery..

Me: yeah….

Deniss: … so you slide… right? (laughter)

Me: So… hopefully the judges will be on your side… and… One comment I guess on the yellow pants… because it’s really controversy. I personally really really like it and it really suits the program and the music and it is an eye catcher.. so.. did you like the idea of the yellow pants from the beginning… or how did you come up with that?

Deniss: Initially I think that the match of the colors yellow and shiny is very into the mood of that time. Maybe today it is less popular and a little bit going away from that. But at that time the kind of moment of this very sparky time labs that I try to present to the audience it’s exactly that very shiny and really kind of… Cause I heard the… I am not sure if it’s completely sure if it is the correct word… but the „cheap disco“..

Me: … from the 70s / 80s…

Deniss: Yea kind of if you have this kind of colored and all of this in a sense represents that period of time.

Me: yea, that’s true.

Deniss: And you have those pants that go like… (shows with his hands the shape of flares)

Me: Oh yeah.. I know only the German word (for flares) but I know what you mean.

Deniss: So, all of that is that time and I heard different opinions on it… some people love it, some people cannot stand it. But the point is.. overall this atmosphere I am trying to create is related to that what I already mentioned.. and..

Me: That time was also controversy, right?

Deniss: It is like a theater. When you try so represent as best as you can that moment, that spirit, that fun moment.. so and this costume.. yellow pants… I find them really a good illustration of what exactly that time means and having actually in my point of view a very nice balance of colors, because I have yellow pants, the purple shirt which is also in this kind of style and i also think it gives a little bit of elegance that I have the black jacket it at least helps to make the lines better. So all of that is a combination of a costume that I actually imagined on my own and thought it would be a great way…

Me: Well, wow!

Deniss: I am honestly very happy and glad..

Me: So it’s your own work and you really feel represented by it. Or the it represents the program…

Deniss: That’s almost the way I feel that time. I have one show program, one of the firsts I’ve got and I have this costume which was basically light blue with a lot of different colors and to me that’s a disco.

Me: Yes!

Deniss: I see that sparky or this shiny…blablablabla… too much things… too much everything… to me that is the time I heard from my grandfather even a little bit touched by my father. He told me how he saw it and that overall created my understanding of that time.

Me: Very good explanation actually.

So I told you before that I will unfortunately miss the Gala but I guess (referring to the other Fans) a lot of you are coming and… are you going to perform the same Gala program as at NHK? The Woodkid?

Deniss: Yes… yes. I would like to skate that one.

Me: Yes! It was amazing. I really watched it like 10 times after it came out. And we had - my mother and I -  tried to interpret it a little bit and we would like to know if that’s the way….

Deniss: If it matches me..?

Me: Yes, exactly. So we thought that you are representing the soldier who on the one side likes his profession but on the other side sees als the disadvantages that come with it like not being able to see his family and his love so he is really torn between liking what he does and missing home…

Deniss: That would be also a nice addition but it’s not exactly what I thought it would be. The first time I encountered this music and in general this idea I got behind it was I guess 5 or 6 years ago when I was following one game what was called „Assassin’s Creed: Revelations“ for the opening of that song or the trailer for that game was exactly this piece of music that I am skating to - „Iron“ by Woodkid. For me that’s the moment for me to form the opinion about it in general for me the story is that he’s a worrier and he is searching for something in the game at least and he is in a sense suffering. He has a lot of challenges and he’s not living kind of a happy life in the sense that he has constant struggles, he has to get food and has a very like big bandage and he is still fighting for it. He is in a sense a surviver and at the same time he has this… at some point anyone having that much stress in their life… they break. So and this is a sense a scream of soul which I try to partly represent in my performance.. this nasty feeling like it’s too much and at the same time you have no escape from it and you have to continue. So it’s kind of very dark and very touchy moment. For me personally when I skated.. I really try to put it more towards the… like very deep soul harming moment.

Me: Yea, you can definitely see that you are feeling it.. you’re really into it… your whole face… your emotions…

Deniss: Yes, that’s the best way to make it good to live it…

Me: yea to live it in the moment. Exactly. You are really in the song… and… it’s a great song, as well.. it’s really catchy…

Deniss: Yea, I really love the power that it has, it’s really impressive. I really like the author…

Me: Yea.. Woodkid… yea…

Deniss: Yea, he has quite a few great songs.

Me: Yea definitely.

Deniss: Skating to one of his creations is a big joy.

Me: Yea, it’s getting quite popular in skating and I only knew him from skating and now I listened to all of his songs and they are really amazing. I am really wondering why he isn’t more popular in general…

Well, good luck for all of you seeing it live this afternoon. I wish I would, but I hopefully will one day.. well I have more questions written down but maybe some of you want to join in and ask something?

Charlie: Okay, this Short Program for this season is the „Papa was a rolling stone“ and you also used Jimmy Hendrix two years ago and it’s a very curious choice for a guy like you and where does the inspiration come from? Who's idea is that? Your idea or Stéphanes idea?

Deniss: This music was found in a sense by Stéphs choreographer, Salome, and it was just a very good piece of music that would be interesting if I can make it… so we accepted this kind of challenge and did our best to present it the best way we can.

Charlie: And you really succeeded. When I first heard the song I didn’t even know the song „Papa was a rolling stone“ so I googled it and searched for it on youtube and I was like: This??? I am not sure! But then I saw your performance and I totally changed the idea, it was so awesome.

Deniss: One of the biggest challenges for this program like music wise was that actually music never starts… it starts and starts and starts and then it finishes and it still starts, so it’s never getting actually a peak so that’s probably was the hardest part doing it maybe… maybe the music works… so…

Charlie: You succeeded.

Deniss: We kind of found the right way.

Me: Anything else?… Alright… then I will go on… Probably we all gratulate you on graduating last summer from school.. I heard you did very well..

Deniss: Yes… I was really impressed by my marks.

Everyone clapping

Deniss: It was far more than I expected, especially I invested in the education.. because I was… well figure skating life is kind of busy… although it might sound on the paper that it’s not too much but actually it takes far more than that…

Me: Yea, it’s a whole lifestyle….

Deniss: Yea, it’s completely different. And the point that I actually managed to write the tests that well… actually a big thank you to everyone that helped me to prepare and actually kind of tutored me.. so I am very grateful for all their input… and miracle…. (points to his head)

Me: Yea, your good brain…

Deniss: That managed to squeeze all the information and delivered it at the right time..

Me: You learn that in figure skating as well… that you maybe concentrate at the right moment… Well, congrats. We are interested in… how is your studying now going? What are your plans? I heard that want to study in Switzerland… I think now it’s really hard…

Deniss: Education is a pretty big question and I constantly like switched for the last ten years changing what I want to do, where I want to go, what is my heard wish and for example right now since I am dedicated to figure skating all the time. I can not attempt a full time very serious education the way I would normally do it in Switzerland although it might sound that it’s not far with the schedule I have it’s massive… so..

Me: Yea, I studied.. so, I know what it takes…

Deniss: So, in my opinion like I plan for now about for getting a really important degree that I will enjoy that’s basically after I am done with my career which will take hopefully another 7 years. I really want to enjoy this road as long as I can and be perfecting it. So education has another standing than in usual life as an athlete it’s kind of a bit pushed in that part but nevertheless I am really really into learning more about art. Art has many varieties and ways to develop for example one of them is cooking, drawing and writing. There is just so many things I have done even looking from the perspective of figure skating. So I kind of anyway by staying and working full-time as a figure skater and do my best to improve that. And also I am attending, I am trying to have the same way I managed to finish the school to get a university a degree in Daugavpils which right now I am kind of a bit behind but soon I will hopefully catch up, now where I have a little bit of time and I am getting the degree on social skills and… (he said a word here that I didn’t understand)

Me: Sorry, the last I didn’t understand.

Other Fans joining in: Teaching!

Me: Ah, good, nice!

Deniss: Not exactly yet where I will use it but still I think it’s good to keep myself busy with something else except from skating because at some point when you do the same thing over and over again sometimes your brain gets overwhelmed, so I need something different and that is my kind of way to escape from it. So I am attending that. In the future I guess I will have after my career the education in business and management or something that is more relating to the being a self managing… not a firm but something like your own established small business. Sometime…

Me: Good luck, but I think it is a good decision like that and… you are young…

Deniss: Everything comes at the right time.

Me: Yea… So you are now living in Champéry for like 2 1/2 years, something like that…

Deniss: Yea…

Me: How is your learning French going actually?

Deniss: Slowly… little by little… I think I understand French pretty well I am actually starting to start talking back a little bit. From other points of views I am doing better than I am telling everyone. But I think it’s still a long long journey to actually fully completing the education of French. So far I am a bit scared in a good way to learn writing and grammar. Because I heard it’s pretty complex and so far I don’t really use it so much. The world is switching to the international language English. So it’s more I think a bigger priority to have the potential to communicate and talking rather than writing.

Me: Yea. Good luck on that as well, because I think it’s such a big opportunity when you live in another county to learn another language.

Deniss: But Switzerland has… French.. and German and even a little part of Italian… so…

Me: So yea.. and I guess within your skating group everyone is speaking English since they are coming from all over the world.

Deniss: yea!

Me: It seems like such a nice team actually.

Deniss: Yea. We have a really nice group of people that we have a really good relationship between each other and be rather supportive than on each others way. And it’s really a beneficial.. and we really enjoy each others company and it helps to progress better and faster. So I really enjoy having this set to my side. It’s a big joy.

Me: You can really see this even only from the pictures that it’s a good atmosphere. And I think.. Champéry is a really small village.. So there is not so much going on there, so you kind of have to get along with your people..

Deniss: Yes, when you choose your way more like a self improvement person and you are really focused a lot on learning and a knowledge that would reflect.. then your life has a… being a figure skater you rather spend a lot of time on that and then probably a little bit shorter amount of time that we actually spend together and doing something together. But from time to time.. we have a really incredible time together where we are really enjoying each others company.

Me: Do you like hiking in the mountains?

Deniss: Yes! I adore that activity!

Me: Yea.. definitely, I am coming from an hiking family… So I know.. been in the Alpes a lot…

Deniss: Maybe I am not such a hiking hiker.. but I love to walk around. With the amazing nature around and enjoy the sound of the morning birds at least during the spring or summer yet when the sun is rising. So during the winter it’s probably a bit harder…

Me: Yea… are you skiing?

Deniss: I never tried.

Me: Yea, it’s dangerous…

Deniss: So far as I remember I was not allowed to do that activity because of the Olympic season. And still, if I am correct, I am a little bit shortened on the activity because I am a very much beginner. And I have to take care of my physical condition in order to practice. So… it’s very important to be careful with such fun things.

Me: Yea, well I can understand, I am also kind of a beginner with skiing.. and… you fall a lot.. at the beginning… so.. you probably shouldn’t risk it.

Deniss: I heard if I will use the shorter skies it could be more similar to the blades.. so probably…. (he smiled very brightly and everyone laughed)

Some girl from the back: Except for the trees coming in your way…

Deniss: It’s not my job to move from the trees. It’s the job of the trees… (everyone laughing really loud)

Me: Yea, just tell them that… and we’ll have the next Fan meeting right at the hospital. So… after some more laughter  there was recently… we all know you like cooking and baking and recently on instagram there was a cooking battle or a cake battle between you and some woman… How did that come along and who won that.. actually?

Deniss: It was more like a joke, I guess…

Me: Yea, of course.

Deniss: Because I mean… I didn’t see it that much as a competition, I in general enjoy the process… And I think it’s even worse than figure skating to judge because everyone has a different taste, different preferences, and.. completely two different styles. She is from the United States, for her cake primarily must be super sweet and rock solid. And for me cake must be nice and fluffy, very well balanced and not too sweet. So… It’s like a… someone likes that more, someone that… And this baking, cooking in general, it’s a big part of my lifestyle, because unfortunately like usual way you approach it I guess… as people don’t usually work that much hard physical activity. There are a lot of.. so you have to kind of know what you eat, how to balance, how to nutrition, and for me just because of this necessity it brings me a big part of enjoyment to figure that out the best way I can and achieve this supplementary kind of super important part of my real performance that you see afterwards on the competition on the ice. So all this cooking thing is more like… not just a hobby but a necessity that I have to really be careful with. An although I love baking and I do that I think not enough that I would love to. But I have to be kind of limited with that and so far it works… partly I guess…

Well unfortunately the time for questions was up then. I apologized that we didn’t have a proper gift for him anymore because the meeting had been on such a short notice. But we bought him -  as it had been a suggestion from the Facebook Fan group - honey and oranges. So I explained him why: Honey, because we heard he loved honey, and oranges because he needs a lot of vitamins. There he laughed and said that he actually got a little bit sick during the last days and that the vitamins where a perfect idea.

We then still took some group pictures and Deniss signed some banners and some flags,

then they left.

Thank you so much Deniss for taking so much time for your Fans. Your thoughtful and deep answers to every question really impressed me. You are really able to make everyone around you happy and smiling, not just with your performances on the ice, but also with your great personality off the ice! All the best for this season, your future on and off the ice, and always keep as you are!!