New Message from Oksana and Maxim

[maximaddict]

There's a new message to the fans from Oksana and Max on their official website. Currently in the USA they could not come to the site and post themselves, but they wanted to make sure the fans got their message

domnina-shabalin.ru/news/2009-02-12-10

"We are very upset that we weren’t able to live up to your expectations at the European Championship. Thanks to all of you for your support, kind words and congratulations! Now we have already returned to the States and started our preparations for the World Championship. Maksim is recovering from his injury, but we have already resumed intensive trainings. The God will help us and everything will be ok! We hope for it!"

Please, check the site for further update!

Thanks to Sunny for the translation!

[maximaddict]

Oksana came to the Official Website last night and replied to a couple of questions on the Guest Book.


Here's a translation:

My heart fills with joy when I come to the website and I see how many people support us, care for us and love us. A huge thank to everyone!!!

In reply to a question about their OD:

We had been looking for the right music for a long time, because the OD has certain limitations but we didn't want to go with something that everybody else would have chosen like quickstep, charleston, blues, we didn't want that.
We wanted to be different and I think we succeeded. We stumbled upon the Jazz Waltz which was written in 1934, and we started thinking all together about how to coreograph it so that it wasn't a waltz anymore but at dance from the 30's. We tried to recreate the character of the dance through the feel and spirit of the times. Coreography is by Natalia Linichuk.

In reply to a question about shooting the hair products commercial:

I enjoyed doing the commercial. It was a happy and interesting experience although a little unusual. We didn't have any problems doing it, except for the fact that we had to shoot from 12AM to 5AM. The crew was great to us and they helped us a lot, we are truly grateful for that. No, I would never advertise lingerie!

[Renee V]

So sweet! It's great that they are so involved with the website and their fans.

[Renee V]

And Oksana also asks the fans what we would think about her becoming a brunette again ;D
so I guess we might be in for a surprise come worlds...

domnina-shabalin.ru/gb/3

[maximaddict]

Translation:

And now I would like to ask a question to our fans.
Who can picture me as a brunette? What do you say, do you think I would look good?

Go answer her! ;D

[Renee V]

Sure she would!! ;D

[xavier]

Thanks for all the news about them, and I think it will be good to see Oksana with different color hair again....

[maximaddict]

Oksana posted again on the website guest book last night!

domnina-shabalin.ru/gb/3

and

domnina-shabalin.ru/gb/2

She replied to a few questions and she mentioned they love the Paso Doble and that they will have a new exhibition for the Worlds.

Translation coming up soon!

[Renee V]

Will be interesting to see which new costumes they will wear at worlds!
If they skate to Carmen next year I will NOT be watching that, I'll just skip the FD then ;D Luckily she seems to realize it wouldn't be right for them. I hope that they will go for something more modern.

[maximaddict]

Feb 27, 2009 16:56:46 GMT 1 Renee V said:

I hope that they will go for something more modern.

You and half of the planet!!! ;D

[Renee V]

and the other half just doesn't care...

[maximaddict]

Oksana loves talking to the fans and she is patiently answering all of their questions, bless her!!!

Here's the translation for the first few posts. She is posting a lot, it's getting hard to keep up with her! ;D


The first one comes after asking the fans about her going back to being a brunette:

25/02/2009 - Hello everyone! So it seems like I made you all very curious! I'm very happy so many fans gave their opinion! Each message is very important to me! Thank you for your support in everything we do!


- About the costumes
25/02/2009 - This season's costumes were made in St Petersbourg and Moscow. The one for the OD and the first one for the FD were made by REST in St. Petersbourg. The second one for the FD was made by Natalia Bolshakova in Moscow. The costume for the Finnstep was made by Natalia Pokrovskaja, once again in Moscow. We are currently working on the costumes for the Paso Doble and on the new dress for the OD.


- About choosing the music and going for different styles and roles
Ell, very interesting question! We always feel like trying something new. Every year we start looking for new music. "We have to change our style completely, choose something different" Then, after listening to hundreds of CDs, we always go back to a very small choice of melodies that can suit us, work for the ice and are beautiful and strong! Actually, there doesn't seem to be a lot of good music. Yet, it is all about the music! Of course I would love to be Carmen or Joan of Arc, and many other characters. Unfortunately our true wishes don't usually match what we can do! They always tend to see me in romantic roles. Who knows, maybe the new hair color will change that?


To be continued...

[maximaddict]

More from Oksanochka...

- About the draw of Paso Doble
26/02/2009 I'm very happy to see so many interesting questions that I will gladly answer!
As far as the CD: we are really happy that the Paso Doble was drawn. It's a very passionate dance, full of emotion, and we still haven't skated it this year. Sure I really like Waltz, but it really gets too much when you have skated to that so many times before.
The Paso Doble may look very easy at first: it has few steps and it's over pretty quickly, but when you start working at it, you understand that it has edges that you need to work at really carefully. I like long and diffucult CDs better, no matter if they are slow or fast, because you can stand out when you skate them, you can tell immediately who can skate or not. Series after series they are always the same, but they are really useful!



- About getting rid of CD
I don't think they should do that! Ice dancing is already turning into something weird (pairs skating?) as it is, and if they also get rid of the compulsories how are they going to tell the quality of the skating? Everyone will be at the same level! The youngsters are all going to do ten revolutions twizzles; they will do counter turns and rocker turns and that's it. No one will ever be able to judge how they can really skate and slide.


- About Maxim's OD costume and a new exhibition
26/02/2009 Maxim's costume will remain the same, it's hard to find one that fits the character better!
We will have a new exhibition program. You should have seen it at the Euros already, but that didn't happen! You will see it soon!

[maximaddict]

And more...

- About new friends and life in the US
28/02/2009 Hello everyone! So many questions, I'll try to answer in order!
Sure we made new friends over here, but they are mostly Russians.
Sometimes I visit Anna Zadorozhniuk in New Jersey. I'm also friend
with Galit Chait who trains the Israeli couple, and Natasha Gudina
lives around here. During the week-end I go to the Russian bath in
Philapelphia! I recently went to the Rodin Museum. I try to look for
things to do to entertain myself and not to go crazy staring at the
wall!

- About future plans and their relationship with the new coaches
28/02/09 Ell, we have a good relationship with our new coaches. Little by
little we are all getting used to oneanother and we have found the
right balance. But it's only a working relationship with them. With
our former coach Alexei Gorshkov we had a wonderful relationship both
on and off the ice. He was helping me with everything, he was almost
like a father to me. With our new coaches it can never be the same.
Plans for the future: I don't have any. I live day by day, I don't
know whether that's the right way to go about things. At the moment my
goal is the Olympic gold, we'll see after that what life has in store
for me.

- About make-up, hair and skates
20/02/2009 Sunny, I do my own make-up and hair, I'm used to it! Even when there
are professionals available, I only trust myself to do it. I might
turn for professional help during shows, but never during a
competition. When skaters work with professionals they always have
their own people who know exactly what to do for each program.
Needless to say that can be very expensive. I switched to Risport
because I liked their last model and I wanted to try it. When we moved
to the US I didn't get a chance to switch back to Graf, even if I had
been using that brand for 8 years.

- About being homesick, a possible Averbukh tour and the new exhibition
28/02/2009 Yes, I miss home a lot, I miss Russia.
Everything is familiar over there...it's home! So, deep down inside, we
decided that we would make believe like we are at a very long training
retreat that will soon be over. We must work hard, make the effort,
and then everything will be alright!
Maybe we will take part to the Averbukh tour, but we will make our
final decision only after the Worlds. It all depends on the result
there, and on the state of Maxim's health.The last couple of years we couldn't do it because Max had problems with his knee while the tour was on.
I have no idea if I am a honoray citizen of Kirov, but I don't think
so, since nobody ever told me anything about it and I was never
awarded a prize!
About the new exhibition program: I can only say that it's not
romantic and that it's something that goes in a completely new
direction for us. But I shall say no more! Hopefully you will have the
chance to see it at the Worlds.

[Renee V]

It all sounds so positive! That's good!