welcome back you're watching nightly live from moscow these are the top stories in iran a fire has long range missiles at a ten day naval drills and the persian gulf iran has threatened to block a key oil supply route if the west indies to tighten its sanctions over iran's alleged nuclear program. fresh rallies flare up in syria with opposition activists reporting dozens of deaths at the hands of police in the land says more than five thousand people have died in the ten month long unrest with damascus blaming armed

gangs for the violence. and the year of the protesters twenty one draws to a close it's the revolutions and rallies around the globe that made it why was the arab spring the occupy movement europeans walking out against ever growing cuts we're just some of them. but also they have us here in our back at the top of the hour and meantime though al good off puts one of the most successful russian ice skaters under the spotlight to find out about the challenges of her job.

hello again oh welcome to the spotlight. together here with me on the show america's new year is. the holiday season is traditionally. and i want to. is one of the things. is the best female. ever she is twice. seven times. today she is the star. beauty. figure skating has always been a cultural phenomenon in russia just like the bolshoi. but in recent years it's become a mainstream winter sport with thousands of skating rinks opening around the country irina slutskaya is one of the people behind its newfound popularity she's hosted

a few dancing on ice t.v. shows and occasionally stars in live skating performances the ice mania is also being supported by the authorities in a bid to promote the sport head of the winter olympics in sochi. polo arena and. always feel nervous before going on stage didn't appear to be. watery emotions now deep inside. of course i get that feeling of excitement before every performance if you're in the spotlight you can stay calm and collected especially if you have some skating routines in the show so yes i do feel nervous to meet in russia we always believe new year's dreams will come true if you have a show about the new yeah so it should come off well with. well they've been

working so hard a while lives in a teacup which of the new year traditions is your favorite. and you believe in omens. what i love most is the evening of december thirty first when the family puts up the fir tree and decorate set dressed up as many people. would dress it up together with my dad would pull decorations all over the apartment this joyous festive feeling of something in the ad that i love most but you get the whole family together if you run away from the fuss of the world do you keep the fir tree for long until the new year around the time until the fortunes of january yes around the old style new year would take it down now to talk about the ways of celebrating new year service our worldwide audience learns more about what truly russian tradition says first of all the russians have. we have the first of january new year do you recall any of the unique rituals you've travelled

a lot. definitely it's fortune telling on christmas eve i think it's only practiced by the russians and it's salad only vienna roy twenty year but it's not really of russian origin of. russia was french but it was made right here in moscow which is a lot of potatoes in a man and no have. anything else. and i think the russians have. our unique way of seeing things you you're running. the nations to a different way well everyone else has santa claus and other unusual names we have our own father frost that's a protocol wintering the name off of the frost comes from the city of the league used to when i think this dude is one of our unique traditions. do you put up a real or artificial for a tree always a real one my child says those with an artificial tree will get an artificial have

a frosty is not like the smell of a corner i know it's bad to cut down trees but i can't help it they do grow them specially for the trees when he opened the door step inside didn't smell that aroma also the smell of danger in seeing it on the tree hey that's another tradition they all can't isn't the tree i've remembered that since i was a child it was a must to hang at the tickler chocolate on the tree times the new year was always a time for skating so when you see a new year you think of winter and a skating ring music and fun do you have similar société sions at the well since it's my profession i should have new years every day but you didn't begin skating as a baby right. i was four no we've been there for years yes almost since i was just a baby this is so you don't really remember a time when you weren't and that's a difficult thing to imagine. the new year was a more significant christmas wasn't it for the band all religious holiday today

christmas is gaining ground again so do you think it will eventually knock new year off the podium as in europe if so will the new year stay on top of the holiday least for russians that i think new year will always be zero mean the whole of the it will take many gin you ations before christmas reaches first place of course christmas is much more important for believers but i don't think the number of. devolved christians just that high in russia. believe us of course the question is how serious we are about our face whereas new year's day is everybody's holy day is everybody's holidays because we have so many religions in russia that was that i love it i love this holiday it's the only day in the year when you know i have been and you tell every person you meet a happy new year is this atmosphere of unity christmas is more of a really just holy day and we celebrated

a little differently but there was. i mean i have many times celebrated new year in christmas abroad and people tend to stay home. even if they drink no we didn't go out my bottle of champagne the day hog strange is really unique another thing i remember from my childhood what would you use the new year's children. the one in the grammar and of course it was hard to get a ticket you had to have connections i guess your parents did no one got tickets from my school as a reward. this show of yours by the way it's not your first if the president sent to bring back this new year. this one is for adults. this is an attempt or other this is. the for children to find themselves in the middle of a fairy tale the world is so cruel today and people don't see anything besides

their computers and television and he'll have real performers real characters i think every child should come and see this fairy tale. with. a just this mean your show will not be shown on television of course it will be during these few special days when children come with their parents you have this miracle where characters from the fairy tale come to life and you. can watch it happening right before your eyes it's a very short period i think just a couple of weeks that your show will be running it's not the true there chilling we started on december the sixteenth and we run through january the eighth not enough well how long did you work on it six months and then after two weeks it's gone no it's not like that it's like the olympic games you spend several years practicing and then you know we worked on it for a few months but i guess it doesn't make sense to have a running much longer because you lose the fairytale the fact that you usually do you mean there's the valley but you koskie the sleeping beauty they have

a training all year round still i think it should only be shown during the new year's season because of ice and i guess money sent danger remains but no santa claus right. i'm with. the arena you're playing the parts of the we could ferry in this show yes why do we could ferry that is it for the same reason that the part of the black swan has always been considered more difficult than that of the. length and i have always played. in good fairies but this demo wanted to play a character part or this part of a good opportunity to be more emotional. or to discover something new that's why i went for it. do you mean small dramatic it's more challenging for you as an actor what a character part of a but. a better chance to. express

yourself. express yourself and i would be very different but all good is always good but evil can be different how interesting it is. for you when the good is good because the good always try i'm so very evil this i think you're attracted to a little bit. of the thing in the seriously though i think you agree with the it would be interesting to see. him swinging high up on the ring. i can see the ring up there but you're doing it without safety rope is that true. i'm holding onto with my hand there are other things again this is a chance for me to do something you do in the same part again and again is not the good i'm exploring new territory here we. are you performing any of the fascinating jumps and any of the elements. famous for as

a professional in this show. or is it's more about acting. on the six week defect. yes it's more about acting there's a lot of that involved it's not like i perform some very difficult jumps. a few that i make my complicated spins that once made new world famous i also perform beautiful spirals and other figure skating elements i am no longer claim in the olympic title all of us understand that this show was not going to be a free skating program i think that i should be more focused on emotions rather than the technical side because the children who come to see the show are unlikely to appreciate that i've made twenty five triple jumps and performed some other elements for the do you make triple jump so i always jump everything we have forty

four performances i have one specific feature whenever a dance solo i introduce spontaneous changes and the course of the show so you provide a noise if you like doing that i'm sticking to the main framework of the dance but i think that it's boring to perform one and the same elements four times any it'll always leaves on stage that's what makes a lot performance difference are recorded one and a show is a life story that is why sometimes i wouldn't turns it in a slightly different direction and then do slightly different element so we live here in this show says it is a world champion figure skater spotlight will do that shortly after a break so stay with us.

whether you die from high or to the depths. catch the power of the. win or drift in the beauty of the currents. the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience we only need them a screen that's going to be heaven. see. below the ice on our t.v. . mission free cretaceous a free. free. free. free. to try free. old free broadcast quality video for your media projects free media. dot com.

welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today is. a world champion figure skater and she is the main star and one of the main organizers all the sleeping beauty ice ballet show that's taking off in moscow this christmas season in what the arena when you spoke about your. performance in this i show you sent. to games. is that. simply to ask you about she was. seven european tantalus which is a record number for europe he put it full in short of becoming in the olympic champions of this is what is it. to be honest it's still knowing all of us of

this deal a feeling of bitterness that most i'm not talking about where i made a mistake and it was my fault. i'm still very hurt by what happened in salt lake city where i fell victim to dirty political games and was deprived of my olympic title but the most important thing is that i am del unpick champion in the hearts of my fans it's true that i don't have this title a life goes on my two young kids and my two tiny olympic medals and there's nothing more important for me in this world than my children yes it happened in my own life i was an asteroid who won medals and top sport titles but that period of my life is over a new period has started for me and i have to go on living when i should seek new heights i should learn and study a lot and work to realise my full potential and saw already outlived elint big bad

luck though a little bit of filling remains that but that wasn't the end of the world arena today you took part in. this already of business a kind of fluff after sports here in britain example proving that there can be a lot of should personal lives big sport what do you think is more important for an athlete today to fully realise potential in sport sports you fell short of just one step in the big old model or is more important to be successful after a sport career is over just like you to say what's doable with either things or that would leave. there with the example that well i don't think that it can be because if it starts thinking of what they are going to do after their sports career is over they're not going to achieve anything in support of be successful in their post sport careers there are certain goals and tasks which has set for a certain period of your life in me just sports and therefore it should progress and try to win and conquer the heights he wants to conquer when you leave support

you understand that this chapter is then you just turn the page and studying you i from screen it's very difficult to find one so. and they smell life because most athletes come to realize after quittin big sports that they need to start everything from square one because we don't know anything except our profession while we have to learn everything from the start and that's difficult when one is very difficult particularly in terms of psychology because if a celebrity everybody knows you and your around here you're really nothing special it does turn out to be a big moral challenge when you have to start learning something new and they just twenty five or twenty six and you have to make up your mind about what you want to do and where you want to go it also takes up quite a bit of time once you start trying various professions looking for a job that appeals to you the hardest part is that it's difficult for someone who's

used to having a high profile to abandon publicity over night and go see it in an office in front of a computer because your inhibitions stay with you and being in the spotlight is like a magnet that keeps attracting you might you want to be high profile again it's not that you want people to recognise your wherever you go it sticks change of emotion the adrenaline. i've been there on the ice itself i mean all he has actually referring to it's in general you get used to things like applause and it's difficult to switch to doing something else that's why many athletes take so one choose and then you can the same with what we've mentioned in fact when trying to figure skating myself when i was a kid of course i never did professionally but every time again new year's skating rink i feel a certain rush it gets to you. you spoke of life outside sports my son is seriously into sports and whenever he has

a hard time with it i tell him saussure keep your head up after all athletics teaches you that essential things in life we being persistent working in a team being a winner which once you quit sports and go. the rules are different don't you think it's. completely different does it mean sports does not really prepare you for everyday life doing sports teaches you motivation and hard work. but unfortunately in day to day life there are none of the gold medals we used to. and the race is not always to the swift just like a frantic scene you've had a chance to find it out but nevertheless you know whenever i would go on to the ice i felt that success depended upon myself by a fifty or seventy percent in everyday life it doesn't always depend upon you therefore it's not all that simple basically means there is more freedom in sports you can feel free when it's up to you like a sad if you don't control it one hundred percent even in sports too it's important

to feel you've done your very best and then again in our sport credit is given outside the ring with the do your children already skate look at least on term he must before i have been ruled are two and two was speed in school he showed interest in a team south when he was on the three or even two years old and he asked me mom who skates on these years let's go skinny and then he held me by the hand the first time and then he told me hands off i'll go myself and he went along no chair. chair when they taught you. i had double blade skates they used to chant for me sounds familiar. but who are too i think it's more of a game for now getting dressed stop putting on the skates get in mommy to tell you around a nice wood do you think you'll skate professionally i don't know we'll see. but does it feel good to see him skate. detroit's on the skates instead he's funny of

course because i know when you had to start doing sports of early age twenty four you know many professional athletes like yourself say you should never let your child be an athlete swim through with this hellish toil. well imagine your son came to you and asked on these men i skied so i want to skate was i supposed to tell him no are to him skating is a bad thing done do it if your child takes an interest in an activity or has a passion for something why not let him skate because. when you were an athlete your audience was full of rush skating fans what about today when you dance annoyance and if you're treacle show the audience this is the children or adults who are difficult to say because we have different people come for the show very generalized. very often i see grown up men and women in the audience who have come to watch the show with all danny kids who do you personally dance for with all of

it doesn't work that way oh yes it does i can truly done six to civil if we children there's a realize that every child will be coming to the parent and they realize that parents shouldn't feel boarded our show therefore we perform for any kind of audience so what's the trick if i want to appeal to children a picturesque cost to music and lights what's the attraction for adults done solomon's so you have to provide it to all in the right proportion and it's all in your. future in a show with what was it called stars are nice and ice age yes we should you think it really gave you an impulse to figure skating is popularity in the country. a slight exaggeration. gave a certain push to it however if not for those who have gained top prizes at world championships no matter how we would have tried we could hardly have succeeded there are people who bring this to life and myself who put so much of our food and

emotion into would along with other sportsman all of us did leave in those projects . but at the same time some. began to believe was all too simple and in the months they would be able to perform all the figure skating. as easily as the others so they go until they are not professionals but they are working along with professionals of the highest level. carrying them i am a realist the right those who are not professional do learn some skills but don't let us forget all can be video recorded edited and so forth even if there is only one take so you know very well how dull works i'm going to love. oh yes there is a similar tournaments in tennis when professionals and amateurs place together say some guy plays with an ostomy if you like to say shit are defeated someone let me

tell you all the actors single and all do participants all did what they was there for that's true. and man of time on those three months literally leavin on the ice arena you're in a limp become bastard bastard of a soldier for peace whatever it's called an ambassador floor of the chances for russia's figure skating. stakes will be very high and we're simply ran to win rights you know it's very hard to say figure skating is a very specific kind of sport in terms of coordination you may not be ready sometimes two for cost anything but generally for costing is never a sure thing but there are many nuances a spectator usually does not see take for instance a situation when you get exactly on track with your partner do you may stumble.

anything can happen the you can hardly a main chang as a russian sports woman and patriotic would surely want us to win gold medals in the ladies and man single competitions and dancing. look into this now with moss trial bast well what does that mean we must be doing all bast so we have a chance in pairs skating in the ladies' singles. and we should try to get the prizes in dancing and single men skating to. us the arena thank you very much good luck to you and most importantly to your performance thank you mike you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was. the world champion two times world champion seven times champion of europe and today the start of the sleeping beauty on ice that's most of these questions that you are hoping that will spotlight will be back next year with more first time comments i was going on in and outside

russia until then christmas greetings happy new year merry christmas and stay with us and russia today.

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