friday right under the noses of arab league. people. over the next few days. with washington the move to the west. over its nuclear program. talks to one of the most successful russian has ever in the history of us getting spotlight is right now.

hello again or welcome to spotlight. together here with me on the show to wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year is. the holiday season in russia is traditionally the time of snow and i want to. figure skating is one of the things. is the best female russian figure skater ever she is twice well champion seven times european champion and today she is the star of a terrific called the sleeping beauty in this is on spotlight. figure skating has always been a cultural phenomenon in russia just like the bolshoi or sputnik 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 asked to resupport it by the authorities in a bid to promote the sport head of the winter olympics in sochi. polo arena and welcome to spotlight. always feel nervous before going on stage there didn't appear to be. the 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. the new yeah should come off well

it should come off well that they work. lives with the cup which of the new year traditions is your favorite. and you believe in omens but what i love most is the evening of december the thirty first when the family puts up the fir tree and decorate set dressed up as many people not put it up as early as november. would dress it up together with my dad would pull decorations all over the apartment is 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 all star new year somewhere around that time until the fortunes of january yes around the old style new year would take it down a little is now to talk about the ways of celebrating new year so this our worldwide audience learns more about what truly russian tradition says first of all the

russians have two new year holiday we have the first of january and they're all still new year to recall any of the unique rituals you've traveled a lot definitely it's fortune telling on christmas eve i think it's only practiced by the russians and it's salad only v.m. roy twenty year but it's not really of russian origin and. the chef 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. the nation's to with different way well everyone else has santa claus and other unusual names we have our own father frost that's a probable wintering name after the frost comes from the city or village 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 heart a frost is not like the smell of a corner i know it's bad to go down trees but i can't help it they do grow them specially for the trees but when he opened the door step inside it and smelled that aroma also the smell of danger in singing 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 of the tickler chocolate on the tree times the new year was always a time for skating so when you say new year you think of winter and a skating ring music and fun do you have similar sociate to 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 for 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 in soviet signs the new year was

a more significant christmas wasn't it the communists banned 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 i think new year will always be on main the whole of the it will take many gin you ations before christmas is first place of course christmas is much more important for believers but i don't think the number of. devolved christians is 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 your hubby and you tell every person you meet 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 to sign up my bottle of champagne for a hug strangers a really unique love it was another thing i remember from my childhood what would you use the new year's children. to one in the grammar and of course it was hard to get a ticket you had to have connections i guess your parents did want got tickets from my school as a reward for. this show of yours by the way it's not your first if the president sent to bring back those new year shows except this one is for adults so. 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 what it will. does 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 happen in 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 troy there chilling we started on december the sixteenth and we run through the gene you're 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 wicked fairy 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 whites one would want to hear now it's not like that i have always played her. in good fairies but this damn i wanted to play a character part in this part of a good opportunity to be more emotional. to discover something new that's why i went for it. so what do you mean small dramatic it's more challenging for you as an actor what

a character part of but. a better chance to. express yourself. express yourself can be very different but all good is always good but evil can be different from how interesting it is to banal for you when the good is good because good always triumphs over evil as this i think you're attracting a little bit. of the thing in the world who isn't seriously though i think you agree with thought it would be interesting to see there's a. swinging high up on the ring and. i can see the ring up there you're doing it without. true. holding onto with my hand but although 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 there good i'm exploring new territory here we. are you performing any

of those fascinating jumps and any of the elements famous for as a professional in this show. or is it's more about acting than the six nique 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 mother 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 jumps 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're always nice 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 and he had to always leaves on stage that's what makes a lot of performance difference or recorded one and a show is a life story that is why sometimes there would be turns in a slightly different direction under slightly different element so we live here in this show says it in a slow go world champion figure skater spotlight will do that shortly after a break so stay with us don't.

wealthy british scientists are. right in the. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cancer for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. welcome

back to spotlight i'm i'll do not often just a reminder that my guest on the show today is eating not a world champion figure skater and she is the main story and one of the main organizers all the sleeping beauty. ice valley show that's kicking off in moscow this christmas season in what the arena when you spoke about your participation and your performance in this i show you sent only we are not of the

big games. to pick up on vats i'm tempted to ask you about your sporting career two world championships and seven european titles which is a record number for europe but if falling short of becoming in the olympic champion this is whether this is. to be honest it's still knowing that all of us of course there's still a feeling of bitterness that was i'm not talking about where i made a mistake and it was my fault but 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 delane pick 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 the period of my life is over a new period has started for me and i have to go on living when i should see new heights i should learn and study a lot and work to realise my full potential and saw already outlived elem big bad luck there will be deferring remains that but that wasn't the end of the world arena today you took part in. this already of business the kind of life after sports here in britain example proving that there can be a lot of should person leaves big sport or do you think it's more important for an athlete today to fully realise potential in sport sports you fell short of just one step in a big old model or is it more important to be successful after a sport. just like you. would stop with with either things or that would leave you with the with the example that well i don't think that it can be either 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 sat 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 and when you leave support you understand that this chapter results then you just turn the page and starting new i from screen it's very difficult to find oneself and they smell life because most athletes come to realize after quitting big sports that they need to start everything from square one because we don't know anything except our professions 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 you like a celebrity everybody knows you and he had a round here you're really nothing special it does turn out to be

a big moral challenge when you have to start learning something new or are 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 your hardest part is that it's difficult for someone who's used to having a high profile to abandon publicity overnight and go sit 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 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 tiny oh yes. actually referring to. you get used to things like applause and it's difficult to switch to doing something else that's why many athletes take so on choosing

a new career the same with the work we've mentioned in fact i went into figure skating myself when i was a kid of course i never did professionally but every time i came near a 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 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 into everyday life the rules are different don't you think this year completely different does it mean sport does not prepare you for everyday life dunes teaches you more division 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 fanatic sniff had

a chance to find it out but nevertheless you know whenever i would go on to the ice i found 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 take a stand 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. do your children already skate park at least on term who must be floored i haven't ruled are two i'm going to was in school he showed interest in a team south when he was only 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 did they use a chair when they taught you. i had double blades they used

a chair for me sounds familiar. but who are too i think it's more of a game for now getting dressed start putting on the skates get in mommy to tell you around a nice what do you think you'll skate professionally i don't know we'll see. but does it feel good to see him skate in the harley detroit sonny skates instead he's funny of course because i never knew you had to start doing sports of early age only for you know many professional athletes like yourself say you should never let your child be an athlete swim through with this hellish toil. imagine your son came to you were not asked are these men i skied so i want to skate was i supposed to tell him no are tim skating is a bad thing done do it for you if your child takes an interest in the neck to video has a passion for something why not let him skate. when you were an athlete your audience was all of russia or at least the skating fans what about today when you dance and aunts and your theatrical 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 al danny kids who do personally dance for with all of it doesn't work that way oh yes it does i can truly done six crucible if we children there's a realize that every child will be coming to the parent tells and they realize that parents shouldn't feel bored i'll show therefore we perform for any kind of audience 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 solemn and so you have to provide it in the right proportion and it's all the. the really future part of the 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 versus lee 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 those people who bring this. in myself who put so much our food and emotion into would along with other sportsman all of us did leave in those projects . but at the same time someone began to believe was all too simple and in the months they would be able to perform all the figure skating elements as easily as the others so they. are not professionals but they are working along with professionals of the highest level. who are 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 attitude 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 play together say some guy plays with an ostomy she would like to say she had defeated someone let me tell you all the actors sing and all do participants all did what they was there for that's true. and huge amount of time on those three months literally even on the ice arena you're in a limp it can bastard bastard of a soldier of peace whatever it's called an ambassador of the chances for russia's figure. the stakes will be very high and we're simply ran to a right 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 to forecast anything but generally forecasting 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 made chang but there is a russian sports woman in patriotic would surely want us to win gold medals in the ladies and man single competitions being skating and then saying look into this now we must try our best well what does that mean we must be doing our best so we have a chance in pairs skating in ladies singles. and we should try to get the prizes in ice dancing and single men skating to dance for. us the arena thank you very much good luck to you and most importantly to your performance thank you thank you very much for being with us and just

a reminder that my guest on the show today was. the world champion to tie with world champion seven time champion of europe and today the star of the sleeping beauty on ice there are a lot of these question of you know how. that was spotlight will be back next year with more than covered for was going on here and out third russia until then christmas leaving happy new year merry christmas and stay with us on russia today.

ticking down the final hours of two thousand and eleven we look back at the year that ushered in protests civil war and regime change. led syria's opposition unites against the government amid a new wave of violence which is reportedly left dozens dead since friday right under the noses of arab league observers. plus iran plans long range missile tests gauges and military posturing with washington off to the west threatens to topple the sanctions against iran over its nuclear program.