Ice skating is a beautiful sport to watch.
And, while many of us love watching figure skating performances on TV, very few of us would dare to try this sport. Why? Well, for starters, because it requires excellent balance on the metal blades, some dance skills and a sense of synchronization with your partner(s).
For all the above reasons, figure skating is a more popular sport to watch than to actually practice.
But those who do, really deserve our appreciation. Like Ilya Makarov and Evelina Pokrasneteva, 11 and 9 years old respectively.
The competition show presents young ice skaters, who perform their routines and are then given feedback by the judges, as in pretty much every talent show.
In the video that follows, we can watch the children’s preparation and performance. Before they start their routine, their coach can be seen talking to them, apparently giving them last-minute advice and telling them words of encouragement.
He then wishes them good luck and lets them skate off.
Evelina and Ilya start their show in quite an unconventional way.
They are lying on the ice, pretending to be looking at the stars, and the music starts. It’s Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, in this case, performed by Rufus Wainwright.
“Hallelujah” was first released on Cohen’s album “Various Positions” in 1984, but it didn’t meet any huge success until much later on, after being featured in the 2001 film “Shrek”.
After Cohen’s death, there was a renewed interest for the song, it appeared on many artists’ singles, until it finally made it to the American Billboard Hot 100.
So, following the beautiful music and sweet lyrics of the song, the two children stand up, and that’s when Ilya does something that melts the hearts of the audience.
As Evelina is looking at the stars above, he sneaks a kiss, and that’s when the breathtaking performance really starts.
The two skaters start gliding gracefully and lightly on the ice, making their moves seem effortless, while one can only guess how difficult they are to perfect. They slide, glide and twirl with such ease that one is wondering whether they are real children or fairies.
The audience can be heard applauding and cheering for them from time to time, while the young skaters perform their high-level routine.
When they skate by their coach, one can only guess how proud he must be of them and how happy he is with the results they achieved.
No matter how young their age, the level of difficulty they chose was significantly high, and even more so considering that they also attempted and achieved flawless lifts! What amazing talent!
Towards the end of their performance, the skaters assume their initial positions again, lying on the ice, as if the love story they are narrating through their show has come to a full circle. The audience bursts into applause, and their coach too, feeling extremely content with his skaters’ performance.
The video warmed our hearts and reminded us that there is plenty of talent out there that deserves to be acknowledged and promoted.
You can watch the beautiful performance in the below.
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