December 24th, 2008

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December 21st, 2008

Si concludono i campionati Italiani
con il sesto titolo nazionale per Fede e Massi

©Paola Occhipinti

On Sunday, December 21st, the 2009 National championships came to an end in Pinerolo (TO), and with a brilliant performance of their free dance on the notes of Moonlight Sonata, Fede and Massi conquered their sixth title of Italian senior ice dance champions. The final ranking of the championships read as follows:

1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali
(Agorà Skating Team) 197,02 (1 1 1)

2 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte
(G.S. Fiamme Azzurre)185,33 (2 2 2)

3 Isabella Pajardi / Stefano Caruso
(Olympic Dream Ice School) 157,00 (3 3 3)

4 Alessia Aureli / Marco Garavaglia
(FORUM SSDRL) 65,43 (4 4 WD)

The FD result::
1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali 94.70
(47.46 TES + 47.24 PCS)
2 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte 89.50
3 Isabella Pajardi / Stefano Caruso 77.46
(Alessia Aureli / Marco Garavaglia withdrew)

HERE the pdf with the detailed scores

In the VIDEO section, you'll find our video of the program.

While waiting for the podium, and right after it, a few pics: Fede and Massi with the trusted Toponiglio, and with teammates Paola Amati and Marco Fabbri

©Paola Occhipinti

At the end of the competitions, we all moved to Torino for the gala that was held in the beautiful Palavela - from the site of the newspaper "La Stampa" here are a couple of pics of their hip hop exhibition.

In the VIDEO section, you'll find a video of the rehearsals of the finale, and one of Fede and Massi's exhibition.

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20 Dicembre 2008

Today, the OD was skated, and with a precise and engaging performance Fede and Massi kept easily their lead of the competition:

This is the overall ranking after the OD:
1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali 102,32 (1, 1)
2 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte 95,83 (2, 2)
3 Isabella Pajardi / Stefano Caruso 79,54 (3, 3)
4 Alessia Aureli / Marco Garavaglia 65,43 (4, 4)

The OD result:
1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali 63.24
(33.30 TES + 29.94 PCS)
2 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte 59.19
3 Isabella Pajardi / Stefano Caruso 50.54
4 Alessia Aureli / Marco Garavaglia 37.78

HERE the pdf with the detailed scores

In the VIDEO section, you'll find our video of the program.

December 19th, 2008

Ha preso il via oggi la competizione di danza su ghiaccio ai campionati italiani 2009, con la prova del valzer viennese. Fede e Massi hanno preso senza esitazione la testa della competizione, con questi punteggi:

1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali 39,08
2 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte 36,64
3 Isabella Pajardi / Stefano Caruso 29,00
4 Alessia Aureli / Marco Garavaglia 27,65

HERE the pdf with the detailed scores

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December 16th, 2008

Federica and Massimo have finally come back home to Ialy, and after a quick stop in Milan, they'll be moving to Pinerolo for the Italian National Championships 2009.

Just a couple of days are not much to recuperate after the trip to Korea, but we're already relieved to know that the injury Federica suffered in the FD practice in Korea (which cost her 6 stitches on her ring finger) is not such to compromise their participation in the national championship. So, while waiting to see them back on the ice, we send out best wishes and we get ready for the trip!

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December 13th, 2008

© AFP/Getty Images

The last part of the dance competition at the GP Final concluded with the free dance - and unfortunately we have to confirm that Fede and Massi lost a place in the standings, finishing their competition in fourth place. The first two elements (the curve lift and the combo spin) got called of a lower level than usual, and cost them several precious points.

The final result was then the following:

1 Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 95.75
2 Oksana Domnina / Maxim Shabalin RUS 93.62
3 Meryl Davis / Charlie White USA 92.15
4 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali 87.23 (TES 42.80 PCS 44.43)

HERE the pdf with all the scores

the final result of the 2008 GP FINAL was::

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 156.10
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 152.95
3 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 148.04
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 145.12
WD Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA (OD=4)
WD Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS

© AFP/Getty Images

After the end of this adventure, Fede and Massi will come back to Italy, where next week they will take part into the national championships that will be held in Pinerolo (TO).

December 12th, 2008

© Chung Sung-Jun-Getty Images

The Grand Prix Final started today with the OD, and all reports tell us that Fede and Massi skated very well, which is also confirmed by their third placement in the current standings!

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 60.35
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 59.33
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 57.89
4 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 57.33
5 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 55.89
WD Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS

their detailed score was 57.89 = TES 29.90+ PCS 27.99 which gave them the best technical score of the evening!

HERE the pdf with the detailed scores

© Chung Sung-Jun-Getty Image

They will skate in the FD tomorrow, third in the group - this is the starting order:

1 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE
2 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI
4 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN
5 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER

December 11th, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASSIMO!

November 29th, 2008

(foto © yahoo news)

The final event of the ice dance competition at the 2008 NHK Trophy was skated today, and after the emotons of the OD, our guys were able to focus again and skate a good free dance, which allowed them to keep their lead in the ranking, crowning them as the winners of this competition! For Fede and Massi this is the first GP victory in their carreer!

Directly from the ISU website, here is a recap of their dance, and some quotes from the Press Conference:

Faiella/Scali gave an emotional performance of their “Moonlight Sonata” routine that is about Pierrot who is in love with the moon. The Italian Champions completed difficult lifts, earning a level four for all of them and got a level four for the twizzles and a level three for the circular step sequence. On the other hand, the combination spin was graded only a level one and the midline steps a level two. Faiella/Scali picked up 87.28 points (43.20/44.08) and were ranked second in the Free Dance, but held on to first place overall at 176.67 points. “We are so happy that I can’t really describe it”, Scali said. “It has been years that we have been trying to get something else than a bronze medal (on the Grand Prix). This is our first gold medal and our first NHK Trophy, and we are really proud.” He added that they felt it difficult to skate after the fall in the Original Dance yesterday. “The pressure was already high, because only the winner today can go to the Grand Prix Final, and the mistake didn’t help”, the ice dancer explained.

Let's see the details:

Free Dance


© KAZUHIRO NOGI-AFP-Getty Images

2 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali ITA
TSS: 87.28 (TES 43.20 + PCS 44.08)

the ranking of the FD:

1 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 87.95
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 87.28
3 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 80.55
4 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 78.35
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 76.68
6 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 76.17
7 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 75.82
8 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 68.79
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 65.66
10 Isabella PAJARDI / Stefano CARUSO ITA 63.97

HERE you'll find the pdf with the detailed scoring

Final Result for the NHK Trophy 2008:

©Akihiro I-Getty Images

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 176.67
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 175.42
3 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 161.45
4 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 159.96
5 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 159.51
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 155.60
7 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 151.10
8 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 135.83
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 131.90
10 Isabella PAJARDI / Stefano CARUSO ITA 128.35

© KAZUHIRO NOGI-AFP-Getty Images

With this result Fede and Massi not only conquer their first gold medal in a GP event, after the silver in Paris and the bronzes of the past years, but with thsi victory they reach 28 points in the GP ranking, earning the qualification for the GP Final that will take place from Dec 10th to 14th in Goyang City, Republic of Korea.

November 28th, 2008

Today started the competitions for the NHK Trophy 2008, and we had an alternating day... If the the start was exciting because our fabulous guys took the lead of the competition after the CD, the OD gave us a much different kind of excitement when a malaugurate fall made us all fear for the ranking during the OD... at the end of the competition, even though with the second OD of the day, Fede and Massi kept their first overall position with almost two points over the second ranked team. The FD will be skated tomorrow.

These were the day's results:

Compulsory Dance (Paso Doble)


(foto © yahoo news)

1 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali ITA
TSS: 35.61 (TES 17.72 + PCS 17.89)

the ranking for the CD:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 35.61
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 33.20
3 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 32.18
4 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 31.54
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 31.01
6 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 29.80
7 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 28.70
8 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 27.17
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 25.46
10 Isabella PAJARDI / Stefano CARUSO ITA 23.86

HERE you'll find the pdf with the detailed scoring

Original Dance


(foto © yahoo news)

2 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali ITA
TSS: 53.78 ( TES 27.40 + PCS 27.38 - deduction 1)

the ranking for the OD:

1 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 54.27
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 53.78
3 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 51.80
4 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 50.92
5 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 49.61
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 47.91
7 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 46.58
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 40.78
9 Isabella PAJARDI / Stefano CARUSO ITA 40.52
10 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 39.87

HERE you'll find the pdf with the detailed scoring

the overall ranking after the first to steps of the competition:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 89.39
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 87.47
3 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 83.34
4 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 83.10
5 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 79.41
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 78.92
7 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 75.28
8 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 67.04
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 66.24
10 Isabella PAJARDI / Stefano CARUSO ITA 64.38

From the ISU website, we also get a short quote from the press conferende:

“We performed pretty well today. The Compulsory was very good, we felt comfortable and were really in character”, Scali told the press. “We did a good job in the OD too, there was just this mistake, the toe-pick of her. It’s part of our job to keep going if a mistake never happened, you have to keep your energy and give even more energy for the rest of the program”, he continued when asked about recovering from the fall.

Next step: tomorrow the OD!

November 16th, 2008

© Andrey & TAHbKA

During the night our friends in Paris sent us the first pics from the Trophée... here's a little preview ....

the podium	press conference
Fede Massi & Topo	LOL at Massi's face !What were they doing?!

For more pics, the gallery is here

During the night, the ISU too updated their site with the official press conference quotes - here they are:

Faiella/Scali’s romantic dance to “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig van Beethoven included intricate footwork sequences that were both graded a level four as well as well synchronized twizzles and a level-four combination spin. The Italian Champions also were awarded a level four for three of their lifts. They collected 89.33 points (44.30/45.03) for this performance which added up to a total score of 179.58 points. “We are very happy about our performance tonight. The hard thing about our free dance is to get into it and to skate it with feelings and strong emotions. The free dance we are doing is about Pierrot, who is in love with the moon. That’s the reason why we chose Moonlight Sonata for that program” Scali said. “This is our first silver medal on the Grand Prix. Our next competition is in Japan and we won to win there, of course”

A big thank you to our friends Andrey and Tanya for the news and pics, and see you soon for more updates!

November 15th, 2008

The dance competition of the Trophée Bompard just ended - and after the free dance Fede and Massi kept their second place in the overall ranking, conquering their first GP silver medal!

While we wait for infos and photos, on the ISU website there are the main infos already. The final ranking:

1 Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 184.81 (1-3-1)
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 179.58 (2-1-2)
3 Sinead Kerr / John Kerr GBR 176.96 (3-2-3)
4 Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier CAN 171.49 (5-4-4)
5 Pernelle Carron / Mathieu Jost FRA 166.84 (4-5-5)

And the segment ranking for the Free Dance:

1 Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 91.60 (43.50, 48.10)
2 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali ITA 89.33 (tes 44.30, pcs 45.03)
3 Sinead Kerr / John Kerr GBR 89.12 (44.60, 44.52)
4 Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier CAN 87.03 (45.20, 41.83)
5 Pernelle Carron / Mathieu Jost FRA 82.85 (42.60, 40.25)

They also uploaded the protocols in pdf : CD - OD - FD

***update***
As usual, the fabulous place that is FSU is the best source of information. A sekret source attending the event, posted quotes from the press conference. From those we learnt that:

-F&M explained the concept behind their characters in the FD and te music choice (like we already did when talking about the first national competition)
-they talked about the importance of finding in themselves the feeling to express throughout the dance, to pass on to the public.
-The reason why they got a level 2 on the second lift, is because the position wan not held enough
- In the end they said they were very satisfied with their first competition and with their first silver medal at the GP. They wanted to demontrate that they've kept growing since last year, and they're sure this was a good start!

****

We say goodbye for now, renewing our best compliments to Fede and Massi for this great result... and we're sure we'll have more news before the next GP event, which for us will be the NHK Trophy in Japan on November 27 to 30th. See you soon!

November 14th, 2008 #2

© Andrey & TAHbKA

Fede and Massi have just finished the second event in their competition, and were placed first in the OD, while remaining second in the overall ranking. These were the scores:

Segment ranking - ORIGINAL DANCE

1 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali ITA 55.79 (tes 27.90, pcs 27.89)
2 Sinead Kerr / John Kerr GBR 55.52 (27.60, 27.92)
3 Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 55.23 (25.50, 29.73)
4 Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier CAN 52.71 (27.90, 24.81)
5 Pernelle Carron / Mathieu Jost FRA 52.22 (26.50, 25.72)

© Andrey & TAHbKA

Overall Ranking (CD+OD)

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 93.21
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 90.25
3 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 87.84
4 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN 84.46
5 Pernelle CARRON / Mathieu JOST FRA 83.99

Thanks to our friends in Paris, we can also offer you some pics from the press conference:

© Andrey & TAHbKA

As for the quotes, we'll have to rely on what the ISU website gave us:

Faiella/Scali delivered a characteristic Paso Doble and finished second at 34.46 points (17.12/17.34). Their OD was set to a Tap Dance and Slow Foxtrot and highlighted by a one-armed rotational lift and smooth footowork. The Italian Champions were awarded a level four for their spin and the lift and a level three for the steps and twizzles. They were ranked first in the OD with 55.79 points (27.90/27.89) and now have 90.25 points overall. “Of course it was a long wait, because we were practicing pretty much straight after the World Championships. We want to start with the first Grand Prix as strong as we can, and I think we did a good job. We couldn’t wait to start the season, because we were so excited with our new programs. We have so much fun in the Original Dance, when we dance on the ice. This is what we did today, we enjoyed this rhythm and this dance”, Scali commented.

Next stop: the FD, tomorrow night (h. 21 local time, GMT+1)!

November 14th, 2008

It starts today in Paris the Trophée Bompard, French stop of the FS Grand Prix and seasonal international début for Fede and Massi.

foto ©Yahoo News

It all starts with the compulsory dance, this time the Paso Doble - Fede and Massi take the second place ust behind home favourites Delobel/Schoenfelder. This is the ranking after the first event:

1 Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 37.98
2 Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali ITA 34.46
3 Sinead Kerr / John Kerr GBR 32.32
4 Pernelle Carron / Mathieu Jost FRA 31.77
5 Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier CAN 31.75

Tonight - at 20.30, local time (GMT+1) - the OD will take place, and Federica and Massimo will skate second to last in the second group.

November 13th, 2008

While we wait for news from Paris, here's the show we announced earlier: Fede and Massi will be part of the cast of the 2009 edition of Kings on Ice, the skating show organized by Evgeni Plushenko and Edvin Marton.

Kings on Ice will be in Italy for two dates only, in Milan:

January 5th 2009 - h. 21
January 6th 2009 - h. 16

With Fede and Massi, the cast is made up by Evgeni Plushenko (of course!!), Stéphane Lambiel, Philippe Candeloro, Surya Bonaly, Julia Sebestyén, Silvia Fontana, Julia Obertas & Sergei Slavnov, Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte. Info on www.kingsonice2009.it

November 11th, 2008

After a very, very quick stay in Milan, Fede and Massi will leave tomorrow morning for Paris, where they'll be skating in the Trophée Bompard. We'll keep pur fingers crossed for them, while fans and friends (and Toponiglio!) are getting ready to leave too.
The quick interval they spent in Milan (together with a photo request for the promotion of a show we'll announce later) gave us the occasion for a quick off ice photo shoot... and we liked the result so much that we immediately wanted to share them on the site!
What do you think of our two models?

November 9th, 2008

Fede and Massi came back to Italy yesterday, and will leave for the Trophée Bompard on Wednesday.
While we wait to see them début in the international competitions, we have the first batch of photos up from the First National Competition - find them in the Competition Photos!
Plus, as a little extra, in the Fan Area there are some new downloads: three new wallpapers for your computers!

A little website advertising as well: Fede and Massi's Mascot - Toponiglio Franklin has just moved its website to our own domain - it might be time to update your bookmarks! (the new site is topo of our "links" list.) and to be really up to date with everything toponiglious... Topo is on facebook too!!

October 26th, 2008

Fede and Massi have made their way safely back to the US for more training, and we are already counting the days until their return to Milan in preparation for their seasonal GP début at te Trophée Bompard in Paris.
Finally there's time to update the site with the new graphics and the first special features!
Quite a bit of pages have been updated - bios, results, musics and of course the news, but there are te first exclusive surprises!
In the exhibition photos, we've put online Silvia's pics from the Oct 11 show in Milan, the Golden Skate Awards - and more material will follow.
While we wait our trusted photographers to send us the pics from te First National Competition (there's just one little preview below), in the VIDEO section there are two new exclusive vids from practice - one is a montage of clips from an OD practice of last week, while the second one dates back to May and is a little gem... an off-ice rehearsal of the basis of the choreo of the FD that was being created (and this is something tat is really rare to see!). From these sessions more photos will follow... soon! Stay with us!

October 19th, 2008

The competitive season started this weekend for Fede and Massi, as they took part to the First National Competition that was held in their club home rink in Milan - for us all it was the eagerly awaited début of the new programs that we saw being born in May.

Two days of competition - CD and OD on Saturday, FD on Sunday. Fede and Massi started their performances with a Paso Doble - but we have to underline that the two senior couples performed different CDs (doing the CD they will respectively have in their first GPs), so the marking for these was not calculated to form a ranking.

The "real" competition thus started in the late afternoon, with the ODs, that this season have to be in the "rhytms of the 20s', 30s', 40s'".
Fede and Massi chose to take music, inspiration and costumes from the movie Follow the Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and the end result is a program that's engaging, cheerful and perfectly matching they spirit and style of the movie, while being full of technical difficulties and elements - a perfect example of technique and interpretation that merge in a program that vibrates with a shining personality.

The levels were good (almost all 4s) and so were the GOEs, that brought a final score of (TSS) of 69,29 points, with TES 36,11 and PCS 33,18.

Fede and Massi kept their first place without hesitation in the free program too, on Sunday evening. Another character program for our athletes, who chose an extremely classic piece (Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata) but they were able to choose a theme that gave new life to this classic masterpiece, giving an original and charming interpretation.
Pierrot, a mime fallen in love with the moon, and his partner, bring us with them in a romantic adventure where they repeatedly keep pointing towards this imaginary moon that shines above them and us.
The result is a program that is romantic and intese, showcasing the growth and maturity of Federica and Massimo as skaters and as artists.
The jury's verdict was positive again, starting from the scores - 103,85 points (51,63 TES and 52,22 PCS) with the majority of level 4s again - to the general feedback received from everyone.
Fede and Massi closed the competition with 173,14 points (but it must be remebered that the CD was not factored in!!!), obviously in first place.

October 8th, 2008

Welcome back to Italy!
Finally Fede and Massi are coming back to Milan after the summer spent training in the US... but the few days that they're spending in Italy will be extra-busy as usual!

First of all tere's the shows... on October 10t in Torino and 11th in Milano, Fede and Massi will be part of the cast of the Golden Skate Awards (in Milan - in Torino the show will be called Lancia Ice 2008). Then... there's training, runs to the seamstress, the hairdresser, and nex weekend there's the First National Competition... basically, there's never time to get bored!

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July 2008

The info has been out for a while... ISU published the assignations to the GP events and we finally know where Fede and Massi will be skating this year:

Trophée Eric Bompard - Nov. 13- 16, 2008 Paris, France
e
NHK-Trophy Nov. 27 - 30, 2008 Tokyo, Japan

Who's starting to pack his bags?

While we wait, first voices from the US: everything's going well on the - Fede and Massi are serene and are training with determination for the next season; even though we miss seeing tem here on te ice day after day, knowing that they're focused and happy makes us wait their return with impatience!

For now... happy holidays to everyone... and to the next update!

Tuesday, May 13th 2008

Paola Mezzadri, Fede, Massi, Luigi Bonino, Pasquale Camerlengo.

As usual, quite some time has passed since we had our last update, but we can assure you that it was some well-used time!
After Worlds and a well-deserved holiday, Fede and Massi came back to Milan to start building the basis of their new programs with Paola Mezzadri. It was a long research work, to find the new musics, and lots of ideas and themes were selected and examined - and even if we're not giving out the details yet, we are really satisfied with the choices we made.
In the photo above, a ritual group photo at the end of a great work session with dancer Luigi Bonino. For a couple of othe rphotos... keep reading!
Fede and Massi flew back to Detroit yesterday, bringing programs and musics - and now it's the beginning of a long period of training to perfect all the programs!

Before leaving, it was again time for Federica to sit down to write a message for us all....

"Hi to everyone!!
Finally we can sit down to write some news for you!!
First of all we want to thank you for the emotional support that all of you have given us this past season - a season that have forever a special place in our hearts. We are very happy and satisfied with how things have gone, but the thing that is most important for us is that we know we shared our emotions with our skating and this was our main goal.
After Worlds we took two weeks of well-deserved holiday to spend some time with our family and friends, but then we immediately went to work on the new programs. We stayed in Milan as usual, and with our coaches Paola Mezzadri and Pasquale we chose the musics and we started creating.
We are very happy of our choices and of the work we've done so far, and even if we are just at the beginning of the job, we are very enthusiast of what you'll see in a few months. Coosing was quite difficult, but we knew that we could count on our emotions and on our coaches, and we can't wait to start this season even better than the past one.
We'll be leaving for the US soon, where lots of people are waiting for us - people that like you do love us and can't wait to see us again! You all can imagine that the moment of leaving is always difficult, but wait for us and be ready for lots of new emotions - we'll do our best to make this possible.
We will miss you all very much, but we know you are close to us even if there's an ocean between us all.
A big hug with all our love!"

quick photo for a lovely dinner... impossible to skip the gathering of friends!

........................................

some quick words for the technical aspect of the site:

you might have noticed the first big news - with a quite string decision we chose to close the Russian and French version of the site, opting to concentrate more on less version to keep them updated a lot more frequently.
As every summer, we've ditched the look we've used for the whole season, for a quick change that will accompany us all through the summer, until we will be ready to show you all the new version dedicated to the new programs... in the meantime we hope you'll like this one!
More substantial updates will follow in the next few weeks - we'll get back to all the photos we've been saving for quite too long...

For now... two pics just to tickle your curiosity (and we swear that the other ones are not out of focus... we had fun with these two only!)

it's a moment from the... hm... could it be the fd? the od? I can't remember... but we surely were feeling very "artistic" in the dance room...

and another pic that is making the writing webmaster laugh a lot... Massi's flying, but is it work or just having fun at the end of the session? only time will tell....

see you all soon!

March 23rd, 2008

The exhibition gala is the official closing of the world championships 2008, and for us it is a great satisfaction to see Fede and Massi taking part to it thanks to their fifth place!
Now it is time for some holidays... straight home to spend some quality time with family and friends, and then we'll be waiting for them, back on the ice, to start building the new season... but first we'll let them enjoy this well deserved break!!

 

March 21st, 2008

Another great performance from Fede and Massi: their FD is executed simply perfectly, with a fabulous interpretation which really shows off their acquired maturity. The program is valued as the 4th FD of the evening, but unfortunately this is not enough to prevent a little slip to 5th place... but with a great satisfaction even like this! Fede and Massi have scored the 2nd technical score of the night, and are the only one of the top skaters earning all level 4s...

the FD:

1 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 105.28
2 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 104.96
3 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 103.29
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 101.21 (53.84tes + 47.37pcs)
5 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 99.29
6 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 96.03

and overall:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 212.94 1 1 2
2 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 208.80 2 3 1
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 203.26 3 2 5
4 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 203.00 5 4 3
5 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 201.91 4 5 4
6 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 191.19 7 7 6

Looking at numbers...

Also in this part of the competition, Fede and Massi are earning their Personal Best - a constant in this competition where they've marked a new PB in every single portion of the event and in the overall score. It is the first time they finish an international competition with more than 200 points; to make a comparison, their total at the 2007 worlds was of 170,75 points, 31,16 less than this year... in one season it's an enormous jump ahead.
And still looking at numbers... last season we were 24.68 points away from the third step of the podium... this time it was 1.35points away!!!

A commentary... as usual from Goldenskate.com

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy finished fourth in the free dance after a mesmerizing performance to Papa, Can You Hear Ne? in which all their element received level 4. It allowed them to gain the highest technical score of the evening, quite an achievement for the team who, in the past, often dropped several places in past competitions after making major mistakes. The team appeared a bit tense in the beginning, but relaxed later as they got into the mood of their dance. They improved both their personal best for a free dance and personal total score as they received 101.21 (53.84/47.37) and 201.91 points in total to finish fifth.

"I have no words for it," said Scali about their performance. "I think this was our best performance of the season in the free dance. We tried to be emotional and we have worked a lot on that. We knew that we had high levels, so we have tried to work on interpretation. Well, we cannot say that we do not care about the medals; of course it would have been wonderful if we got a medal at Worlds, but that was never our goal for the season."

March 20th, 2008

For the second portion of the dance competition, it's time again to plunge in the variegated world of the Folk ODs. It is the last time this season we're seeing the funny "Pizzica" from Fede and Massi.

Their performance at these World Championships keeps being of the highest level, and this performance too is clean and exciting. They are only fifth in the OD, but they remain in fourth place in the overall standing:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 67.25
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 65.99
3 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 64.81
4 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 64.69
5 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 63.55 (34.16tes + 29.39pcs)
6 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 60.67

overall:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 107.98
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 103.97
3 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 103.52
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 100.70
5 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 99.71
6 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 95.49

Again, we turn to Goldenskate.com for a commentary:

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali placed fifth in the OD with strong, yet playful Italian folk dance, earning a new personal best of 63.55 (34.16/29.39) points. The highlights of the dance were the connecting moves which suited their music perfectly, but while the difficulty was there, the quality of execution wasn't as strong as that of higher-ranked teams. With a total score of 100.70 points, they are still in fourth place overall.

"It's five points more than in the European Championships," said Scali, of their new personal best. "We are so happy. We felt really confident and comfortable on the ice. We came to Worlds to fight and to enjoy our experience and we like to perform on the ice. We do not like to think on the marks or our position. We do not really care. We just want to enjoy ourselves and have a good time. We were kind of reborn after our previous bad season, so for us it is important to enjoy our experience."

March 18th, 2008

The world figure skating championships start today in Gotheburg, Sweden, with the CD (this time it's the Argentine Tango). Fede and Massi have a great skate, performing a precise but intense tango, placing fourth. this is the ranking so far:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER 40.73
2 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR 38.71
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI 37.98
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI 37.15 (19.45 tes + 17.70 pcs)
5 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO 35.02
6 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT 34.82

This time we have no spies in place... so we'll rely on the commentary form Goldenskate.com:

Federica Faiella (27) and Massimo Scali (28) also set a new personal best after they scored 37.15 (19.45/17.70) points for fourth place. In a dance where all couples are supposed to execute the same steps in exactly the same manner, the Italian champions made some subtle changes in their arms movements in order to enhance their excellent and expressive tango. The team left a strong impression with their sharp and passionate style, and were among the best teams in terms of expressing the character of the dance properly.
"We love to skate and to have a strong interpretation of the music with strong emotions in the compulsory dance," said Scali. "We felt great today. We skate the best we can. We know it is hard competition for us, but the marks today were unbelievable and we are very happy with our performance".

 

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January 25th, 2008

foto (c) Silvia Palotta

One more photo straight from Zagreb's mixed zone, from our spies! The FD just finished, and our guys were able to keep the fourth place they occupied for the whole event. They skated a good program, getting good levels (in details, waiting for the official PDFs, this is the text message I got from my official spy: roli4/sp4/mistnt4-seli4-stw4-slli3+culi4-sest3-slli4) and a final score of 95.29 for the FD, which gave a total of 190.95 - this is the final top ten:

1 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 207.14
2 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 205.92
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 197.06
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 190.95
5 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 185.26
6 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 182.06
7 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 172.64
8 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 171.70
9 Pernelle CARRON / Mathieu JOST FRA 170.62
10 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 168.87

From our "reporters", we get another audio clip (in Italian)... this time it's Federica who speaks: HERE

And before signing off, a quick hello from one of our beloved friends, never missing an event: in the tribunes with Sara, here isToponiglio Franklin...

foto (c) Silvia Palotta

January 24th, 2008

foto (c) Alessandro Raineri - Nazionali Italiani 08

With a briliant interpretation of their OD, Fede and Massi maintained their fourth placement in the rankings. The program was judged with almost all elements of level 4 (only the step sequences were awarded a level 3), and with very positive GOEs.

foto (c) Silvia Palotta

Before the rankings, a little extra: HERE is an mp3 file with their comments... straight from Zagreb's mixed zone (just like this picture!) - note: the file is in Italian!

Top ten in the OD:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 62.72
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 61.90
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 60.03
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 58.79
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 58.54
6 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 56.97
7 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 54.07
8 Pernelle CARRON / Mathieu JOST FRA 53.52
9 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 53.31
10 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 52.07

and Overall after two events:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 103.97
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 102.15
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 97.40
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 95.66
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 92.09
6 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 91.55
7 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 86.43
8 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 85.09
9 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 85.04
10 Pernelle CARRON / Mathieu JOST FRA 83.67

January 22nd, 2008

This is the top ten after the CD:

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 41.25
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 40.25
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 37.37
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 36.87
5 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 34.58
6 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 33.55
7 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 33.12
8 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 33.02
9 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 31.28
10 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 30.97

foto (c) Yahoo News

 

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December 21st, 2007 - Italian Championships 2008

foto (c) Alessandro Raineri

The last day of competitions sees Fede and Massi perform their FD. The execution is clean and powerful, and it guarantees them once more the National title with a total score of 107.90 for the FD and a total of 216

1 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali 107.90 tot 216.31
2 Anna Cappellini/Luca La Notte 89.84 tot 1719.43
3 Alessia Aureli/Marco Garavaglia 80.36 tot 161.90

December 21st, 2007 - Italian Championships 2008

The folk ODs take center stage during the second day of the Italian Championships. Federica and Massimo gave a thrilling performance of their Pizzica confirming their lead with 66.53 points ( total 108.41).

1 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali 108.41 1 1
2 Anna Cappellini/Luca La Notte 88.79 2 2
3 Alessia Aureli/Marco Garavaglia 81.54 3 3

December 20th, 2007 - Italian Championships 2008

The 87° Italian National Championships opened today at the Agorà Ice Rink in Milan. Fede and Massi skated the CD (Yankee Polka), capturing the lead with a good performance which earned them 41.88 points(21.43+20.45).

1 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali 41.88
2 Anna Cappellini/Luca La Notte 32.73
3 Alessia Aureli/Marco Garavaglia 31.33

November 11th, 2007 - After Cup of China

Yesterday saw the end of the Cup of China 2007, the second GP assignment of Fede and Massi.The guys skated cleanly in all phases of the competition, finishing in 3rd place (but with the 2nd FD) with all level 4s and their new seasonal best.

These are the final results:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 195.11 2 2 1
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 188.66 1 1 3
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 181.10 3 3 2
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 161.86 4 4 4
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 152.99 5 5 6
6 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 150.18 7 6 5
7 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 139.09 6 8 7
8 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA 132.96 8 7 8
9 Jiameimei GUO / Fei MENG CHN 112.69 10 10 9
10 Lu LIU / Bin SUO CHN 108.78 9 9 10

and here is, step by step:

Compulsory Dance:

(photo Yahoo! News)

1 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 38.77
2 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 35.89
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 33.54
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 30.81
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 29.52
6 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 27.05
7 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 27.04
8 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA 24.79
9 Lu LIU / Bin SUO CHN 20.25
10 Jiameimei GUO / Fei MENG CHN 19.59

For this competition, we're looking for the comment from Goldenskate:

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy showed good expression in their tango, earning a new personal best of 33.54 points for third place. The Italians were happy with their scores, citing that the Argentine Tango was a new dance they haven't skated before in competition. "We are really pleased with our marks, too," said Scali. "They were much better than at Skate America."

Original Dance:

photo by Getty Images

1Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 62.20
2 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 60.81
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 56.94
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 52.26
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 48.93
6 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 47.51
7 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA 43.36
8 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 41.01
9 Lu LIU / Bin SUO CHN 35.14
10 Jiameimei GUO / Fei MENG CHN 35.07

Again from Goldenskate:

"Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy maintained third overall (90.48 points) after placing third in the OD. They also received level fours on all elements except for their circular step sequence. The 2007 Skate America bronze medalists executed a rotational and curve lift, two midline step sequences, and a very good level three circular step sequence in their Italian folk dance, earning 56.94 points to match their personal best from 2004 Cup of Russia".

Free Dance:

photo by Yahoo! News
more photos here from Yahoo! and here from Getty Images

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 98.41
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 90.62
3 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 87.69
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 78.79
5 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 75.63
6 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 74.54
7 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 71.03
8 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA 64.81
9 Jiameimei GUO / Fei MENG CHN 58.03
10 Lu LIU / Bin SUO CHN 53.39

Again from Goldenskate:

"Faiella and Scali put out a solid free dance to selections of music from the Yentl soundtrack which featured four level four rotational lifts, a level four midline step sequence, a difficult level three serpentine step sequence, and synchronized twizzles. The Italian champions placed second in the free dance (90.62 points) and third overall with 181.10 points. "We did a great job," commented Scali. "Not just today, but in all the dances. We felt very confident. We had a little mistake at Skate America, but today everything was good, and we're especially happy about our second place in the free dance."

October 29th, 2007

The last part of the competition took place yesterday, and Fede and Massi managed to keep their third place, even if the program was interrupted by a sudden fall by Massi after the rotational lift - but its consequences were limited as the fall didn't involve any required element. We heard from them via-web (a susual!) and they were quite serene anyways, satisfied with the levels recognized by the technical specialist (they got the second technical score of the FD). The final ranking is the following:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 97.68 (final 192.95)
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 90.33 (final 181.84)
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 86.29 (final 172.28)
4 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 85.79 (final 168.79)
5 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 85.38 (final 167.805)
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 80.90 (final 159.93)
7 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 79.17 (final 157.85)
8 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS 78.93 (final 151.58)
9 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 72.37 (final 142.63)
10 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 69.96 (final 135.29)

October 28th, 2007

The OD was skated today, and Fede and Massi kept their third position. This is the new ranking:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 59.24 (cd+od 95.27)
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 56.95 (cd+od 91.51)
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 54.56 (cd+od 85.99)
4 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 52.84 (cd+od 83.00)
5 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 51.23 (cd+od 82.42)
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 51.13 (cd+od 79.03)
7 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 51.12 (cd+od 78.92 )
8 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS 45.46 (cd+od72.41 )
9 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 43.79(cd+od 70.26)
10 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 43.19 (cd+od 65.33)

Even if this time we managed to follow the competition on tv, we'lll still look at ice-dance.com's blog to see what the foreign public thought of the "pizzica"... today the keyboard is in Daphne Backman's hands:

"There were several cool elements including a move where she kind of flips him around. Their lift is stunning, with Faiella holding onto Scali's foot and her legs in the air like a sail" (this lift)

The starting order for the FD (tonight at 8) follows the rankings:

Group 1
1 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
2 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN
3 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA
Group 2
6 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE
7 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA
8 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
9 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA
10 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA

October 27th 2007

The season has begun: yesterday night (or actually, this morning veeeery early as it was close to 1am here!) it was time for the CD (Austrian Waltz) to be skated at Skate America. Fede and Massi are currently in third place:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 36.03
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 34.56
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 31.43
4 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 31.19 1
5 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 30.16
6 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 27.90
7 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 27.80
8 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS 26.95
9 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 26.47
10 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANGCHN 22.14

Having been unable to see it on tv, we rely on Michelle Wojdyla's comment, which she made for ice-dance.com's blog of the event:

"Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali skated a joyful waltz to place third. The rapport between these two is always warm and engaging, and they intertwine so effortlessly throughout the turns of the dance. They kept their speed throughout, bodies close together."

and here is a photo by JB Mittan for Skatetoday.com

This is the starting order for the OD:

Group 1
1 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
2 Cathy REED / Chris REED
3 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE
Group 2
6 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE
7 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN
8 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI
9 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT
10 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO

 

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June 10th, 2007

Fede and Massi have been back to Detroit for a month now, but thanks to Internet we can easily keep in touch. Their practices are going well, and the morale is high. But between one work session and the other, there is also time for some exhibitions... just as Federica tells us by mail:

"The show we skated in on Saturday, June 2nd, was in Taylor, 40 minutes from Bloomfield Hills. It was called "Skating stars benefit for Aleison Kowalski' - and all the kids from that rink skated, with us, Yuka Sato, a young pairs team and a senior man from the Detroit Skating Club... Aleison, from what we understood, is the granddaughter of the coordinator of that rink, she's 5 and suffers from leukemia... "

But it is not all. This weekend too (June 8/9/10) they are skating in some more exhibitions... and we discovered that they have created a new number for these! We really hope we can get some photos or videos soon! It is once again Federica who writes us something about these exhibitions:

"The show starting today and that lasts until Sunday, with two shows on Saturday, it is quite important for this rink... they have put up lots of lights and the ice is a little smaller because on one of the short sides they will put some tables with people eating and drinking. We will be doing the shows of Friday, one on Saturday and Sunday... and I can add that we also created a new exhibition, on a song from the "City of Angels" soundtrack. Yesterday we did the dress rehearsals (after our skating and the gym, I was really dead) with all the lights and everyone liked it a lot..."

The GP Entries

Finally the ISU has announced the entries for the various events of the Grand Prix 2007. Fede and Massi will be at:

25 - 28 Oct 2007 - Skate America (Reading, PA, USA)
8 - 11 Nov 2007 - Cup of China (Beijing, China)

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May 4th, 2007

Once again quite a lot of time passed before we came around to updating the site, but finally here we are! In the last few weeks we followed their work to get ready for the new season pretty closely, but now, right before their new departure for the US (which will be on Monday 7th), we let them do the talking again, to update us on their latest news. This time it is Federica who, pen in hand, sits down at our table to tell us...

Here we are once again! After the experience that the last Worlds were, we came back to Milan to finally enjoy a little, well deserved holiday after such an intense season, filled with emotions that sometimes were good and sometimes not really, but which surely helped us grow up a lot.
We were saying... holidays till Easter, and then bacl at work to start preparing in the best possible way the new season!

We started from the Free Dance, as we already had lots of defined ideas and we did not have too much trouble in choosing the music; with the help of Pasquale, Paola (Mezzadri, note) and Anjelika we managed to find what we called "our" music, perfect for "our" style.
So with lots of videos and creativity, and with the help of Corrado (Giordani, dancer who's been working with them for years, note) we started this work that, though we can't say it's finished, has already reached a very good point.

If the work on the FD was intense, we can say the same for the OD, which had left us a little perplexed at the beginning... tarantelle and folk music are not really our style, and so... what could we do? We were really unsure until, totally by chance, our dance coach of the old days when we lived in Milan and skated at the Agorà rink, Barbara (Melica, note) told us about a very peculiar rhytm from our country, which she had studied with passion... we agreed to listen to it, and we instantly fell in love with it: there was a great feeling from the beginning! Full of enthusiasm, we started creating the OD too, and again we can't say we are behind schedule!!

And here comes now the sad part: we're leaving again on Monday for Detroit, where lots of friends are waiting for us... but it is alwasy difficult to leave Italy and our loved ones, even if we know that those who loves us and care for us are always close to us with their hearts.

a great big kiss to all of you!

Federica

what can we add to this? We wish the guys a safe trip to Detroit, and a good summer hard at work. Thanks to the internet, we'll try to stay in touch as much as possible, to keep you all updated on how things are going, while waiting to hug them again in September back here in Milan...

See you soon, regà!!

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A little space for the technical notes too...

As you must have noticed, the site has undergone a little of "cosmetic surgery", starting from its new look (on the theme " summer is the time for serious training and little glitter") till a lot of new content...
in the video section of the fan area, there are some practice videos we had had in store since this winter, and in the backstage there are a lot of photos that Fede and Massi gave us to share...
in the media section we put up a bunch of scans of old newspaper articles (which unfortunately are in Italian only, for now)... we got those by fax so they have not a spectacular quality, but we still thougth they were interesting....
we also updated lots of details here and there...
and in the photo galleries we have lots of photos from competition, practice and show coming up very very soon!!