Camilla Vallieva, ballet girl on ice

Source: Global Times

She is regarded as a big hit for the figure skating women's singles champion at the Beijing Winter Olympics. How is The Russian women's figure skater Kamila Valieva different from her teammates, and what makes the audience boil and the judges score high?

Camilla Vallieva

On October 31, 15-year-old Russian women's figure skater Camilla Vallieva concluded the Figure Skating Grand Prix in Canada with two world records. Her free skating record was 180.89 points for a total of 265.08 points, breaking her own record set at another event on October 10.

"Champion Factory"

Valeeva's figure skating trail began in her hometown of Kazan. When she was a child, she was sent by her family for physical exercise due to her thin body. Camilla laughed in an interview: "I was often sick when I was 3 years old. Mom was worried and decided to let me practice figure skating. I ate the ice the first time I went on the ice and ended up with a fever the next morning. ”

Camilla moved to Moscow when she was 6 years old. She continued her training at the Olympic Preparatory Sports School "Muscovite". She began to be noticed as a figure skater in the summer of 2018 when she entered the "Champion Factory" of One of Russia's most well-known figure skating coaches, Eteri Tutberidze, to start training. In the same year, Camilla participated in an exhibition competition in Moscow, performing a show called "The Girl Standing on the Ball", inspired by a painting by Picasso. The show is widely regarded as one of the best figure skating shows in the world of all time.

In 2019, the 13-year-old Vallieva competed in international competitions for the first time. She started with her victory at the Junior Figure Skating Grand Prix in France and ended the 2019-2020 season with a new world record and victory at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. In the 2020-2021 season, due to the cancellation of the international competition for juniors, the Russian Figure Skating Federation decided to let Vallieva compete in the adult competition at home. Despite her young age, she successfully competed in the Russian Cup (silver medal in the first stage, gold medal in the second stage and series finals), the national championship (silver medal), and the "Channel One Cup" team competition (team gold medal, number one in the women's figure skaters rankings).

"A combination of technology and art"

So how is Vallieva different from the other contenders for the Russian Olympic team? Where is she friendlier than the excellent team? Examples include Anna Shcherbakova, Aleksandra Trusova, Alena Kostornaya and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.

Camilla Vallieva is a shocking combination of technical and artistic expression. She has amazing jumping skills and is ultra-complex (Ultra-C) moves. Camilla conquers the audience and judges with her artistic expressiveness, and earns high program content scores because of her ability. Her feelings about music are very delicate, and her slender and expressive arms seem to tell a story. Vallieva's show not only contains super-complex technical movements, but also dance in the true sense of the word. Because of this, Camilla's fans call her "Ballet Girl on Ice."

As a child, in addition to figure skating, Valieva studied rhythmic gymnastics and ballet. In an interview with Channel One, she said: "I practiced rhythmic gymnastics, ballet and figure skating when I was very young. Finally, mom asked me to choose one. I love figure skating so much that I chose it. But her gymnastics and ballet were not practiced in vain, because she had the skills to make the most daring choreography creative design movements.

Choreographed by the coaching staff of Lizé, And Camilla's program designer, Daniil Gleikhengauz, choreographs the program with action connections, transitions, and various details so that the beat of the music does not have any "blanks". Each movement is subordinate to the music, full of meaning, and the image is represented as accurately as possible. These Camillas are deeply understood and displayed on ice.

Valieva explained her new short show after the Chelyabinsk test match: "A butterfly landed on my hand, this butterfly is a symbol of my dreams, and I chased it throughout the show. At the end of the show, I caught it and let it go, as if I had fulfilled my dream and gained peace. ”

Vallieva's free skating program has been retained since last season. The show is based on the Bolero Dance. With even music beats, smooth gliding, agile arms, cobra images, Camilla's performance on ice seems to hypnotize the audience and attract their attention. From Vallieva's movements, the elements of the ballet work can be clearly seen. Vallieva said: "I have seen the video of Maya Priszeckaya (a famous ballet dancer) dancing this piece of music. "During the Olympic season, Vallieva worked harder to enhance the show's dance expressiveness and appeal. In early October, she went to the Bolshoi Theater to rehearse with principal ballet dancer Olga Smirnova and watched the Swan Lake ballet. After finishing rehearsals, Vallieva said on her Instagram: "There are many, many stories that can be told through dance. ”

This article is published in the Global Times "Russia Perspective" special issue, the content is provided by the "Russian newspaper".