Piano-Skating, emotional communication without a single word - meet Romain Gazave!
Part I
by Helga Dobor
&
Mireille Geurts
Photos ©
Absolute Skating
 |
Figure skating is an amazing sport.
It has everything; like speed, grace and technically
difficult elements. Sometimes special talents in the
sport will take the skating one step further by combining
it with something else. |
'First Steps on Skates'
What are your earliest skating memories?
I started skating when I was 6 years old; it was in Megeve
in the French Alps. At summer-camp there I had the chance
to see Brian Boitano practicing and especially jumping, and
I wanted to do the same. In a way that is funny because now
I’m more interested in the artistic aspect of skating!
My first lesson was with Patrice Macrez and I remember I didn’t
want to stop the lesson, I immediately really loved it! The
world is a small place, because when I was 15 I trained with
him again in another city.
Next to Boitano, did you have an idol in skating
whose style has inspired you?
I had a lot of idols I watched on TV. I’m a big fan
of Kurt Browning and also of most of the ‘older’
skaters like Orser and Bowman. Of course later, I loved Yagudin....
Do you remember the first time you competed?
Yes, it was in St Gervais. I was 7 years old, and finished
last! But I had only skated for 6 months then… The 2nd
competition I participated in, I won. I guess that’s
what they call revenge spirit! - laughs
Did you compete internationally as well nationally?
Yes, at 11 years old I participated in the French Nationals
in my age category (3rd place, Stanick Jeanette was 1st).
And internationally later on, when I was 15. At 17, I became
the bronze medalist in Slovakia. (3rd place at the Grand prize
SNP of Slovakia)
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Olivier, Isa, Brian and Romain
You’ve been part of the French team training
with famous coaches and skaters like Didier Lucine, Annick
Dumont, Vanessa Gusmeroli, Philippe Candeloro, Thierry Cerez,..
what was that like?
It was an excellent experience! I still keep in touch with
most of them. My really good French friends are Stanick Jeannette,
(he won the French junior championship when I was the silver
medalist, Gabriel Monnier was 4th and Dambier 5th) Thierry
Cerez and Isabelle Delobel, and I still see most of the others
when I get back to France, they are good mates (Vanessa etc).
You even had to share a room with Stanick, right?
It was the year of the French National junior championships.
I was 16 and spent most of my weekends with his family. He
was my best friend at that time.
How often can you meet with your friends now?
I live in England 8 months of the year, so I can only see
them in the winter. But we stay in touch a lot through phone
and e-mail. We see each other 2 or 3 times a year at best,
sometimes only once! Sometimes they visit me in England, socially
or combined with business. Thierry Cerez will come in June
and he might do a future show here. Oh, and Marina will probably
come as well!
But I have friends here too, like Ania Rechnio, my best ‘female’
friend in the world of ice skating and Alexei Sokolov. So
I’m not lonely. - laughs
|
 Marina Anissina, Romain and a friend in Skiing holiday |
'Playing the Piano'
Let’s go back to the beginning. You’ve
also played the piano since you were 6, how did you start?
I started playing a bit at school and I loved it, so I took
lessons. But after a year I quit because I couldn’t
manage school, the piano and skating. But we kept the piano
at home and I played a lot on my own. That way I learned a
lot by myself when I was young and when I was a teenager it
became a real passion. I am a fan of music, all music! It’s
almost therapeutic for me; I could never live without it!
Did you take any lessons then? Private teacher, school
etc?
Yes, I really started to play seriously when I met the director
of the "Cortot school" in Paris. I was 19- 20 years
old and he told me that it wasn’t too late to become
a professional pianist, and he enrolled me in his school.
After a year I stopped competing in skating to focus only
on the piano as I didn’t have enough money to do both,
I had to make a choice. The skating level in France for the
men was very high, while for the piano part, I had an amazing
chance through meeting an amazing teacher who taught me all
the basics from the beginning. I practiced around 6 hours
a day, and at least 2 of those hours were technique. That
went on every day for 4 years, and I had the chance to have
Jean Fassina as a teacher. In the piano world he is practically
a legend! He taught many of top pianist players in the world.
He’s an amazing man, and so pedagogic. I couldn’t
have done it without him for sure! And he believed in me even
if it was a bit crazy... I wish I’d had that kind of
teacher in skating. I took a 2 year break from skating, without
even touching the ice. But then I started again, and did some
shows, I missed skating too much.
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What is your most memorable (piano)
experience? |
Have you met more famous piano legends?
Most of the elite piano competitors in the world where either
in the same class as me in the Cortot school in Marian Rybicki’s
class, or studied with Jean Fassina at the same time as me!
Most of the winners or competitors of the Varsovie or England
contest (Queen Elisabeth’s contest) also came to this
class for a concert or a lesson sometimes. My two teachers
were members of the jury for the "big" contest most
of the time, so....
You won all? Just kidding…
I didn’t win at all!!! I didn’t compete and I’m
not sure that I could have at that level, but it was a nice
motivation for me to improve... I didn’t compete because
I wanted to skate and play the piano at the same time, I can
not dissociate skating (or dancing) and music!
Hey, stop! That subject will come later; we have
another question about the piano first!
Ok…- laughs
We saw pictures of you on your website playing a
Steinway piano. It’s a very famous name in piano history.
Does it mean something special for you?("My friendship
with the Steinway piano is one of the most important and beautiful
things in my life." - Krystian Zimerman)
Uh, I don’t always play on a Steinway.... I wish I had
one, but they costs so much, I will buy one as soon as I can.
I did practice on one; it was the piano of Jean Fassina and
one of the 2 pianos available to my class with Marian Rybicki.
As for the website pictures, for the photo session we used
the piano of the Paris Orchestra, I was very lucky!! I will
have a Steinway someday for sure, even if I have to eat rice
for the rest of my life! By the way Helga, bravo for Zimerman!
He is one of the best when it comes to playing the ballads
of Chopin, I think I've listened to his music a thousand times.
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'Acting
the Act' Ok, now you can tell us how you got the idea
to combine skating and piano into “piano skating”? |
What were the first reactions of the people in the
business?
99 percent of them laughed at me or told me it wouldn’t
work, that I was dreaming etc...It was terrible for me! But
you know, with passion and luck…
The result now is great…
I hope so... I’m still trying to develop my act; there
are so many original things to do!
For people who have never seen your Act, how should
we visualize it?
First there’s the piano, which represents inspiration,
and then the music, which is the guide to the dance and the
body expressions. Then go back to the piano to finish... a
bit like a dream also... I mean, that’s how I see it
but there are so many ways, it also depends on the idea of
the producer of course. <<
Watch the trailer on Romains site >>
The first idea I had for my Act, was to portray someone who
plays the piano and the skating envisions the way he’d
like to interpret this music through dancing or skating. A
bit like a dream or a thought.
You participated in the German Stars
On Ice tour in 2003, how did you experience this?
Amazing! It was called the “2003 piano bar” and
everybody loved it! Almost all the skaters were so nice to
me; we had a lot of fun. With Maxim, Vlashenko, Honda....
It was a crazy tour!
(see this
illustrated in Romains personal album!) For the skaters
it was different because most of them had just returned from
the World Championships, so we only had 2 days to rehearse
everything, but they were great and worked so well. Usually
they just have to come and do their exhibitions numbers.
-soi.jpg) Cast |
.jpg) Maxim, Andrejs and Romain |
Do you have some nice and crazy anecdotes from that
time?
Yes, I have a lot of good ones, but let me think of one I
can share…- laughs
Ah, yes, we had that piano bar, so we were supposed to represent
some customers before and after skating our number. We faked
drinking alcohol, but the glasses only contained water. At
the end of his number, Daniel Weiss always gave Takeshi his
glass, but in the last show, he put vodka in the glass instead!
It was quite funny to see Takeshi’s face at that moment!
He tried to hide it so well! And the audience sat so far away,
I don’t think most of them noticed it anyway.
We also had a lot of fun during the practice sessions, speaking
into the microphone (we were not so used to it).
What was the reaction of the German audience in
general?
It was very different, but apparently they really liked the
show, because it was like a story. We always got great applause
or standing ovations at the end! It was so nice; I would love
to do such a tour again, or if possible, an American or European
show like the COI or SOI. This is one of my future goals.
But it just depends on the wish of the producers...
Download Romains performance from SOI 2003 called "Tonight"
here! (5,13 mb)
Well, as you mentioned before, you’re now starring
in the “Hot Ice!” tour in England. Can you tell
us a little more about that?
It's not a tour but a fixed show which takes place every year
for about 7 months (from March to November) in Blackpool.
It’s a bit different than the “Holiday on Ice”
show for example, cause nobody is really chorus and everybody
has their own spot which relates to their abilities. It’s
a very creative show!
Do you have to adjust your ideas a lot when it comes
to performing in these shows?
It depends on the vision of the choreographer and the producer.
Even if their concept of the act is interesting, I still have
to deal with their ideas, and sometime that’s not exactly
how I see things. But that’s the consequence of acting
in a professional show with 30 other skaters.
The show in England is, in my eyes, one of the best professional
year round shows in existence, but I can’t choose the
music I play since the act is part of the production concept.
But I knew and accepted that, and it’s only sometimes
I feel a bit frustrated.
For the German tour, it was different. Daniel and Jennifer
Weiss (producers and choreographer) and I made some fair compromises
so it was more half and half. I loved the chance to play for
Albena Denkova and Maxim Stavisky. They are such a nice skating
team in my eyes, and so nice in real life too!
But it was my first big presentation of this act, so I improved
a lot since that time and resolved a lot of things that I
have to deal with by playing the piano and skating (it’s
quite hard). I now feel that I can elaborate on my act a lot
more and that some day I’ll really be able to present
this Act in a big tour of my very own ideas!
What kind of things did you have to resolve? |
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