Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh Show

Report from Petra: In September 2003, the show of the Russian ice dancers Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh took place in Novosibirsk/Siberia. Evgeni was invited. At first he wasn't feeling good because he has an injured knee, he almost call it off his participation in this show. But for his friend Ilia Averbukh, it was important that he would come to perform at his show. Evgeni told: "We (he and Alexei Mishin) agreed to take part in this tour long ago. Then we were going to refuse, but Ilya Averbuch told we have to come, besides I felt a little bit better, so we decided to go". There was no sign of that he would have been in pain, he was in a very good mood (as what I could see from the video) and skated with a lot of engery, the only this is that he didn't do as much jumps as usual, which was understandable, but honestly they weren't missed. The presentation and artistry of the two programs he performed were fantastic!! He skated first to "Adagio" by Albinoni, Irina and Ilia announced him and the crowd went wild! Evgeni showed a big smile as he entered the ice. He skated his program as usual with a lot of passion. Fantastic footwork and a triple Toeloop and a double Axel. The audience applauded so much after his performance that he gave an encore doing a triple Toeloop and a sit/scratch spin. His second program was "Town wich doesn't exist" by Igor Korneliuk. Again the audience greeted him with a loud applause and screams. Not only the audience enjoyed that program very much but Evgeni too, he smiled all the time. He showed a triple Toeloop and the Adagio circular footwork wich seems to be even more beautiful with this program. Then he went to a long belly slide over ice. He threw kisses to the audience. The highlight was a new footwork sequence wich seems to be the one form his new program, really awesome! At this point you forgot that he just did one jump, so wonderful was this performance! Another highlight came at his encore which the audience called for with a non-ending applause! He didn't disappointed them and surprised the crowd with a part of "Sex Bomb" with the same costume he had before. He came back on ice, running wild over the ice as fast as he could and turned at the other side of the rink. This part was very funny, him doing the "Sex Bomb" poses not having the usual body builder costume, this was so unusual. He did another double Axel and a fast scratch spin. This was really a great treat! He never misses to amaze and entertain us! At the final, every skater came on ice waving the Russian flag, so did Evgeni. Photos: Screen captures from the show.