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The main dance couple of the Evgeni Plushenko Academy has broken up. What happened and why even the legendary Natalya Linichuk did not save her — in the material Sport.
What's wrong?
The project of a dance school within the academy of the two-time Olympic champion seemed loud and ambitious last fall. Plushenko did a really cool job, killing two birds with one stone at once — he pulled Valery Angelopol, who already had an agreement with Arina Ushakova, out of the bureaucratic trap, and signed one of the most powerful coaches in the history of ice dancing — Linichuk — from the USA.
Very quickly, juniors also joined the group, and after the opening of the Moscow skating rink, the department, which by that time had already grown considerably, also received its own base. Just a few months — and a new player in the market has emerged from scratch, which will have to be reckoned with in the near future. And what a player! Natalya Vladimirovna is known in the dance community not only for her vast coaching experience, but also for her phenomenal ability to achieve her goal in the classroom — both soft and hard power. Upon returning to Russia, she immediately received the first pair (at that time — Ushakova/Angelopol), a junior reserve and a strong rear in the form of Plushenko and his wife Yana Rudkovskaya. It would seem, well, what could possibly go wrong?
And now, six months have passed, and almost everything has gone wrong. At first, Ushakova and Angelopol could not bring themselves to skate with each other — the issue of physical fitness and character inconsistency arose. Linichuk was not against the guys looking for partners on the side for each other, since she did not believe in their pairing from the beginning. As a result, Angelopol quickly agreed with Alexandra Shinkarenko, and Ushakova tried to form a duet with former singles player Ilya Yablokov, but nothing came of this idea.
As a result, instead of a powerful first pair (Angelopol and Ushakova on paper were ideally suited to each other in terms of skating level), Linichuk received one unskated duet and one top partner who could not find a boy. Everything is complicated by the fact that Ushakova’s needs are quite specific — a tall and well-gliding girl needs a powerful partner, but the academy didn’t know where to look for him. By the way, not only Arina faced this problem; at the moment, several dancers with similar difficulties are training there.
They wanted to be partners, but they became subordinates
The fact is that during the years of absence from Russia, Natalya Vladimirovna lost a little contact with the local dance world. In order to immediately find partners, you need to be in context and know where you can get material from, and this is exactly what the legendary coach lacks at this stage. The problem of personnel selection lies in the same plane. Linichuk is the head of the dance department of the academy, and, logically, she does not work in ice skating. In this regard, it would not hurt to have at least two more strong specialists who are ready to take on the main training load. Taking into account the creation of a pair of 17-year-old Alexandra Shinkarenko and Angelopol — the only one, by the way, of those who were ready to represent the school as masters of sports — this condition became almost necessary, because the duet had to not only be “packed”, but also rolled out .
In this regard, the spring arrival of two-time world champions Maxim Stavisky and Albena Denkova as senior coaches to the team looked like an almost ideal option, solving all the problems at once. Firstly, Maxim is an experienced director who is well versed in modern rules. Secondly, he and Albena actually work in skates and are ready to tinker with equipment. Thirdly, Stavisky is an extremely sought-after specialist in our dances, collaborating on a freelance basis with Anzhelika Krylova, Alexander Zhulin, and Elena Maslennikova/Ilya Averbukh. Getting him on your staff means not only strengthening your own team, but also indirectly weakening your competitors. And lastly, Stavisky gets along well with Angelopol, which practically guaranteed a stable atmosphere in the group. .jpg» />
But in the end, after a couple of months, the cooperation, which threatened to last at least until the start of the season, unexpectedly ended. In an interview, Stavisky talked about it as follows: takes away entirely. Well, we were counting on a more partnership-like relationship with Natalya Vladimirovna, but she needs more, so to speak, subordinates. It’s okay, we parted ways calmly.
— You yourself trained with Linichuk.
“That’s why Albena and I were so interested in working with her.” In principle, we have found a common language on many issues, but there are disagreements, and this is inevitable. They ultimately led to the fact that now, at least, we will not work together.
In June, as sources reported, the Shinkarenko/Angelopol pair also broke up, without having had time to take part in a single start. Linichuk's team, according to our information, was able to add only one specialist — Arina Ushakova, who apparently despaired of finding a suitable partner and decided to start a coaching career. However, it is logical to assume that at the moment Arina does not yet have enough experience and knowledge to immediately begin working with adult duets. It is quite possible that this was one of the reasons why the cooperation with Shinkarenko/Angelopol also ended before it had really begun. Currently, Natalia Vladimirovna has several juniors and one established pair, Yaroslava Vorobyova/Georgy Tsymbalov, with whom the specialist is particularly interested.
However, given the latest news, it can be stated that Plushenko's academy did not manage to immediately enter the dance world. Apparently, they will have to work in this direction for a long time. But whether they are ready for this — only time will tell.