Dallas, TX - June 5, 1997
I find the opening introductions and the ending curtain calls to be way too busy to take notes, especially with a camera to my eye, so
He skated Close Every Door wonderfully. He followed Dorothy Hamill's program, and did a couple small jumps in the darkness during her bows. And he got a big response from the audience every time he stepped into the spotlight (opening, cold spot, & finale).
We're familiar with the program, the music & the costume. He was on in that he presented well, and did not fall, and some things were technically excellent... and a couple were a little half- hearted. I suppose that's par for the course, however, this deep into the tour. Also, the (6.9.97 issue) Newsweek article mentioned Tara having a bad sore throat in Florida, and J Barry Mittan just posted about how Nicole Bobek had a bad sore throat lately, too. So it is entirely possible that the creeping crud is working its way through the entire company, and whether Todd has it, or has had it, or is incubating it, might have been a cause for his tiring out near the end. Well, that & burnout.
Technical elements: Nice 3-loop, Fantastic 3-Axel, a Lutz (with my eye in the viewfinder, so I did not get a good sense of the number of rotations, but they seemed slow, so it may have been a double Lutz).
He did a nice, high flying sitspin, then popped a loop (or a salchow). Next, he went into that spiral; came aroung to center ice for a flying camel/tap/sitspin... a Hamill camel, and right after Dorothy's program. Made me chuckle aloud. The people in the audience around me thought I was a kook, I am sure.
He went into that lovely back spin in the demi-layback position), which I had to snap my shutter at, and as I flicked my flashlight on for a fraction of a section to verify my shot count after taking the photo, Todd left the ice in a "triple something," but I didn't see the prep, I'm ashamed to say, so I'm only guessing that it was a toe loop.
Next, he seemed to go for a double Axel, but popped it into a single, then came around a little and made a big, controlled double Axel (came away from that with an expression on his face that made me think he'd spike the football, had he had one to spike;-) ) From there, he did a mini deathdrop (the drop with a couple sitspin revolutions, instead of a prolonged sitspin), and then his well-executed but extremely familiar combination spin Number One. I've got to say that he has, for me, improved his ability to connect with the audience in the year between his last visit to Dallas and this visit. My attention did not wander off to the wings, nor did I find myself beginning to compile a shopping list... both of which I found myself doing during This is the Moment last year. No such mind slippage *this* year!
Todd did a fine job in Dallas, and I find I am completely overlooking the two pops in my memory of the performance. If I hadn't written down those flaws, I probably would have forgotten all about them.
