Interview with Albena and Maxim, December 2009

Here´s an interview with Albena and Maxim from December 2009, published in a Russian journal.
Thanks a lot to the original (unknown) uploader in Russian vkontakte and to the girls of Russian svetlyachki forum for posting this interview!!

Would be really great if someone of our Russian speaking posters will be so kind to translate this into English! Many thanks in advance!

I´m curious about this interview , but I can´t translate text from pictures ...

Thank you, Petra, for the interview: )

Here's my quick translation:

The two-times world champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Stavisky, who are inseparable both on ice and in life, agreed to separate and dance with other partners in a TV-project. We talked to the most beautiful and famous pair of Bulgaria about cpnflict with stars, importance of make-up and objectivity of marks.

What do you think is the secret of popularity of the "Ice Age"?

Maxim: First, Ice dance is a beautiful and very spectacular sport. Second, not only famous sportsmen, but also stars of theatre, cinema and show-business take part in the project and they show up in quite a different light.

What can you say about your relations with your star partners?

Maxim: It's an amazing tandem of sportsmen, with their wonderful skating skills, and of people of art, with their acting skills. We, sportsmen, are in charge of skating, leaving the emotional expressiveness of dances to our artistic companions.

Albena: It's very interesting and comfortable for us to work together.

Do conflicts happen sometimes?

Maxim: There may be some minor problems. Working with Alissa, I use the carrot and stick approach (Alissa Grebentchikova is Maxim's partner in the ice show). And this leads to a good result - her skating is getting much better.

When the stars fall down, do they rise again easily, do they worry a lot?

Maxim: Bruises and injuries are an inseparable part of lerning to skate, All our partners understand this and bear their falls bravely.

Albena, Maxim, you are always together - both at work and in your free time. Don't you get tired of each other?

Albena: Not at all. As we complement each other perfectly. Maxim is a big optimist with a great sense of humor, who is fun to be with. On the contrary, I am a realist, and I make him to be serious, and he doesn't let me to be bored.

Albena, you are said to create your skating costumes and do your hair yourself.

Albena: There's nothing unusual for me in it. It's sport and not a runway, you are quite unlikely to meet a make-up artist at a sport competition, that's why I always make up myself. The same with my hair, and I also have to help my partner with his. As to our costumes, first of all, it's much easier to create them myself - it saves a lot of time, as I always know very well what I like and what suits me.

Can you go on ice without make-up?

Albena: I can't. never. The thing is we need make-up for the audience to see all our emotions when we skate. Because stadiums are usually huge, bright eyes, lips and complexion are crucial.

Can any person learn to do the difficult elements you do?

Maxim: Earlier I was sure that to skate professionally one must have not only a desire but also proper physical condition. On the project I saw that people who could harly stand on ice began to do very difficult elements. Or, let's take "single skaters" (sportsmen who skate alone). They never competed in a pair and this means they never did any lifhts and other elements necessary for pair skating. But can you imagine that looking at performances of our colleague Alexey Yagudin and his partner Valeria Lanskaya?

What qualities would you call the most important for a sportsman?

Maxim: A sportsman must be goal-oriented and have a strong character. And, of course, commitment, skills and desire to train a lot are very important.

How much does the success of a performance depend on a good costume?

Albena: A costume is an extremely important detail. Besides the fact that it must be comfortable, a costume makes your skating bright and your image - expressive and complete.

Should a costume be "probed" or were there any cases when you put it on for the first time on the day of your performance?

Maxim: It's very important to train your dance in the costume you'll compete in. You don't actually need unpleasant surprises during skating, do you?

There are some invited judges in the project: actors, journalists, people from show-business, they all are very far from figure skating. Can they really judge objectively?

Maxim: It's amazing, but sometimes their judgements are more objective than the profesionals. Why? The invited judge watches the show as a member of the audience: he looks not at the technical skills, but at the performance as a whole, at how good the images are shown, how the skaing follows music etc.

What do high marks depend on? On preparation, luck, maybe on the judges' disposition?

Albena: I think, all these constituents are equally important.

Albena, you have to spend a lot of time in different cities. Where do you like to stay most?

Albena: In my native Sofia. I like it a lot and I always miss it if I have to leave my native city for a long time.

Do you stick to any food plan?

Albena: We try to lead a healthy life. It includes food. We ignore fast food, try to eat useful products, a lot of fruit and vegatebles. But sometimes we cut ourselves some slack - especially on the New Year's eve, when it's so difficult to resist the temptation.

I like the way Albena looks on the pics, but, frankly speaking, I totally dislike the composition, especially on the third picture

WOW ! This was quick !!
Thank you so much for the translation, dear Vala!!!
You have a big heart for us non-Russian-speaking here !!
Now I can really enjoy the interview ; before I could only enjoy the pics ...

For me the last pic of Albena is the best one...
Beautiful Albenka, really!

And now I´ll read the interview, thanks to Vala ...

Yes, thank you so much for the translation, cute_n_gorgeous - it's so good to read an interview again, and such a nice one! And thank you, Petra, for posting it!
I wished I could read Russian...

Wow, gorgeous photos!!! Thanks so much, Petra, for this interview!!

I made a signature with these pics

Thank you very much dear girls!!

To Petra for posting it and to cute_n_gorgeous for the translation!!
Really a pleasant interview..
( I like all the pics!! )

Thank you Vala and Petra.Sweet interview and i like the pictures.
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