Ballet artistry on ice - figure skater Ilia Kulik

Dance Magazine, March, 1997 by Susan Reiter

He is the golden boy of the moment in figure skating, and everyone involved in the sport seems to know it. Television commentators farily gush about his talent during competitions, referring to him as either a newcomer filled with promise or the leading contender he has quickly become. Ilia Kulik was, after all, the silver medalist at the 1996 World Figure Skating Championship; he will be going for the gold this month at the championships in Lausanne (ABC Sports will offer coverage on March 16, 20, 22, and 27; check local listings for exct times). Next winter, he is sure to be a prime contender for the all-important Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. This fresh-faced young Russian with the engaging personality, so poised and mature at age nineteen, brings to the ice a dancer's musicality, astoudingly buoyant and precise jumps, and a fluidity of phrasing rare among male skaters.

Until his surprising gold-metal performance at the 1995 European Championships, Kulik was known only to figure-skating insiders for having won the world junior title for two years. Yet there he was, looking like a seventeen-year-old choirboy, a triumph at his first major international competition at the senior level. He not only took the lead over 1994 Olympic gold medalist Alexei Urmanov and other veteran top-level skaters, but gave articulate interviews in English to eager American television reporters.

That triumph, unfortunately, was followed by a less-than-spectacular showing at that year's world championships in Birmingham, England, where he finished ninth. He blames this lapse, in part. on the exhibition performance that their sports federation had persuaded him and other Russian skaters to give in the dry heat and high altitudes of Mexico, just before traveling to the damp chill of Britain. He has proved to be an important and consistent contender over the past two seasons, however, and has forced many of skating's movers and shakers to take notice.

During a recently telecast competition, former world champions Brian Boitano and Kurt Browning (both now professionals and thus not facing direct competition with Kulik) took turns expressing their astonishment at Kulik's abilities. "The jumps look so easy for him; they're like breathing," noted Boitano. Browning admired the purity of Kulik's jumps, remarking "nobody seems to step into a jump with reckless, cocky abandon more than he does. He just has the mind-set, and all the talent in the world."

Kulik was fortunate in his timing; he began skating seriously at an early enough age to benefit from the well funded, solidly established Soviet sports system. His parents first brought him to the local rink because skating was the logical winter sport for a Moscow boy during the winter, when he would be denied soccer and other outdoor games. By the age of six, he was already getting more serious about it, and he went to the Red Army Club for training. At eight, he was taking part in a national competition, placing second in his age group.

His training consisted of practices on the ice, ballet sessions, and workouts (such as running, jumping, and weight lifting) to build strength and power. The ballet classes given to skaters consisted of simple exercises, he says, but they were a component of his regimen from the start.

"When I was ten, all the training was free," recalls Kulik. "The government chose the most talented children, and if they didn't have money, it covered everything. That's why the Soviet Union made such a strong showing in skating. Today it's a different situation; not many people have enough money to bring their children for sports training, so some talented ones are missing the opportunity they might have had before. I was lucky; my timing was good. If I was starting right now, I wouldn't be able to skate."

Last spring saw many changes for Kulik. Like so many other top Russian skaters, he found it necessary to leave home. "Everything has changed," he says ruefully. "It's hard to train there; the ice is bad; the locker rooms are cold. There is no gym or ballet studio available-there's no opportunity for development. There is so much traffic in Moscow right now that to travel the ten kilometers from my home to the rink takes about forty minutes; I would have to spend that time four times a day."

He moved to Marlboro, Massachusetts, which is about forty minutes from downtown Boston. Along with switching agents (he is now managed by William Morris), he also switched coaches. While he lived in Moscow, he worked with Victor Kudryavtsev. In Marlboro he is coached by Tatania Tarasova. Although she choreographed his programs for last year's competitions, she has only been his coach since last May. Her background has been primarily with pairs (including Irina Rodnina and Alexander Seitsev) and ice dance (1988 Olympic gold medalists Bestemianova and Bukhin); she is also the director and choreographer of the Russian All-Stars, a skating ensemble that appeared with Torvill and Dean several years ago and that recently performed for several weeks in Atlantic City.