Answers

2000/2001 Figure Skating Season

Hello! I've got a question about good skating clubs in Germany. My girlfriend is thinking to move to Germany to be closer to me, but one big "problem"; she is addicted to figure skating! She practices 3-4 times per week and loves to do amateur competitions. She will not be happy if she can't skate. Is there any good coaches and clubs anywhere near Aachen? Who can we contact?
Jason Soo
Aachen, NRW, Deutchland - Monday, July 30, 2001 at 18:50:14 (MET DST)
 

If your girlfriend wants to move to Aachen too, it would be the best to contact someone from the skating club in Dortmund, that is the biggest one near Aachen with good skaters and coaches. You should contact Mr. Peter Meyer, unfortunately we don´t have the phone number at the moment, but you can may be find it out under www.deu.de, that is the homepage from our German federation, if not just contact someone of the federation, o.k.?
We hope, we could help you a little bit.
Bye and greetings from Oberstdorf send you Kati Winkler and René Lohse

Hi Kati & Rene
I first saw you on the 98 Olympics and thought your numbers were two of the best in the dance event, particularly the jive. I have now only just seen your FDs and ODs from the past two years (being in Australia we don't get to see anything unless we get it from overseas). They were absolutely fantastic. I loved the idea of the spiritual music - it is so joyful and you really reflected that. Even a couple of the dance coaches at my local rink were very impressed with your programmes and the way you skate. (I did a copy for them to watch).
Anyway I have my tickets for the Goodwill Games and hoping so much that you will be coming down for them so I suppose that is my question - are you coming to Brisbane?
As for the suggestion about skating to Anna's song - well Silverchair are one of Australia's biggest band - you could pick up a copy here.
Here's hoping to see you in Brisbane.
Regards
Kim
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Friday, June 29, 2001 at 07:47:30 (MET DST)
 

Thanks for your mail and the compliments you gave us for our programs. We really would love to come to Brisbane, but there are some rules for coming there. As long as we heard will be there only the first five or six from worlds, and we were unfortunately only seventh, so we can not come. But may be another time :-(
All the best to you and sorry, that we could answer only now. We are having a really busy summer... Until next time Grettings from Germany send you
Kati and René

Hallo Kati & René !
I have been watching the whole week a videotape that a friend sent me with the "Tango Café"  exhibition of last year in Helsinki, and I must admit that I'm so impressed that you can
skate that well with someone that are not your partners !!
Well, after I discovered that Susanna & Petri train as well in Oberstdorf, so think that it has something to be in all this !! ;o)
These are my two questions ( huh, how much I make you work !! :oP ) :
Did you prepare that awesome tango, the one I *LOVE* and had the pleasure of enjoy in Lalique, for that event and used after in the exhibitions ?! And did you have to train too much with Susanna & Petri to do it the wonderfully way you did ?!
Hope that you'll have the best luck for the next season because you deserve it so much !! Best Wishes to you both !!
Ana
Madrid, the too much sunny lately Spain ! - Sunday, May 27, 2001 at 14:59:19 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Ana!
Thanks for your mail and great that you could watch a tape from the TANGO CAFE in Helsinki. Actually our Tango was a former Original Dance of us, we just changed it a little bit to skate it in shows. And the numbers with Susanna and Petri we praticed may be three days in Oberstdorf, because Susanna and Petri were in this time mostly in Finnland to prepare everything for the shows.
We are really sorry, that they are not anymore in Oberstdorf now, but for them a new life has started :-) We could learn a lot from them and it was a great time.
O.k., Ana all the best to you, think we will still skate the Tango in some shows, like upcoming shows with Katarina Witt
Bye and greetings from Oberstdorf send you Kati and René

Translated from German: Are there any video tapes to buy from your free dances of the last years?
M. Rottler
Schweinfurt, Deutschland - Friday, May 25, 2001 at 13:45:44 (MET DST)
 

We think, there are no video tapes available. But we know someone from the figure skating magazine "pirouette" (Klaus-Reinhold Kany). He has almost everything video taped. Maybe it's a good idea to write to the magazine. Also an inquiry to our fan club could be helpful.

Greetings, Kati and René

Hello, Kati and Rene.
I am thankful that you came to Japan for NHK Trophy and Grand Prix Final. Your live performance pleased me very much!
My question is about your OD "Cabaret". Not only the costumes but also the make-up(beauty spots on your faces)is very cute and cheerful! Who hit on the idea to wear beauty spots?
As watching your live performance is my great love, I'm looking forward to coming to Japan next season.
Ikuyo MOROMACHI
Chiba, JAPAN - Sunday, May 6, 2001 at 17:23:50 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Ikuyo
Thanks for your mail. We really liked to skate our OD "Cabaret" this season and we saw the movie "Cabaret" with Liza Minelli many times. There came the idea to wear beauty spots... Because it just fits to this time, where Cabaret was playing.
We still don´t know, if we can skate NHK-Trophy next year, but we hope to be there for worlds in Nagano!! :-)
So see you next year in Japan
Greetings from Germany send you Kati and René

Hi! you guys are so cool, I was in Nice last year for Worlds and its true what they say about skaters knowing how to party :-P anyway, my question is, now that the 2000-2001 worlds are over what did you think of the icedance judging in Vancouver? I know a lot of people (including Marina!) think that the placements were a bit, eeerrrr, strange. What do you think about this? (I understand if you don't want to get involved in the POLITIKS :-P!!!)
Also have you thought anymore about music selection for next season's free dance?
I think you would do a fantastic program to a big-beat techno/dance/trance combination (sort of like "Time goes Millenium" with Faithless but slightly different :-P) I would also LOVE it if you could use "Blues for Clock",it would suit you SO well. But it is a wellknown piece of skating music... Henri Mancini's "Arabesque" soundtrack is also fantastic, dramatic and a little different.
Okay I should stop now :-P, love, Rachel xoxoxo
Rachel
Wales - Wednesday, April 11, 2001 at 00:00:34 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Rachel
Thanks for your mail and the music suggestions you gave us, we will listen to them. We are still working on the new ideas for olympic season, it is still everything open, nothing to talk about.
We just came back from our German Tour and will have some days in Berlin with our families.
Yes, about judging in worlds... We also think in this sport is a lot of politic, but somehow it will never change as long as people are judging people...We were just sad, that really nothing changed after the compulsories. Because we think, every couple has different parts, where they are stronger. So we would like to see some changes at least in between the results after compulsories and OD and FD. But it seems to be like a wall.
Thanks again for your mail and best wishes to you.
Greetings from Germany sending you Kati and René

Hello! I'm your devoted fan as you know ;-D, and the first person who signed up the Guest Book of this site.
First of all, Congratulations on your all performance of this season! I could watch your live performance 5times in this season (Gelsenkirchen, Paris, Frankfurt-Main, Tokyo and Vancouver), it was very exciting experience for me! Especially, I'm very glad to see your wonderful performance at Grand Prix Final!
My questions are here,
I heard that you changed OD's costome to take judges' opinions, but I noticed you also changed freedance's costome a little bit(only Kati's skirt?). Could you tell me how come you did it and if you felt something different from former one?
And one more question, can I have the song's title that you used at Nations Cup's Exibition?
I wish big success of Germany Stars on Ice, and I'm looking forward to seeing you next season!
Asako ISHIKAWA
Vancouver, British Colombia, CANADA - Sunday, April 8, 2001 at 07:59:07 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Asako
Thanks for your mail and also a great thanks again for the watches you gave us in Vancouver.
I hope, you got our letter with the autographed card and the photos!
Now to your questions:
Yes, i also changed the skirt for the free, because it looked very havy in the first competitions and i felt much better, when the skirt was moving with our movements! :-)
The title we skated in the exhibition in Gelsenkirchen last year was from Carlos Santana "Europe".
We are back from our German Tour now, and starting to plan the new season, and we will be some days with our family. We missed them a lot in the last time.
I hope you are fine and you are having a great time in Vancouver.
Until next season, all the best to you, Asako! Kati and René

Hallo Kati & René !
I was watching your beautiful skating in Lalique last November and can't wait to see you again !  Here are my questions: I know that there's a great mood in the competitions between the skaters, but which ones are your best friends, the ones you have the best time with at parties ?! And which present ones you like better ?! Best wishes for you both; I will send you the off-ice photos that I took from you in Paris, you're great in them !! Love you!
Ana
Madrid, the sunny Spain ! ;) - Sunday, March 18, 2001 at 00:10:03 (MET)
 

Hallo, Ana!
Thanks for your mail, sorry, that we couldn´t answer earlier!
Yes, the mood between the skaters is really good, but our best friends are Gwendal Peizerat, also Mauri and Barbara, the Lithuanians and the Bulgarians Albena and Maxim. But we think, we can not tell, which present ones we like better, we have our opinion, but we also think, everybody has to practise very, very hard to get to that level, so we have also respect for everyone.
Bye for today and we are looking forward for the photos!!
:-) Big smiles from Kati and René

Hi Kati and Rene! I just want to tell you that I am a big fan of yours and that I really enjoy your Cabaret OD this season! Congratulations on making the Grand Prix final!
My question is: Have you made a decision about your future plans, especially after the 2002 Olympics? Do you want to continue in eligible skating, or would you like to do more tours and shows?
Also, a more personal question (you don't have to answer if it's too personal): Have you two ever dated each other?
Bryan
California, USA - Wednesday, January 10, 2001 at 08:02:13 (MET)
 

Hi, Bryan
Thanks for your mail.
Yes, we made a decision about our future plans, we will go on until 2003 and then we will see, if it is worth for us to skate maybe one more year with shows or tours.
But we also look beside skating, René is studying in the moment sports- and touristic- management, I try to learn better French, because I still want to study after skating, maybe European or International Business.
So we will see, what the future brings, you can not make to big plans as a sportsman, there can always change something.
Now to your second question. Yes, we dated each other, but that was already a long time ago and only for a short time, I think, we were fourteen or fifteen. We realized, that we should be good friends, instead of falling in love. But we are really close friends, this is a good thing, because we spend many, many hours together. And we both have our relationships outside of the skating-world.
We hope, we could answer your questions. Take care and best wishes to you for the new year 2001!
Greetings from Oberstdorf send you Kati and René

Aloha Kati and Rene,
Congratulations on a successful grand-prix season. I love your OD an Free Dance. Especially your OD. You really bring cabaret alive and it's great to see. I'm a performance arts student as a writer and the theme of Cabaret is really was fun and well choreographed. I showed your OD on tape to my teacher who is not a skating fan but she loved it! So congrats! I have a few questions. How do you feel about the judging this year? I've notice changes in the placings probably the most significant is beating Bourne/Kraatz in the OD at Nations' Cup, are you glad to see ice dancing going into a less subjective sport? Also there is this song that I love its from a alternative band named Silverchair its called "Anna's Song" its a real passionate song and has beautiful dynamic changes. Everytime I here it I could see both of you skating to it. Its a song that I think you can choreograhed well as an exhibition, if you have time, would you consider listening to it? The song really exhudes your passionate and theaterical skating style. Anyway good luck the rest of the season!!!!
Kris
Hawaii, USA - Wednesday, December 13, 2000 at 07:26:47 (MET)
 

Aloha Kris,
Thanks for your mail and sorry, that we can answer only now, but the last time was really busy for us!
Great, that you like our OD, we are always happy, to hear that from the audience, because we always skate for them! I don't know, if the judging is better or different this year, maybe they start to be less subjective, but we will see.
It was good, that we had the possibility to beat the Canadians in the OD, because this made us to get in the Grand Prix Final through Tie breaking. But you will see, there will still come some changes in the big competitions like worlds.
Thanks for your suggestion with "Annas Song" of Silverchair, but first of all we have to find the music, because we live in a little village and need time to go to a bigger city, but promised, we will listen to it!!
Thanks again!!
Bye for today and all the best to you from Kati and René

Aloha Kati and Rene,
I have one more question......You are the only team in the top 10 right now that vocal music comprises 100% of your free dance, why have most dance teams decided to use non-vocal music this season?
Kris
Hawaii, USA - Saturday, December 16, 2000 at 11:08:16 (MET)
 

Aloha, Kris!
We are not sure, why we are the only ones in the top ten with 100% vocal music for the free dance, but the trend this year seems to be very dramatic in all the musics.I think it just happened by accident, that we are the only ones.
We have also no explanation for it, sorry. But we think, it is good for the audience to use vocal music, but it must not be 100%.
We just decided this year for vocal music throughout, may be next year something else??
Happy New Year wish you Kati and René

Bravo for your third place at the Lalique!
I have met Martin Skotniky after your OD and I've asked him to kiss you for me, I hope that he has done it and meet you too a day. I like a lot your OD, it's so original and very good skated. I should put you second after Marina and Gwendal because I find it more difficult technically than the Russian's dance. I like your free dance too but perhaps the costume don't show you in favorable light and it wasn't enough speed but I read that René was sick. I think you have the talent to do the best. Good luck for the season. I kiss you again. Sabine from France.
PS: Do you know where can I buy photos and videos about you? Thank you.
Juge Sabine
Wednesday, November 29, 2000 at 02:39:37 (MET)
 

Hallo, Sabine!
Thanks a lot for your mail and your congratulations, we will work on our free dance until Europeans, may be we will also change some things to improve it. But first of all we are really happy that we could reach the Grand Prix final!
Sorry, Sabine that we can not help you with buying fotos or videos about us, but maybe Ines from the fan club can help you.
They founded a fanclub for us and she is working for it.
Thanks again for being a true fan!!
Greetings from Oberstdorf and have a happy new year!!
Kati and René

Rene and Kati-
Just want to wish u luck this season. I have 2 questions, the 1st one is of the countries u have
visted ,which one is your favourite? The other one is how long have u guys been learning English? Do u speak it fluently? u find it comfortable when you speak it?
Thanks in advance.
Roland
Laguna Beach, CA, U.S - Friday, November 10, 2000 at 00:58:50 (MET)
 

Hi, Roland!
Thanks for your Mail!
Sorry, that we can't tell you a real favourite, because we love to travel and every country has something special...
We have never been to Australia, that's our biggest dream to get there somewhen. The competitions are not always in the most beautiful cities, and sometimes we can see only hotels and ice rinks, so it is hard to tell.
We love the states too, but we have never been to Florida or California, we were just in Colorado, Springfield, Pittsburgh and Detroit.
But we loved New York, even if we were only for one day there.
As to your second question: We have learnt English in school for five years, but we learnt it more from travelling, I wouldn't say we can speak it fluently, we have for sure a lot of gramatical mistakes, but we can understand it very well, and I also can read books in English, so it is fine.
And I find it very comfortable to speak, for me it was easier to learn then any other language, because you are also always confronted with English in songs, in advertising and so on. That's how you get it easier.
Best wishes to you and greetings from Germany Kati and René

Hello Kati and René
I am disappointed that you have only obtained the sixth place at the world championship,your free progamm was so modern and original.I think you are the beautifulest ice-dancers.
What will be the theme of your free programm 2000\2001? Are you made choice for the music?
I would like to know the dates of your birthdays. Think you for your answers. I hope to see you at the Lalique Trophee.I wish the best for you.Kisses.Sabine from France.
Sabine JUGE
France - Saturday, July 29, 2000 at 02:52:17 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Sabine!
Now we are practicing for the new season, we will maybe skate to Gospel-music next season, the theme will be then "Gospel-message of hope"...
Our birthdays are on the 16th of January (Kati) and 23rd of September (René).
Thanks for your mail! All the best to you. Greetings from Oberstdorf sending you
Kati and René
PS: See you in Paris for the Trophee Lalique.

Hello Kati and René!
First of all, congratulations on a wonderful season! I was so impressed with all of your programmes this year and wish you the best of luck in creating new ones!
My question is, how will you train differently to overcome the teams that are ahead of you, and move up in the standings? Will you try to make more difficult dances, or skate with more speed? I think your lifts are the best in ice dancing.
Best of luck to Kati and René on the upcoming season! I hope you have a nice vacation and had a good tour in Germany.
Your fan,
Jen
Oregon, U.S.A. - Friday, June 30, 2000 at 21:27:37 (MET DST)
 

Hello, Jen
Thanks for your mail, sorry that we can only answer now but we were in the German tour, after that ten days of holidays and then for six weeks in the army to do a seminar.
Now we are back on the ice and working for the new season. It will be a hard way to move up further in ranking, we will do more difficult steps in the programs and we try to find good ideas again. We also try to improve the speed.
We will see...We'll try our best.
Best wishes to you. Greetings from Oberstdorf! Kati and René

Translated from German: Hello!
My questions refer to the new season:
When do you start your training again? When do you decide the new programs? Who is responsible for the new programs (choice music, choreography,...) Do you search all the time for new music even during the current season. I wish you all the best. Keep on!
Meike
P.S.: Are you training in Oberstdorf during the end of July and beginning of August?
Meike
Osnabrück - Monday, May 29, 2000 at 22:59:24 (MET DST)
 

Translated from German: Hello, Meike!
we will start into the new training season at the beginning of July, it may be a little bit late, but we can not begin earlier due to our army seminars.
We are already searching for new ideas, because doing that after our seminars would be much too late. Our coach, our both choreographers Marc Bogaerts and Werner Lipowsky and we are the persons participating in all the music and program decisions.
In the moment we are using the free weekends for meetings and we will again get help from the ballroom dancers Müller/Müller in Rastatt for our original dance.
If possible we are keeping our ears pricked up during the season for new ideas for the next season, but actually we don't have that much time for doing this. During the current season we are always very busy with developing the programs and new show dances too.
Around July 10th we will be back in Oberstdorf, and definitely in August.
We hope, we could answer all your questions!
Best wishes, Kati and René

Aloha Kati and Rene!!!
Congrats on your performance at Worlds!!! I'm so happy for you! I'm glad the U.S televised your Original dance. I was cheering you on!!! I'm a huge fan of your skating and you are my favorite skaters. Anyway now it's the off season and I know your touring for exhibitions but after that, what are you planning on doing? Vacationing? Anyway I hope you have fun during the summer off season and hope to hear from you again.
Mahalo Nui Loa
Kris
P.S Many Mahalos' (thank yous) to you for answering me back my questions during this season. I know you're busy and all and I'm so glad that you take the time to answer and write back to me.
Kris
Hawaii, USA - Monday, April 10, 2000 at 08:33:07 (MET DST)
 

Aloha, Kris,
finally the season is finished now, the tour through Germany was a lot of fun, but also a bit stressy. Maybe you can see something of the tour under the adress: http://www.spotlight-productions.de (Choose "Deutsch" and then "Tourtagebuch" and "Fotoalbum)
We are happy, because we will have two weeks of vacation now! René will go to Grand Canaria, I will spend some time with my family, still don't know where...after that we have a seminar in the army, René for four weeks, I have to do six weeks. Parallel we will slowly start to work a bit - new boots, ideas, music, technic, etc.
In the end of june and the beginning of july we will work with some choreographers.
We will probably start our season with the Sparkassen Cup in Gelsenkirchen/Germany. After we are planning to go to France and Japan. During the summer we will have a few shows.
Greetings to Hawaii, Kati and René

Translated from German: Hello Kati and Rene!
I have a short question to you. I know about the possibility to visit your training sessions but I have no idea when I should come around. When do you start your new season in Oberstdorf, f.e. this summer? Do you know if I can also visit Andrej Vlascenko's training sessions in Füssen? Andrejs and you are my favourite skaters and I hope to see him in Regensburg at Stars on Ice. I would be glad to hear from you and thank you very much in advance. Best wishes, Andrea.
P.S. Congratulations to your great performance at the Worlds!!!!!!!
Andrea Streche
Eichstätt, Bayern, Deutschland - Tuesday, April 4, 2000
 

Hello, Andrea!
Our new training season starts at the beginning of July here in Oberstdorf, we don't know yet if we also will have a training camp. But we are definitely here during September and October. There is a entrance fee of 2 DM for training sessions, but this has nothing to do with us...
You can probably attend Andrej's sessions too, but we do not know, how and when he trains. But that you can maybe find out via a different way??
Many thanks for your congratulations.
See you, Kati and René

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