Answers

Training, Ice Dance Career, Coaches

Hi Kati and Rene, I have three questions for you, one is short and easy, the others are rather long. First, is there any chance you would ever post vidoes of any of your dances on the website? Energy in particular. Second, do either of you have a particular dance that is your favorite of all the ones you've done? Third, I'm an aspiring jazz and modern dance choreographer so I was wondering, where have you gotten the inspiration to do each one of your free dances? They are all so different and have such creative ideas. Where have you gotten the ideas? Scott San Diego, CA, USA Sunday, September 25, 2005 at 06:37:27 (CEST): Hello, Scott
Thank you for your email, I will try to answer your three questions as best as i can.
1. If we can post videos on our website if have to talk to our webmaster, who is running our homepage.
2. Our favorite dances were always dances, which had to do with Latin. But the one i liked the most, was as Original Dance Tango Argentino and as Free Dance, hard to say, may be Yin and Yang.
3. The inspiration for our free dances always came together in a team, our coach, us and especially over the last years one choreographer from modern ballet, from Belgium, Marc Bogaerts, he has a big name in the ballet world. He gave us the ground for all these free dances.
All the best to you Scott and greetings to San Diego, i just have been in California for holidays, i loved it!
Kati and René :-)

Hello Kati and René!! Is it true you are ended your amator carrier?? I was very sed because i didn't you skate on Em in Budapest!! Kisses: Linda :)))) Linda Budapest, Hungary - Monday, April 26, 2004 at 19:33:24 (MET DST): Hello, Linda
We are still deciding how we go on, but we can tell you, we will go on skating, only shows or competitions. We will see and officially decide end of may.
Greetings to you from Germany
Kati and René :-)

Translated from German (shortened): Hello Kati & René! Do you continue to skate for another two years competitive or as pro? Or is your interview printed this week in the "Bunte" true, stating you are quitting your career? Every day the magazines and papers tell us a different version. Greetings from Düsseldorf! Isa Düsseldorf, Deutschland - Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at 22:32:39 (MET DST): Translated from German (shortened): Hello Isa,
I am sorry for all the confusion. The statements in the "Bunte" are overhasty and wrong. We have not yet decided how we will go on. At the end of May in connection to a skating show in Berlin we will announce our official decision. Enough time left to think about ...
Greetings to Düsseldorf from Kati and René :-)

Hi Kati, Rene! Congratulate for your 2nd place in Gelsengirchen. Your programs are very good! I love your skating style. What are you doing after when you are not skaitng?? Linda Budapest - Monday, November 17, 2003 at 17:33:54 (MET): Hello Linda,
we are not sure if you mean what we are doing in our leisure time or after our competitive career. But luckily you can already find both answers at the Q&A pages. Since we have not much time at present due to all the competitions and long training days, please read always at first our former answers. As to leisure time you can find the answers on our Hobbies, Leisure Time, Private Questions page and on Our Favourites page and as to our career, well that's a subject on our 2003/2004 Figure Skating Season page.
Greetings from Asahikawa,
Kati and René

Hi Kati and Rene! What are you doing day to day?? Linda Budapest - Monday, November 3, 2003 at 15:38:10 (MET): Hallo, Linda
Greetings back to you, you are asking what we are doing day by day... It is not so interesting, because most of the time we are practicing. First of all ballet, then ice training twice a day for two hours and some fitness training and athletics. When we have day off, we like to go out, meet friends, go shopping or just relax... So our life seems to be quite normal until competitions start. :-)
All the best to you and greetings from Oberstdorf
Kati and René

Hi Kati and Rene! Thanks the answer. Why do yo start to skate and when?? Whose your best friend in the ice skating world? Linda Budapest, Hungary - Wednesday, September 3, 2003 at 19:11:48 (MET DST): Hello Linda,
we started both to skate in East Germany, I was chosen in kindergarden, René came through his mum to skating. We both started as single skaters, with four years.
Together we started when we were thirteen years old.
We have a lot of friends in the skating world, our best friends are Gwendal Peizerat and we understand also very well with Barbara and Maurizio, Margarita and Povilas, the Bulgarians Albena and Maxim, we know them already a long time.
Greetings to you from Oberstdorf Kati and René

This is quite a delicate question but I was wondering if there is a problem with eating disorders among the female icedancers? :-(
Kati - it was REALLY COOL to read your views on dieting and keeping healthy :-)
I love you two ***so*** much, PLEASE stay eligible! and Kati you are VERY beautiful
hugs from England
Holly
UK - Sunday, April 7, 2002 at 21:15:09 (MET DST): Thanks for your mail back.
Yes, we will stay eligible, we will decide season after season now. but it is getting harder and harder with the judgement, but we will go on and fight further.
I guess, there are some problems with eating disorder among the female ice dancers, but I think, everyone has to decide himself how to live.
Live and let live...
Think I'm quite the biggest in ice dancing :-)
Greetings from Oberstdorf send you Kati and Rene

Translated from German: Hallo! What is the best age to start with ice dancing? Is it possible to start successful at the age of 12, 13 or 14? I am referring to ice dancing, because I believe, it's too late to learn the jumps in that age. Is it possible to start ice dancing without experience? Do you know ice dancers who did start in that age? I am asking because I did start ice dancing at the age of 14 (2000). Now I am doing a "sports year" to be able to completely concentrate on my training. I hope you can help!!! Greetings, Bianca Saturday, March 23, 2002 at 16:13:22 (MET): Translated from German: Hello Bianca,
it's hard to say whether it's too late or not, but we think, if you have so much fun in ice dancing everything is possible.
We do not know many examples, it's also depending on the talent. Hendryk Schamberger did start late, he works as coach in Berlin now. Saskia Stähler, a former skater from Dortmund, did also start late with dancing.
If you have much skating experience without special icedance knowledge, it's possible, because a good feeling for the ice is the most important aspect. Maybe it's not enough for becoming the World Champion, but give yourself goals within reach as long as you are enjoying ice dancing and try to be as ambitious as possible. Just do your best.
Good luck and much fun wishing you
Kati and Rene

What is the training diet for ice skating? What do you guys have to eat during competition to keep fit? What excercising do you do to keep fit? Allison Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. - Friday, February 22, 2002 at 00:49:49 (MET): We do not have special training diet. We eat quite normal, just during competition more noodles or rice to get power. Rene eats a lot of meat too, to get strength.
In little breaks we eat powerbar or cereals.
As exercises we do a lot of running and workout, Rene more with machines, i do more gymnastic things for the whole body and aerobics. I hope we could answer your question in the right way now.
Greetings from Germany Kati and Rene

do you guys share or have your own diet or nutrition that you follow to help you with your skating? thanks and good luck!! Brandy Ahearn Missoula, Montana, United States - Monday, February 25, 2002 at 23:13:44 (MET) Hello Kati, I want to ask you how you keep so slim, do you have a diet? did you know that you are underweight for your height? any diet advice you can share would be appreciated as I'm trying to slim myself. :) Thankyou, Kind regards, Maria Maria England - Monday, January 21, 2002 at 07:01:02 (MET): Hello, Maria,
actually I have no secret to keep slim, I'm not on a diet. I just try to avoid to much fat and sweets. I eat very normal, cereals for breakfast, lunch (most of the time noodles, fish, rice, vegetables, salad) and bread and vegetables in the evening.
The secret is to do a lot of sports. If your are trying to slim yourself, try to do a little bit of sport every day, if possible. And I would try to avoid fat, like butter and cream, and maybe try to eat five little things over the day, fruits between and not only three big meals.
I really don't believe in diets, it helps just for the moment and it is not good for the body.
Actually I'm almost the strongest of all the ice dancers in the championships, and it is not so easy for Rene to lift me, because I'm tall too. But I accept it like it is. I don't want to be to skinny, that I have no power. So I try to keep my weight like it is, but never did a diet.
Good luck for you, Maria!! I'm sorry, that i can not tell you a special diet, but like I told you, I don't believe in diets at all. :-)

Kati, I watched Ice Dancing for the first time a few days ago as you competed in Salt Lake City. I was particularly captivated by your performance which I thoroughly believe was the most exciting to watch of any other skater, let alone any other pair. I know nothing of how the competition is scored but by your grace and beauty alone, you should have received a medal. I am fascinated by the fact a woman with such elegance is also a soldier and I would love it if you would elaborate on your experiences as a member of the German Armed Forces. Thank you for your time and I wish you the best in skating and all of your other life endeavors. Sincerely, Jason Minneapolis, MN, USA - Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 02:55:42 (MET): Hello, Jason,
thanks for your mail.
Actually I'm in the German army, because this is the biggest supporter of sports here. Almost half of all the sportsmen you saw in the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City are in the army. We just have to do several seminars (I did the basic training, a seminar to become noncomissioned officer) to climb up in the rankings and to know what is going on in the army. The rest of the time we get off for practice and can concentrate on our sport. But we get paid through the army and that is important that we can go on with our sport.
So it was a good experience for life to be in the army and I learnt a lot, because I`m in the medical part of the army, but I also had to learn how to shoot, and to run and so on.
And there were no problems with men and women, we were half men half women and we all understood really well and helped each other.
You see, we represent the army through our sport and they support us as good as possible. I think this is a really great idea, because we can not go to work, but we have to practice hard every day and we have no sponsors. It is a good way to get good possibilities for your training, that's why so many sportsmen are members of the army in Germany.
I hope I could explain everything well to you.
Greetings from Oberstdorf Kati

Hi Kati & Rene, I would like to wish you all the best for your competitions! I hope your injury is getting better, Rene. How often do you get new skates? And what kind of skates do you wear? Do you always wear one brand only? I also wanted to know if you get very tired between training sessions? How much do you rest at home, or do you spend all your free time out with friends? I'am asking this because I skate a lot and I get really tired between training sessions! Thankyou Kati and Rene :) From Laura. U.S.A - Monday, January 21, 2002 at 06:30:08 (MET): Hello, Laura.
Thanks for your mail. Yes, the injury of Rene is getting better, we can already skate normal every day and we are still hoping so much for Olympics.
We change our skates every year, sometimes earlier and we wear since four years the same brand Graf skates from Switzerland, before we had Risport.
Yes, between skating sessions we also get very tired, but most of the time we rest or study a little bit, Rene is studying sports and tourism management, I try to learn french in the moment.
So thats what we do in between and relax, relax... Especially now after Renes injury we have a longer break between morning and afternoon sessions, that he can recover well. And for sure we meet our friends some time.
O.k. Laura, all the best to you, we hope, we could answer all your questions.
Greetings from Oberstdorf Kati and Rene

I saw you mention "Army seminars"? What are those? what do u do there? Is a requirment for every German? Do u get pay? thanks! Tiffany Irvine, CA, U.S - Thursday, November 9, 2000 at 22:48:45 (MET): Hi, Tiffany
Not every German has to go to the army, just the man have to do military service, but woman can also decide to go. We are both in the army, because we are in a special sports supporting group of the army. Many sportsmen in Germany do so, to have the possibility to practice all day like professionals. We can practice every day, but have to do once a year several seminars, to get a higher ranking. We are paid for being soldiers, that's how we can pay our sport in the moment.
In these seminars for the army, we do everything a soldier has to do, shooting, learning how to lead people, rescue, first aid and so on.
Best wishes and greetings to you Kati and René

Who designs your costumes? Elizabeth Roberts Liverpool, New York, United States Of America, Wednesday, May 31, 2000: We have different designers for the costumes, the costumes for last year's OD designed a former ballroom dancer from Giessen in Germany, Ralf Burk. For the free and compulsories we have a very creative woman, she does also design for theatres and stages. Her name is Tina Kitzing, she is very young and innovative, she was studying design in London. Now she is living in Augsburg. We have to travel a lot for our new costumes, but this is because we don't live in a big city in Germany, so we have to take that.
Best wishes and greetings from Kati and René!!!

First I'd like to say I think this homepage is really great! I've learned a lot about ice-dancing just by reading your Question/Answers and bios. One of the things I didn't know was that you take ballet lessons. Is that a requirement for ALL ice-dancers? Or do some just ballroom-dance? Which do you guys do the most? Ballet or ballroom? Which do you think is more influential on your work? I'd really love to know, 'cause I'm a dance major (theatre sience), and I've been wishing for some way to be alowed to write about figure skating. Maybe this is the way :) Lina Stockholm, Sweden - Saturday, April 15, 2000 at 09:08:30 (MET DST): Hello, Lina!
We think both, ballet and ballroom is very important for us ice dancers, it gives you a lot more feeling for dancing on the ice. Actually when we were living in Berlin we had more chances to do ballet, because here in Oberstdorf a ballet teacher is missíng and we try to do ballet by ourselves now, but more for warming up.
We work together with ballroom dancers specially for the original dance every year, but also only five or six times. We would love to do, a lot more, but we are living here in a little village in the mountains with great conditions for figure skating, but not many other possibilities.
But we think more influential should be ballet, because you can see in all the Russian ice dancers, that they had a great ballet knowledge to be so good on the ice.
Best wishes and greetings from Kati and René

Translated from German: How do you handle disagreements? Katja Mainz, RP, D, Sunday, October 11, 1998: Translated from German: Kati & René: Most figure skating related disagreements are solved by our coach. And if we have a row besides that, we clear it up as soon as possible outside the rink, that means we talk about the problem calmly.
Thank you for your e-mail, we hope, we could answer your question?
Best wishes, Kati & René

Do you think winning a medal at the next Olympics is a possability? How long to you plan to continue in amateur competition, and what will you do when you are through? David Brown Bathurst, N.B, Canada, Monday, September 21, 1998: Kati & René: Hallo, David!
Thanks for your E-Mail and being a fan of us! sorry, that we are answering only now.
We will try to continue until next Olympics in Salt Lake City, if we have the posssibility, to improve every year. About winning a medal in next Olympics we can not tell until now, but we want to go on and we will try to reach every year one step higher. We will see whatïs happening in our dance world!!
but we love skating, and we will try always to have good ideas for our programs, to keep ice dancing interesting for the audience.
And after we are through our amateur-career we will see what we are doing, if we are having a medal, may be itïs good to continue in professional, if not it is hard in Europe to get good shows or competitions, because skating is in the States and in Canada much bigger then in Europe.
So if we cannot reach a medal in our amateur career, René would like to become a coach, and me i think iïm gonna stop skating, and try to find something new.
But we cannot think too far until now, we will see in the next two seasons if we can improve, we will try our best.
Thanks for writing to us. Until next time, all the best
Kati & René

It's been mentioned in television coverage that you're both in the German army. According to your page here you're in a special sports-related unit. How much time do you actually spend on military duty? Is this sort of unity a carryover from the GDR or did West Germany have them too? Louis Epstein, USA - Sunday, April 5, 1998: Kati & René: We are once in a month in the special sports-related unit in the army and we have to do several seminars to get higher ranking like now - after the Worlds - we are going for 3 month for a special seminar to become seargants. It's no carryover from the GDR, it existed in West Germany too. But it's a great supporting for us!

When did you start skating?: Kati: I was chosen in kindergarden in 1978 when I was 4 years old.; René: I came to skating through my mom also in connection with the kindergarden when I was 4 in 1977. They were looking for talented children already in kindergarden in former GDR.

You both started as single skaters. What achievments brought the early years of your career?: Kati: I won the Kinder- und Jugendspartakiade in 1983. I could jump everything double, just with the triples came problems.; René: I also reached little success, and jumped double.

Kati, you come from Chemnitz, Saxony. Why did you move to Berlin?: Kati: I moved to Berlin because my mother moved to my step-father in Berlin. I wanted to be always with my family.

René, in the mid-eighties you quit your skating career. What was the reason?: René: We had to reach until a certain age certain jumps, and if not, we had to stop skating. It was different in the GDR then today.

René, you started with a different sport. Which one and why did you chose that kind of sport?: René: I started soccer, just to do something else and I like to play soccer very much.

Since when you are skating together?: We are dancing together since 1988.

How come that you both started ice dancing? Who brought you together?: Kati: I also had to stop single skating, I was not that good in jumping and had back problems. I was told I can do ice dancing (but there was no ice dancing in the GDR for 18 years!). But I loved to skate and I wanted to try it, but I had no idea, what to do in ice dancing. I started with some girls just with the "book of rules" in our hands, but there were no boys! So we remembered skaters in our age from the past and René was in my class in school until 1985. So I decided to ask him to do ice dancing with me.; René: I was surprised, but I was yearning to skate again after 2 years without skating, so I said "yes". I also had no idea, what was waiting for me there, but I was happy to skate again, to meet my old friends.

With your first dance coach Knut Schubert you broke new - in former GDR longtime neglected - grounds. How did the first years of your dance career develop?: Kati: The first two years were really hard to go through because people were laughing about us, it was no "sport" for them, what we did, just boring stuff.; René: But we are proud we went through this hard times because we think it's a great part of figure skating, just the people had also no idea what we did there! But we think their minds changed quickly when they saw us working hard out of nothing. And we reached the junior title of Germany and we went to two Junior World Championships. We never thought to reach that.

In the 1993/94 skating season you did start a cooperation with Martin Skotnicky in Oberstdorf. At this time you had still to reconcile your vocational training with your ice dance training. How did you coordinate your training in Berlin and Oberstdorf?: Kati: That was also not easy because we had to go several times from Berlin to Oberstdorf and from Oberstdorf to Berlin, but I had to finish my profession. It was just working because I was working for a great company and they were supporting sports very much.

Did Knut Schubert and Martin Skotnicky share the coaching work regarding specific dance subjects?: René: The biggest part did Knut Schubert that time because we could only go before competitions to Oberstdorf and Martin tried to do everything before competitions. They did everything they could for us.

Around the 1996 German Nationals the German Skating Union gave your coach Knut Schubert notice to quit his coaching contract. Later - after a long struggle - he got a new contract. Regardless that big personal problems he suggested you to move finally to Martin Skotnicky after finishing your vocational training. How do you think on his decision regarding the fact that he automatically "lost" his best skaters?: Kati: Knut was always a great coach, but never did "ice-dancing". He was a former pair skater. I admire him so much for what he reached with us and that he saw his limits in ice dancing. It's great what he did, how he suggested us to move to Oberstdorf. He was very true to us.; René: It was also no easy decision for us to go away from him because he had so much trouble with the contract, but he build up great pair skating couples in Berlin now. We are proud of him.

How are the training conditions in Oberstdorf compared to Berlin?: Kati: The training conditions are great in Oberstdorf and Berlin, but in Oberstdorf we have more ice-hours.; René: Maybe a little bit better in Oberstdorf because it's more the center for ice dancing, but the main reason of Oberstdorf is Martin Skotnicky, one of the best ice dance coaches of the world!

You are - like many other German athletes - member of a sport support group of the German Armed Forces. How does that support work? Which requirement do you have to meet to become a member of such a group?: Kati: You have to have a certain level and good future in sport, then you have the possibility to get one of the popular places in the army for sportsmen. But you have to do two month of basic military training and some seminars to get higher ranking.; René: The supporting is that we can practice whole day, go sometimes to the seminars but earn our money like normal soldiers. I would say, the army is one of the biggest supporters in Germany for sports.

How often do you have practice during the week in summer and winter season and what is the ratio of your on-ice and off-ice training?: We are working 6 days per week. During the summer time we work 5 hours on the ice and 2 hours for ballet or fitness per day. In the winter season we are mainly on ice for approximately 4 hours a day - two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon - and then 1 to 2 hours for athletics or ballet.

Who are the people your coach Martin Skotnicky is cooperating with and which person is responsible for what part of your training (ballet, fitness, choreography, ...)?: He is cooperating with Mr. Werner Lipowsky, our ballet-master and choreographer, and with Marc Bogaerts, who works as choreographer too. For the physical fitness we are responsible for ourselves.

What does your off-ice training include?: Ballet, jogging, lifting weights, workout, tennis and cycling. Kati also aerobics.

Who is the "driving force" in your dance team?: René: We are both our driving forces.; Kati: We help each other. If one is not that good the other tries to support him and revers. That's the way it works!; René: But we have our points: Kati is more musical, I have maybe more the power and patience. Kati sometimes reacts from her feelings, I am more the "thinker".

What is the strong point of each of you?: René: Patience and good nature, power and strength.; Kati: Music-feeling, passion, ambitious.

Who are your heroes in your sport?: In the past Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay from France. Today Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko from Finland and Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov from Russia.

Which goals do you have in ice dancing?: Our dream is to win a medal at a big event like World Championships, European Championships or Winter Olympic Games. Also we always want to make people happy with our skating performances, to enjoy the audience and improve our level in skating year by year, find our own style and expression.

What advice would you like to give young dance couples?: René: Patience and live your dreams in skating, but don't forget to live, believe in yourself.; Kati: Stay strong, although it's not working every day the same. "There is a big ladder into the sky - climb up every day step by step", have your dreams and goals in life!

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