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(Date Posted:30/09/2008 12:16:57)
Hello, I have not posted for a while; I just was not up to it, although there has been a lot of news presented on the AYDG about Alexei.
His former partner on RSOI, now called Ice Age, Vika Dayneko, has had very nice things to say about him in an interview, his dog Lawrie, unfortunately, died in May, he has bought a Ferrari recently he is kept busy with special types of public appearances, "My Hot Ice" has been running on Russian TV, and his work in this season's Ice Age has gone well, with top scores.
The new program has inspired me to drop what I am doing and talk about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-btST36H4
kaseyacey has given us over nine minutes in that video, including the program itself. Others have also posted the program to youtube.
As soon as I saw it, I felt I knew what it was about, even though I did not know the song before. It is a Russian folk song, "Black Raven", also called "Black of Crow". It tells the story of a soldier who is fighting off death. Alexei's partner, Valeria Lanskaya, plays death, represented by the black bird of battle. This association of the raven/crow with death in battle appears also in Celtic mythology. It is a very strong image, so strong that it even passed over into English folk song from the starker melody and words of the Celtic version. The association was inevitable, because of the carrion-eating nature of the bird. In the song which Alexei and Valeria interpret, he is the soldier who keeps telling death "I am not yours", even though he is wounded and dying. In the last line, he admits, "I am all yours". Just typing that gives me chill bumps on both arms.
It is no wonder that the audience reaction was so intense in the broadcast. The part two video, shows what the judges had to say, and the reactions in the Kiss n' Cry. It is here, from wwhitecrow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rRKfeaCDO8
This theme is one of the type of things that Alexei does supremely well, as we all know. The dramatic rendering is striking, and it hits the mark. I am particularly proud of this week's program, which got a perfect score of 12. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Lina 
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"A human can fight in any situation." | 
