Pasha guest of Starskates-report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Pasha Grishuk/Anushka R.

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VIVA LAS VEGAS !!!
 

Pasha arrived at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada
approximately 4:00 PM on Friday 8 October.

The staff of the sponsorship company had arranged to meet her flight from LA
and whisked her to the hotel.

For those who don't know this place is HUGE! It has over 3,500 rooms (all
full BTW!) and cost 500 million dollars to build last year - magnificent!

Pasha wanted to get her hair done at the beauty salon before it closed!
So down in the elevator she went, unfortunately there were NO appointments
available BUT one of the staff arranged to go to her room upstairs to wash
and blow-dry her hair - and afterwards - she looked great!

She collected her VIP credentials and went looking for the 'Event Centre',
where the skaters were to practice that evening - by now it was close to
6:00 PM.
She found the place way back behind the casino (136,00-sq. ft.) and went
down to the ice rink. (Yes, this resort has an Olympic size rink in the
hotel!).
Pasha had a short chat with Alexei Yagudin, Caryn Kadavy and both Kristi
Yamaguchi's and Elvis Stojko's moms! - all at rinkside. There were some ASW
photographers there too.

As Pasha walked to the restaurant area she saw Tamara Moskvina, the tiny -
but genius coach - and went to have coffee and a chat with her.
Afterwards she decided to go and eat - having a few hours to kill - and went
to a futuristic Thai/Chinese restaurant.

Saturday was very busy!

Pasha went on a tram that takes you to two other resorts - one - The Luxor,
and shaped like a Pyramid, Egyptian themed, and another like the old Knights
of the Round Table back in tenth century England, called The Excalibur.
She was getting tired from the heat (90oF) so she took the tram again back
to the resort hotel and went to her suite for a break.

At 7:00PM she was ready to go to the skating gala " Salute to Barry Manilow"
dressed in a pink top, pants and a pink ostrich feather jacket.
Back again she went to the Event Centre and by this time (30 minutes before
the show began) fans were streaming in. The centre holds about 13,000 and I
would guess a 75% crowd capacity for the show.
Because of Pasha's VIP credentials she was ushered down to literally five
feet from the ice, to her seat. The other people there were the family of
Barry Manilow, the sponsors and some other VIP's. Carlo Fassi's widow was
there too.
In fact she could have touched ' Barry Manilow ', as his seat was about
three feet to her right and a row forward.
The show was pretty good- Philippe Candeloro eventually had to rip his shirt
off during one number and the female fans went wild!
Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Bereznaya (she is so tiny) were great (BTW when
Pasha was walking to the Event Centre the day before she met Artur
Dimitriev, Oksana Kazakova & Elena Bereznaya in a restaurant - so of course
Pasha talked to them for a while) - To digress for a moment, Pasha was
recognised several times as she walked through the hotel by fans who asked
for an autograph.
At the conclusion of the show Barry Manilow sang live while the cast skated
as an ensemble - Kristi, who is also very tiny, was great - Elvis was a
crowd favourite as well.
NBC will air this on Saturday October 23rd, 4:00- 6:00PM EST - and Pasha
will be obvious to see - right beside Barry and the only person in pink,
from head to toe!

After the event Pasha went upstairs to a VIP party/reception.
In about thirty minutes there must have been about one hundred people up
there - plus Press and a TV crew!
Barry Manilow came in and guess whom he was introduced to, first? - why
Pasha - of course! - actually he didn't stay much longer, so Pasha was
honoured.
Pasha had a chat with a reporter who wants to do a 'feature' on her.
Pasha had a horde of people asking for her autograph and had lots of photos
taken by photographers.
She spoke to Kristi and her mum, Philippe and his (pregnant) wife, Robin
Cousins and other assorted VIP's.
At about midnight the party was winding down and Pasha headed back to the
main hotel and was escorted to her room.

So all in all, Pasha was happy - nice to be out and to be seen by fans
again! She was treated as the 'Star' that she is - and this gave her
self-esteem a boost for next weekend 's ESPN PRO'S in Huntington!
 
 

This report is copyrighted by Anushka R. reproduction either in whole or in
part is not allowed.