INTERVIEW LUCINDA RUH

« I had always promised to my parents that I would be unique and do something on the ice that no one else had ever done »

She has impressed the world of figure skating with her spins and costumes, setting a record of the fastest and longest spin on ice (2003). Much more than the ice queen of spins, Lucinda Ruh (Switzerland) is a complete artist on the ice, and on stage as well. By hard work, will and passion, she has achieved some of her dreams doing something unique that nobody else can do. Discover our interview that Lucinda kindly accepted to talk about her sport, her life, her joys and pains, her passions and her future projects.

                        


How did you started figure skating ?

My first inspiration for figure skating was really because of my older sister. She is nine years older than I and therefore, as my parents were traveling all around the world, thus resulting us as a close knit family, my mother kept me close by and I spent my young years growing up at ice rinks across the globe waiting for my sister to finish her practices. When I was four years old my mother thought to put me on skates too and although I did not fall in love with it at first, I was very talented. I was a very busy child with piano, cello, ballet, skating and school and at age eight I received a scholarship to the Royal Ballet of London, but after a summer there, I realized my heart was more in figure skating and then and there I decided, I wanted to be a figure skater. 

What are your best and your worst moments in your amateur career ?

 My best moment in my amateur career was at the World Championships in 1999 in Helsinki for the short and long programs. The confidence I felt within me made me feel that I was the most powerful I had ever been. I was so in the moment and so within my element that those two were truly the most memorable performances I had ever experienced. Also, for all to mention that I was deserving of a better place made me realize how much I had accomplished. Standing ovations after each program and being invited to skate at the exhibition were a blessing as well and it felt like I was riding on top of the mountain.

My worst moment in my amateur career was really the skating season 1997-1998. I was both terribly and severely injured in several places, and yet still competing at the Europeans and Worlds. To make matters worse, at the same time my dream deflated as my federation robbed me from a place at the Olympic Games in 1998 which I had given Switzerland a spot for. I felt taken advantage of and just not being appreciated by my federation. It was a game to them more than anything else and it was truly unfair.

You were twice named as the "Most influential person in the world of figure skating" by International Figure Skating Magazine, what is your feeling about it ?

Being named the most influential person in figure skating not only once but twice is truly an honor. As a little girl I had strangely never dreamt of being a gold medalist but had always promised to my parents that I would be unique and do something on the ice that no one else had ever done. I accomplished my desires and that it was recognized that I was able to progress the skating world in ways no one else was, for that I am truly grateful. 



On April 3, 2003, you set a world record for the most continuous spins (115) on one foot (at Chelsea Piers Sky Rink in New York, NY USA) and you are listed in the Guiness Book for this What does it represent for you ?

Having my name in the Guiness Book of Records symbolizes all that I had worked for for twenty years!. It was a pure result of an extreme amount of hard work and not only by me but by my team around me as well. It was elating to have achieved something so significant and something that is so engrained in history forever. 

How did you work to set such a record ?

I had worked on spins continuously and tirelessly since a very young age. My father had once told me that I needed to find something that was unique to me and only to me, that would set my skating apart from the rest. Keeping his words in my heart somehow my intuition turned me to my fascination of spinning and my mother and I worked very hard on spins. Every day my mother would tell me to go faster and faster and keep the spins longer and longer. For hours we would play with the spins coming up with all the different positions that are now mandatory. I invented at least twenty different positions! A fact that many don't know, is that I was very stiff as a child and had to work on my flexibility every single day. My ballet teacher used to sit on me to get me stretched out! Plus I worked on just spins on the ice everyday for at least two hours.

What are your advices to realize a good spin?

There are so many elements to a good spin. But it really is about practice, balance, timing and incredible arm, leg and core strength for a long period of time. Spins are truly underestimated but as Dick Button has said, "spins are even harder than jumps"

When we look at the swiss figure skaters , we have the feeling that the spin is a speciality, do you think there is a secret which explains that swiss skaters perform so well this element ?

Strangely enough spinning seems to be a Swiss tradition yet I am the only "Swiss spinner" that while learning how to spin has never trained or lived in Switzerland, nor has ever had a Swiss coach. Therefore I am not sure what their secret might be, but for me it was a gift from God, pure hard work, being an artist and having the love for spinning and creating. 

  


You have skated for famous shows like Champions Ice art on ice and Stars on ice, what does it bring to your skating ? How do you feel performing in front of a big audience ?


Having had toured and skated with the most prestigious tours and shows around the globe it brought me great satisfaction and joy to have been able to have the opportunity to show my work of art to all. That was the best part of it all when I could bring the audience to tears or joy with the story I told on the ice. I loved performing in front of a large audience as I felt then I could show the most people my love of skating and more importantly let them come to realization of something in their life through my skating. It was for them. I had much more trouble with a more intimate audience as then I was more afraid of not being the perfect skater for them all. I am a perfectionist and it can serve me well or unwell at times. 

Do you have an experience in the figure skating entertainement world which is most memorable to you?

I really cannot not single out one performance nor one singer or song from my professional career as that is the ultimate joy of the professional world, that each and every time it is a different experience exceeding the one before. Each and every time you perform you are in a different city, with a different vibe, with a different star so I just want to say I enjoyed each and every show to the utmost degree.

You have skated in live with one of the most famous singers (Aretha Franklin, Seal...) what experience do you keep from it ? Do you have favorite songs and singers ?


In my amateur career my mother and I always chose my music. As the car ride from home to the ice rink to school and all back again took a couple of hours we would listen to music nonstop. My mother was the very best as she would go to the music store whilst I was at school and every time I would jump into the car she had come up with a new idea. It was the most creative process. In the professional world we did the same yet the majority of the music was chosen by the producers of the show as it depended on the singer that was starring or the concept of the show so at those times it was out of my hands.
 


 

 
How do you choose the music for your show programs ?

I think the music choice skaters have been making has taken a dip in the figure skating world due most likely to there being no new great composers like in the former years. So now, as all the wonderful music that has tended to become overused on the ice, really leaves no real choice for skaters than to opt for newer lesser skating music. Yet, this type of music ceases to excite me and I only feel that the more classical exceptional music should be used. I feel it is up to the skater to interpretate each piece in a totally new and different way to give it yet a whole new feel so the audience and judges alike do not end up saying,"that music again!?"

What do you think about the evolution of music in the amateur figure skating world ?

I feel skaters nowadays have no more imagination and no more creativity, maybe due to the fact that they have no more time to let their minds wander and create as it all has become so technical. It has become a show pony sport and treated and judged like a trick for a point. Everybody looks and skates with the same movements. It has truly become a trick sport and the true skating foundation of edges, pure beautiful jumps and spins have become long gone. I hardly see any skater doing something unique. I mean, in one way why would they when what everyone else is doing is giving more points? The more points the higher the rank.

In your own opinion what direction figure skating to have a more modern and different approach ?

In my opinion the new judging system is truly a disaster and the judges, coaches and skaters do not have a sense of the true direction of where this is all going. I wish to be as honest as possible with no sugar coating as I feel someone needs to. I am lucky that I am out of the competition realm so therefore I can finally speak my mind but someone truly needs to stick up for the figure skaters and change the judging system. First off the audience, even seasoned die hard fans of skating, have lost interest. No one understands how the judges got to a certain number and even what that number signifies for, only that it was higher or lower than the skater before. One exact same step sequence is a level 3 one day and a level 4 the next. There is no relativity, or charm, or sensitivity to the sport now whatsoever. Every month rules change and the direction of the sport has taken a huge downfall. It is truly a pity and so sad to see skaters have to conform to a certain point system that even they do not understand. How can an athlete understand if they don't even comprehend not WHAT they are doing, but WHY they are doing it?

 You have travelled all over the world, you speak english german french chinese and japanese, how useful it is in your careers in general and especially to coach your skaters ?

My ability to speak many languages has definitely helped me with coaching students around the globe but I think more than the being able to speak their language, the manifestation of success comes when you truly understand the culture of the skater which is much more important. Because within the culture is how the skater responds to your teachings and is how the skater practices and learns. It is the nuances that make the difference


 

You also coach greatest world champion like Michelle Kwan, Brian Joubert, and Mao Asada among others, how do you work and how do bring your experience ? On what points do you work and how do you manage to bring out the best of each skater ?

 I have lived and trained within so many different cultures and with so many different coaches of different countries that I truly can relate to each and every skater and that is what I bring to the table. I bring my own experience of painful and successful ways of training and I steer them away from the mistakes that I and my team had made whilst growing up on the ice. I bring the best out of them by letting them be themselves and letting myself adapt to them as I teach them not having them have to adapt to me. My teaching technique is completely different from skater to skater.

For you, what is a champion ?

A champion for me is a champion in life and not represented in gold medals. A champion on the ice is not signified by competitions but by how they handle everyday training, failures and successes and the way a skater responds to their coach, their parents, their skates, their competitors, their rivals and lesser rivals, with respect and dignity. That is a champion.  

You have a strong interest for fashion for a long time by designing your own dresses, how this passion for fashion begin and how do you express it ? Where does come from your inspiration for the design of you costumes ?

My mother always was and still is incredibly fashion forward and growing up, she always dressed me to the tens from head to toe and here is where my love for fashion started. As with our music choice our fashion choice was also my mother's and my doing of a creative process. We let our imaginations run free and we explored with color and cut and always opted for the elegant look of beauty. We expressed the tone of the music through our costumes and it was such a fun process. I truly hope to have my own fashion line one day in the near future.


 

What is your feeling about today costume in the amateur figure skating world ? What do you think about evolution of figure skating costumes those 20 last years ?Concerning the costumes, who is/are the skater(s) which outstanding you the most ?  

I am not particularly enjoying the direction of skating costumes. There seems to be lacking in the elegance, pure beauty and wonderfulness of the opportunity to be designing a costume. Skaters and their team alike are missing the whole point of how lucky they are to be making a fashion and not a flashy statement. Much more play with color combinations should be explored as to me color is the much more important element here then the cut. 

 

Acting is also an old dream that you realised by different projects, Could you tell more about it ? How being on the stage by the youngest age (on the ice) help you in performing your roles? Will you say that to be a figure skater is also to be an actor ?

To be a figure skater is definitely to be an actress, but only if you are skating with a story which I always did. If you just skate to skate and do the tricks then no, but if you skate portraying a story from start to finish and not just underlining it with a costume,makeup, hair and a few arm movements, then yes for sure. I never let go of the story therefore maybe I was not mechanical enough to complete the jumps but I had rather been telling a story then a story being told about me for how many jumps I succeeded. So for me acting on ice has totally helped me for acting for T.V and film. The only part I needed to disengage with was the performance aspect of skating for millions instead of one camera. Skating is more like Broadway, and acting for T.V and film is much more intimate.

You are a spokesperson for some charity organizations, what causes do you represent and why do you choose

I love to work with charities and have been for a very long time starting as a performer on ice across the globe and now as a spokesperson fro being a champion in life at schools and different organizations. To inspire people of all ages is truly monumental and truly a blessing and to inspire those less fortunate in any area of life is what I live and strive for.

You will lauch a new book ? 

I have just completed my book and hope to have it published by late next year.  It is my life story of trials and tribulations spanning across the globe. It is about becoming a champion in life. 

Could you tell more about it ?

This book is also of course, about more than skating even though I address my skating development in full detail to honor those expecting a skating story and simply because skating is so fundamental to who I am and who I have become.  Though presented through a skater’s perspective, it is, first and foremost, a book about living, loving and surviving in a world of increasing diversity and tolerance, which, ironically, seems only to perpetuate with ever greater fervor the prejudices, the battles and the mistakes of ages past. A lifetime would seem of little value to me if we learned nothing from it and passed nothing on to others.  This book is my attempt to pass on what I have learned through struggles and successes alike. It is my story of overcoming incredible odds to succeed at what I did. It is about mental, emotional and physical struggles and how to become your true self once more. 

What are your upcoming projects in all fields (shows, acting, design etc...) ? What are the projects that you would like to develop on a long term ?

 I have had a very hard last ten years of sickness and injuries and so now having that behind me I am looking forward to the present and future. I have a few big projects coming up. First off my book which I have worked extremely hard on and it's research for over twenty years. Then I am looking forward to some T.V and movie projects that are in the works, hopefully a fashion line and then of course in my personal life I am truly excited as I am getting married on October 16th to Antonio DeRosa, a born and raised New Yorker. He is an investment banker, Professor of Mathematics and has also charged up the judicial system here in the United States working on some high profile cases. So it is an exciting time of change and new opportunities in the horizon. In the midst of it all starting a family would be wonderful as well. I am excited for the near future and truly wish to be an inspiration to all. If I can do it, you can too!

 

 


Interview by Vanessa SAKSIK on August 2010 . Pictures by Lucinda Ruh  from www.lucindaruh.com. Thank you to Lucinda for time dedicated to this interview


FOCUS

Born in Zürich (Switzerland) and travelling all over the world since her childhood, she was one of the best skaters in her amateur career especially with a great performance  in the world championships in 1999 (Helsinki). She turned professional by the end of 1999 and achieved great results, being two time professional world bronze medalist; and also performing since then in one of the greatest figure skating shows, Champions on Ice. Lucinda has also coached one the greatest figure skaters like Mao Asada or Michelle Kwan . Having a real interest for the entertainement world, Lucinda Ruh is also actress and has upcoming projects in these fields.  

By Vanessa Saksik

                                                  AWARDS  

- 2 time world professional Bronze Medalist
- 2 time National Gold Medalist
- Twice Named "Most influential person in the world of figure skating" by International Figure Skating         Magazine
- Guinness Book of World Record Holder, 2003 The fastest and longest spinner on ice
- Best dressed figure skater. All costumes designed by Lucinda Ruh

Source from www.lucindaruh.com


 

 

For more information, discover her website : www.lucindaruh.com
 



Créer un site
Créer un site