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This has been another one of those surprise-filled weeks. First of all, a friend (ok it was Paul) pointed me to a series on YouTube about a Japanese skater named Yuri. Paul’s friend is not a skating person but has become a fan of the sport because of this show. The first episode is called Yuri!!! on ICE Ep. 1 | Easy as Pirozhki!! The Grand Prix Final of Tears” and I have to tell you – I love the title and love even more that this episode of this series has over 1,000,000 views!!!! It’s fun and risqué! Anyway – I don’t need to be told twice to look up stuff on YouTube -so if you’re like me – check out the link above.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|30px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.77″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.77″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″]Staying on the theme of surprises, I got the chance to see a run-through of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s new free dance. It’s pretty special. I had already planned to try and record a podcast with them after their exhibition but with the unveiling of this new James Bond-themed program, I made the decision to focus our time on talking about the new program.

In other words, stay tuned for the release of this @SkatingPj Podcast tomorrow with Piper and Paul who will break down their decision to change their program, the risk involved, the process and what they hope you will be watching for from them at Canadian Nationals.

As a further surprise – this one for you – Piper and Paul are going to be featured in a video on Thursday while former training pal Asher Hill weighs in by video about this new free dance on Friday.

See it really does pay off to walk around with a tape recorder and mini video camera!

In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @skatingpj and check out updates on my Facebook page (Pj Kwong author) – just a reminder there is no Facebook Live this week.

Regardless of your holiday, just want to wish you the very best of the season and hopes for a great new year!

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