LANDOVER -- Katarina Witt stepped onto the ice at USAir Arena last night dressed in a black velvet body suit with sequined arms and performed as if she'd just stepped into the spotlight of a Left Bank jazz club in Paris.
The avant-garde technical performance was obviously too much for the judges at the Complete World Figure Skating Championships.
She literally danced to her own music, to music she, Rainer Oleak and Glunther Faucher created in a studio to suit her mood.
It was modern jazz with with heavy drums and traditional jazz with a breezy sax and a piano roll in a traditional setting.
And though the crowd admired the performance of the 29-year-old Olympic gold medalist and four-time world amateur champion, the judges scored her consistently at 9.6 on technical performance for a score of 48, leaving her with major ground to make up going into the artistic program.
"I'm just looking to enjoy my skating," she said, but a look of disbelief passed over her face as the scores (six 9.6s and one 9.5) were revealed.
Though why she was surprised is something of a mystery, given the way figure skating is scored.
She was the first woman on the ice in the ladies competition and therefore sure of the lowest scores.
By the time the first round was complete, the ladies event was running according to form. Defending world champion Midori Ito was first (49.6), Kristi Yamaguchi second (49.5), Yuka Sato third (48.9) and Witt fourth (48).
"From . . . 1943, I have hardly ever gone away from a skating competition where everyone agreed with the judges," said Dick Button, who created the world title competition. "There are always complaints, but everyone always shows up for the next one."
And so Witt comes in here as the grande dame. At 5 feet 6, she towers over her younger competitors. Ito, the favorite to capture her second world crown here, is all of 4 feet 11.
But Witt enjoys the freedom that has come with age and uses her stage to deliver a message close to her heart.
"Ever since I was to the 1984 Olympics, I've had this sense of the peaceful spirit of the Olympics," she said. "The question I keep asking, is why can not the whole world live like we live in the Olympic village?"
At this year's Olympics, she skated to "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Here, in her artistic program tonight, she is to skate to the music from "Schindler's List."
"At the last Olympics, I wanted to make people aware that we all live in one world, that we should quit the wars, that people of different skin colors, religions and beliefs should be allowed to be themselves."
She saw the movie "Schindler's List" in Germany. She says that almost everyone in Germany saw the movie.
"It's good for people to remember the past," she said. "I saw that movie and thought about it, and I came away with positive feelings and that's what I want to demonstrate here.
"I changed the story line a little. In the movie there is this little girl who dies. I skate as the little girl, but in my version, the little girl survives. It's not supposed to be sad. It's supposed to give hope and encourage people to look to the future."
She says she doesn't expect to win this title but to give her best.
"Out there on the ice, some judges will like what I do and some will not like it," she said. "That's the way it goes, and that's why I will be going for the approval of the audience. I intend to put passion into it."
And in return, all she wants is passion.
In the technical round of the pairs competition, the Russian team of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov used a rousing performance to Gershwin's "Crazy for You" to take the early lead over the fellow Russian team of Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, 49.8 to 49.