On road to Olympics

CALGARY -- Magic was felt the other night at a quiet, little rink in Calgary.

World pair figure-skating champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier unveiled the short program they will use at the Olympics in Salt Lake City in February. The public saw it for the first time at an Alberta summer competition. It was a tango called Jealousy, and it sizzled from beginning to end.

The Jimmie Condon Arena has only a couple of rows of bleacher seats on each side, but on a warm August night, it was packed to the rafters. And noisy. All Sale and Pelletier had to do was show up and the cheers started. After all, they are one of Canada's best hopes to win an Olympic gold medal in six months.

Since Sale and Pelletier moved to Alberta to train, they have quickly become a part of the landscape. Sale grew up in Red Deer, an hour-and-a-half's drive away. Pelletier, a native of Sayabec, Que., has revelled in the relaxed atmosphere of Edmonton.

And they've both benefited from another Alberta-grown treasure in four-time world champion Kurt Browning, a native of nearby Caroline. The clever final pose of Sale and Pelletier's new tango sprang from Browning's fertile mind.

Their choreographer, Lori Nichol, hatched the idea to have Browning work with the pair earlier this summer in Toronto.

"We were all a bit nervous because we weren't sure of how it was going to work," Sale said. "He's a singles skater and I'd never seen him work with anybody."

Sale knew Browning from skating with him for years on the national team. Still, she was nervous. Pelletier had encountered Browning many times, but had never sat down to talk to him.

"It was like a first date," Pelletier said. "It was like 'so, what T-shirt should I wear [for the session]?' "

Nichol felt Browning would be particularly helpful to Pelletier.

"This is what I would do," Browning would tell Pelletier about certain moves or attitudes. Browning also helped them with the footwork of the tango. "He was an inspiration," Pelletier said.

"They were just knocked out," said Louis Stong, who coached Browning in the latter part of his career and who helped set up the meeting. "David just could not believe it. He kept saying after that, 'Oh my god, I can't believe what happened.' "

Nichol knows that Pelletier is a bit of a sponge. He would watch a Bruce Willis movie and he'd become Bruce Willis for two days. "I think she knew that if I watched Kurt, then something would come out in me," he said.

Pelletier and Browning are a lot alike. They're both performers on ice. They both have a flair for comedy, something that is apparent in the new tango. Stong describes Pelletier as "a tad more shy."

Browning has enough versatility that he could also help Sale with her attitude. "He plays both roles well," she said with a smile.

Browning seems to have a future in choreography. "I think he has a terrific sense of what works," Stong said. "Sometimes it's a very finite point, but it has a huge effect. Think of the things he's done and decisions he's made at the last minute."

Browning was not supposed to do a smoking pose in his famous Casablanca routine, Stong said. There was a strong antismoking sentiment at the time. But Browning inserted the move on the spot when he performed it one time, and it became one of the most memorable gestures of the routine.

"When he finished, everyone turned and looked at Browning's choreographer, Sandra Bezic," Stong said.

"I didn't do that," she said. "Don't blame me."

"He's very quick and he's very clever at the draw," Stong said of Browning. "If he can transfer that kind of ingenuity to others, he'll be a priceless treasure."

Pelletier said Browning could have 10 futures. "If he wants to become a comedian, he can be a standup comic," he said. "If he wants to be an actor, he can be an actor. If he wants to be a pro skater for 10 hundred years, I'll be watching him for 10 hundred years. He's so damned natural at everything he does."

As for the new tango, it's the kind of routine that makes you smile all the way through. "It's over the top," Stong said. "It's very clever."

And it's clever because of the way Nichol works, allowing Browning into the creative process.

"That's what so great about Lori," Pelletier said. "She's not one of these people who is scared to go somewhere else to get ideas. She has an open mind. She always listens and it doesn't matter who you are."

"She wants as much information as possible," Sale said. "She wants to make sure it [the routine] doesn't just please you, it pleases four out of five people. You're never going to please everybody."

The long program that Sale and Pelletier will use during the Olympic season is quite different. They're not ready to show it off yet, because they changed the first two minutes of the routine about 1 1/2; weeks ago, just to reposition some of the elements and rework the choreography.

It, too, is a masterpiece, Stong said. It's a perfect vehicle to show off their strengths.