Proving again that they cancan

With outsize pink feather boas, furiously flashing lights, a melange of musical styles and the traditional cancan, this year's Stars On Ice show had the high-energy, lusciously glamorous feel of the hit film Moulin Rouge.

Several songs from the movie featured prominently in the two-and-a-half hour show at Halifax Metro Centre Sunday afternoon.

Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion who hasn't toured Canada with Stars On Ice since 1992, Canadian pairs darling Isabelle Brasseur, newly-crowned World silver medallist ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne and American pairs skater Jenni Meno got things started with a sexy skate under hot pink lights to Lady Marmalade.

Later, six-time American men's champ Todd Eldredge skating to the Ewan McGregor version of Your Song from Moulin Rouge got a standing ovation as his program that included two triple jumps wrapped up with an incredible scratch spin. Eldredge's spinning also highlighted a powerful version of the Lord of the Rings program he skated at the Olympics.

McGregor, along with Jose Feliciano and Jacek Koman provided the tune Vanity Tango, used for a humourous number in which four-time world champion Kurt Browning, eight-time Canadian men's champ Brian Orser and Meno's partner, Todd Sand, tried to impress the ladies while skating with lighted vanity mirrors.

Every seat was filled Sunday as the show opened with Swiss spinning ace Lucinda Ruh shimmering through an intricate combination spin, demonstrating her extraordinary flexibility.

The energy ramped up as the 12-member international cast rocked to Ram Jam's Black Betty, playfully throwing around giant red and hot pink feather boas. When the cast was introduced the biggest cheers were for Canada's Bourne and her partner Victor Kraatz, Olympic men's champion Alexei Yagudin and Browning.

Browning's Guitar number was inspired - the consummate showman grooved to the sounds of Ed Robertson, his skates seeming to barely touch the ice, turned rock star gleefully strumming an air guitar and played directly to an adoring crowd, accentuating every note of the music.

Yagudin, whose first solo was greeted by shouts of We Love You Alexei, received a standing ovation before he began his skate to Enigma's Overcome and another at its conclusion. And when, in the second act, he appeared in his costume for this season's competitive short program, Winter, the cheers began before the music. The program, which included a triple Axel and a triple, triple, double combo and the fantastically fast and complex footwork that is rapidly becoming his trademark, is even more impressive live than on the TV screen at the Olympics and World Championships.

Bourne and Kraatz merely had to step out onto the darkened rink to get the audience applauding. When the lights came up on the Michael Jackson Medley they skated this year at the Olympics, the fans went wild at their spirited performance of hot dance moves. In the second act, they skated to Enigma's Sadness, the highly-stylized choreography recalling a Cirque du Soleil show. The skate was highlighted by innovative variations on their trademark hydroblading.

Two-time Olympic bronze medallists Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler provided some of the afternoon's most memorable moments.

Though the 1993 World Champions have been skating professionally since 1994, they've lost none of their thrilling twists, lifts, and throws. Their acrobatic manoeuvres as they skated to INXS' Never Tear Us Apart consistently drew gasps from the knowledgeable crowd which wished Eisler a Happy Birthday. The Seaforth, Ont., skater turned 39 Sunday.

The duo brought down the house in the second act when Eisler appeared in drag complete with sparkly black halter top, slit micro mini and what appeared to be patent pumps to skate to the Northern Pike's She Ain't Pretty. Brasseur turned biker with leather jacket, jeans and studded belt as she turned the tables to help Eisler complete a death spiral and throw jump.

The first act's grand finale, to Fat Boy Slim's Because We Can was also a gender-bending delight with Eisler, Kraatz, Browning and Sand appearing in the feather boas and tight black lycra shorts, with Browning and Sand adding seamed black panty hose and the men grouping together to toss Browning over their heads and into the splits in a modified cheerleading routine.