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Stars on Ice star Kurt Browning is branching out
| Source: |
The Province |
| Date: |
May 16, 2012 |
| Author: |
Dana Gee |
For more than two decades, four-time world figure skating champion
Kurt Browning has been one of the brightest lights for the enduring
Stars on Ice franchise.
Now Browning has added to his SOI resume by taking on the roles of
choreographer and co-director for the Investors Group Stars on Ice
Love 'n' Life tour, which slides into Rogers Arena tomorrow
night.
"I love Stars on Ice, and I wanted it to be as strong as it can be,"
said Browning, who still skates in the show. "But not that it needed
changing, just that I wanted to leave my mark on it."
One of those marks is choosing contemporary music like Adele and
Florence and the Machine for the show's skaters, which include
heavyweights Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Joannie Rochette,
Jeffrey Buttle and Jeremy Abbott.
"The show is about love and loss and friendships and skating,
basically," said Browning as he skated around 8 Rinks in Burnaby
recently.
"I'm trying to give these skaters a challenge so when they step on the
ice they have to put their thinking caps on and they have to focus and
work hard through the show."
Speaking of work, Browning who has two small kids with his wife —
National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Sonia Rodriguez — is a busy
multitasker who has done numerous TV specials.
He's hosted shows like Battle of the Blades and has worked as a
skating commentator for various Canadian and U.S. TV networks.
But like any former world champ, the Rocky Mountain House, Alta.,
native admits, he still feels a certain twinge when watching a
competition.
"When they are competing I am focused doing my thing, but in the
warm-up, that's when I miss it," said Browning, talking about the time
in a competition when a group skaters are let loose on the ice for
last minute tune-ups.
"There's something about the buzz and the energy. The adrenalin of
knowing your whole season, maybe your whole career, comes down to the
next few minutes. It's awesome."
The focus toward the broadcast booth is becoming a little more intense
as Browning, like any other elite athlete, comes to a point when age
is at the heart of many career choices.
"I'm starting to segue maybe into something new," Browning said. "More
television commentary will be a little bit more important when the
knees finally say, 'enough of that.'"
While, he added, his knees prefer gliding on the ice than going up and
down stairs, he can still deliver a good show. But he certainly knows
he isn't the Kurt Browning that wowed the world by landing the first
quad jump in competition at the 1988 World Championships.
These days the affable - that, by the way, is understatement —
Browning laughs at the simple pleasures he still gets from
skating.
"Yeah, nailed it, nailed that triple Salchow!" laughed Browning as he
pulled his clenched fist down toward his knee.
"That used to be a warm-up jump for me."
But Browning says he won't be one of those athletes that hangs on too
long.
"I've had a glorious career," said Browning, who won his first of four
Canadian Championships in 1989. "I can still scoot around here and on
the right day entertain the audience.
"But it's getting harder to be consistently good and some day soon I
am going to have to go 'OK, it's been good, but it's time to
stop.'"
But luckily for skating fans, that time isn't here yet.
But before we go, time spent with a former world champion often leads
to talk of the current champion - in this case, Canada's own Patrick
Chan.
"He's simply in a league of his own," Browning said. "He has very few
people in the world that challenge him. His speed and acceleration;
his musicality and strength; and, well, his consistency in that quad,
that's pretty spooky."
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