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Past, present, future figure skating stars shine bright
| Source: |
Victoria Times-Colonist |
| Date: |
May 16, 2012 |
| Author: |
Cleve Dheensaw |
Four-time world champion Kurt Browning opened the Investors Group
Stars on Ice show Wednesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
with the Fire Apes' rendition of Something Tells Me I'm Into Something
Good.
He was right.
It's a Summer Olympics year with all eyes about to be on London, but
this night belonged to the boys and girls of the Winter Games. And
they didn't disappoint. When you have Vancouver 2010 gold-medallists
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Vancouver 2010 bronze-medallist Joannie
Rochette, Turin 2006 bronze-medallist Jeffrey Buttle and
U.S. champions Ashley Wagner and Jeremy Abbott, it would have been
near impossible to let the crowd of about 5,000 down.
It sent chills through the stands when Virtue and Moir - who regained
their world ice-dance title earlier this year in Nice, France - skated
to Jeff Buckley's performance of Hallelujah. The duo, whose first-ever
senior event was in this building during the 2006 Skate Canada,
performed wonderfully to Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye
and Tammi Terrell in the second half.
"We've had some great moments," said Moir, in taking to the microphone
before the halftime break, as audience applause nearly drowned out the
rest of his words.
Forget summer in London, it was hard for the mind not to race ahead to
Sochi 2014 on a night like this.
The 12-stop Stars on Ice plays the biggest arenas in the country -
Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Saddledome in Calgary, Rexall Place in
Edmonton, MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Scotiabank Place in Ottawa and Air
Canada Centre in Toronto. Yet, Victoria has been an annual stop on the
tour since the Memorial Centre opened in 2005. It's a testament to the
B.C. capital's reputation as a big skating town, which cuts against
type from its better-known status as a notable summer-sport
capital.
Every time the troupe comes here, "we want to stay," said Buttle, to a
receptive response from the Island crowd.
Said Browning in an interview before the show: "We used to close the
tour in Victoria [now it's Vancouver on Friday] and we loved all the
shops in Victoria."
Browning, in his 21st year with Stars on Ice, choreographed this
year's show. You don't reinvent the wheel, he said. Which is a good
thing for purists. Eschewing clown costumes and Disney on Ice type
theatrics, Stars on Ice continues its pared-down approach with many
numbers more resembling in-competition pieces. And that's a very good
thing, especially for purists.
The first half ended with the entire cast, in basic black, skating to
Adele's Rolling In The Deep. The show concluded with the cast skating
to the rousing Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine.
Other cast members, all well received, included 2012 Four Continents
bronze-medallists and Sochi 2014-hopeful ice-dancers Kaitlyn Weaver
and Andrew Poje, the always-energetic Shawn Sawyer and veteran Cynthia
Phaneuf.
This year's Stars on Ice show is themed Love 'n Life. And the crowd
left the Memorial Centre Love 'n it.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
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