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Stars on Ice: Kurt Browning on 'Singin' in the Rain,' quadruples and how everybody falls
| Source: |
Fort Myers News-Press |
| Date: |
April 10, 2019 |
| Author: |
Charles Runnells |
CORRECTION: Nathan Chen and Jason Brown won't be skating at Hertz
Arena for Stars On Ice. They're both part of the U.S. tour, but won't
be appearing in Estero.
He's a world champion and one of the most famous skaters on the
ice. But even Kurt Browning gets nervous sometimes.
Maybe he won't make that jump. Or maybe he'll mess up his most famous
routine, "Singin' in the Rain."
"Gene Kelly did this," Browning says about that popular routine based
on the 1952 movie. "So don't screw it up."
Still, failure happens for just about every professional ice skater,
Browning says. Everybody falls. Everybody messes up sometimes.
That's why Browning loves traveling with the annual Stars on Ice tour,
which visits Estero's Hertz Arena on Thursday, April 18.
"With skaters, we perform to music and we literally dance on the ice
and take risks by jumping in front of people for shows," he
says. "Because of that, you tend to have an outgoing group. And so,
we're not boring. We're fun. We're a fun group of people.
"And because we do take the risk of humiliating ourselves - we
actually can get off the ice and go, 'Well, that was just plain
embarrassing.' Because you were just awful that day and you were off,
and you wiped out and never really recovered. I think it keeps us also
kind of humble."
He pauses before continuing. "So we're very humble, egotistical party
animals."
Those "humble, egotistical party animals" return to Southwest Florida
next week for Stars on Ice, including ice-skating champs and Olympic
medalists Ashley Wagner, Maia and Alex Shibutani, and Meryl Davis and
Charlie White.
Browning, 52, chatted with The News-Press recently about Stars On Ice,
his "Singin' In the Rain" routine and why he can still do a lot of
jumps (but not his famous quadruple). Here's what the Canadian skater
had to say.
The News-Press: I don't know much about what you'll be doing for
Stars on Ice. Can you tell me about your routines?
Browning: I'll get a chance to try out my new solo before I debut in
Canada for Stars on Ice. ... There's a musical icon named Gordon
Lightfoot. I'm going to skate to "If You Could Read My Mind," which
is, gosh, a beautiful song.
The choreographer, Sandra Bezic - who used to choreograph Stars on Ice
for years - she, I think, felt like it was the right time. I'm old
enough now to skate to it. The undertone to this song is really very
sad. You know, he kind of covers up with the beauty of his music, but
it's quite a sad song.
So that's gonna be fun! Sometimes I'm very silly when I perform and
clown-like, and sometimes it takes the audience a few minutes - or
hopefully not too long, a few seconds - to go, "Oh, he's not a clown
today!"
So that's one program. The other program is an old friend of mine,
'Singin' in the Rain.' I'm dressed just exactly as Gene Kelly did for
"Singin' In the Rain" with the suit and the hat and the umbrella. And
it's basically just taking what Gene did and putting it on the
ice. It's actually one of my favorites.
That's one of your most popular routines. It's probably what you're
best known for.
It probably is, actually. And I just kind of kept it alive over my
career. That song is great. I just love the sentiment.
Was that a difficult routine to put together? Can you tell me about
the origin of the routine?
It happened this way: I did a TV special, again with Sandra Bezic,
back in 1991 or 1992 - '92, I think. So we did "Singin' in the Rain"
for the TV special.
And then the costume and everything got put away, and I didn't do it
again until about four or five years ago. I didn't do it at all! I
didn't do it publicly.
So I re-did the piece from the TV show. It's not the same as the TV
show... This one is sort of the live version.
One of my favorite things about it is it's not just skating. There's a
little bit of acting involved to try to get across the bliss of how
happy he is. ... It's kind of fun.
That's great for people attending Stars on Ice at Hertz Arena. They've
probably never seen the "Singin' In the Rain" routine live. It's been
years since you've been on the Stars on Ice tour.
The news clipping says the last time that I performed there was 2011,
the 25th anniversary of Stars on Ice. ... If you're not careful, times
goes by!
You're famous for doing the quadruple jump. And you've said you
still jump - maybe not a quadruple - when a lot of skaters your age
can't. Are you still able to do that?
I still do triples. I don't do them so easily that I get them into
every show that I do.
Unfortunately, in Fort Myers, the program that was choreographed
didn't include triples. She (the choreographer) said "I really want
the priority to be on the song and the lyrics and the sentiment. And
it's not about jumps."
And the other song, "Singin' In the Rain," to jump with the hat and
the wool suit and the umbrella in my hand, I really have to be
top-notch. So for the next two weeks, I'll be jumping with an umbrella
in my hand, and we'll see if I can get a triple out.
Can you still do a quadruple?
My jumps are probably still high enough and long enough, but I don't
rotate fast enough anymore. And I'm sure my jumps are smaller than
they were, obviously, when I was a kid.
That seems to be the biggest reason why I can't quad anymore or even
do triple Axels anymore. I just don't rotate with that quickness that
I had. ... That's why the old man doesn't do them anymore!
You must still skate a lot and practice to maintain that,
right?
I did take a year and a half off. ... And then I realized my
choreography was hurting because I wasn't skating. So I got back on
the ice.
And I've been doing these crazy exercises called Isophit, which are
isometric exercises, which is fantastic for an aging person. It's
exerting your muscles, but not through range of motion. It's in one
place.
The guy that I'm working with, his name brand is Isophit. And I
literally jumped into the car after getting off his table. He has this
table that he's invented.
It takes 30 minutes ... and you're totally exhausted, and you're
totally pumped, and you get ripped and you get strong. But the next
day I can skate. That's why I love it so much.
I'm getting crazy results. I've only been doing it for a few months
and it's really kinda changing my body look and on the ice... And I'm
going, "Hey, maybe I can do this a little longer!"
Well, Kurt, that's all from me. Is there anything else you want to
talk about?
I'm one of the luckiest people I've ever met, to be able to be invited
to do what I love for a living. And to get invited to do it when I'm
52.
I've worked hard to make that opportunity happen ... but I'm
incredibly honored to get the invite and looking forward to flinging
my umbrella around and trying to make people smile.
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