Hamilton leaves Halifax with dazzling last hurrah
| Source: |
Halifax Herald |
| Date: |
April 16, 2001 |
| Author: |
Andrea Nemetz |
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Scott Hamilton's final Stars on Ice solo said it all - "I did it my
way." |
The diminutive 1984 Olympic gold
medallist bid Halifax one last good-bye at the Metro Centre on Sunday
afternoon as he kicked off his 11-city Canadian farewell tour.
The Ohio-born Hamilton, who founded the tour in 1986, has always
been the consummate showman, entertaining audiences with spoofs of
classical ballet and his trademark back flip.
On Sunday, the avid golfer topped them all with the Double Bogey
Blues. Fitted out in poor boy cap and tweed plus fours, Hamilton
playfully skated with clubs that magically popped out of a giant golf
bag in the centre of the ice.
The 42-year-old ended with a back flip over the bag, club held
aloft in both hands, earning one of a number of standing ovations -
the first from the packed-to-the rafters crowd came before he stepped
on the ice for his gyrating first performance to James Brown's I Feel
Good.
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Ted Pritchard/Herald Photo
Scott Hamilton performs a back
flip over a golf bag at Halifax
Metro Center during the Chrysler
Stars on Ice performance on Sunday.
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This year's show featured the trademark spectacular lighting,
dazzling costumes, and innovative production numbers audiences have
come to expect.
But though the banter was light-hearted, the air was emotional -
fans knew they were witnessing the end of an era.
In voiceovers Hamilton reminded the crowd he had "lived his life in
stages with 10,000 watching" and that "nothing can remain the same."
Audiences also gave standing ovations to Canadian favourites Kurt
Browning, Brian Orser, Josee Chouinard and Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor
Kraatz, as well as Russian Alexei Yagudin, a three-time world champion
who was the heartthrob at the recent 2001 World Figure Skating
Championships in Vancouver.
But it was Hamilton who generated the most excitement.
The show was conceived as a tribute to the four-time world champion
and his influence on generations of skaters was recognized with a
piece skated to Ray Charles' A Song For You, in which Hamilton shared
the spotlight with 10-year-old Charles Ackerman of Fall River.
The pre-juvenile competitor, who has been skating for four years at
the Bedford Skating Club, learned two days ago he would skate in the
show and practised for about 45 minutes with the stars, whom he
described as "really nice".
Among the show's highlights were a playful, athletic interpretation
of Big Spender from the Broadway classic Sweet Charity by seven-time
Canadian ice dance champions Bourne and Kraatz and a spine-tingling
performance by Browning to the mournful Bring Him Home from Les
Miserables.
Yagudin electrified the crowd when he appeared with a dagger in
each hand to skate an intense, dramatic version of the Gladiator
program he skated at the World Championships. He soared over the
boards in four triples, including a brilliant triple Axel.
The Christopher Dean-choreographed Terminator to industrial music
by WestBam, skated by Browning, Denis Petrov, Steven Cousins, and
two-time American ice-dance champions Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, who
are new to the Canadian tour, brought gasps from the crowd as the five
lay draped across chairs speeding dramatically towards each other and
tracing intricate arcs in a routine unlike anything seen before in
Halifax.
But, fittingly, the last solo was Hamilton's My Way adaptation that
included a medley of styles and moods and wrapped up in a flurry of
three double Axels and two back flips.
And as the final group number ended with the words "I'll be loving you
always" he hugged the charming Chouinard, pumped fists with Browning
and shook hands with Orser and the crowd sent its love to the ice.
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