Fans flock to see stars on cross-Canada tour

Celebration on Ice is the little figure skating tour that could.

During Canada's bleak winters, the tour chugs across the country into small communities, enjoys sellout crowds, attracts world champion skaters and sponsors, and makes money. It's rare these days in a sport battered by judging scandals, waning popularity and an apparent lack of stars.

The tour will begin Dec. 15 in Kingston with a star-studded cast that includes Kurt Browning, Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko and Shae-Lynn Bourne as well as Canada's rising ice dance stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

Tour director Jean-Michel Bombardier, a former Canadian champion pairs skater, has pushed all the right keys for the past four years. His biggest selling points? The high-quality production features Canada's most popular skaters. And he takes them to small communities that don't get many chances to see superstars.

"It's who people want to see," Bombardier said. "When I sell sponsorship, if you mention any of the amateur skaters, they don't know any of them."

Six-time Canadian champion Jennifer Robinson is also on the tour, while Olympic pairs champion Ekaterina Gordeeva will skate only in March at 10 of the 15 stops. Senior women's skater Amanda Billings -- fourth in Canada last year -- is on the December tour.

The tour originated on Bombardier's kitchen table at home in Newmarket, Ont., when he decided to produce a single show in Newmarket that included Olympic silver medalist Elizabeth Manley, world dance champions Bourne and Victor Kraatz, Josée Chouinard, Orser and Stojko. Browning made a guest appearance.

"It was a one-off," Bombardier said. "It sold out so quickly. It was a huge success."

Along the way, Bombardier has had some luck. He produced a show that ended up being the final tour of Bourne and Kraatz. The show also included Olympic bronze pairs medalists Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler. He even enticed 1962 world champion Donald Jackson into the cast. And he also engineered a rare treat: three world champions, Orser, Browning and Stojko, skating together for the first time in 11 years.

"It was sold out everywhere across Canada," Bombardier said. "It was basically my dream team. It was a huge hit, and since then the tour has been flying."

He says the special ingredient in this year's tour is that it may be the last time Orser, Browning and Stojko skate together.

Orser, the show's choreographer, says his touring career is winding down, although he doesn't know if it will be his last. He keeps a close eye on what former Olympic champions Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt are doing; they are skaters from his generation who still perform at shows. Orser will turn 44 this month, but can still do back flips.

Bombardier is bucking a trend, because it's not easy to produce a skating tour these days.

During the post-Tonya Harding era, the Champions on Ice tour was able stage more than 90 shows during a summer season in the United States. But two years ago, it was down to 18 stops. Now, its organizers pray for Olympic seasons, perhaps the only time they can sell 90 shows again.

Skating may never regain the same immense popularity, Bombardier says.

"I think we have a big problem once Kurt Browning and Stojko are gone," he said. "We have nobody in Canada who can carry the torch.

"When Josée [Chouinard] skated and Browning skated, we followed their career and we lived their career," said Bombardier, who is married to Chouinard. "They made us laugh and they made us cry and they made us happy for many years. And Brasseur and Eisler kept us on the edge of our seats. We don't have that feeling any more. Skating is on TV at 11 at night. It's not prime time any more."

He also thinks that the judging scandals of the Salt Lake City Olympics left a bad taste in fans' mouths.