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Interview with Kurt Browning Part 1
| Source: |
The Kurt Files |
| Date: |
December 24, 2009 |
| Author: |
Tina Tyan |
Fifteen years into his career as a professional skater, Kurt
Browning shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the popular skater
is in the midst of arguably his busiest season in years, showing up on
CBC virtually every weekend this fall in various capacities -
skater/performer, commentator, television host - and increasing his
online presence as a co-host of the new SkateBuzz website. In just
the last week, he's been out promoting the Petro-Canada Canadian
Athlete Family Program, appearing as a Cannon Doll in the National
Ballet's production of the Nutcracker alongside his Battle of the
Blades co-host Ron MacLean, and carrying the Olympic Torch alongside
his six-year-old son Gabriel. Americans get to catch a glimpse of
Kurt on TV as well, in the Improv-Ice "competition" on NBC on
Christmas Day. Despite his hectic schedule, a few weeks ago, Kurt
generously took the time to answer some questions for the Kurt Files
on a whole host of topics. This is part one. Part two is here.
Improv-Ice
Improv-Ice, filmed in early October in Anaheim, CA, but airing
Christmas Day on NBC, is an interesting concept. Skaters drew two
songs at random, and were given an hour on the ice to choreograph both
programs, which they then performed in front of the live arena
audience. This process, as can be imagined, had its share of
unexpected bumps and challenges. On Christmas Day, the home audience
will have the opportunity to vote for the skater they think improvised
the most entertaining numbers on nbcolympics.com, thus choosing a
"winner" of this cross between a show (featuring the Goo-Goo Dolls as
musical guest) and a competition. For one of his numbers, Kurt
Browning chose to wear hockey skates, thus adding an additional twist
to his improvised performance. He later skated an exhibition to Frank
Sinatra in hockey skates at one of the Battle of the Blades results
shows.
Q: Tell us a bit about Improv-Ice:
I think the idea of improvisation is a good and fun one, but it is a
hard one to control. Really, we should all skate to the same music and
not get to see each other for that lone hour before we compete. Now
that would be interesting, to see 4 different takes on the same
song.
I decided to skate in my hockey skates to see what it felt like before
skating in them on Battle of the Blades. It was interesting, but
nerve-wracking, because the balance point is so different. By the time
I skated my number in Battle, I had skated on them enough to get a
more comfortable feeling under my feet for the solo.
For the improv event in L.A. it was as much about surviving as getting
super creative. We had to make up 2 solos in very very little time,
and some of us had iPod trouble, and some of us had solos that were
not the same length on our iPod as they were on the track ( Shae ) and
this made for some very obvious confusion. I am not sure how this
event will turn out on tv but I hope for obvious reasons that it looks
good.
Battle of the Blades
While "Skating with the Stars" is a successful show in the UK, and
"Dancing with the Stars" is a ratings-winner in the US, the
competitive figure skating reality show has never really caught on in
North America. In 2006, Fox made an attempt with "Skating with
Celebrities," a 6-week reality show pairing skaters with actors,
singers, athletes, and television personalities which was pre-taped
months ahead of time and featured no audience participation. The
show, which featured Kurt Browning as one of the skaters,
flopped.
In 2009, however, Kurt Browning's agent Kevin Albrecht hit on a
formula that not only worked, but yielded a definitive ratings success
in Canada. Unlike in "Dancing with the Stars", where the "stars"
involved at least are capable of propelling themselves around the
floor on their own feet, figure skating has a higher initial barrier
to entry in that the simple act of skating around the ice is already a
tough skill to master, much less performing choreography with a
partner. The solution? Pair hockey players with figure skaters, thus
combining two of the most popular sports in Canada, and ensuring that
the participants at the very least all knew how to skate. Air the
show live, from Maple Leaf Gardens, integrate in audience voting, and
put Kurt Browning and Ron MacLean out front as hosts. The resulting
show, Battle of the Blades,
premiered with the second-highest ever ratings for original Canadian
programming, and continued to draw a significant audience week after
week.
Q: Any lessons learned from Skating with Celebrities that you have
applied to BOTB?
I did give advice to a few of the girls about being a partner for
this sort of thing but almost as soon as I started to tell them
stories about my partnering experience I realized who I was talking to
and promptly shut up. The girls in this show were super ultra
qualified to take care of their hockey guys.
Q: What about BOTB do you think made it succeed where Skating with
Celebrities was less than successful?
Being on LIVE TV was probably one of the biggest reasons why this
show did so well. While Skating With Celebrities was shot the same
way, it was still not a live show. We never re-shot anything during
the Celebrities show but still nothing beats live TV. Also, the
abilities of the hockey players as skaters made it a totally different
level of show.
Q: From the video clips, it looks as though you were involved with
helping the hockey players prepare. What were some of the things you
worked with them on?
I was available to the players on a casual basis. They would call
or text and ask if I could drop in on their practices. I did this on
and off most every day for the first few shows, but after about 3
weeks I noticed a huge change in the players' attitudes. They were no
longer standing on the ice just waiting to be told what to do, they
were involved and the choreographers were really getting into their
possibilities as skaters and partners and I was not needed
anymore.
Q: What was the most surprising challenge about training hockey
players to figure skate, and what was unexpectedly easy?
The easy part of the whole process, at least it looked to me, were
the lifts. The boys were more secure on their skates than I even
expected. I did not say smooth, but secure. (lol) They made me jealous
they were so strong in that department. The biggest challenge came
when the music came on. The language of moving to music and
choreography and having to be very consistent in your timing, steps
and moves was hard for them.
Q: As host, one of your responsibilities was to interview the pairs
after they skated. Do you think your extensive experience at being an
interviewee helps to make you a better interviewer?
I think being interviewed so many times does help, and I tried very
hard to let the players get their personalities out in our 25 seconds
together. The hardest part was enforcing the time limit; I had to get
those interviews in and on time.
Q: The ratings for Battle of the Blades have been excellent, and
CBC has invested a great deal in advertising for the show. Did you
expect this degree of interest in the show, and what do you think of
the success?
We all assumed our idea was a good one, but yes, I was a little
surprised that it became this big of a hit. Very happy of course. It
is a rare show where men and women and children can all enjoy the same
event with equal interest and enjoyment.
Q: Will there be another Battle of the Blades next year? Will we ever
see male figure skaters paired with female hockey players?
There will be a second season, yes and I doubt we will go with the
female hockey players.
Q: Do you anticipate BOTB will generate more interest in pro
skating, and draw better crowds to CSOI this year? Any potential for
some Blades cast members to join the tour?
Anytime you get that many people to turn on the TV and watch your
show, you have generated more interest. How many of those numbers
will transfer over to Stars, I have no idea, but I am sure it can't
hurt. Maybe a few of the teams will be able to skate in shows, but
most of the guys will probably never put on figure skates
again.
Read part
two of the interview, in which Kurt answers questions on a variety
of topics, including a set of fan-submitted questions!
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