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JONES: Kurt Browning still making history with Stars on Ice
| Source: |
Edmonton Sun |
| Date: |
May 11, 2019 |
| Author: |
Terry Jones |
He's 52 now, the oldest star skater still perspiring and performing in public.
The now mostly chrome-domed, four-time world figure skating champion
out of Edmonton's former figure skating factory at the Royal Glenora
Club, Kurt Browning knows he will establish a new record on Mother's
Day, when he performs with Stars on Ice at Rogers Place in
Edmonton.
A ridiculous record.
"There will never be anybody in Stars on Ice history that has done as
many shows as I have done. I guarantee you that," he laughed.
He's not absolutely positive what number Sunday's 4 p.m. show might
be, exactly, but he said he thinks there's a chance it might be
No. 900 over a 29-year span.
With every show, it's a new record.
To most people, Browning will be remembered as being the biggest name
in the sport at the point in history when it peaked. But it was a long
time ago that I travelled to Paris and covered his first of his four
ISU World Championship wins way back in 1990.
To anybody under 40, Browning was not the multi-time world champion
but the ultimate entertainer, the show skater who, while managing to
remain an athlete, transformed himself into part actor, part comedian
and an absolute favourite of kids in the crowd.
The first skater to land a quad in competition at the 1988 Worlds,
Browning went down in history as a three-time Olympian and Canada's
flag bearer at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.
He won the Lou Marsh Award as Canada's top Canadian athlete, the Order
of Canada, was an automatic for the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame
and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
As a choreographer, he's produced programs for dozens of star skaters
including Patrick Chan, Tara Lipinski, Takeshi Honda, Yuka Sato and
Jamie Sale & David Pelletier.
NEVER RETIRED
But for most of his years on skates, he's been setting that insane
Stars on Ice record that he knows will never be touched. Perhaps you'd
figured Browning had retired from show skating for some time?
"I was never retired. I never made any announcement of any kind
whatsoever. Nothing like that," he insisted. "I told the producers of
Stars on Ice to go ahead and move on, that I was going to stay at home
and be a dad and stuff. Then they came back to me and asked me if I
wanted to do guesting, which was just a solo spot in a show here and
there.
"Then they came to me about this tour, telling me Elvis Stojko was
going to be on it. And I thought, 'Well, at least I wouldn't be
alone. He's my generation.'
"I'd taken last year off. It was the Olympic year and it seemed like
the perfect year to say goodbye, but again, there was no public
announcement. It was just between me and the producer," said the
native of Caroline, who has had a successful TV colour commentary
career at major events dating back to 2006.
"So, I told him: 'Let me go to the rink for a week and give it a try.'
"
And so, there he'll be, out there Sunday with Edmonton's recently
retired from competitive skating world champion Kaetlyn Osmond,
Canadian Olympians Stojko, Chan, Megan Duhamel & Eric Radford and
two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva, of Russia.
Browning has ridden the wave of the sport that once took on Hockey
Night In Canada for TV numbers when he was winning world
championships.
People stopped loving the sport after the Salt Lake Olympic judging
scandal, but they never stopped loving Browning.
He has, however, seen the crowd counts rise and fall over his three
decades remaining as the star of Stars on Ice.
"The biggest change isn't in the show or the skaters, it's probably in
how we were regarded by the public.
"In the days with Kristy Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt,
we were kind of bigger than skating. We were people of note. If figure
skating was a glass, we were overflowing.
"Now the skaters are still superstars but they're not beyond skating
the way we were, except right now in Asia, where they are as big as
you can get. They are crazy big stars. It really is fun to go to Asia
and do a show and feel that energy back from 1994, back from those
days.
"When I go to Korea, I get an amazing response. Everyone gets an
amazing response. It's really fun."
YOUTUBE MOVES
Browning spun a story to illustrate that.
"When I went to Korea for the first time to skate, I said: 'Send me
three or four songs that are on the radio right now in Korea.' So they
did. One of them was like a big band jazz, rap, music piece that was
awesome to skate to.
"I did a little research of the band and on the side there were
related videos. The first one I looked at was of some girl doing her
dance in her basement. So was the next one and the next one.
"I very quickly realized this dance was related to the song. So I
thought, 'Cool. This all comes with instant choreography.'
"So I get on the ice in Korea and I get this amazing response. When I
skated to one corner of the rink they would cheer because I hadn't
been there yet. Then I'd skate to another corner at the other end and
they'd cheer because I hadn't been there yet.
"It was phenomenal. It was like Elvis Presley stuff.
"Then my music started and I got this crazy blast from the audience
when they realized I'm skating to a Korean pop song. Then 30 seconds
in, I started doing that dance. It went nuts. At that moment, I really
thought: 'I now know what Elvis Presley felt like.'
"So the world of figure skating kind of started in Europe, then went
to the United States and Canada. North America was on fire when I was
world champion and how lucky was I? But now, it's migrated to Asia and
the stars there right now are such great skaters and such great
ambassadors."
Browning, says Canada has been surprisingly consistent with most Stars
on Ice stops and it's been a good run on this one that has featured
stops in Halifax, Ottawa, Laval, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Winnipeg,
Saskatoon and Calgary with Vancouver and Victoria to come.
"In the United States, it's been a little rough. There were some shows
where I stepped out on the ice that I couldn't help but think: 'I
don't think the producer is making any money tonight.' But in the last
four or five years, it's been a bit of an upswing. And Canada has
stayed viable. This tour is going quite well.
"In Canada, it's doing OK. I don't think it's possible to compare it
to those days back when I was fortunate to have been champion. That
was like the days of The Gold Rush," he said of the Klondike.
And, yes, the money has changed.
"Oh, yeah. For sure. Are you kidding? But you don't look a gift horse
in the mouth. I'm happy making a living doing what I'm doing, but
there's no way I can compare what I made back in the day."
ADDING UP
While he's pushing 900 shows at age 52, Browning says he's not
shooting for 1,000.
"It's not like Ice Capades or one of those kind of shows where you
could do five on a weekend. Stars on Ice is one show per city. And you
might only be doing, across Canada, 12 or so shows a year. It takes
three decades to get that many."
At the same time, he laughs that this isn't a comeback tour, nor is it
likely to be a farewell tour.
"Thirty years is an interesting idea," he said of returning next
year.
He says when you're 52, it's gotta be one year at a time.
"You'll laugh at me but I've been playing in a no-hit hockey league,"
said the guy who took up figure skating in Rocky Mountain House to
improve his skating for minor hockey.
"I changed direction really fast and had my head down and cracked the
top of my head and had nerve damage back in December. I was pretty
screwed up. My left arm wouldn't work very well. I couldn't pull in on
jumps. My left arm shut down. I couldn't sleep for five days. It was
pretty serious.
"But the recovery from that injury is why I feel great on tour right
now. I'm 148 and-a-half pounds. When I was winning world
championships, I was anywhere from 144 to 147. I'm wearing a pair of
pants from 1998 that I wore for my Tragically Hip number.
"But the biggest thing is that I still love it. I'm still having a
love affair with this sport, the audience, the music, the glide and
the jumps.
"I still do two triple jumps in the show and four double Axels. I'm
doing a comedy bit in this show that's more of a skit on ice. There's
hardly any skating in it. I'm a Circus Solei character trying to find
some popcorn. People are really responding to it, especially kids. I
think kids really love that there's something in the show especially
for them. It's acting. I love acting on ice.
"I'm having a blast."
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