|
|
|
Champion figure skater Kurt Browning skates his farewell tour with Stars on Ice
The show stops at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday
| Source: |
Ottawa Citizen |
| Date: |
April 25, 2023 |
| Author: |
Lynn Saxberg |
Stars on Ice
Sunday, April 30, at the Canadian Tire Centre at 4 p.m.
Tickets: $24.85-$42.10 at ticketmaster.ca
It's time for Kurt Browning to say goodbye to Stars on Ice. After 29
years as a full-cast member of the annual skating show, the Canadian
phenom and champion figure skater is taking his final bow with this
year's tour.
The show stops at Ottawa's Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. While
Browning is "happy and proud" to be starring on the ice with fellow
skaters including Elvis Stojko and Patrick Chan, the time has come for
a change.
"I'm not retiring from skating, although I don't have a clue what I'm
going to do after this," Browning said in a recent interview. "I've
been thinking about it for a long time. It's been a great run. I think
I've had way more turns at bat than most people get in their
career."
The biggest reason for the decision is his age. At 56, Browning says
it's become more difficult to maintain a consistent performance, and
harder to recover from injuries.
A snow-shovelling attempt earlier this year serves as an
example. Browning set out to clear the snow after the last snowstorm
that hit Toronto and somehow strained his left elbow. Only then did he
discover it's a body part that plays a key role in getting his jumps
off the ground.
"I can't seem to pull into my jumps without it," Browning said. "I've
been recovering from that injury and it should be okay, but it's going
to be making my job a little harder. When you're 25, you can bounce
back from stuff like that. When you're 56, it's a little harder."
This year's Stars on Ice show, which begins in Halifax on April 28 and
wraps up in Vancouver on May 18, stars three of Canada's greatest male
figure skaters: Browning, his former rival Stojko and Chan. Also part
of the fun are pairs champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates; and Alexa
Knierim and Brandon Frazier; as well as cast members Keegan Messing,
Madeline Schizas, Loena Hendrickx, Jason Brown; and Alissa Czisny,
Browning's wife of eight months. They were married in a small ceremony
on Aug. 11, 2022.
American skater Czisny and Browning have been a couple for seven years
and are no strangers to touring together. Browning said the pandemic
allowed them to spend plenty of quality time together and he decided
to pop the question.
"I think when two people are happy long enough, it feels like the
natural evolution of the relationship," Browning said of their
decision to wed. "The institution of marriage is something we both
respect, and we've been having a lot of fun being married."
Although Browning was sidelined during the pandemic when skating shows
were cancelled or postponed, he spent the downtime going through boxes
to organize paperwork, photographs and mementos. If there were extra
copies of photos that showed other skaters, he would mail them to
them. The exercise put him in the right frame of mind for the farewell
tour.
"I reached out to all sorts of people I hadn't talked to in years," he
said. "It was great. It was making me take stock of all the things you
catalogue and then move on, and that's actually what's happening now
with my retirement.
"It's not just another year of Stars on Ice, it's the last year of
Stars on Ice for me so I think it's less about how well I skate and
more about making sure I take it all in and share my feelings with the
audience, and make sure they feel thanked and appreciated."
Browning has also been reflecting on the early years when he started
skating in Caroline, Alberta, as a teenager. The town had just built a
new arena, which is now named after him, and there were new programs
to sign up for. One was figure skating, and his mom registered her
youngest son to help him become a better hockey player.
Eventually, there was a moment when Browning had to choose between
figure skating and hockey. It came when he and his father were packing
the car to move to Edmonton so the young skater could train with coach
Michael Jiranek.
"I went to put my hockey bag in, and Dad said, ‘What are you doing?
You're not taking your hockey bag,'" Browning recalled. "I went, ‘Of
course I am. What are you talking about? I'm 16, I play Midget, I'm
cool'"
His dad responded: "Well, we're not paying for both. Is it the figure
skates or the hockey skates?"
Browning says the choice was clear.
"I was doing very well in figure skating and forgetting to grow every
summer while the other boys (in hockey) were getting bigger. We both
knew what the answer was. The hockey bag stayed home."
Of course, Browning went on to make history when, in 1988, at the age
of 22, he landed the first quadruple toe loop in competition at the
World Championships in Budapest, a feat included in the Guinness Book
of World Records. Before retiring from amateur competition, he was a
four-time Canadian champion, a four-time world champion and competed
in the Olympics three times.
Since he turned professional in 1994, there's been no shortage of
opportunities. Browning has been a colour commentator, a skating
choreographer and appeared on the popular TV show, Battle of the
Blades, in addition to the annual Stars on Ice shows.
To this day, Browning considers himself fortunate that the sport he
fell in love with allowed him a long career as an athlete and
performer.
"The ice is a stage and I love performing," he said. "You can do all
these physical, beautiful movements on the ice and move to the
music. You can be an artist, you can be a dancer, you can make people
laugh.
"I'm lucky. Hardly any sports have this second life. I just fluked
into a sport when I was a kid that also has this extended period when
you're done competing where you can still do what you love and people
want to share that with you.
"It's been a great run."
|
|
|
|
|
