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Kurt Browning had a vision - the making of the 2012 Stars on Ice show
| Source: |
Absolute Skating |
| Date: |
September 20, 2012 |
| Author: |
Tina Tyan |
Kurt Browning had a vision.
After 22 years of skating in Stars on Ice, the four-time World
champion went to tour producer IMG with a clear picture in his head of
the show he wanted to create. He had concepts for group numbers,
transitions, and choreography already mapped out. A whole show, laid
out and ready to go.
The 2012 Stars on Ice "Love 'n Life" tour - critically
acclaimed, hailed by many fans as one of the best, most cohesive shows
in recent years - is not that show.
"Love 'n Life" is what happened when reality, in the form of a
severely constrained budget and limited rehearsal time, forced the
first-time choreographer to scrap his original plans and come up with
a whole new show.
It is also what happens when a highly creative and committed mind is
determined to maintain the quality and feel of a Stars on Ice
show, in spite of the substantial barriers in his way.
In 2012, the US Stars on Ice tour had no title sponsor and a
significantly slashed budget. As a consequence, there were only three
days of rehearsal to put the show, with its multiple complex ensembles
and transitions, together. By contrast, at its peak, Stars on
Ice used to have at least three weeks of rehearsal and tech
time.
Kurt laughs now, recalling how outraged he was one year when former
head Stars on Ice choreographer Sandra Bezic decided to add a
group number late in rehearsals.
"I remember Sandra wanted [1998 Olympic champion] Tara Lipinski and I
to do a group number, and she brought us in and pitched this idea she
wanted us to skate together," he said. "And I was so mad because we
only had five days left in rehearsal. Was she crazy? Why did she
wait so late?”
In those days, rehearsals were followed by a week of tech time in Lake
Placid, which meant that ultimately Kurt and Tara had 12-13 days to
learn that number. Fast-forward to 2012, when he had to put an entire
show together in 3 days, and Kurt can only shake his head in amusement
at his past anger at having so little time to do that one
number.
He continued, "If you have 3 weeks to write a report, you'll take 3
weeks. If you have 3 hours, you'll take 3 hours. And we know that, but
I didn't want...did NOT want the quality to drop."
Originally, Kurt had taken on the role of Stars on Ice choreographer
with the idea that it would be his opportunity to put in play a number
of ideas that he'd been itching to do for quite some time.
"I thought when I got the job - when they gave me the job - that it
would be a one-time deal, that I would just choreograph Stars
and do my ideas. Then that didn't happen 'cause the choreography time
was too short and we had no title sponsor. So I had to come up with a
new show," he said.
With his back against the wall, Kurt was forced to get
inventive. Knowing that he would have very limited time to work with
his skaters in person, he did a lot of advance planning and
preparation. With the help of his three Jeff's - actor/musician
Geoffrey Tyler, figure skater/choreographer Jeffrey Buttle, and
co-director/costume designer Jef Billings - he worked out the theme,
music, concepts, and choreography early in the fall.
In approaching the choreography, he refused to let the quality slip or
to simplify the choreography in the interest of expediency or
time.
"I was very committed to giving my skaters a show they would be proud
of. And scared of a little bit, so that they would be in the tunnel,
and focusing on the task at hand, and not 'what are we going to do
afterwards?'" he said.
"You know, it's good to push the skaters a little bit. I think it was
[Stars on Ice founder] Scott Hamilton that said, 'You win Worlds, and
then you go to Stars to get better'. I always liked that. And I think
it's true. That you should be a World champion but you still should
have lots to learn, and Stars should be able to give it to
you."
However, three days of rehearsal is hardly sufficient for the cast to
learn five complex group numbers and six inter-number
transitions. Kurt found an effective, if extremely time-consuming,
solution to this problem by filming himself skating every single part,
and sending the recordings to the skaters in advance.
"The secret was the DVDs that I sent out to all the skaters. And
bugging them to watch it," he said. "And the US and Canadian cast that
didn't really spend the time doing their homework were left in the
dust and held us back. The DVDs really worked."
There were trade-offs to this approach, of course.
"With the DVDs, you lose the creativity of the moment. You've sort of
committed yourself to these steps because 10 people showed up knowing
them," he explained. "So I had to commit, in late November, to the
moves that we did in Toronto [in May]. I surprised a lot of people by
being extremely organized... I had 85% of the steps all done Nov. 30,
and on DVDs and sent out to the skaters. I had to."
Inevitably, once the skaters came together on the ice, adjustments had
to be made. Knowing the cast in advance, Kurt was able to choreograph
with particular skaters in mind for particular moments or steps. The
flip side of designing choreography around specific skaters ahead of
time was that sometimes those concepts had to be changed because of
those skaters.
"I had this great idea where Sasha [Cohen] was going to do something
similar to when the guys lifted her, and she had no skates on [from
the 2007-2008 tour], in the beginning of the finale. But her hip was
sore, so that became nothing. And then in Canada I had an idea that
maybe Shawn [Sawyer] would do it, but then I looked at Shawn's
beginning of his program and I went 'you're doing everything I wanted
you to do at the beginning of finale. Now what do I do?'" he
laughed.
Some adjustments were due to choreographic inexperience.
"I choreographed a group footwork step for the finale...and I
choreographed on the ice what fit for an individual, not what fit for
a group of 11 people. So I didn't realize that I needed to be 30 feet
wide. Rookie, rookie move," he groaned. "So we got to [Lake] Placid,
and it stalled in the corner, and got really slow, and I was just like
'oh my God, this is so stupid. But I'm learning'. So, for the last
three shows all I did was take out a few steps and put in a low pivot,
and it saved us about 15 feet of ice."
Even after the tour hit the road, Kurt continued to rehearse and tweak
the group numbers, especially the "A Life Loved" Act II opening number
(inspired by the movie Up). When Stars on Ice moved to Canada, Kurt
had a new cast and three more days of rehearsal. He took advantage of
the opportunity to make an even bigger change to the show, adding a
new ladies' group number and dropping some of the transitions.
"The transitions didn't really work the way we wanted. And in three
days, I'm sorry, but something's going to fall through the cracks. So
if we had had a week even, we could have looked at the programs that
the skaters were supposed to intro to, and realize it wasn't working
and step back and have plan B. But with three days, the group numbers
were most important, the transitions stayed the way they were," he
explained. "The girls were not proud of them, I wasn't proud of
them."
"And then in Canada, I wanted the girls to be more powerful and I
wanted them to be all together. 'Cause we had the guy transitions and
the guys had their number, but the girls didn't seem to have
anything," he continued. "There was no DVD for that one 'cause I made
it up really late, and it showed. The girls were really struggling
with it. And so it wasn't the gift I wanted to give to the girls. I
don't think I made them look as good as I could have."
For Kurt, choreographing Stars on Ice means striking a balance between
wanting to challenge the skaters and the audience with his vision, and
needing to mold the show to the skaters' established personalities and
skills. Unlike a theatrical show where the actors fit themselves to
roles, the cast of Stars on Ice is comprised of well-known skating
champions whose individual personalities and skating style are part of
their appeal.
"What's frustrating with a show like this is that you never really
have total control over what the skaters bring. And until that
happens, you will not have really created a show. The day that you
control, like [in musical theater] top to bottom, then you'll see my
show. And that probably will never happen, right?" he explained. "So
how much can I really manipulate the show, when I can't change the
pigment of my paints? It's kind of frustrating. So I choreographed a
girls' number and it looks great on two girls that have been training
Latin movement all year. The other three girls...Joannie [Rochette]
[was] doing a pretty good job, but our two singles skaters kind of got
left behind. And that was maybe a bad choice on my part. But then
again, if I don't present them with that, then they don't get
better. So it's interesting."
When it worked, though, seeing his vision translated successfully onto
the ice was immensely rewarding for Kurt. The best example of this was
the all men's "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" number, which Kurt
did not choreograph himself.
"You know, the boys' number is the most rewarding part of it. Just the
cleanliness and the clarity of my vision coming through Jeffrey Buttle
and [dancer] Linda Garneau's choreography. But really knowing that
even though I didn't choreograph it, that I would come back and say,
'no I don't like the direction you're going. Erase the last minute and
a half. Don't do that with the lights. Start over and keep in this
direction.' Then they go, 'ok'. And then I'd skate away and go 'wow,
I'm really actually directing. I'm actually telling people what to
do. This is so cool!'", he said. "So the best part of the show, I
didn't choreograph, ironically. And yet I feel that it was absolutely
my vision. Like the lights, and the concept, and the size. The rules
of engagement of that whole thing were all me."
Getting his vision right extended to the casting of the
number. Although Kurt was one of the four men performing the number in
the US cast, he chose not to put himself in it in Canada.
"Some people were not happy that I took myself out of it, but I'm
really happy I did. I enjoyed skating it, but I enjoyed watching it
even more. And I just felt that the age of those four beautiful boys
together, standing there in those lights looking so young and
masculine ... it was nice to not have me in it. And I think that as a
vision it was more powerful that way," he said.
In choreographing the show, Kurt drew upon his experiences of working
with past great Stars on Ice choreographers.
"I certainly liked it when you got the impression from a choreographer
that they really had a plan. And that they were motivated. And a
little bit of looseness. If you're a little loose in your plan and you
feel like you're being pulled into the equation, that's a good thing,"
he said. "Christopher Dean knew EXACTLY what he wanted, every step of
the way. And he'd step on the ice and just start choreographing. 'I
want you, and this is what's going to happen and...' He was very, very
fixated on a goal."
"So I wanted to show the skaters that I had a passion for my ideas,
'cause I'm a very loose guy, very relaxed. And I think I kind of
surprised a lot of people, not with how demanding I was, but just how
focused I was. Never got mad at anybody in six or seven very high
pressure days of choreography. Never needed to, really," he said. "We
were supposed to be on the ice at 8, I was in the dressing room
[going] 'come on guys, let's go!' You know, just keeping it strict,
but laughing the whole time." His voice dropped into an ironic mumble,
"because it was always me that was in the dressing room..."
"That's really what I learned, was that if they had a direction, then
I trusted them. If they didn't, then you weren't motivated either,
right? Yeah, so...I wanted to come in and motivate them."
Putting together the "Love 'n Life" show was not a solo effort, of
course. Kurt drew on the experience and talents of many people, none
more than the aforementioned three Jeff's.
Co-director and costume designer Jef Billings has been involved with
the Stars on Ice tour from the beginning.
"Jef Billings has been director of Stars on Ice for a number of
years. And that alone would have been enough to bring him into the
equation because I have never done this before, and we only had three
days. So I really couldn't see myself without that reassurance of
knowing that somebody in the building knew how to do this. And also
he's been a part of Stars on Ice in some capacity for 25 years. Longer
than me!"
"Without Jef Billings a lot of things just would have been
unfinished. I think I had great ideas, and he took them to the next
step. And then there's the costumes. All I said to him with costumes
was 'I want my skaters to be able to walk out of the building and get
at least a couple of blocks away from it before anyone might guess
that they have a costume on.' And he really did that. I think he
really made our skaters look beautiful and handsome, and not like
figure skaters. I think the show has a nice look to it this
year."
2006 Olympic bronze medalist and 2008 World champion Jeffrey Buttle
has been a member of the Canadian cast of Stars on Ice since 2005. In
addition, he helped choreograph the 2010 Stars on Ice tour, and was
Assistant Choreographer to Head Choreographer Renee Roca on the 2011
25th Anniversary tour. Kurt brought Jeffrey in to assist him.
"Jeffrey Buttle came in late, really late in the game. I needed him to
save me, because I was by myself," Kurt said. "I just knew that he
would be great, because he co-choreographed the show already with
Renee and Cindy [Stuart]. So he already knew little things like 'we
have to do a schedule, right?' 'Right! We have to do a schedule!' And
when it came time to bring Jeffrey in, we taught him Adele and then he
put it on paper for us. I knew other choreographers did it, but I
didn't. So that was really cool that he brought such a sense of
control and premeditation to the equation."
In addition to choreographing the "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin"
group number with Linda Garneau, with time running low, Jeffrey
allowed Kurt to split the choreographic duties on the finale. Kurt
could concentrate on choreographing the group footwork steps, while
Jeffrey worked concurrently on the dance part.
Geoffrey Tyler's ties to Stars on Ice are less immediately obvious. An
actor, singer, musician, dancer, and director with extensive
experience in the theater world, Geoffrey was drawn into the figure
skating world through his friendship with Kurt. He and Kurt created
last year's "Steppin' Out Of My Mind" number together, with Geoffrey
providing the vocals live at a number of Stars on Ice stops. Geoffrey
also worked with Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje on their free dance last
season. His help proved invaluable to Kurt, who strongly believes in
the importance of bringing outside perspectives to figure
skating.
"Tyler was my right-hand man. Sandra Bezic had Michael Seibert. She
threw all the ideas at him and he threw ideas back. And they looked at
magazines, and got colors, and listened to music, and it was...you
know, he was her Robin. So I knew that in Toronto I needed somebody,
and what better than an unemployed actor?" Kurt laughed.
"Geoffrey and I are such good friends that there was no ego
involved. He could bring me 25 songs as suggestions, and I would turn
down all 25, and he would go get 25 more. I told him my idea for the
group number for the boys and he was just listening to it. I remember
he was shaking his head 'uh huh' and he was looking at his computer
but he was going 'uh huh, sounds cool.' And then when I was sort of
finished, he goes 'here's your song' and he pushed click, and it was
'Waiting for My Real Life to Begin.' I didn't even say anything. When
it was over I just found myself standing in the room moving. And he
goes, 'it looks good already!'"
Many of the concepts, particularly the comedic aspects of the "Four
Stops" transitions, arose from Geoffrey and Kurt bouncing ideas off of
each other.
"You need somebody...you need a foil, you need a sounding board, you
need somebody to push ideas back at you. And he knows music and I
*hate* music search. So we'd talk about the ideas and the next day
there were always 18 songs to choose from. And then there's the music
that he brought to the show. We were looking for the opening and I
went 'you have to write it!' This is a guy that can write music! So he
wrote some music and then I'd come back and say, 'lose the oboe, bring
in a harmonica.' 'Ok!' The next day, the oboe's out, and he played the
harmonica himself and recorded it in his bedroom. So the opening was
recorded in his apartment. By him - no one else. He played all the
instruments, everything, and helped with the writing."
"And he does the announcements - it's his voice. You know, it's kind
of goofy how *much* he actually put into the show. So he was a real
nugget," Kurt continued. "I think it's important to bring people into
the skating world from outside. I've always done that, because it's a
different viewpoint. We get fixated on what we know. And when you come
in from that viewpoint, it's 'oh yeah, I've never seen it from that
angle before'. So I think he's a really good addition to the
show."
Overall, Kurt found many things rewarding about his new role with
Stars on Ice.
"Watching how hard the skaters worked for me... Seeing the show come
together was obviously really cool. Hearing people laugh..."
At the time of this interview, Kurt had not yet made the decision
whether he'll choreograph Stars on Ice again. If he does, fans
shouldn't expect to see Love 'n Life version 2.
"I just don't think that skating should be predictable. I don't like
when people go 'Ladies and gentlemen, Kurt Browning' and you sit there
and you already know what you're going to get. I've always hated
that. So for me as an individual, I'm going to make you like...I'm
going to skate to River and it's going to be quiet, and I'm going to
be thoughtful, and there will be one little quick little comedic
moment, but real short, and then back to it. Or red foam nose and
we're full out, or whatever. I've always enjoyed those challenges, and
I want my show to be a challenge."
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