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Stojko, Browning, Rochette bringing Rock the Ice 3 to Peterborough only
| Source: |
The Peterborough Examiner |
| Date: |
October 12, 2011 |
| Author: |
Mike Davies |
Kurt Browning laughed as he explained how much more enjoyable it is to
skate with Elvis Stojko than against him.
The former rivals and fellow Olympic hero Joannie Rochette will
headline a one-night only Rock the Ice 3 figure skating show exclusive
to the Peterborough Memorial Centre Feb. 15.
"It honestly makes me feel younger to be around Elvis," Browning, 45,
said by phone Wednesday. "It takes me back in time to when we were
competitive and doing all those things on the world stage.
"It's, obviously, less tense," Browning said "We called (Elvis) The
Terminator because he basically terminated everyone he competed
against. He was viciously competitive and also super consistent. You
never won easily against Elvis. Just enjoying his presence and
companionship skating with him is much more relaxing and there is no
way to over-exaggerate that point."
Stojko says Peterborough's support of the first two Rock the Ice
shows, last year Peterborough had the best attendance on his short
Ontario tour, made it his and promoter Daniel Weiss's venue of
choice.
Tickets, ranging from $40 to $70, go on sale 9:30 a.m. Monday at the
Memorial Centre box office and www.memorialcentre.ca.
"Peterborough is a real hot spot for figure skating," said Stojko, by
phone from his home in Mexico. "The crowds are great. It's a good
location. People who want to come from Toronto and further east
can. There is a strong, really good group of people who would support
that show and have over the last couple of years.
"When you get into the city more, it gets more corporate," said
Stojko. "When you get further out of the city you end up in a place
that is more community oriented. Peterborough is far enough out that
they support what is in their area and they don't get to see a lot of
shows."
Stojko says he also finds Peterborough area fans knowledgeable about
the sport.
"They've always been really educated about skating and have been
really supportive of what comes to their town. Not all towns do. Some
do, but Peterborough does it extra," he said.
Each year, Stojko wants to present a different show.
"We're really excited to have Kurt and Joannie join our team," he
said. "They're good friends of mine and they have time to come out and
do the show. I'm really pumped about skating with them. I haven't
skated with Kurt in a while. We'll have an opening and closing number
so we'll have something blended together where Kurt and I can do
something together.
"We're going to have a Canadian-European flavour. We have some skaters
coming from Europe who have very special acts and talents you don't
usually get to see at skating shows," he said.
Stojko says he and Weiss, who lives in Germany, found organizing a
tour while living out of the country too difficult last year. He says
City Arena Division Manager Sue Warrington and her Memorial Centre
staff make it easy for them to do their show there.
"We scraped by and did OK with (last year's tour), it worked, but it
was a lot of unneeded stress," said Stojko. "It was hard to
co-ordinate."
Browning says he skates 25 to 60 shows a year depending on how
ambitious he is. As host of CBC's popular Battle of the Blades, he's
finding new fans.
"Any time you're on national television and getting one to two million
people watching you, you're going to keep the market you had and
introduce yourself to new people and young people, too," he
said. "When you come to a city to teach a seminar they do know who you
are because you were that guy on Battle of the Blades. I'm not going
to say it doesn't come in handy," he said, chuckling.
Browning says most shows he does are part of a tour so one-off shows
are fun.
"It's just about the energy of the evening," he said. "When it's a
one-off it's very special. It's not going to happen again in Kingston
the next night, it's only going to happen once. It's like a
Birthday."
Browning plans at least one solo accompanied by live music from his
friend Geoffrey Tyler.
"My buddy is going to be singing it live on the ice with skates on,"
he said. "It's always fun to share a performance with my friend and to
have live music on the show is special."
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