Ice stars warm up for dazzling show

Skate the Nation, the star-studded show at Memorial Arena tomorrow, is a far cry from the cheesy cast-of-thousands ice shows of the '70s, says producer Byron Allen.

"This is totally different" he said. "There are no Smurfs. That was an ensemble cast with maybe one or two stars, with kick lines and all that. Every one of the skaters [in Skate the Nation] is at least a silver medalist at the Canadian nationals."

Headlining the Skate the Nation cast are four-time World Champion Kurt Browning, two-time Olympic Silver Medalist Brian Orser, three-time Canadian champ Josee Chouinard and Elizabeth Manley, the 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist.

"It's a culmination of a year's worth of work, " said Allen. "It's state of the art lighting and sound - all the production elements you'd see in a high tech concert. It's a fully choreographed show in that all the skaters do their thing - jumps, spins and so on - but it's augmented with all the production values."

This show, the third annual Skate the Nation to come to Victoria, features 16 or 17 individual performances, as well as ensemble numbers, added Allen. "For two hours, they ge to do what they love to do, which is perform and entertain."

Ten years ago, Allen was one of the founders of the Stars On Ice touring show in the States, which gave rise to a Canadian version of the show, which in turn led to Skate the Nation, in 1993, touring smaller centres. "It's not a scaled down version," he said. "It's just different talent."

Some cast members, including Browning, Orser and Chouinard participated in this year's Canadian Stars On Ice tour which wrapped up a two-week tour earlier this week.

Then, on May 1, the entire Skate the Nation cast arrived in Victoria for four days - eight hours a day - of rehearsals at the Memorial Arena to prepare for their 12-city, 14-performance tour.