A CHANGE OF PACE
Olympians leave behind the competition for collaboration in Stars on Ice tour,
ELVIS STOJKO
You’ll see a lot of familiar faces — including some big winners at the recent Pyeongchang Winter Olympics — when the Stars on Ice come to town on their cross-Canada tour.
But for the skaters, this year is a special one, with many of them — including pairs goldmedal winners Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, pairs bronze winners Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford and Patrick Chan, who shared in the gold won by the team as a whole — retiring from professional competition.
It’s also a chance for people who’ve crossed paths many times over the years to renew bonds of friendship as many of them contemplate the future.
“In one word, it’s fun. I got to be honest with you, this is a special group. Our problem will be that we have too much fun together. We do enjoy each other so much but that’s a good problem to have,” Moir said.
Among the better known faces is self-described “older statesman” among the tour, 1994 and 1998 Olympic silver medallist Elvis Stojko, whom many of his younger colleagues hold in high esteem.
“To hear someone like Elvis Stojko say it’s the best tour he’s ever been on — and he’s been doing tours since 1993 — that feels very special. When I grew up, all anybody ever wanted to know when I told them I was a figure skater was if I knew Elvis Stojko,” Moir added.
Stojko knows well the difficulty of transitioning from the competitive life and occasionally offers advice to his fellow skaters when asked.
“When you retire, there’s a big fat change. That’s a big energy change and it takes time to adapt to that. It’s a huge transition and (the retiring skaters) are not going to feel it later this year. When the next (competitive) season starts and they’re not involved … that’s when they’re going to start to feel it,” Stojko said.
“The first summer I didn’t train, I felt guilty. I felt like I was missing something and it took a while to figure out that balance,” he added.
But leaving behind competi- tive skating means a lot less pressure, Stojko said.
“Competition is just that nailbiting on the head of a pin … type of thing. There’s pressure on you to perform (at Stars on Ice) but it’s nowhere near like the Olympics. When I was at the Olympics for two weeks, I usually lost five or six pounds by the end … just from burning off the stress,” Stojko said. His fellow skaters agree. “When you’re training for competition, your life is very routine. You wake up at the same time, you eat the same things, you’re on the ice at the same time. It becomes almost like a Groundhog Day situation,” said 2006 bronze-medal winner and former world champion Jeff Buttle.
“Doing shows is kind of the opposite. Every day, we’re in a different city … and you just sort of roll with it … It’s your job to go out there and entertain the people first and foremost. It’s also an opportunity to be on the ice with other performers and interact with them, which is something you would never normally do.
“It’s having that team atmosphere. We depend on one another to bring the energy. It’s a nice change of pace,” Buttle added. Duhamel, who has toured with the show with Radford for six years, said retiring from competition comes at the right time for her.
“I’ve been so lucky that I’ve been able to achieve everything I ever dreamt of and I’m able to leave the competitive side of the sport on my own terms. It’s really exciting getting to go across Canada … from Halifax to Vancouver,” Duhamel said.
She adds that being free of competitive skating’s rules — specifically, the moves skaters aren’t allowed to do — is liberating and adds to the spectacle. “So especially Eric and I, as a pairs team, we get to include a lot of really cool, acrobat, innovative moves that are actually illegal in competition.”
Chan, who’s settling into a new life in Vancouver, leaving competition is “very freeing.”
“In competition, there are expectations that you put on yourself and there’s also expectations that you might think other people are putting on you and so on,” Chan said.
“With Stars on Ice, what makes it so much fun … is that we finally get a chance to perform and skate in a stadium environment without having nine judges sitting in front of us, staring at us.”
“When you’re on Stars on Ice, you really pay attention to every note, every lyric and song and you’re just really able to have the liberty to do what you want … It really gives you a chance to really let go and think of every moment you’re on that ice and to be able to look people in the eye. I feel that’s the real purpose of skating,” he added.
Buttle, who choreographs all of the show’s group numbers, has made his second career in bringing out the best in other skaters.
“A lot of skaters were asking if I would choreograph for them. So I almost fell into this role and it’s something that I really enjoy,” he said.
The strong performances of Canadian skaters at the recent Olympics has also bolstered the crowds for the show, which began with a sold-out performance in Halifax.
The tour comes to Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on May 4, and Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre on May 5, and London’s Budweiser Gardens on May 6, before crossing the country and winding up in Vancouver on May 17.
“At a show, (people) are just very excited to see their favourite skater. They’re never seen them up close, they’ve only seen them on TV. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, they’ve always wanted to watch me skate, they’ve never seen me skate live. I’ve been around for so long and it’s amazing, you don’t realize how many you’ve touched through the sport,” Stojko said.
Chan, along with ice-dancer pair Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, will make a special appearance on May 3 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Sherway Gardens’ Lindt Chocolate Shop.
“When you retire, there’s a big fat change ... The first summer I didn’t train, I felt guilty. I felt like I was missing something and it took a while to figure out that balance.” 1994 AND 1998 OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST