There’S No Doubt: They’Re Champions
Ice show Champions on Ice Thursday, June 17, Spokane Arena
Figure-skating exhibitions just might be the quintessential mixture of sport and entertainment. The skaters must be top-notch athletes and they need to know how to play to a crowd. Some skaters pull this off better than others, and there’s no better example of a skater who’s honed an entertainer’s skills than Elvis Stojko.
The Canadian skater has appeared in Spokane during other tours. Thursday night when he came to town with the Champions on Ice for a show at the Arena, Stojko performed in fine form.
He didn’t land every jump cleanly but it didn’t seem to matter to the audience, which filled about half the Arena seats. Stojko knows what he’s doing out there on the ice - he skates to music thumping with bass, sprinkling his routine with ample triple jumps and never lets the crowd forget he’s there for them.
Stojko wasn’t alone in the lineup Thursday night when it came to delivering high entertainment value. Veteran skater Rudy Galindo performed a Navy-boy routine to music by the Village People that he’s done here before, but seeing it again didn’t make it any less fun. And, in what turned out to be a preview of the concert tonight at the Spokane Arena, Michael Weiss skated to a medley of music by KC & The Sunshine Band.
But where Stojko and Galindo served up pure entertainment, Weiss and others also offered a strong dose of athleticism.
French skater Surya Bonaly and her fellow countryman Philippe Candeloro nailed some jumps and backflips so fine you could almost hear the collective intake of air as the audience gasped. Both are amazing athletes who simply consume the space on the ice sheet with broad gestures and grand jumps.
Unlike some skaters who require the length of the ice to gain enough speed to launch a triple jump, Bonaly practically hops into the air from a standstill and whirls around for awhile.
As a crowd-pleaser, Candeloro sets a high standard. He’s one of the few skaters I’ve seen who doesn’t even need music to whip the crowd into a shrieking frenzy. The Frenchman, in thigh-high black leather boots and sporting a fencing foil, spent several minutes skating in silence and no one seemed to notice. He captivated the audience; when the music began, his presence swelled. The man can skate. And, at Candeloro’s merest hand gesture caressing his derriere, the crowd went crazy.
The show Thursday wasn’t all pumped-up pop tunes and in-your-face skating, though. In its quiet moments, the evening delivered the level performance that leaves no doubt: These skaters are, indeed, the best of the best.
Naomi Nari Nam, who’s still a little sprite at age 13, flitted about the ice, landing triples, gliding, turning and giving us a preview of the type of performance we’ll be seeing from her at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
The performance of German pairs skaters Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer was stunning in its beauty.
Michelle Kwan skated a graceful, complicated routine to “One More Time” by Laura Pousini, a perfect ending to a varied and entertaining evening.
The show probably left many of the fans anticipating the return of Champions on Ice to Spokane, May 23, 2000.