Celebrating Kurt Browning's 54th birthday....

[Elizabeth]

With an iconic program - "Singin' in the Rain" from his 1994 TV special: https://youtu.be/COJWW12GEIk

Behind the scenes of this program for the special from Sandra Bezic's "Passion to Skate": https://youtu.be/TeMU-hGGLJg

A competitive revival in 2012, placing second at the Medal Winner's Open: https://youtu.be/ZBqqX3eVuRc

Adding in a little rain - 2014 Art on Ice: https://youtu.be/Zd7KWjKUpR0

[kittykins]

It's hard to believe he's in his 50's! He's another icon no doubt!

[happyheini]

Happy Birthday, Kurt and a thousand thanks for letting us watch you grow and enjoy your huge talent.

And thank you to Elizabeth for always digging up these treasures.

[Elizabeth]

Kurt did a post-birthday live chat on Facebook today - it was scheduled to be an hour and went almost 1 & 1/4 hours. It was very casual, including a "show and tell" of some of his old costumes, and covered a wide range of topics in response to online questions. It is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NC5HMJE7wRc

[Elizabeth]

Yesterday, in the live chat linked above, Kurt was asked about his sons and their skating and he showed us Dillon's "Brickhouse" costume, hanging among so many of Kurt's costumes.

On this Father's Day 2020, here are two programs featuring Kurt with each of his sons from the 2014 Family Skating Tribute:

• Kurt & Gabriel in "We are Family" - https://youtu.be/7yO-eYnnBHA
• Kurt & Dillon in "Brickhouse" - https://youtu.be/OPrVpZLzgEM

P.S. Tina of The Kurt Files tweeted out the links to those two programs and Kurt has just responded to her tweet:

Thanks Tina. Watched those duets with my boys. Kind of the perfect Father’s Day thing to do.
Happy Dad Day everybody

[Elizabeth]

Looking for some (show) skating to watch?

Kurt's "Gotta Skate" shows were mentioned in his interview. Here are several of them that are available on YouTube for your enjoyment:

• Gotta Skate (2001) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TKGVPiMA5k
• Gotta Skate II (2002) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU3qmjR1evk
• Gotta Skate III (2003) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAD0ZF7zlAw
• Gotta Skate IV (2004) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-YEXB0 ... e=youtu.be

[Elizabeth]

The last Gotta Skate was #7 in 2007 - it featured The Temptations & Shae-Lynn Bourne: https://youtu.be/l6Z-akCDWOk

[Judy]

A little trivia and a comment. The first event, in 2001, at GM Place, in Vancouver was actually called “Gotta Dance” . It was a memorable event and new concept, at least to me. I can still visualize Yuka Sato and Brian Orser doing footwork together. A simple thing but they both in their day had such beautiful, effortless edges and control of the blade thanks in part to years of doing figures. I miss skating like that.

Today we watch 14 and 15 year old 80 lb, or less, girls doing quad jumps, minimal ice coverage, and minimal depth of edge for a couple of seasons and then they disappear. Is it progress? I’m not convinced.

[happyheini]

My thoughts too, Judy. We used to watch young skaters grow in every sense of the word over several years. Now we never learn to pronounce a Russian skate'rs name before she disappears.
Happy Canada Day to all.