Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

Canada’s premier figure skating show is scheduled to visit 12 cities nationwide beginning in Halifax, NS on Friday, April 28th, and wrapping up in Vancouver, BC on Thursday, May 18th.

The 2023 Stars on Ice tour will boast three of the greatest male figure skaters Canada has ever produced. Returning to the tour after four years will be Olympic Gold Medalist and World and National Champion, Patrick Chan. He will be joined by skating icons Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko, and an international cast featuring the top competitive Dance and Pair teams in the world.

Canada’s reigning Dance Champions and World Bronze medalists Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier and Olympic Medalists and World Pair Champions Alexa Knierim & Brandon Frazier will perform with Olympic Medalist and U.S. Champion Jason Brown and many more!

For more information: https://www.starsonice.ca/articles/patr ... -2023-tour

STARS ON ICE – 2023 SCHEDULE

Friday, April 28 - Halifax, NS - Scotiabank Centre

Sunday, April 30 - Ottawa, ON - Canadian Tire Centre

Wednesday, May 3 - Moncton, NB - Avenir Centre

Friday, May 5 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
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Saturday, May 6 - Hamilton, ON - FirstOntario Centre

Sunday, May 7 - Kitchener, ON - The Aud

Wednesday, May 10 - Winnipeg, MB - Canada Life Centre

Thursday, May 11 - Saskatoon, SK - Sasktel Centre

Saturday, May 13 - Edmonton, AB - Rogers Place

Sunday, May 14 - Calgary, AB - Scotiabank Saddledome

Tuesday, May 16 - Victoria, BC - Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

Thursday, May 18 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena

Stars on Ice has announced that the Canadian & US 2023 spring tours will be Kurt's final appearances with SOI:

After nearly 1,000 shows, @KurtBrowning
has decided that 2023 will be his final year skating in the Stars on Ice tour. Kurt has been in more SOI shows than anyone else in the history of the tour & we're privileged to bring him to you once more -in his 30th tour!

I'm really glad I already have my tickets for the Ottawa show

That's great!! It's been very disappointing to me that we don't have an arena that can accommodate their light set-up for shows. Fortunately, I've been able to see shows in Manitoba! Some people have driven from here to Sudbury to see skating shows. It seems unreal to me that Kurt will be retiring from Stars on Ice, but really it shouldn't as it's been so many years. He's sure put in a lot of hours doing that! He will be missed! This makes me even happier that I saw one this Christmas. Enjoy the show Elizabeth!

The Kurt Files, in honour of Kurt's "farewell tour", started a countdown yesterday posting a link a day to one of his programs from tours of his past 29 years.

The first - Charlie Brown from the 1991 Canadian tour: https://youtu.be/LsuXMvpOS6I

The second - Johnny Guitar skated in both 1991 & 1992 tours (this one is from 1991):https://youtu.be/m9qYsOK5m0M

The third - 1993's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me: https://youtu.be/8qMjBwfM5bQ

The fourth - 1994's All Alone: https://youtu.be/FWWb7O1zhcQ

The fifth - 1995's Hey Pachuco: https://youtu.be/L4BNBrvK3LY

Looking back at Kurt's programs continues

From 1996 - That's Entertainment: https://youtu.be/bUi0VCHDgsQ

From 1997 - Summertime: https://youtu.be/eYdkXstEMyA

From 1998, the fabulous Antares: https://youtu.be/NWkZ1z1_0bU

From 1999, the first appearance of Raggy - Rag-GIDON-Time: https://youtu.be/4u21bOndzDU

From 2000, Crash Into Me: https://youtu.be/nVdJe3vBxiE

The countdown continues:

From 2001, Don't Fence Me In: https://youtu.be/kvkekCHbA8g

From 2002, Elevation: https://youtu.be/TRPBOPQ9PvU

From 2003,Slippery Side Up: https://youtu.be/ZI_NVbaNYvU

From 2004, Time in a Bottle: https://youtu.be/xI09GBvBbDM

From 2005, Mr. Bojangles: https://youtu.be/PEOs58-EznQ

And from 2006, the revival of Brickhouse: https://youtu.be/cGZm7uc7xYk

From 2007, If I Only Had a Brain: https://youtu.be/yhaNZBuOkaY

From 2008, Ain't No Sunshine (return; first done in 1999): https://youtu.be/epWkht8PrkM

From 2009, Spirit of Adventure: https://youtu.be/pffqb69Kw84

From 2010, Luck be a Lady: https://youtu.be/djPepQvJEeQ

And the countdown continues -
From 2011, Steppin' Out Of My Mind: https://youtu.be/ORwuAEDjDMo

From 2012, Feeling Good: https://youtu.be/U0VfjFI-f0w

From 2013, Singing in the Rain: https://youtu.be/9P-zOWBwyjg

From 2014, Who's Got the Pain: https://youtu.be/GScZSAGidpE

From 2015, One For My Baby: https://youtu.be/CMTsSpzFtXo

Thanks. Singin' in the Rain has always been one of my favourite programs of his as I am a huge Gene Kelly fan. I have a collection of ALL the movies he did. I also have a signed picture of Kurt skating to Singin' in the Rain and put it up in the spring time...just about to put it up, haha. I'm very sorry I have to miss Kurt's last year with Stars on Ice as I will not be close to any show locations.

I'm going to miss him too. Now he's not announcing a complete retirement from skating, just not doing the SOI, so somewhere along there, in the future, we may see him in other venues. I hope so.

From today's Halifax Herald: https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/sports ... 100846415/

Legendary figure skater Kurt Browning to begin his Stars on Ice farewell tour in Halifax

Some photos at the end of the first day of practice/rehearsal in Halifax.








Opening night of the 2023 tour is in Halifax on April 28th.

This is from 2016 when Kurt was a guest star on some cities of the Canadian tour - Love Yourself, https://youtu.be/UjO_eULJzmM

From 2017, when Kurt returned as a full-time cast member,, Tower of Song: https://youtu.be/PgR8bVGPC2I

Kurt took a year off in 2018 due to a hockey injury.

From 2019, If You Could Read My Mind: https://youtu.be/vxzY19QmGuA

There was no tour in 2020.

Last, but certainly not least, from 2022, Nyah (which Kurt originally performed in 2000-2001): https://youtu.be/0D2N4wgY6cY

I can still remember seeing the very first performance of Nyah - I was sitting in an on-ice seat at the show's premiere performance in Lake Placid, NY. It was amazing!!!

Tomorrow night the first show of the 2023 tour will take place in Halifax and I'll get to see the show on Sunday

Ryan Stevens (SkateGuard blog) is in the audience for tonight's first show in Halifax and tweeted out this photo prior to the start of the show



Kurt before the opening show


And SOI posted this photo of the whole cast prior to the opening #

The cast in their costumes for the 2nd 1/2 opening # (based on James Bond) with choreographer Jeff Buttle and costume designer Mathieu Caron. (Photo from Stars on Ice via Twitter)


Ryan Stevens (SkateGuard blog) posted several snippets about programs on Twitter and, in his analysis:

If you love figure skating, go and see the show! You deserve it!!

Some of the final bows in Halifax


Some fan videos in a playlist from the Halifax show: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0X5PbCYHCb

I'm looking forward to Sunday's show here in Ottawa

Just home from the Ottawa show - it was great! If you can get to see it, my advice is to GO!!!

The opening group #




Before the show started, during the rehearsal I presume, photographer Greg Kolz stretched out on the ice and got this shot of Keegan doing a backflip over him!!!

Information posted on a series of tweets by Kurt on Twitter about his 2nd number in the Stars on Ice 2023 tour:

In my final year as a cast member of @Starsonice I decided to skate to Who Are You by @TheWho
and created the program from steps taken from the over 60 programs I have done in Stars on Ice:

Just for fun, here’s a Very Casual list of the solos I took steps from in order of appearance in the program:
All Alone, Crash, Antares, Casablanca (split jump and finger point ), Don’t Fence Me In (after the triple toe), Brickhouse—lots of it!…

then a spread eagle from every fifth number , Time in a Bottle (the paragraph edges/back loops), Elevation, some back edges from [I can’t remember which program!], the Ina Bauer from most every slow program I’ve ever done…

then some steps from Expectation and the Blues (which I didn’t realize that I’ve never done in Stars, oops!), the spread eagle from the clown (Rag-GIDON), I’m Yours, Singing in The Rain (the toe-drags), and a bit more of Crash to end the solo!…

And then some good ol’ fashioned rock-and-roll finger pointing for good measure
When I skate it, I think of all these programs and it feels like the perfect way to say goodbye to Stars.

FYI The show last night in Hamilton was recorded for later TV broadcast.

Bev Smith's article after attending the Stars on Ice show in Kitchener on Sunday - Kurt Browning Farewell: https://bevsmithwrites.com/kurt-browning-farewell/



And her article on Patrick Chan - Patrick Chan Reborn: https://bevsmithwrites.com/patrick-chan-reborn/



And her article on Keegan - Keegan Messing, Climbing Every Mountain: https://bevsmithwrites.com/keegan-messi ... -mountain/

Most of the members of the Canadian tour, including Kurt, are now on the US tour after their last show in Vancouver, BC.

There are a lot of photos from the Vancouver show linked here: https://kurtfiles.com/pics/event.php?id ... ce&search=
As you will see, they are arranged by the individual numbers in the two acts of the show.

CBC has published their Holiday Season TV schedule: https://www.cbc.ca/life/holiday/holiday ... -1.7012702

Mark your calendars for December 7th - the SOI 2023 tour, Kurt's farewell tour, is scheduled to be broadcast on that date from 8-9 p.m. (local time).

Kurt talked about his farewell tour and other things with Rob Brodie recently - read all about it here: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/a ... medium=web

I plan to attend Holiday on Ice, starring Elvis, over the holiday when I'm visiting family. I think my family is buying me a ticket as a gift again. Last time we sat beside the ice...not sure what they have in mind this year.