The Icarus of Ice: John Curry's Documentary

[Spinning]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ng-skating-star-bittersweet-life-story-icarus

I don't know much about John Kerry TBH. I only watch a few old clips after Robin Cousins kept mentioning him. I would love to hear from GS John Curry's fans POVs.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Ohhh el henry....where are you?

 

[Crossover]

Ohhh el henry....where are you?

LOL, isn't he a great fanboy of John Curry's arch-rival, Toller Cranston?

Curry was a great ballerino on ice anyway.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

LOL, isn't he a great fanboy of John Curry's arch-rival, Toller Cranston?

Curry was a great ballerino on ice anyway.

OMG I was half asleep when I read this thread earlier and swore this was about Toller haha woops! Nevermind, el henry lol!

 

[el henry]

OMG I was half asleep when I read this thread earlier and swore this was about Toller haha woops! Nevermind, el henry lol!

LOL, isn't he a great fanboy of John Curry's arch-rival, Toller Cranston?

Curry was a great ballerino on ice anyway.

Just saw this thread, for the thinking of me, but yes of course, it is Toller who was my first .

Although as years went on, I of course could not deny Curry’s greatness, at the time (and we of course had *nothing* like we have now with videos and social media and websites, just Dick Button and Wide World of Sports), I was miffed that he was beating Toller.

And if the documentary is streamed, I’d be more than happy to watch it, but the article says that *Curry* changed ice skating forever???

:roll5::roll5::roll5:

 

[Crossover]

Just saw this thread, for the thinking of me, but yes of course, it is Toller who was my first .

Although as years went on, I of course could not deny Curry’s greatness, at the time (and we of course had *nothing* like we have now with videos and social media and websites, just Dick Button and Wide World of Sports), I was miffed that he was beating Toller.

And if the documentary is streamed, I’d be more than happy to watch it, but the article says that *Curry* changed ice skating forever???

:roll5::roll5::roll5:

I don't want to argue with you but until seeing your mentions of Cranston somewhere few years ago, I'd never heard of him at all. On the other hand, I'd acknowledged John Curry as a GOAT all along although I really didn't have as much knowledge as yours on both skaters and competition before the 1990s. I've seen a lot of people including famous skaters and not just figure skating but cultural critics praised John Curry for his innovative and various challenges to incorporate ballet moves into figure skating. Some people even compared him with dancing legends like Vaslav Nijinsky and pioneers of modern dance such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. This all came to me a sort of shock because I was still in the box that figure skating is all about ladies' sport. Whereas I haven't heard of such spoken or written praises about Cranston unfortunately. Maybe due to that the winners take it all?

 

[el henry]

I don't want to argue with you but until seeing your mentions of Cranston somewhere few years ago, I'd never heard of him at all. On the other hand, I'd acknowledged John Curry as a GOAT all along although I really didn't have as much knowledge as yours on both skaters and competition before the 1990s. I've seen a lot of people including famous skaters and not just figure skating but cultural critics praised John Curry for his innovative and various challenges to incorporate ballet moves into figure skating. Some people even compared him with dancing legends like Vaslav Nijinsky and pioneers of modern dance such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. This all came to me a sort of shock because I was still in the box that figure skating is all about ladies' sport. Whereas I haven't heard of such spoken or written praises about Cranston unfortunately. Maybe due to that the winners take it all?

Thank you for your post and for your description of how you heard of Curry and didn't know about Toller; I find that very interesting. I don't know how to explain it either, other than, as you said, the "winner takes it all" =, or maybe geographically? (I don't know where you are located, I am in the US). Just as an example, here are two obituaries of Toller from when he died:

Toronto Globe & Mail: Beyond great, Toller Cranston was revolutionary in men's skating

A quote:
"While the gold always eluded him – he despised the compulsory figure eights which accounted for up to 65 per cent of his score, excelling more at free skating, which was given less weight – Mr. Cranston was a figure-skating pioneer whose dramatic flourishes, on and off the ice, forever altered his sport.
'He believed that the artistic part of skating was important or more important than the athletic, that's what he believed in, and he followed through,' says Don Jackson, the 1962 Canadian men's champion [and World Champion] who, at 75, is old enough to remember what skating was like pre-Toller Cranston.
.... 'He liked doing the spirals, he liked being so outgoing and so different and he tried many different moves that men then just didn't do. Toller … took the brunt of the criticism at the time only because it was something new and not seen before. But he changed the sport for the better.'

NY Times: Toller Cranston, the Nureyev of Figure Skating, Dies at 65
A quote:
"Cranston, who retired from competition after the 1976 Olympics, displayed his form for New Yorkers in May 1977 when he headlined 'Toller Cranston’s the Ice Show' at the Palace.
'He has the same flamboyance and daring of the Soviet ballet stars at their most entertaining,' the dance critic Anna Kisselgoff wrote in The New York Times. 'Mr. Cranston has all the superstar spins and turns in the air and split jumps you want. But there are also the kicks, turns on the knees and a great deal of arm waving with splayed fingers.' "

Although Toller and John Curry were the same age, Toller skated on the world stage earlier than Curry. Toller opened the door, and Curry charged through JMO, of course.

(Also, not that it matters at all, I am a fan*girl* of Toller's. My screen name is confusing. Henry is my real actual last name, and El is a nickname. If I'm going to post, I might as well do it as me. But the Henry part throws them every time..... )

 

[Crossover]

Thanks for the detailed reply, el henry. I think my recognition of the two skaters has more something to do with my interest in ballet, previously lacks of interest in men's skating compared to ladies and pairs, my selective memory and more over their prime years flowing on a long time ago.

Every time I bump into some people who mention John Curry apart from figure skating, I look up on his career but totally forget about his competitors in his amateur career. I don't recall the name of the Soviet skater shared the Olympic podium with Curry and Cranston by winning a silver because I have no particular reason to get interested in him and more importantly nobody mentions him now. So your fan *girling* made me somewhat start getting/keeping interested in Cranston like mrrice's sincere devotion to Maria Butyrskaya although I liked her when she was around in competition. I get why you love good male spinners much more than good jumpers too because of Cranston.

 

[el henry]

Thanks for the detailed reply, el henry. I think my recognition of the two skaters has more something to do with my interest in ballet, previously lacks of interest in men's skating compared to ladies and pairs, my selective memory and more over their prime years flowing on a long time ago.

Every time I bump into some people who mention John Curry apart from figure skating, I look up on his career but totally forget about his competitors in his amateur career. I don't recall the name of the Soviet skater shared the Olympic podium with Curry and Cranston by winning a silver because I have no particular reason to get interested in him and more importantly nobody mentions him now. So your fan *girling* made me somewhat start getting/keeping interested in Cranston like mrrice's sincere devotion to Maria Butyrskaya although I liked her when she was around in competition. I get why you love good male spinners much more than good jumpers too because of Cranston.

And thank you for your explanations of how you came to skating. I know very little of ballet, but I know that Curry's style is often described as balletic, so I can see why that would be an inspiration.

Poor Vladimir Kovalev He was the 76 Oly silver medalist, and he was no Curry or Cranston. I can't even remember his free skate. I was far more worried about Jan Hoffman, who threatened Toller for the bronze. As happened then, the Eastern bloc judges waaaaay underscored Toller, but that's OK, because the North American judges underscored Hoffman. That's how we rolled then.....And Hoffman came back for silver in 80.

And I certainly have learned much more about Maria Butyrskaya since she became Mr Rice's wife

 

[Ross74]

As a former ballet dancer, John Curry was a skating god.

 

[dorispulaski]

Thanks to the wonder of youtube, we can watch both of them still!.

Curry was ballet on ice, and very lovely.


But Toller was amazing, creative, and totally original. There has been no one like him before, and really no one since. He made his living later in life as an artist, something he had always been. The paintings, sets and costumes in this show are all his creations.

Toller's hit Ice show, Strawberry Ice (50 minutes)
Info here: https://www.plover.com/rainbowice/cranston.html

The show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbnfL0CKdM

A more conventional program of Toller's from 1975:
Toller Graduation Ball SP
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fGDW0yNQDiY

 

[MACGoldSeal]

Toller was an amazing artiste, he was Caviar. But, like Caviar, he was an acquired taste, in my opinion.